Book Quotes

[Mole]

“No, unfortunately, in my case, all that energy was wasted on other things.”
“What other things?”

“On my friends. I had some very close friends, but as it turned out they weren't the sort you could play baseball or kick-the-can with. In fact, playing with them didn't involve moving at all.”

“Were your friends sick?”

“Just the opposite. They were big and strong as a rock. But since they lived in my head, I could only play with them there…”

It was a melodramatic sort of anger.

"A problem has a rhythm of its own, just like a piece of music," the Professor said. "Once you get the rhythm, you get the sense of the problem as a whole, and you can see where the traps might be waiting."

Among the many things that made the Professor an excellent teacher was the fact that he wasn't afraid to say "we don't know." For the Professor, there was no shame in admitting you didn't have the answer, it was a necessary step toward the truth. It was as important to teach us about the unknown or the unknowable as it was to teach us what had already been safely proven.

— Yōko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor

[Mole]

There is a humble creativity in performing ordinary tasks like making the bed or folding clothes—jobs that must be done day after monotonous day and that fail to amount to anything momentous in the end. Yet such tasks are intensely creational—they bring a new layer of order and beauty into the world we inhabit.

I’ve always found it touching that after Christ had risen from the grave, He apparently stopped to fold the grave cloth that covered His head (John 20:7).

— Nicole M. Roccas, Time and Despondency

[miphys]

I have dreamt in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind. And this is one: I'm going to tell it - but take care not to smile at any part of it.

— Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

[Shu]

“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” repeated Winston obediently. “Who controls the present controls the past,"' said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. “Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?”

- 1984,
George Orwell

[Mole]

The man wearing blessed, God-given mourning like a wedding garment gets to know the spiritual laughter of the soul.

— John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent

[X Fiendfyre X]

I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result.

— Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

[The Odeoron]

"The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf did not mind. He had seen the grass of many countries, and found them all good, in their season. He had been to places where the grass was the colour of silver or gold, or deep blue in twilight under endless stars, and to places where it was red in the sun, or dim and pale under the moon. 'Nice weather for the time of year,' said Gandalf, who, as all hobbits knew, was fond of pipe-weed."

The Fellowship of the Ring - chapter 1 "A Long-Expected Party"

[X Fiendfyre X]

Nothing bad could happen to Justin Case, because he did not exist.

Ask any comedian, tennis player, chef. Timing is everything.

How many events added up to a coincidence?
How many coincidences added up to a conspiracy?

— Meg Rosoff, Just in Case

[Mole]

YES, THEY ALL SAW A CAT!

— Brendan Wenzel, They All Saw a Cat

[X Fiendfyre X]

Even with everything that's happened since, this is still a classic.

NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!

— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[Mole]

Mrs. Weasley ftw! Thank you for the share, @X Fiendfyre X! ❤️

[Mole]

“If you don’t love tea, you can’t make good tea.”

— Lisa See, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

[Expllo]

“I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.”

[Sp00ki]

“Growing up is terribly wonderful. But often it’s also wonderfully terrible.”

― S.D. Smith, The Green Ember

[Mole]

As it turns out, you can't own property as a corpse.

You can't judge a person by the job they do or by their station in life; you must judge a person by their actions.

— Nita Prose, The Maid

[Mole]

@RoadkilBanana, this quote is, in and of itself, completely wonderful by leaving the reader wondering.

[Mole]

Gran always drilled into me the importance of a clean and orderly home.

“A clean home, a clean body, and clean company. Do you know where that leads?”

I could not have been more than five years old when she taught me this. Ilooked way up at her as she spoke. “Where does it lead, Gran?”

“To a clean conscience. To a good, clean life.”

It would take years for me to truly understand this, but it strikes me now how right she was.

It's funny the way memories bubble up whenever I clean. I do wonder if that's the same for everyone — for everyone who cleans, that is.”

— Nita Prose, The Maid

[X Fiendfyre X]

And you, lucky number thirteen, you can take the tapes straight to hell. Depending on your religion, maybe I'll see you there.

— Jay Asher, Th1rteen R3asons Why

[Lu]

There is, of course, no such thing as a fallen woman, unless we are speaking of a woman who recently tripped on the stairs. One of the most difficult elements of this world is the way its social rules are simultaneously rigid and arbitrary. It is impermissible to engage in physical love before binding legal marriage, unless one is a young man of means. Men must be bold and assertive, but only if they are light-skinned. Any persons may fall in love regardless of station, but only if one is a woman and the other a man. I urge you not to navigate your own life by such faulty borders, my dear. There are, after all, other worlds.

Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

My favorite footnote thus far.

[Mole]

Giselle sighed. "Yes, Molly. It's clean. You're not the only person in the world who sanitizes things, you know."

This pleased me immensely because it confirmed what I knew in my heart. Giselle and I are so different, and yet, fundamentally, we are very much alike.

— Nita Prose, The Maid