Here at Death of the Author Reviews we love quotes. Whether they be profound or silly they’re phrases that we love to send back and forth to one another. I don’t know how many times I’ve texted pictures of a page of a book I am reading to Chelsey with a captain. READ FROM THIS WORD HERE.
This week we’ve decided to share some of our favourite quotes with you guys. Some of these are fairly recent while others we’ve had kicking around in our notebooks and book journals for a long time.
Top Five Wednesday is a book tag started by GingerReadsLainey. Join the goodreads group to get each week’s topic and participate yourselves!
The following quotes are in no particular order.
5. David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
“A half finished book is like a half finished love affair”
This quote spoke to me in a way. Even if I’m not liking a book, I still feel the need to finish it and see how the story ends. If you’re a reader it’s something you’ll understand because these words sum up what it feels like to have a relationship with books.
4. N.M. Brown, Basalisk
“Never question Lady Luck she is fickle and follows no whim but her own”
This is from a novel that wasn’t exactly amazing, but it wasn’t awful either. Chelsey made me read it in high school. The novel is question was N.M. Brown’s Basalisk. It’s a weird little fantasy book that’s worth checking out. Yet despite all that these words became like a mantra to us in high school. It makes a lot of sense though, when you have good luck you never question it. You never know when good luck is going to come or when it will end. Everything is always up in the air and you just have to run with it.
3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
“I wish it not have been in my time”
“So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But it is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
This quote puts a lot in perspective. You only have so much time in your life and you shouldn’t waste your time worrying about everything that is happening around you. The quote spoke to me a lot when I was a kid. I had a really rough time at school, I was being bullied and I just wasn’t happy with who I was or where I was going. yet I took out of this that you have to do what you have to do and push forward.
Chelsey offers another interpretation. It’s such a universal human thing, looking at the time you’re living in and seeing just how awful everything is. Everyone does this at some point in their life and everyone can only just do with the time you’re given.
Also, it goes without saying that Ian McKellen’s delivery of this line in the film was amazing.
2. Victoria Hanley, The Seer and The Sword
“You never know when your life could change.
We will never walk together over fields of earth. We will never hear the birds in the morning. Oh I have lived with you and loved you and now you have gone away. Gone where I cannot follow. Until I have finished all of my days.”
This quote really summarizes what it’s like to suffer a loss of a loved one. Chelsey has always found this quote very poignant and feels that it would be fitting if you’ve ever had to give a eulogy.
Jonathan L. Howard, Johannes Cabal the Detective
“Whenever she sees a man who interests her in a certain way, she isn’t happy until that man has joined her for an evening of sport.”
It was obvious from Cabal’s face that he was working down a list of possible sports. The slight expression of consternation indicated that he had arrived at cricket. Leonie decided to pit him out of his misery. “She’s a bike. A tart. A slut. She’ll be buried in a Y-shaped coffin….”
Coming across this line for the first time was shocking. It’s the be all end all slut-shaming comment. Granted after this tirade the character goes on a bit of a rant about the inherent sexism in contemporary culture but still, it’s been something that has stuck with us for a long time.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
There was a word for this. It started with an h. It not only indicated you were a horrible waste of a person but also somehow seemed to indicate that you were fat.
What was it?
Oh, yeah. Hypocrite.
– Ann Brashares The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
“Are you kidding? That guy was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and crudely stapled to a ticking fucking time bomb. He was either going to hit somebody or start a blog.”
– Lev Grossman, The Magicians
So there you have it, some of our favourite quotes. This list was a lot of fun to put together, we may have to do a second part in the future.
What are your favourite quotes! Tell us about them in the comments below, and until then, happy reading!
