Beth > Beth's Quotes

“It begins, as most things begin, with a song. In the beginning, after all, were the words, and they came with a tune. That was how the world was made, how the void was divided, how the lands and the stars and the dreams and the little gods and the animals, how all of them came into the world. They were sung.
The great beasts were sung into existence, after the Singer had done with the planets and the hills and the trees and the oceans and the lesser beasts. The cliffs that bound existence were sung, and the hunting grounds, and the dark.
Songs remain. They last. The right song can turn an emperor into a laughingstock, can bring down dynasties. A song can last long after the events and the people in it are dust and dreams and gone. That's the power of songs.”
― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

“Interesting capitalization,' I said.
'Yeah. I'm a big believer in random capitalization. The rules of capitalization are so unfair to words in the middle.”
― John Green, Paper Towns

“The universe hiccups, and we poor fools try to figure out why.”
― Matthew Quick, The Good Luck of Right Now

“His use of the plural pronoun made me very suspicious.”
― Matthew Quick, The Good Luck of Right Now

“All humans are musical. Why else would the Lord give you a beating heart?”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“The secret is not to make your music louder, but to make the world quieter.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You cannot write if you do not read,” the blind man said. “You cannot eat if you do not chew. And you cannot play if you do not”—he grabbed for the boy’s hand—“listen.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“will share a secret: this is how talents are bestowed. Before newborns open their eyes, we circle them, appearing as brilliant colors, and when they clench their tiny hands for the first time, they are actually grabbing the colors they find most appealing. Those talents are with them for life. The lucky ones (well, in my opinion, the lucky ones) choose me. Music.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Everyone joins a band in this life. And what you play always affects someone. Sometimes, it affects the world.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You humans are always locking each other away. Cells. Dungeons. Some of your earliest jails were sewers, where men sloshed in their own waste. No other creature has this arrogance—to confine its own. Could you imagine a bird imprisoning another bird? A horse jailing a horse? As a free form of expression, I will never understand it. I can only say that some of my saddest sounds have been heard in such places. A song inside a cage is never a song. It is a plea.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“You cannot unplay your notes. Time, like music, is indelible that way.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“One must indeed test the strings to this life, bounce the bow, wet the mouthpiece, prepare for the deeper music that follows.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“I have said that music allows for quick creation. But it is nothing compared with what you humans can destroy in a single conversation.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“A teacher’s shadow can hover for life.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Talent is a piece of God's shadow. And under that shadow, human stories intersect.”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“What would you give to remember everything? I have this power. I absorb your memories; when you hear me, you relive them. A first dance. A wedding. The song that played when you got the big news. No other talent gives your”
― Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

“Faith is believing in something even without proof, because you know it in your heart to be true.”
― Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

“A man might desire something for a moment, while a larger part of him rejects it. You'll need to learn to judge people by their actions, not their thoughts.”
― Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

“The more he rode the trolleys and trains of New York, the more they seemed to form a giant, malevolent bellows, inhaling defenseless passengers from platforms and street corners and blowing them out again elsewhere.”
― Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

“Let me see if I understand correctly now," the Jinni said at one point. "You and your relations believe that a ghost living in the sky can grant you wishes."

"That is a gross oversimplification, and you know it."

"And yet, according to men, we jinn are nothing but children's tales?"

"This is different. This is about religion and faith."

"And where exactly is the difference?”
― Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

“Because the thing about love is that we can't control whether we get it, but we can control whether we give it.”
― Lisa Scottoline, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman

“Do you know what they call people who hoard books? Smart.”
― Lisa Scottoline, My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman

“Women shouldn't iron, ever. It's our wrinkles that make us interesting.”
― Lisa Scottoline, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman

“Our blood is the same, we just use it differently.”
― Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers

“If secrets were stuffing, the woman would be done up like a Thanksgiving turkey.”
― Lauren Oliver, Rooms

“...summers that slapped you in the face like a dog's tongue.”
― Lauren Oliver, Rooms

“What can I say about Trenton? A sad sprout of a human being, halfway between a boy and a broccoli.”
― Lauren Oliver, Rooms

“Music, I'd heard him say, was like dessert. He could live without it, but life just wasn't as good.”
― Sara Nović, Girl at War

“I wondered briefly if cats also came back after death, then dismissed the thought because as far as I had ever been able to tell, cats do not have a purpose.”
― W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog's Purpose

“I remembered the boy crying the day they buried Smokey in the yard, and I hoped he wouldn’t cry over my death. My purpose, my whole life, had been to love him and be with him, to make him happy.”
― W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog's Purpose