Macy_Novels at Night > Macy_Novels at Night's Quotes

“I'm a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don't read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“I’m a storyteller. I’ll work to make you believe me. Throw in some real stuff, change a few details, add the certainty of outrage. I know the use of fiction in a world of hard truth, the way fiction can be a harder piece of truth. The story of what happened, or what did not happen but should have—that story can become a curtain drawn shut, a piece of insulation, a disguise, a razor, a tool that changes every time it is used and sometimes becomes something other than we intended. The story becomes the thing needed.”
― Dorothy Allison, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”
― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

“Stop talking. Can't you see I'm detecting?”
― Ngaio Marsh, Death in Ecstasy

“My poor fat Alfie! He was not a romantic husband, but he was so kind and understanding. He never minded whether I was amusing or dull. He thought it impossible that I could be dull. I didn't have to bother about any of that.”
― Ngaio Marsh, Vintage Murder

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

“It is thanks to my evening reading alone that I am still more or less sane.”
― W.G. Sebald, Vertigo

“I’m gettin’ tired way past where sleep rests me.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

“The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink.”
― T.S. Eliot

“The important thing in life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
― Ray Hollar-Gregory

“Nothing is ever lost as time passes, it merely metamorphoses into something as wonderful or, in some cases, into something even better than before.”
― Carole Carlton, Mrs Darley's Pagan Whispers: A Celebration of Pagan Festivals, Sacred Days, Spirituality and Traditions of the Year

“I don’t think I ever felt as close to her as I did that night. Her desperation, her fear, her exhaustion—all of it seeped through her thin clothes and straight into my heart.”
― Masaji Ishikawa, A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

“No one could possibly understand what it meant to watch a person alter so drastically in front of them, to see them change and deteriorate until eventually there was just a hollow shell that no longer remotely resembled the person”
― Victoria Jenkins, The First One To Die

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
― Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Vol. 3: American Statesmen

“As you get older, it’s more difficult to have heroes, but it’s just as necessary.”
― Ernest Hemmingway

“Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Indian boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Indian boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none.”
― Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None

“O, Times! O, Manners! It is my opinion
That you are changing sadly your dominion
I mean the reign of manners hath long ceased,
For men have none at all, or bad at least;
And as for times, altho' 'tis said by many
The "good old times" were far the worst of any,
Of which sound Doctrine I believe each tittle
Yet still I think these worst a little.

I've been a thinking -isn't that the phrase?-
I like your Yankee words and Yankee ways -
I've been a thinking, whether it were best
To Take things seriously, Or all in jest”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Poetry, Tales and Selected Essays

“I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Complete Stories and Poems

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy

“Everything makes so much more sense, when you forget what life forces you to remember.”
― Constantina Maud, Hydranos

“There are two means of refuge from the misery of life — music and cats.”
― Albert Schweitzer

“Birds are poems I haven't caught yet”
― Jim Harrison

“A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.”
― Barack Obama

“There is truth in stories,” said Arthur. “There is truth in one of your paintings, boy or in a sunset or a couplet from Homer. Fiction is truth, even if it is not a fact. If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too.”
― Anonymous

“I've read two books a week for 30 years....I'm satisfied I know everything.”
― Kaye Gibbons

“He dreamed in ticker tape and calliope colors.”
― Bruce Olds, Bucking the Tiger