Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books. And who doesn’t love lists??
So this week the challenge was the Tuesday Rewind – go back and pick a topic that you really liked or one that you missed from a previous week. Since I haven’t been doing this for too long I had a lot to choose from and decided to go with a list of some of my favorite book quotes. I may have ended up with more than ten… and there were so many more that I wanted to add!
First, two quotes from the amazing Book Thief by Markus Zusak…
- I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.
- I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race—that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
None of those things, however, came out of my mouth.
All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.
I am haunted by humans.
And then I will move on to another ten… 😉
- The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. – Dr. Seuss, I Can Read with my Eyes Shut
- Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. – John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
- Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. – A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
- “Once upon a time,” he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him. – Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux
- “Harry — I think I’ve just understood something! I’ve got to go to the library!”
And she sprinted away, up the stairs.
“What does she understand?” said Harry distractedly, still looking around, trying to tell where the voice had come from.
“Loads more than I do,” said Ron, shaking his head.
“But why’s she got to go to the library?”
“Because that’s what Hermione does,” said Ron, shrugging. “When in doubt, go to the library.” – J.K. Rowling, The Chamber of Secrets - “But you want murderous feelings? Hang around librarians,” confided Gamache. “All that silence. Gives them ideas.” – Louise Penny, Rule Against Murder
- Walking the stacks in a library, dragging your fingers across the spines-it’s hard not to feel the presence of sleeping spirits. – Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
- “The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are. They’re Caesar’s praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, ‘Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.’ Most of us can’t rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends. The things you’re looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book. Don’t ask for guarantees. And don’t look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.” – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
- “It’s like the people who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you see what I mean.” – Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
- From time to time, I do consider that I might be mad. Like any self-respecting lunatic, however, I am always quick to dismiss any doubts about my sanity. – Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas
Watching the Words 