Explore Book Quotes

“But my hope was that when I failed, if I failed, I’d fail quickly, so I’d have enough time, enough years, to implement all the hard-won lessons. I wasn’t much for setting goals, but this goal kept flashing through my mind every day, until it became my internal chant: Fail fast.”

“Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable.”

“The true college will ever have one goal,—not to earn meat, but to know the end and aim of that life which meat nourishes.”

“What are you doing over there?” asked the dog. “Collecting feathers,” said Lotta. She turned around. “And what are you doing?” The dog squinted in the sun. It was early in the morning. The sun’s rays were slanted and did not give off much warmth. The dog was small and black and thin and very dirty.

“This is the story of the gnomes’ epic journey, set against the background of the English countryside, beginning in spring, continuing through summer, and concluding in autumn, when the first frosts are starting to arrive.”

“When she was walking me to the door, the librarian stopped at her desk and said, ‘Now I know that knowledge is a food, but I couldn’t help noticing you never went to eat. You must be very hungry.’ She handed me a paper bag and gave me another smile. ”

″‘Ever had your life ruined by someone with the last name Hawthorne?’ Alisa continued. I stared at her, then managed to answer more confidently this time. ‘No.’ Alisa smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘Lucky you.‘”

“You feel in the presence of something strange, and even, perhaps, a bit repugnant to you.”

“Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that it’s a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands.”

“Her eyes lingered a moment on Selia, and she found herself thinking, She would be better at playing princess than I am. The thought stung. Ani wanted so badly to do it right, to be regal and clever and powerful. But too often her only truly happy moments were the bursts of freedom, stolen afternoons on her horse’s back, brief, breathtaking rides past the stables to where the gardens turned wild, her lungs stinging with the cold, her muscles trembling with the hard ride.”