Book Quotes

[BlackestLily]

I see topics about best movie quotes and quotes from famous people, but I have yet to see a topic dedicated to great quotes from books.

For me, I think the "best" quotes I ever read come from children's books, though it's not always the case. So for all of you readers out there, what are lines you've run across in books that changed your way of thinking, influenced you, or you think it's worthwhile enough to share with everyone just because it's that damn good?

I always thought Harry Potter was a cute little series, and I remember getting into arguments with a very religious person at lunch in high school about the nature of the book and it's ability to show underlying real-world choices (friendships, standing up for what you feel is right, even in the face of close friends, etc). So mine to start is this:

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

— J. K. Rowling


My other perpetual favorite is when Alice is asking directions from the Chesire cat. It went like this:

`Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

`I don't much care where--' said Alice.

`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

 

[himynameisbrak]

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing's going to get better. It's not.
--The Lorax by Dr. Seuss


A person's a person, no matter how small.
--Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss


You're off to great places! Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting! So...get on your way!
--Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss


(This one's not from a book, but it's one of my favorite quotes of all time)
You always make each day a special day. You know how: by just your being you. There's only one person in the whole world like you, and people can like you exactly as you are.
--Mr. Rogers

 

[Snail Shell]

"You'll be fine 'Rick. Just go out there and get yoru heart broken in, so it'll be ready when you really need it." - Brian K. Vaughn

"I do this stupid, stupid job because this is what I am." - Adam Warren

"There he goes; one of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, too rare to die." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

"I'm sorry. So very, very sorry. I'm sorry people hurt you; that the only hand shown you was a fist, the only voices you ever heard were raised in anger. I'm sorry you were treated differently just because of how you looked. I wish we could have made a difference. You needed us to be so much more than what we are. You needed a special kind of help, a kind we couldn't give. You needed us to be saviors, but we weren't." - Adam Hughes

"You can't possibly be this stupid."
"Don't underestimate me." - Daniel Way

That should suffice for now. 🙂

Snail Shell

 

[Cy/MiG]

The End
-Various



(Okay! Kidding, kidding, kidding. I'll think of a better quote and post it later) 😀

 

[AmandaBear]

"There was once a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."
- The Last Battle

"Aslan is on the move..."
- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death. And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again."
- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

 

[slacker2114]

"In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." -- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

"Without deviation (from the norm), progress is not possible" -- Frank Zappa, The Real Frank Zappa Book

"Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe." -- Frank Zappa, The Real Frank Zappa Book

 

[Skipadeedoodah]

"I wish I could give you something, but I have nothing left." - The Giving Tree

 

[venray]

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

T.S. Eliot



Hi Ho

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

 

[BlackestLily]

From the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich:

"I make lots of mistakes. I try hard not to make the same mistake more than three or four times."

 

[Juhnetiks]

Though there's endless quotes to chose from of books I've read, my all time favorite has to be:

"I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not fuck, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend, and I was gawky and she was gorgeous, and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So, I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane. "
— Looking for Alaska by John Green

 

[Skipadeedoodah]

Though there's endless quotes to chose from of books I've read, my all time favorite has to be:

"I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not fuck, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend, and I was gawky and she was gorgeous, and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So, I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane. "
— Looking for Alaska by John Green

I'm stealing that for my signature.

 

[asutickler]

"Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?"

"That is the only time a man can be brave."

-Bran & Eddard Stark
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin



"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - 'No, you move.'"

-Captain America
The Amazing Spider-Man issue number 537

 

[Soda Bobinski]

Zoë - "Preacher , don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?"

Shepherd Book - "Quite specific. It is , however , somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps."


- Firefly : War Stories -

 

[Carsomyr]

• The great thing about being the only species that makes a distinction between right and wrong is that we can make up the rules for ourselves as we go along.
• We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.

-Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams


Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
-The Foundation Series (I think it's the first book), by Isaac Asimov


China... If their ability to run over college students with tanks is any indication, they are a military force to be reckoned with.
-A Practical Guide to Racism, by C.H. Dalton (Pseudonym used by Sam Means)

• There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
• The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move..
• He gazed keenly into the distance and looked as if he would quite like the wind to blow his hair back dramatically at that point, but the wind was busy fooling around with some leaves a little way off.

-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

• The President: King of Democracy
• Rome's most enduring legacy? A numerical system that allowed future generations to easily keep track of Super Bowls.
• Is direct democracy practical today? In a nation as big as ours, is it really possible to simultaneously gather the opinions of 300,000,000 people? Log on to our website and vote in our poll!
• Name three things about contemporary politics that seem like they're as bad as they could possibly be, but which we'll look back at in 10 years with nostalgia for how simple a time it was.
• What form of government would you like to see after our democracy finally eats itself, then shits itself out, and then re-eats its own self-shit in 2007? Express your answer in tears.

-America (The Book) - A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, by Jon Stewart

 

[Frowg]

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
-William Butler Yeats
He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven