Quotes from These Shallow Graves

“That was what people did when they wanted to stop a girl from doing something—they shamed her.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Why is it, she wondered now, that boys get to do things and be things and girls only get to watch?”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither. Yet how can we help them if we don't even know about them? And how can we know about them if no one writes about them? Is it so wrong to want to know things?”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Sir, no amount of money, no matter how vast, could induce me to stroll, perambulate, promenade, or engage in any form of locomotion with you whatsoever. Good evening.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“As a child, she’d thought all the noise and commotion was the most wild, wonderful game, but as she’d grown older, she understood why everyone rushed around so: they were chasing a story.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Headstrong is just a word, Katie - a word others call you when you don't do what they want.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“No. I meant stay with me today. And tomorrow. And every day after.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“I’d wish you good luck, but you won’t need it. You get to write your own story now. Nothing’s luckier than that.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Fac quod faciendum est,' " Jo read aloud. "Do what must be done.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“And besides, I couldn't stay at the party. It was too dangerous. I nearly died."
"From what?"
"Boredom.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“The thing is, you can't ever really know how rotten someone will turn out to be.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Sometimes you have to do wrong to do right.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“He was a flame and she’d gotten burned, and the pain was terrible, yet it didn’t make the fire any less alluring.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Murder is not a suitable topic of conversation for a young lady.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Her fear was strong, but her need for the truth was stronger.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“But you are a different sort of girl. Not at all what I expected you to be. And this is a different sort of time. And so I am hopeful for all the things you may yet find.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“If you're going to bury the past, bury it deep, girl. Shallow Graves always give up their dead.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“«Ένα ποτό, ένα τσιγάρο, καμία υποχρέωση να ευχαριστήσεις οποιονδήποτε άλλον εκτός από τον εαυτό σου. Ελευθερία. Αυτή είναι η απάντησή μου. Η ελευθερία να είσαι εσύ το καλύτερο πράγμα που σου συνέβη».”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“To have a purpose in life--what does that feel like?”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Headstrong is just a word--a word others call you when you don't do what they want.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“If only she could be bold enough, and brave enough, to claim the things she wanted: love, a purpose, a life. But could she be?”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Asking questions, demanding explanations—these things always led to trouble”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“The truth can be a hard thing, Jo. It's often best left hidden.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

“Don't let the darkness that's been visited upon this family pull you in so deeply, you cannot get out. Turn back from it, darling Jo... he'd warned her. He didn't seem to understand that turning your back on the darkness didn't mean the darkness would turn its back on you.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from These Shallow Graves

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“—No te estoy dejando por él. No te estoy dejando por nadie, y jamás me habré ido buscando algo mejor. Tú eres mi algo mejor, y desearía, que yo fuese el tuyo también.”
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“Des Grieux was like all Frenchmen, that is, cheerful and amiable when it was necessary and profitable, and insufferably dull when the necessity to be cheerful and amiable ceased. A Frenchman is rarely amiable by nature; he is always amiable as if on command, out of calculation. If, for instance, he sees the necessity of being fantastic, original, out of the ordinary, then his fantasy, being most stupid and unnatural, assembles itself out of a priori accepted and long-trivialized forms. The natural Frenchman consists of a most philistine, petty, ordinary positiveness--in short, the dullest being in the world. In my opinion, only novices, and Russian young ladies in particular, are attracted to Frenchmen. Any decent being will at once notice and refuse to put up with this conventionalism of the pre-established forms of salon amiability, casualness, and gaiety.”
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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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