Quotes from Viper's Tangle

“Πλησιάζεις εύκολα μια ζωντανή ψυχή, και μέσα απ’ το έγκλημα, και μέσα από τα πιο θλιβερά βίτσια, - μα η βλακεία είναι αδιαπέραστη.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“Πόσο είναι παράξενο, σ’ αυτές τις αρχές της ζωής που μας δίνεται λίγη ευτυχία, να μη μας προειδοποιεί καμία φωνή: Όσα χρόνια κι αν ζήσεις, δε θα ‘χεις άλλη χαρά στη ζωή σου απ’ αυτές τις λίγες ώρες. Απόλαυσέ τις ως την στερνή σταγόνα τους, γιατί, ύστερ’ απ’ αυτό, δεν υπάρχει τίποτα για σένα. Αυτή η πρώτη πηγή που βρήκες, είναι και η τελευταία. Σβήσε τη δίψα σου μια για πάντα: δε θα ξαναπιείς πια.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“I felt at one and the same time quite close, within reach of my hand, and yet an infinite distance away, an unknown world of goodness. Often Isa had said to me: 'You, who see nothing but evil.... You, who see evil everywhere....' It was true, and it was not true.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“I remained standing in the middle of the room, swaying on my feet as though I had received a blow. I thought of my life and saw what it had been. No one could swim against such a current of mud. I had been a man so horrible that he could have no friend. But wasn't that, I asked myself, because I had always been incapable of wearing a disguise? If all men went through life with unmasked faces, as I had done for half a century, one might be surprised to find how little difference there was between them. But, in fact, no one lives with his face uncovered, no one. Most men ape greatness or nobility. Though they do not know it, they conform to certain fixed types, literary or other. This the saints know, and they hate and despise themselves because they see themselves with unclouded eyes. I should not have been so universally condemned had I not been so defenseless, so open, and so naked.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“Even the genuinely good cannot, unaided, learn to love. To penetrate beyond the absurdities, the vices, and, above all, the stupidities of human creatures, one must possess the secret of a love which the world has now forgotten. Until that secret shall have been discovered, all betterment in conditions of life will be in vain”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“Против некоего определённого вида тупости я бессилен.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“Время, умелый вор, мало-помалу перетаскивает всё на свете на свой огромный пыльный склад.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“Мы никогда не знаем, чего мы в действительности хотим, и вовсе не любим того, что, думается нам, мы любим.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

“[...] против некоего определенного вида тупости я бессилен. Нетрудно найти путь к живой душе, увидев ее даже сквозь преступления, сквозь самые плачевные пороки, но вульгарность – непреодолимая преграда.”
― François Mauriac, quote from Viper's Tangle

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Popular quotes

“Time was nothing. Seconds were days, were years, were the breaths that caught between their mouths and the bite of Neil's fingernails against his palms, the scrape of teeth against his lower lip and the warm slide of a tongue against his.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The King's Men

“But love is what we want, not freedom. Who then is the unluckier man? The beloved, who is given his heart's desire and must for ever after fear its loss, or the free man, with his unlooked-for liberty, naked and alone between the captive armies of the earth?”
― Salman Rushdie, quote from The Ground Beneath Her Feet

“At every new torment which is too hard to bear we feel yet another vein protrude, to unroll its sinuous and deadly length along our temples or beneath our eyes. And thus gradually are formed those terrible ravaged faces, of the old Rembrandt, the old Beethoven, at whom the whole world mocked. And the pockets under the eyes and the wrinkled forehead would not matter much were there not also the suffering of the heart. But since strength of one kind can change into a strength of another kind, since heat which is stored up can become light and the electricity in a flash of lightning can cause a photograph to be taken, since the dull pain in our heart can hoist above itself like a banner the visible permanence of an image for every new grief, let us accept the physical injury which is done to us for the sake of the spiritual knowledge which grief brings; let us submit to the disintegration of our body, since each new fragment which breaks away from it returns in a luminous and significant form to add itself to our work, to complete it at the price of sufferings of which others more richly endowed have no need, to make our work at least more solid as our life crumbles away beneath the corrosive action of our emotions.”
― Marcel Proust, quote from Time Regained

“The back of the seat in front of Richards was a revelation in itself. There was a pocket with a safety handbook in it. In case of air turbulence, fasten your belt. If the cabin loses pressure, pull down the air mask directly over your head. In case of engine trouble, the stewardess will give you further instructions. In case of sudden explosive death, hope you have enough dental fillings to insure identification.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from The Running Man

“When we are children, when we are young, it is natural to love our friends, to be generous to them, to forgive their faults.. But as we grow old and have to earn our bread, friendship does not endure so easily. We must always be on our guard. Our elders no longer look after us, we are no longer content with those simple pleasures of children. Pride grows in us – we wish to become great or powerful or rich, or simply to guard ourself against misfortune.”
― Mario Puzo, quote from The Sicilian

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About BookQuoters

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.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.