Lydia Schoch

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Here is my list. It will be interesting to see how everyone’s interpretations of what makes a quote memorable line up!

“I am not an angel,” I asserted; “and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course, but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: “Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!” And they will say: “Yes, that’s one of my favourite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?” “Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that’s saying a lot.”
‘It’s saying a lot too much,’ said Frodo, and he laughed, a long clear laugh from his heart. Such a sound had not been heard in those places since Sauron came to Middle-earth. To Sam suddenly it seemed as if all the stones were listening and the tall rocks leaning over them. But Frodo did not heed them; he laughed again. ‘Why, Sam,’ he said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”‘
‘Now, Mr. Frodo,’ said Sam, ‘you shouldn’t make fun. I was serious.’
‘So was I,’ said Frodo, ‘and so I am.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

“You know what would help this boy?” Demeter mused. “Farming.”
Persephone rolled her eyes. “Mother-”
“Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building.”
― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

“I can’t imagine how anyone can say: “I’m weak,” and then remain so. After all, if you know it, why not fight against it, why not try to train your character? The answer was: “Because it’s so much easier not to!”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

You are the biggest fool of a boy I’ve ever known,” Mott said. Then his tone softened. “But you will serve Carthya well.”
“I wish I felt ready to do this,” I said. “The closer we come to the moment, the more I see every defect in my character that caused my parents to send me away in the first place.”
“From all I’m told, the prince they sent away was selfish, mischievous, and destructive. The king who returns is courageous, noble, and strong.”
“And a fool,” I added
Mott chuckled. “You are that too.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The False Prince

“Don’t the great tales never end?”
“No, they never end as tales,” said Frodo. “But the people in them come, and go when their part’s ended. Our part will end later – or sooner.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

“What are you reading?” Owen asks.
“Charlotte’s Web,” Liz says. “It’s really sad. One of the main characters just died.”
“You ought to read the book from end to beginning,” Owen jokes. “That way, no one dies, and it’s always a happy ending.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Elsewhere

“Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot”. ~Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1958, spoken by the character Holly Golightly”
― Truman Capote

“Allow me to tell you, Mr Taylor,” said I, but quietly as the occasion demanded, “that one gentleman does not rejoice at the misfortune of another in public”.”
― William Golding

“To think that this is my twentieth birthday, and that I’ve left my teens behind me forever,” said Anne, who was curled up on the hearth-rug with Rusty in her lap, to Aunt Jamesina who was reading in her pet chair. They were alone in the living room. Stella and Priscilla had gone to a committee meeting and Phil was upstairs adorning herself for a party.

“I suppose you feel kind of sorry,” said Aunt Jamesina. “The teens are such a nice part of life. I’m glad I’ve never gone out of them myself.”

Anne laughed.

“You never will, Aunty. You’ll be eighteen when you should be a hundred. Yes, I’m sorry, and a little dissatisfied as well. Miss Stacy told me long ago that by the time I was twenty my character would be formed, for good or evil. I don’t feel that it’s what it should be. It’s full of flaws.”

“So’s everybody’s,” said Aunt Jamesina cheerfully. “Mine’s cracked in a hundred places. Your Miss Stacy likely meant that when you are twenty your character would have got its permanent bent in one direction or ‘tother, and would go on developing in that line. Don’t worry over it, Anne.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island