Literary Quotations

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

2006-01-29T09:13:00.000-06:00

“Every night when I go to bed I think, 'In the morning I will wake up in my own house and things will be back the way they were.' It hasn’t happened this morning, either."

(The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Chapter 31)

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

2006-01-28T06:28:00.000-06:00

“You cannot be always torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. … I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me.”

(The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien, Book VI, Chapter 9)

Night by Elie Wiesel

2006-01-27T21:31:00.000-06:00

“Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.”

(Night by Elie Wiesel, Section 3)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

2006-01-26T11:31:00.000-06:00

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

(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, Chapter 18)

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

2006-01-25T08:26:00.000-06:00

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.

(Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act II, Scene 2)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

2006-01-24T21:33:00.000-06:00

"The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides."

(20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, Chapter 10)

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

2006-01-23T23:49:00.000-06:00

"No more shall ye behold such sights of woe, deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought; henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see those ye should ne'er have seen; now blind to those whom, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know."

(Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

2006-01-21T20:54:00.000-06:00

"His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness in the object."

(The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Chapter 1)

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift

2006-01-20T07:05:00.000-06:00

"And he gave it for his opinion, "that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together."

(Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift, Chapter 7)

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

2006-01-19T17:17:00.000-06:00

"Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon."

(Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Act I)

Reginald by Saki

2006-01-18T09:04:00.000-06:00

"The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened. It's only the middle-aged who are really conscious of their limitations--that is why one should be so patient with them."

(Reginald by Saki)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

2006-01-17T10:09:00.000-06:00

"We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things."

(Dracula by Bram Stoker, Chapter 2)

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

2006-01-16T15:59:00.000-06:00

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before."

(The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

2005-11-05T21:30:00.000-06:00

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Act I, Scene 1)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

2005-11-04T21:42:00.000-06:00

"The scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too."

(The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Chapter 24)

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

2005-11-03T08:33:00.000-06:00

“There was a great contrast between his world pessimism and personal cheeriness.”

(A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

2005-11-02T08:54:00.000-06:00

"A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo’s heart: a glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering."

(The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Chapter 5)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

2005-11-01T08:38:00.000-06:00

“He had no articulate thought of anything; there was only this perfect sympathy of movement, of turning this earth of theirs over and over to the sun, this earth which formed their home and fed their bodies and made their gods.”

(The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck)

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

2005-10-31T09:03:00.000-06:00

“Live in the present, make the most of it, it’s all you’ve got.”

(The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Chapter 24)

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

2005-10-30T11:28:00.000-06:00

"The qualifications which frequently invest the facade of a prison with far more dignity than is found in the facade of a palace double its size lent to this heath a sublimity in which spots renowned for beauty of the accepted kind are utterly wanting."

(The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Chapter 1)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

2005-10-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow, the million moving shapes and cul-de-sacs of shadow. There was shadow in bureau drawers and closets and suitcases, and shadow under houses and trees and stones, and shadow at the back of people’s eyes and smiles, and shadow, miles and miles and miles of it, on the night side of the earth.”

(The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Chapter 12)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

2005-10-28T07:45:00.000-05:00

“The inexorable facts closed in on him like prison-warders handcuffing a convict. There was no way out – none. He was a prisoner for life, and now his one ray of light was to be extinguished.”

(Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Chapter 8)

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

2005-10-27T22:36:00.000-05:00

“It is useless to meet revenge with revenge; it will heal nothing.”

(The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien, Book VI, Chapter 8)

Night by Elie Wiesel

2005-10-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

“I could hear only the violin, and it was as though Juliek’s soul were the bow. He was playing his life. The whole of his life was gliding on the strings—his lost hopes, his charred past, his extinguished future. He played as if he would never play again.”

(Night by Elie Wiesel, Section 6)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

2005-10-25T07:28:00.000-05:00

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, Chapter 12)