Favorite Books and Quotes That Inspire Greatness
We all have a favorite book, or books. Ones that we can read over and over without getting sick of. Characters we never get bored with, love stories that stay fresh no matter how many times we read them, words that inspire every time we whisper them in our minds. These are the things that makes a book great. Books that stay on our minds have the power to live with us long after we first turn those precious pages. Their words inspire us, shock us, make us laugh, bring us to tears, get us angry, fill us joy. The very things the author wishes every reader will do when reading their words. Every one of my favorite books have quotes that stick with me, that constantly pop into my head.
Below, I will be posting a list of my all-time favorite books and my favorite quotes from them. As you read them, think of your own favorites and why they qualify for that prestigious position. Look at those quotes, not just as a reader, but as a writer. Your goal should be to write such unforgettable words as well! I'd love to hear your favorites and quotes, so feel free to post them in the comments below!
The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
(Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows)
Why:
The Harry Potter series took us from childhood wonder to the tough decisions of adulthood. The series was rather dark from the get-go (a great evil you-know-what is trying to kill young Harry every book) and get's darker with each book. Pretty heavy stuff for children and teens. But it wasn't all doom and gloom. JK Rowling expertly layers the series with hope, love, perseverance, dedication, loyalty, and unyielding friendship that makes the series some of the greatest books ever written. I've reread the entire series multiple times and get something new every time.
Quotes:
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."
"'The truth.' Dumbledore sighed. 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.'"
"'There are all kinds of courage,' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.'"
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
"You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!"
"Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it."
"Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one that rises against them and strikes back!"
"The true master does not run away from Death. He accepts that he must die and knows that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying."
"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love."
Twilight Saga - Stephanie Meyer
(Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn)
(Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn)
Why:
Forget the movies for a second, especially since the books are ALWAYS better than Hollywood's version. Forget that the whole series seems to rotate around a girl that is so transfixed on one guy that she is willing to die for him. The unconditional and unstoppable love in this series is really what has me. First Bella's love for Edward then the love for their child that she's also willing to die for. Some favorite themes for this young adult novel? 1) They didn't have sex until they were married 2) Friends stood up to their families for what was right 3) Abortion wasn't an option, though her life was at risk. All very good morals that young people need to have more examples of in today's world. Despite Bella's desperate need to have Edward in her life (it really borders on crazy chick at the end of the first novel), I've read all these books multiple times and still feel her pain and anguish (over losing Edward) and Edward's unyielding devotion to her.
Quotes:
“I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.”
“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”
“Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved.”
“The right thing isn't always real obvious. Sometimes the right thing for one person is the wrong thing for someone else. So...good luck figuring that out.”
"Forbidden to remember, terrified to forget; it was a hard line to walk."
"One thing I truly knew — knew it in the pit of my stomach, in the center of my bones, knew it from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, knew it deep in my empty chest — was how love gave someone the power to break you. I'd been broken beyond repair."
“The way you move - you orient yourself around him without even thinking about it. When he moves, even a little bit, you adjust your position at the same time. Like magnets...or gravity. You're like a satellite, or something. I've never seen anything like it.
“You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers – the monsters, the enemies. When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?”
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Why:
Even though it was written over a hundred years ago, the story of love, and the struggle it can be to attain it, still applies today. Pride and Prejudice is a inspiration to many of today's romance writers. It's also one of the most realistic portrayals of what a dysfunctional but loving family is. Which is quite hilarious to read. ;)
Quotes:
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.”
“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome."
"And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody."
"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is wilfully to misunderstand them.”
"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."
"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
"You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."
"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."
Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini
(Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance)
Why: This coming-of-age trilogy takes us on an epic journey in the beautiful fantasy world of Alagaesia. I've always been a fan of dragon fantasy books, ever since falling in love with Anne MacCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern books when I was a pre-teen. The Inheritance Cycle is like a cross between Ann McCaffrey's books and Tolkein's Lord of the Rings books. Epic, amazing, creative, full of twists and turns, and lessons learned. I've reread this entire series at least five times since the last book came out... that's how much I love them.
Quotes:
“When you teach them-teach them not to fear. Fear is good in small amounts, but when it is a constant, pounding companion, it cuts away at who you are and makes it hard to do what you know is right.”
“It's impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.”
“You cannot learn what you are made of if you rely on anyone or anything else to help you.”
“Let go of your worries and focus only on the task at hand. The future will be what it will, and fretting about it will only make your fears more likely to come true."
“I am not who I was, but I know who I am.”
Dragon Riders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
(20+ books)
Why:
I loved every one of the Pern books from Anne McCaffrey, though reading them as a pre-teen/teen, a few of them had content not exactly suited for YA. But the science fiction/fantasy, the love for dragons that the first book created, the description of such an amazing place, had me hooked. I reread many of the books throughout junior high and high school. Written in the 60's and 70's, though that fact isn't obvious as you're reading. Great story-telling. Each book can stand on it's own and fits in the entire series perfectly.
Quotes:
"Children's voices - even those who couldn't carry the tune - are always appealing"
"Were not ballads constructed to inform? To teach those who could not read and write? So that the young Pernese, whether he be dragonman, Lord, or holder, might learn his duty toward Pern and rehearse Pern’s bright history?"
"Sometimes secrets are the only thing some people can truly call their own."
"Some people who have perfectly good eyes only see what they want."
"Today is the mother of tomorrow."
