Quotes from Zeitoun

Dave Eggers ·  342 pages

Rating: (62.4K votes)


“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


About the author

Dave Eggers
Born place: in Boston, Massachusetts, The United States
Born date March 12, 1970
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Honesty is the best policy. It’s also the most profitable.”
― Michael J. Sandel, quote from Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?


“She could neither conform nor be happy in her unconformity. This she saw clearly now, and with cold anger at all the past futile effort. What a waste!”
― Nella Larsen, quote from Quicksand


“All things pass, suga’ pea. All the things a this worl’ got a time for bornin’ and time for dyin’, and a time for troublin’ and a time for restin’. Ssshhh”
― Lisa Wingate, quote from The Story Keeper


“I’m coming for your heart, Kace,”
― Scott Hildreth, quote from Undefeated


“There’s always the expectation that the victimized Other is the one that covers the distance, that has the noble ideas; I disagree with this expectation. It’s an expectation that works sometimes, I said, but only if your enemy is not a psychopath. You need an enemy with a capacity for shame. I wonder sometimes how far Gandhi would have gotten if the British had been more brutal. If they had been willing to kill masses of protesters. Dignified refusal can only take you so far. Ask the Congolese.”
― Teju Cole, quote from Open City


Interesting books

In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
(7.7K)
In the Shadow of You...
by Marcel Proust
I Shall Wear Midnight
(37.9K)
I Shall Wear Midnigh...
by Terry Pratchett
Cash
(16.5K)
Cash
by Johnny Cash
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
(62.9K)
Forever in Blue: The...
by Ann Brashares
Gemina
(25.7K)
Gemina
by Amie Kaufman
Lost in a Good Book
(43.8K)
Lost in a Good Book
by Jasper Fforde

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.