Ivana > Ivana's Quotes

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

“I've always envied people who sleep easily. Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of the skull well swept, all the little monsters closed up in a steamer trunk at the foot of the bed.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“I was half asleep but I smiled. In spite of all his irritating qualities, I couldn't help liking a man who despised a fictional character with such passion.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“Truth might be stranger than fiction, but it needs a better editor.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“I have never been much of a patriot. My father would not have allowed such a thing while he lived, and his death insured that his wish was carried out. Piter commanded far more affection and loyalty from me than the nation as a whole. But that night, running across the unplowed fields of winter wheat, with the Fascist invaders behind us and the dark Russian woods before us, I felt a surge of pure love for my country.

We ran for the forest, crashing through the stalks of wheat, beneath the rising moon and the stars spinning farther and farther away, alone beneath the godless sky. ”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“You're a writer. Make it up.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“-What's the good news?
-Pardon?
-You said the bad news is we're going the wrong way.
-There isn't any good news. Just because there's bad news doesn't mean there's good news, too.”
― David Benioff, City of Thieves

“To stand up for someone was to stitch your fate into the lining of theirs.”
― Tom Rob Smith, Child 44

“There's nothing more stubborn than a fact. That is why you hate them so much. They offend you.”
― Tom Rob Smith, Child 44

“two people can sleep in the same bed and still be alone when they close their eyes”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Everyone may be ordinary, but they're not normal.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in fight, searching the skies for dreams.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“I never trust people with no appetite. It's like they're always holding something back on you.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Open your eyes, train your ears, use your head. If a mind you have, then use it while you can.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Deep rivers run quiet.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“I've always liked libraries. They're quiet and full of books and full of knowledge.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Genius or fool, you don't live in the world alone. You can hide underground or you can build a wall around yourself, but somebody's going to come along and screw up the works.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“If you have but one friend, make sure you choose her well.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“I have finally concluded, maybe that's what life is about: there's a lot of despair, but also the odd moment of beauty, where time is no longer the same. It's as if those strains of music created a sort of interlude in time, something suspended, an elsewhere that had come to us, an always within never. Yes, that's it, an always within never.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“Life has meaning and we grown-ups know what it is is the universal lie that everyone is supposed to believe. Once you become an adult and you realize that's not true, it's too late.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“They didn't recognize me," I repeat.
He stops in turn, my hand still on his arm.
"It is because they have never seen you," he says. "I would recognize you anywhere.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“Music plays a huge role in my life. It is music that helps me to endure ... well ... everything there is to endure.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“In the end, I wonder if the true movement of the world might not be a voice raised in song.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“I never talk during music--at least, during good music. If one hears bad music, it is one's duty to drown it in conversation.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

“The basis of optimism is sheer terror.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

“For readers, one of life’s most electrifying discoveries is that they are readers—not just capable of doing it (which Morris already knew), but in love with it. Hopelessly. Head over heels. The first book that does that is never forgotten, and each page seems to bring a fresh revelation, one that burns and exalts: Yes! That’s how it is! Yes! I saw that, too! And, of course, That’s what I think! That’s what I FEEL!”
― Stephen King, Finders Keepers

“A good novelist does not lead his characters, he follows them. A good novelist does not create events, he watches them happen and then writes down what he sees.”
― Stephen King, Finders Keepers