"Worlds are lost or worlds are saved, from those dangers dragon-braved."
"He would hurt you! He would own you! You are mine, and I am yours, and no one comes between us!"
“When bad fortune occurs, the unresourceful, unimaginative man looks about him to attach the blame to someone else; the resolute accepts misfortune and endeavors to survive, mature, and improve because of it.”
The Silver Wolf - Alice Borchardt
Why:
For being a romance writer/reader, I have an absolute fascination with fantasy type novels. The Silver Wolf is about a young girl hiding a secret, that she is a shape shifter. But that secret in ancient Rome, when the pope's power is on the rise, is a death sentence. Coupled with having disgustingly evil family members that want to sell her to the highest bidder, the story is tinged with heartbreak, saddness and suspense. But the young heroine is stronger than even she knew and the journey she takes is a great one. I've re-read this book multiple times and it still has not lost the power to move me. :)
Quotes:
"I don’t plan to love him. I plan to survive him.”
"Love is eternal. That is its terror and its final beauty. Love never ends. The joy may go out of it, and, in time, even the pain may end. But it lingers like a living thing and follows you every moment of your life."
“Death alone gives meaning to life, and you will never fully live until you know you must die. And make your peace with that knowledge.”
"I was born of darkness. My father's eyes closed before mine opened. I am not of this world or the other, and I have the right to be what I am."
“We are all animals," Regeane said. "No more, no less.”
“Without love," she said, "we are as the painted images on glass widows of a church are without the sun, only shadows. Love illumines our lives. When its rays cease to shine into our days, we are nothing.”
“Women have the power of life and death. We, after all, give birth and the fate of humanity is in our hands. That's why men try so hard to rule us, my dear.”
“My father told me that if a man is the head of a house, the woman is its heart. And a man without a heart is no more than a corpse.”
"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
"You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."
"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."
Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini
(Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance)
Why: This coming-of-age trilogy takes us on an epic journey in the beautiful fantasy world of Alagaesia. I've always been a fan of dragon fantasy books, ever since falling in love with Anne MacCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern books when I was a pre-teen. The Inheritance Cycle is like a cross between Ann McCaffrey's books and Tolkein's Lord of the Rings books. Epic, amazing, creative, full of twists and turns, and lessons learned. I've reread this entire series at least five times since the last book came out... that's how much I love them.
Quotes:
“When you teach them-teach them not to fear. Fear is good in small amounts, but when it is a constant, pounding companion, it cuts away at who you are and makes it hard to do what you know is right.”
“It's impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.”
“You cannot learn what you are made of if you rely on anyone or anything else to help you.”
“Let go of your worries and focus only on the task at hand. The future will be what it will, and fretting about it will only make your fears more likely to come true."
“I am not who I was, but I know who I am.”
Dragon Riders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
(20+ books)
Why:
I loved every one of the Pern books from Anne McCaffrey, though reading them as a pre-teen/teen, a few of them had content not exactly suited for YA. But the science fiction/fantasy, the love for dragons that the first book created, the description of such an amazing place, had me hooked. I reread many of the books throughout junior high and high school. Written in the 60's and 70's, though that fact isn't obvious as you're reading. Great story-telling. Each book can stand on it's own and fits in the entire series perfectly.
Quotes:
"Children's voices - even those who couldn't carry the tune - are always appealing"
"Were not ballads constructed to inform? To teach those who could not read and write? So that the young Pernese, whether he be dragonman, Lord, or holder, might learn his duty toward Pern and rehearse Pern’s bright history?"
"Sometimes secrets are the only thing some people can truly call their own."
"Some people who have perfectly good eyes only see what they want."
"Today is the mother of tomorrow."
"Worlds are lost or worlds are saved, from those dangers dragon-braved."
"He would hurt you! He would own you! You are mine, and I am yours, and no one comes between us!"
“When bad fortune occurs, the unresourceful, unimaginative man looks about him to attach the blame to someone else; the resolute accepts misfortune and endeavors to survive, mature, and improve because of it.”
The Silver Wolf - Alice Borchardt
Why:
For being a romance writer/reader, I have an absolute fascination with fantasy type novels. The Silver Wolf is about a young girl hiding a secret, that she is a shape shifter. But that secret in ancient Rome, when the pope's power is on the rise, is a death sentence. Coupled with having disgustingly evil family members that want to sell her to the highest bidder, the story is tinged with heartbreak, saddness and suspense. But the young heroine is stronger than even she knew and the journey she takes is a great one. I've re-read this book multiple times and it still has not lost the power to move me. :)
Quotes:
"I don’t plan to love him. I plan to survive him.”
"Love is eternal. That is its terror and its final beauty. Love never ends. The joy may go out of it, and, in time, even the pain may end. But it lingers like a living thing and follows you every moment of your life."
“Death alone gives meaning to life, and you will never fully live until you know you must die. And make your peace with that knowledge.”
"I was born of darkness. My father's eyes closed before mine opened. I am not of this world or the other, and I have the right to be what I am."
“We are all animals," Regeane said. "No more, no less.”
“Without love," she said, "we are as the painted images on glass widows of a church are without the sun, only shadows. Love illumines our lives. When its rays cease to shine into our days, we are nothing.”
“Women have the power of life and death. We, after all, give birth and the fate of humanity is in our hands. That's why men try so hard to rule us, my dear.”
“My father told me that if a man is the head of a house, the woman is its heart. And a man without a heart is no more than a corpse.”
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