NationStates Jolt Archive

from books. What are some of your favorite quotes from books and why?

I'd have to say my top two are "Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively." from Lord of the Flies (when the 4 "good guys" were remembering when they killed a character (who won't be named to prevent ruining it for people who haven't read it) and all pretended they weren't there. I choose this one because it is a sentance that, out of context, makes no sense whatsoever.

My second favorite quote is from the novel "Carpe Jugulum" by Terry Pratchett (and for all of you that posted on my Discworld thread, I went out and got Night Watch and Small Gods today) This quote is "Nanny could find an innuendo in 'Good morning.' She could certainly find one in 'innuendo.' And 'buoys with glass balls' should have lasted her all week. She'd be avvosting total strangers and saying, 'You'll never guess what Agnes Nitt said...'"

I like that one because of the hilarious mental picture it creates. Note that Agnes and Nanny are witches

Pretty much any sentence in a Terry Pratchett book.

"The night methinks is but the daylight sick" -The Merchant of Venice

"Yes," the maiden said, smiling. "This is Heaven, the Celestial Shores. Welcome."
"God, I need a cigarette," Zhu Irzh said, coming out of a cabin.
The maiden looked scandalized. "This is Heaven! You can't smoke here!" -- Liz Williams, The Demon and the City

I don't know if anyone else has read this book - it's a sort of near-future occult detective story starring Detective Inspector Chen (Franchise Police Department, Precinct Thirteen, Singapore Three), Seneschal Zhu Irzh (Vice Division, Fourth District, Hell), and most of the Chinese pantheon. It's a sequel to Snake Agent, and I think the next book in the series (Precious Dragon) is due out sometime this year.

I found the quote amusing, I guess.

"My mother said violence never solves anything." "So?" Mr. Dubois looked at her bleakly. "I'm sure the city fathers of Carthage would be glad to know that." -Starship Troopers

"Don't you know about sergeants? ... They don't have mothers. Just ask any trained private." He blew smoke towards us. "They reproduce by fission ... like all bacteria." -Starship Troopers

I made a very important discovery at Camp Currie. Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more. All the wealthy, unhappy people you've ever met take sleeping pills; Mobile Infantrymen don't need them. Give a cap trooper a bunk and time to sack out in it, and he's as happy as a worm in an apple—asleep. -Starship troopers

Some things, the more you understand the more you loathe them. -Starship troopers

In a mixed ship, the last thing a trooper hears before a drop (maybe the last word he ever hears) is a woman's voice, wishing him luck. If you don't think this is important, you've probably resigned from the human race. -Guess.

I love that book.:D

Pretty much any sentence in a Terry Pratchett book.

Okay, I'll put you down for "The flames snapped out." Page 169 of Carpe Jugulum

"The night methinks is but the daylight sick" -The Merchant of Venice

Quite witty, would probably be funnier in context though (but don't, please, I can't stand old modern English )

"Yes," the maiden said, smiling. "This is Heaven, the Celestial Shores. Welcome."
"God, I need a cigarette," Zhu Irzh said, coming out of a cabin.
The maiden looked scandalized. "This is Heaven! You can't smoke here!" -- Liz Williams, [i]The Demon and the City

Can't say I have, but kinda funny being as heaven's all paradise and whatnot and he can't do what he wants ;P

Anything in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

Can't say I have, but kinda funny being as heaven's all paradise and whatnot and he can't do what he wants ;P

Well, I should make the point that he is a member of Hell's Vice Squad (which operates the other way to Earthly ones, in that it's concerned with the promotion of vice) and a demon. :D

Here's a quote from The Science of Discworld by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen;

"Humans seem to have created, independently, in many places and at various times, a Make-A-Real-Human-Being Kit, which begins with prohibitions about killing and theft and incest and is now groping towards our responsibilities to a natural world in which, despite its ability to hurt us mightily, we nevertheless have a godlike power.*

*Unfortunately, huge malicious destructive force is a god-like power."

