If you’ve ever found yourself lost in the pages of a good book, only to stumble upon a line so powerful it feels like it was written just for you, then you’re in for a treat.
From classic tomes to contemporary page-turners, we’ve handpicked phrases that pack more punch than a triple espresso on a Monday morning.
Go grab your reading glasses and prepare to be inspired. Whether you’re looking for a new mantra to scribble on your mirror or just need a reminder that you’re the protagonist of your own story, these quotes are about to become your new best friends.
1. “Time will explain.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion
2. “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
3. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us”. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
4. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
5.“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
6. “The same question arose in every soul: ‘For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?’” – Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
7. “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” – Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
8. “Everything nourishes what is strong already.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
9. “Present fears / Are less than horrible imaginings.” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth
10. “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.” – Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
11. “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” – A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
12. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
13. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” – J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
14. “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” – Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
15. “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” – Kathryn Stockett, The Help
16. “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
17. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
18. “You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!” – Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
19. “And, now that you don’t have to be perfect you can be good.” – John Steinbeck, East of Eden
20. “We accept the love we think we deserve.” – Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
21. “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” – Stephen King, Different Seasons
22. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” – Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
23. “Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy.” – Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle
24. “But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.” – Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
25. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
26. “[Courage is] when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
27. “If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” – Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator
28. “The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real… it is possible… it’s yours.” – Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
29. “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
30. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
31. “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” – Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy
32. “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.” – Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
33. “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
34. “If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.” – John Green, Paper Towns
35. “Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.” – Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
36. “The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.” – Sun Tzu, Quotes from The Art of War
37. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” ― William Golding, Lord of the Flies
38. “All human wisdom is summed up in these two words – ‘Wait and hope.’” — Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
39. “It was a pleasure to burn.” — Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
40. “Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.” — Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
41. “The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past.” — William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun
42. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” — William Shakespeare, The Tempest
43. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
44. “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” — Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark
45. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
46. “Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.” ― Sally Rooney, Normal People
47. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
48. “You pierce my soul. I am half agony. Half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.” — Jane Austen, Persuasion
49. “And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
50. “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” — Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
51. “I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” ― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
52. “But man is not made for defeat,’ he said. ‘A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” — Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
53. “It is nothing to die; it is dreadful not to live.” — Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
54. “There is always something left to love.” ― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
55. “Oh, the places you’ll go! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” — Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
56. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” — Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
57. “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
58. “When you play the game of thrones you win or you die.” — George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
59. “The same substance composes us — the tree overhead, the stone beneath us, the bird, the beast, the star — we are all one, all moving to the same end.” ― P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins
60. “This above all: To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
61. “Tomorrow I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” — Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind
62. “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
63. “For you, a thousand times over.” — Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
64. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” — J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
65. “And may the odds be ever in your favor.” — Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
66. “Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.” — Alice Walker, The Color Purple
67. “The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42.” — Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
68. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” ― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
69. “Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.” — Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
70. “All we can know is that we know nothing. And that’s the height of human wisdom.” — Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
71. “We don’t have time, Nephew, time has us. It holds us in its mouth like an owl holds a field mouse.” ― Tommy Orange, There There
72. “The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there… and still on your feet.” — Stephen King, The Stand
73. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” — George Orwell, Animal Farm
No need to manually scour every book you’ve read as we’ve journeyed through a galaxy of literary brilliance. I hope these quotes have left you feeling as charged up as a bookworm at a library’s closing sale.
Remember, these pearls of wisdom aren’t just meant to be admired from afar. They’re tools for your life’s toolbox, ready to be whipped out whenever you need a boost, a reality check, or just a reminder that you’re not alone in this crazy adventure called life.
The next time you’re faced with a challenge, you might just hear one of these quotes whispering in your ear, giving you that extra push you need.
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Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.