Literary Quotations

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:13:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 12:28:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 03:31:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 17:31:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 03:33:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 05:49:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 02:54:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 13:05:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 23:17:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 15:04:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:09:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:59:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 03:30:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 03:42:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 14:33:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 14:54:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 14:38:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 15:03:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 17:28:00 +0000

"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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 14:31:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 12:45:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 03:36:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 01:20:00 +0000

“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

noreply@blogger.com (Michele) — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:28:00 +0000

“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)