"I know fucking well there's a God because I kill vampires for a living. Are you listening? I kill vampires for money. A lot of it. So don't tell me there ain't no God. I know fucking well there's a God.
I just don't understand Him."
Jack Crow

John Steakley - Vampire$

"The"

Every book ever written

"The"

Every book ever written

*looks for a book without the word "the" in it*

"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody" -The Catcher in the Rye

*looks for a book without the word "the" in it*
A Void translated by Gilbert Adair. Not only does it not use the word "the," but any other words with the letter "E."

A Void by Gilbert Adair. Not only does it not use the word "the," but any other words with the letter "E."

I've heard The Great Gatsby doesn't have an e in it either. Which doesn't make much sense to me cosidering the title The Great Gatsby has 2 e's in it

This is life and years of this will pass, for this is what is meant to be: shut the doors, shut the doors, shut the doors...

Anne Rice, Cry to Heaven

I've heard The Great Gatsby doesn't have an e in it either. Which doesn't make much sense to me cosidering the title The Great Gatsby has 2 e's in it

Yeah, that's not at all true. Maybe they were just trying to make it sound more interesting. Like when someone told me as a child that Ulysses began and ended in the middle of a sentence, and I thought that was really cool until I actually sat down and tried to read it.

'It is not sufficient that I should succeed. Everybody else must fail."
Apparently that was Genghis Khan :P

Also, see my sig.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." -Hunter S. Thompson

"In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."

-Dr. Manhattan to Adrian Veidt, Watchmen.

*looks for a book without the word "the" in it*

"La Disparition" (I think), of which the English translation is "A Void". 200 or so page novel without ever using the letter 'e'.

The author then wrote another where the only vowel used through the whole book was 'e'. He had a knack for that sort of thing.

Edit: Ah, I see it's already been mentioned. Probably worth noting that the original author was Georges Perec.

Yeah, that's not at all true. Maybe they were just trying to make it sound more interesting. Like when someone told me as a child that Ulysses began and ended in the middle of a sentence, and I thought that was really cool until I actually sat down and tried to read it.

I didn't bother checking, because then I'd either have to go to the library (which is in the next town over) and check it, or buy it at the nearest Barnes and Nobles (2 towns over) and never read it.

I didn't bother checking, because then I'd either have to go to the library (which is in the next town over) and check it, or buy it at the nearest Barnes and Nobles (2 towns over) and never read it.Why not check project Gutenberg?
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200041h.html

Books that age are usually available there for free.

Why aren't there anymore Andaras quotes in here? C'mon, people, I wanna see some 'Whats so bad about North Korea?' and similar.

Why aren't there anymore Andaras quotes in here? C'mon, people, I wanna see some 'Whats so bad about North Korea?' and similar.

Well when AP writes a book (as the OP asked) we will be able to quote it.

I have a few more favourite quotes

"There's no room in Court for philosophy"-Raphael Utopia

"I would rather govern rich men than be a rich man"- Fabricus, I may have paraphrased the quote, and I don't remember what book it was from, however, the Roman did say it.

"You must watch out for the presence of small mindedness. Nothing stops a mind constantly striving for an overview of all things more effectively than involvement in petty details" -Plato Republic

Again I may have paraphrased that quote but the point still comes across.

Why couldn't I have spotted this thread a few days earlier. I'll never be able to find the quote I'm looking for now. It's too far back. It's from A Picture of Dorian Gray from the chapter when Dorian murders Basil.

Don't know about favourite quote, but I watched Titus yesterday (film version of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus with Anthony Hopkins), which had the following quote in it, which tickled me:

DEMETRIUS
Villain, what hast thou done?

AARON
That which thou canst not undo.

CHIRON
Thou hast undone our mother.

AARON
Villain, I have done thy mother.
Quite remarkable how little the slang, or the humour, has changed since Shakespeare's day.