Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book blog meme now hosted by Jana over at The Artsy Reader Girl!
This week's topic is: Inspirational/Thought-Provoking Book Quotes Favorite Quotes from my Favorite Books According to Goodreads
When I read, I use those small sticky note tabs to mark up passages and quotes that I like, and this usually results in a lot of highlighted quotes. Because of that, I decided to tweak this prompt quite a bit. Instead of picking quotes I like from books I love, I decided to go on Goodreads and see what quotes other readers loved the most. To do this, I went to the page of a specific book, clicked on the "Quotes from the Book" section, and picked the one with the highest number of votes (which I'm taking to mean it's the most popular). I chose to use the seven most recent books I added to my favorites shelf to do this (so you've probably seen these books recently, sorry!). This is actually an idea I've toyed with doing for a while, so I may continue this some other time with quotes from my most disliked, more favorites, etc. But for now, let's jump in and see what quotes people like!
“No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail.”
from Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
I really like this one and I think honestly think it's rather motivational. I actually think this is something I should keep in mind, seeing as how negative and cynical I tend to be about things...
“I have plucked snowdrops at Midwinter, died at my own choosing, and wept for a nightingale. Now I am beyond prophecy.”
from The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
This is one of the quotes from this books that has stuck in my head--it feels so powerful and iconic (kind of like Vasya!).
“It was better to tell such stories close to the river than in a drawing room. Words accumulate indoors, trapped by walls and ceilings. The weight of what has been said can lie heavily on what might yet be said and suffocate it. By the river the air carries the story on a journey: one sentence drifts away and makes way for the next.”
from Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
I had to do the second most popular one because the first one was the last line of the book and although there are no spoilers, that line meant a lot to me and I think it's best appreciated having read the book. I love this quote, though! It's so magical and full of wonder.
“You can put your trust in something that’s obvious, that’s measurable or predictable - but that's not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, it cannot have proof as its foundation.”
from The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
Totally agree with the idea behind this one and I love how it's explained. To me it's like having faith in a person or a medical treatment--there's no firm proof, but you just have to put yourself out there and try.
“Once upon a time there was a silence that dreamed of becoming a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music.”
from Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor“To live is to be vulnerable. A thin membrane of a soap bubble separates one from impenetrable hell. Ice on the road. The unlucky division of an aging cell. A child picks up a pill from the floor. Words stick to each other, line up, obedient to the great harmony of speech . . .”
“There are words that are simply trash, refuse, they turn into nothing immediately after they are spoken. Others throw shadows, hideous and pathetic, and sometimes gorgeous and powerful, capable of saving a dying soul. But only a few of these words become human beings and pronounce other words. And everyone in the world has a chance of encountering someone whom he himself spoke out loud . . .”
from Vita Nostra by Marya & Sergeo Dyachenko
This one had an equal number of likes for multiple quotes, so I just chose the first two that I remember liking quite a bit. These two are honestly such a perfect, small taste of what lays within the pages of this book. It's phenomenal.
“There are few sounds at night on the frozen sea besides the roar of the wind. No plants to rustle, no waves to crash upon the shore, no birds to caw. The white owl flies on hushed wings. The white fox walks with silent tread. Even Inuit move as softly as spirits, the snow too hard to yield and crunch beneath our boots. We hear little, but what we do hear is vital: the exploding breath of a surfacing seal, the shift and crack of drifting ice. But in the forest there is always sound. The trees, even in their shrouds of snow, are alive, and their voices--groans, creaks, screams--never cease.”
“Why would I continue life as a man trapped in a girl’s body when I could just as easily fly into the heavens or run with the wolves?”
“Why would I continue life as a man trapped in a girl’s body when I could just as easily fly into the heavens or run with the wolves?”
from The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Similar to Vita Nostra, The Wolf in the Whale had the same number of likes for each quote (zero!?), so I just chose the first two, which I was pretty satisfied with since it showcases Brodsky's stunningly beautiful prose so well..
Have you read any of these books/do you like any of these quotes? What are some quotes you love from books you've recently loved?
