45 of the Best Literary Quotes From Our Favorite Books

“If you tell the truth, you do not need a good memory.”
— The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
— The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
— Autumn Leaves by André Gide

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
— The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”
— A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
— I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

“To be, or not to be: that is the question.”
— Hamlet by William Shakespeare

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.”
— Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway.”
— To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
— Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
— A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“Books have to be heavy, because the whole world’s inside them.”
— Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
— Animal Farm by George Orwell

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
— 1984 by George Orwell

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
— A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”
— The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“We read to know we are not alone.”
— Shadowlands by C.S. Lewis

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
— The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”
— Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
— Pooh’s Little Instruction Book by A.A. Milne

“Call me Ishmael.”
— Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
— Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
— The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

“Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.”
— Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
— The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.”
— Looking for Alaska by John Green

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
— The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”
— Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
— Hamlet by William Shakespeare

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”
— Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
— A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.”
— Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”
— Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

“There are darknesses in life and there are lights.”
— Dracula by Bram Stoker

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
— This Is My Life by Eleanor Roosevelt

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
— Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare