“Be strong, be brave, be true. Endure.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“Yes, a dark time passed over this land, but now there is something like light.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“Every time a crime was committed by a Muslim, that person's faith was mentioned, regardless of its relevance. When a crime is committed by a Christian, do they mention his religion? ... When a crime is committed by a black man, it's mentioned in the first breath: 'An African American man was arrested today...' But what about German Americans? Anglo Americans? A white man robs a convenience store and do we hear he's of Scottish descent? In no other instance is the ancestry mentioned.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“What is building, and rebuilding and rebuilding again, but an act of faith?”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“If your hand doesn't work for it, your heart doesn't feel sorry for it.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“Then he got more books. He saved all the books.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“What would happen," Zeitoun asked the captain, "if you and I went below the deck, and just went to our bedrooms and went to sleep?"
The captain gave him a quizzical look and answered that the ship would most certainly hit something -- would run aground or into a reef. In any event, disaster.
"So without a captain, the ship cannot navigate."
"Yes," the captain said, "What's your point?"
Zeitoun smiled. "Look above you, at the stars and moon. How do the stars keep their place in the sky, how does the moon rotate around the earth, the earth around the sun? Who's navigating?"
The captain smiled at Zeitoun. He'd been led into a trap.
"Without someone guiding us," Zeitoun finished, "wouldn't the stars and moon fall to earth, wouldn't the oceans overrun the land? Any vessel, any carrier of humans, needs a captain, yes?"
The captain was taken with the beauty of the metaphor, and let his silence imply surrender.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“It only takes one person, one small act of stepping from the dark to the light.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“She felt some measure of relief knowing that in the very least, on the open road she would have some time to think.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“There is no faith like the faith of a builder of homes in coastal Louisiana”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“But when friends would ask Kathy whether they, too, should start their own business, she talked them out of it. You don’t run the business, she would say. The business runs you.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“Are the kids at school?"
"No, they're in the lake. My God.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“The country he had left thirty years ago had been a realistic place. There were political realities there, then and now, that precluded blind faith, that discouraged one from thinking that everything, always, would work out fairly and equitably. But he had come to believe such things in the United States. Things had worked out. Difficulties had been overcome. He had worked hard and achieved success. The machinery of government functioned.”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“His frustration with some Americans was like that of a disappointed parent. He was so content in this country, so impressed with and loving of its opportunities, but then why, sometimes, did Americans fall short of their best selves?”
― Dave Eggers, quote from Zeitoun
“You worry too much. Can’t you just trust me?”
“I don’t know,” I answer him honestly.
He nods in acceptance. “You’ll learn to. I promise.”
And then he kisses me. It’s a slow, deep kiss that carries meaning and emotion, neither of which I know how to interpret.
I pull away to speak, but he puts his finger over my lips. “Shhh, just let me love you, okay? Don’t think. Just feel.”
― Michelle Leighton, quote from Down to You
“Sometimes between lunch and dinner, when there's a lull, Jill and Shaniqua and I will sit around and fantasize about what we'd do if a REAL celebrity walked into the place, like Chad Michael Murray (although we've gone off him a bit since his divorce) or Jared Padalecki, or even Prince William (you never know. He could have gotten his yacht lost, or whatever.)”
― Meg Cabot, quote from Pants on Fire
“After all the dangerous adventures I'd had, I couldn't die like this. Sadie would be devastated. Then, once she got over her grief, she'd track down my soul in the Egyptian afterlife and tease me mercilessly for how stupid I'd been.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from The Son of Sobek
“How many people similarly spent their lives searching for their own spells—some gratuitous benefit such as a silver tree or political power or undeserved acclaim—when all they really needed was to be satisfied with what they already had? Sometimes what they had was better than what they thought they wanted.”
― Piers Anthony, quote from A Spell for Chameleon
“Life isn't always about logic and reasons—sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump. Particularly when it comes to relationships.”
― Julie James, quote from Just the Sexiest Man Alive
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.