Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish. It’s a fun time for us all to indulge our inner compulsion to make lists about everything.
We all have that compulsion right? Right???
Anyway, the topic for this week is a doozy. I have to be honest. It’s so hard, I very nearly skipped it. But I can’t allow myself to be defeated by a challenge, so I’m rising to the occasion.
This week’s topic is my Top 10 Favorite Quotes from Books, but I have to say a few things about it before I start my list. First of all, these may not actually be my top 10 favorites. Why? Because I don’t have time tonight to re-read every book I’ve ever read and jot down my favorite quotes from all of them, and then narrow that extensive list down to a top 10. So instead, I looked up quotes from books that I remember being very quotable, and pulled some of the best ones.
You’ll also notice that all my quotes are from classic literature or fantasy. I love me some modern YA writing, but when it comes to quotes, I always prefer the eloquent and somewhat poetic writing style of older books and fantasy novels.
As an additional disclaimer: I could do this entire list with quotes from The Princess Bride. But that probably defeats the purpose of the list. So I’m only going to use a couple, and those couple are going to be unique to the book. As in, I will only use quotes that were not in the movie, even if they are amazingly awesome quotes. Because I don’t want anyone — anyone — to think that if they’ve seen the movie, they don’t need to read the book. Trust me, you need to read the book. Also, by the way, all the best lines in the movie are from the book.
So here they are! In no particular order, because just picking 10 quotes in the first place was hard enough. Putting them in an order would be excruciating.
My Top Ten Favorite Quotes from Books:
“People don’t remember me. Really. It’s not a paranoid thing; I just have this habit of slipping through memories. It doesn’t bother me all that much, except I guess that’s a lie; it does. For some reason, I test very high on forgettability.”
– The Princess Bride by William Goldman
“Enough about my beauty.” Buttercup said. “Everybody always talks about how beautiful I am. I’ve got a mind, Westley. Talk about that.”
– The Princess Bride by William Goldman
“I want to do something splendid…something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.”
– Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
– Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
– Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
“It’s all connected. When you save any part of the world, you’ve saved the whole world. In fact, that’s the only way it can be done.”
– Golden Fool by Robin Hobb
“When you cut pieces out of the truth to avoid looking like a fool you end up looking like a moron instead.”
– Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
“It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterward were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.”
– The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”
– Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
“Want for nothing but patience — or give it a more fascinating name: Call it hope.”
– Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
