Books What are your favorite book quotes?

[destiny4ever]

Here’s a thread to post and share our favorite book quotes. Here is my first contribution to this thread :

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Cassandra Clare.
http://tmisource.com/2012/01/08/cassandra-clare-shares-full-greenhouse-scene-from-jaces-pov/

He reassures her, but he feels her soft laughter travel through their joined hands — how did that happen? — as they make their way downstairs.

And he understands. He understands why people hold hands: he’d always thought it was about possessiveness, saying This is mine. But it’s about maintaining contact. It is about speaking without words. It is about I want you with me and don’t go.

 

[destiny4ever]

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

"Well, you can go ahead and hang your head out of the car window if you feel like it."
Luke laughed. "I'm a werewolf, not a golden retriever."

• Clary and Luke, pg. 415

 

[kira]

a quote I really like but not sure what book or if it even came from a book.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

 

[SheepyTurtle]

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.


Dune, Frank Herbert

 

[Styx]

Some of my favorite:

“Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?' 'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

"All dwarves are bastards in their fathers eyes, but not all bastards need be dwarves." ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, the man who never reads lives only one." ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

"Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day." ― Robert Jordan, The Aiel's purpose

 

[Organizized]

I was gonna start off with some Terry Pratchett. Then I realized there are too many incredible quotes from this man to count. So I'll just list the few that immediately spring to mind:

'DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING', Death said. 'THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.' (Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman)

"Real stupidity beats artifical intelligence any time." (Hogfather by Terry Pratchett)

"Give a man a fire and he is warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." (Jingo, by Terry Pratchett)

"No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause on the world die away." (Reaper Man, by Terry Pratchett)

 

[reverie]

Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn't have the courage to say "yes" to life?
- Paulo Coelho (Eleven Minutes)

 

[Organizized]

Oh man, speaking of Coelho, I have one that's more of a story within a story than a quote, but I remember reading it when I was 14 and thinking it was one of the wisest things I ever read. The rest of the book is sort of forgotten, but this bit stuck with me through the years.

Spoiler: From The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho

A merchant sent his son to learn the Secret of Happiness from the wisest of men. The young man wandered through the desert for forty days until he reached a beautiful castle at the top of a mountain. There lived the sage that the young man was looking for.

However, instead of finding a holy man, our hero entered a room and saw a great deal of activity; merchants coming and going, people chatting in the corners, a small orchestra playing sweet melodies, and there was a table laden with the most delectable dishes of that part of the world.

The wise man talked to everybody, and the young man had to wait for two hours until it was time for his audience.

The Sage listened attentively to the reason for the boy’s visit, but told him that at that moment he did not have the time to explain to him the Secret of Happiness.

He suggested that the young man take a stroll around his palace and come back in two hours’ time.

“However, I want to ask you a favor,” he added, handling the boy a teaspoon, in which he poured two drops of oil. “While you walk, carry this spoon and don’t let the oil spill.”

The young man began to climb up and down the palace staircases, always keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. At the end of two hours he returned to the presence of the wise man.

“So,” asked the sage, “did you see the Persian tapestries hanging in my dining room? Did you see the garden that the Master of Gardeners took ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?”

Embarrassed, the young man confessed that he had seen nothing. His only concern was not to spill the drops of oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

“So, go back and see the wonders of my world,” said the wise man. “You can’t trust a man if you don’t know his house.”

Now more at ease, the young man took the spoon and strolled again through the palace, this time paying attention to all the works of art that hung from the ceiling and walls.
He saw the gardens, the mountains all around the palace, the delicacy of the flowers, the taste with which each work of art was placed in its niche. Returning to the sage, he reported in detail all that he had seen.

“But where are the two drops of oil that I entrusted to you?” asked the sage.

Looking down at the spoon, the young man realized that he had spilled the oil.

“Well, that is the only advice I have to give you,” said the sage of sages.
“The Secret of Happiness lies in looking at all the wonders of the world and never forgetting the two drops of oil in the spoon.”

 

[Single Soul]

“Enjoy your youth.
You'll never be younger than
you are at this very moment.”
― Chad Sugg

 

[Spirit]

"We looked around for the bag and Blitzen points excitedly. "There it is!" I look to where he's pointing and see a mountain range, flattening into a plateau at the top. But, of course it wasn't actually a mountain range. It was a giant, leathery bowling bag..."
~ From Rick Riordan's "Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor"

 

[destiny4ever]

“Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Men

 

[Sanity Check]

Dokkōdō by Musashi Miyamoto

 

[destiny4ever]

“‘What day is it?’, asked Winnie the Pooh.

‘It’s today,’ squeaked Piglet.

‘My favorite day,’ said Pooh.”

— A. A. Milne, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh