It may be controversial to say, especially as an English teacher, but I write in my books. I’ve had students gasp at this comment, but it’s the way I read. I underline parts of the book that I like. I underline if I like the way the words sound, or as a silent “Yes!” or as a way to commit those literary quotes to my memory. This may all be a bit meta. Quoting author John Green, ”Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than about the stories and people we’re quoting.” If you’re also inspired by the words of others, read on to find some quotes from books that speak to you.
Quotes From Books for Children
1. “I know you’ll be kind … and clever … and bold. And the bigger your heart, the more it will hold. When nights are black and when days are gray—you’ll be brave and be bright so no shadows can stay. And become anybody that you’d like to be. And then I’ll look at you and you’ll look at me and I’ll love you, whoever you’ve grown up to be.” —The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin
Buy it: The Wonderful Things You Will Be on Amazon
2. “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” —The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Buy it: The Lorax on Amazon
3. “‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’” —The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco
Buy it: The Velveteen Rabbit on Amazon
4. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. …” —Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss
Buy it: Oh, the Places You’ll Go! on Amazon
5. “Remember, what is given from the heart reaches the heart.” —What Is Given From the Heart by Patricia C. McKissack
Buy it: What Is Given From the Heart on Amazon
6. “‘Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.’” —Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Buy it: Charlotte’s Web on Amazon
7. “‘He’s the strongest man in the world.’ ‘Man, yes,’ said Pippi, ‘but I am the strongest girl in the world, remember that.’” —Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren
Buy it: Pippi Longstocking on Amazon
8. “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams, and you will always look lovely.” —The Twits by Roald Dahl
Buy it: The Twits on Amazon
9. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” —Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Buy it: Peter Pan on Amazon
10. “We all can dance when we find music that we love.” —Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
Buy it: Giraffes Can’t Dance on Amazon
11. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”—Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Buy it: Little Women on Amazon
12. “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” —The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Buy it: The Little Prince on Amazon
13. “People who love each other are always connected by a very special string made of love. Even though you can’t see it with your eyes, you can feel it with your heart and know that you are always connected to everyone you love.” —The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
Buy it: The Invisible String on Amazon
14. “Setting out on an adventure is thrilling, but coming home is even better.” —Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Buy it: Where the Wild Things Are on Amazon
15. “But then I realized, what do they really know? This is MY idea, I thought. No one knows it like I do. And it’s okay if it’s different and weird, and maybe a little crazy.” —What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
Buy it: What Do You Do With an Idea? on Amazon
16. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” —Disney’s Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin by A.A. Milne
Buy it: Disney’s Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin on Amazon
17. “A little drop of paint lets your imagination run wild. A smudge and a smear can make magic appear.” —Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg
Buy it: Beautiful Oops! on Amazon
18. “Find your own way, you don’t have to follow the crowd. There’s only one you in this great big world.” —Only One You by Linda Kranz
Buy it: Only One You on Amazon
19. “So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.” —The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Buy it: The Phantom Tollbooth on Amazon
20. “You can’t expect everyone to have the same dedication as you.” —Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Buy it: Diary of a Wimpy Kid on Amazon
21. “There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t started wondering about yet.” —James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Buy it: James and the Giant Peach on Amazon
22. “It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do that is the secret of happiness.” —The Annotated Peter Pan (The Centennial Edition) by J.M. Barrie
Buy it: The Annotated Peter Pan (The Centennial Edition) on Amazon
23. “The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures, and have courage when things go wrong.” —Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Buy it: Little House on the Prairie on Amazon
24. “How much good inside a day? Depends on how good you live ’em. How much love is inside a friend? Depends on how much you give ’em.” —A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Buy it: A Light in the Attic on Amazon
25. “Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it … yet.” —Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Buy it: Anne of Green Gables on Amazon
26. “I guess you can’t fight nature. We are what we are.” —I Don’t Want To Be a Frog by Dev Petty
Buy it: I Don’t Want To Be a Frog on Amazon
27. “I love you right up to the moon and back.” —Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
Buy it: Guess How Much I Love You on Amazon
28. “Inside all of us is Hope. Inside all of us is Fear. Inside all of us is Adventure. Inside all of us is … A Wild Thing.” —Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Buy it: Where the Wild Things Are on Amazon
29. “Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better.” —Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Buy it: Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse on Amazon
30. “Not trying is much worse than failing.” —A World Without Failures by Esther Pia Cordova
Buy it: A World Without Failures on Amazon
31. “You never really know how far a smile can go. When one comes your way, it may have traveled thousands of miles and cheered millions of people before it reached you.” —The Smile That Went Around the World by Patrice Karst
Buy it: The Smile That Went Around the World on Amazon
32. “I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.” —A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Buy it: A Wrinkle in Time on Amazon
33. “Normal is whatever you are.” —Leo the Lop by Stephen Cosgrove
Buy it: Leo the Lop on Amazon
34. “Be who you are and say how you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” —The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Buy it: The Cat in the Hat on Amazon
35. “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times when one only remembers to turn on the light.” —Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Buy it: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Amazon
36. “Never hurry and never worry!” —Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Buy it: Charlotte’s Web on Amazon
37. “You’re great no matter what! You are worthwhile simply because you’re alive. Never forget this, and you’re sure to thrive.” —Unstoppable Me! by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Buy it: Unstoppable Me! on Amazon
38. “Who knows, my friend? Maybe the sword does have some magic. Personally, I think it’s the warrior who wields it.” —Redwall by Brian Jacques
Buy it: Redwall on Amazon
39. “The teacher taught me the word in school. I wrote it in my book. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Beautiful! I think it means something that when you have it, your heart is happy.” —Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
Buy it: Something Beautiful on Amazon
40. “Daddy tells me it is beautiful. That makes me proud. I love that my hair lets me be me!” —Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
Buy it: Hair Love on Amazon
41. “People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?” —Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Buy it: Anne of Green Gables on Amazon
42. “Well, maybe it started that way. As a dream, but doesn’t everything? Those buildings. These lights. This whole city. Somebody had to dream about it first. And maybe that is what I did. I dreamed about coming here, but then I did it.” —James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Buy it: James and the Giant Peach on Amazon
43. “Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?” —The Little White Bird by J.M. Barrie
Buy it: The Little White Bird on Amazon
44. “Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.”—Alice’s Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Buy it: Alice’s Wonderland on Amazon
45. “‘You have plenty of courage, I am sure,’ answered Oz. ‘All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.’” —The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Buy it: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Amazon
46. “Thank you for the sun above, thank you for my friends I love, thank you for the earth and air, thank you for the food to share.” —An Awesome Book of Thanks by Dallas Clayton
Buy it: An Awesome Book of Thanks on Amazon
47. “Books have to be heavy because the whole world’s inside them.” —Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Buy it: Inkheart on Amazon
48. “Finally the Rainbow Fish has only one shining scale left. His most prized possessions had been given away, yet he was very happy.” —The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Buy it: The Rainbow Fish on Amazon
49. “On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, ‘Life will never be the same.’” —On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
Buy it: On the Night You Were Born on Amazon
50. “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” —Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
Buy it: Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There on Amazon
51. “Frog said, ‘I wrote “Dear Toad, I am glad that you are my best friend. Your best friend, Frog.”’ ‘Oh,’ said Toad, ‘that makes a very good letter.’ Then Frog and Toad went out onto the front porch to wait for the mail. They sat there, feeling happy together.” —Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Buy it: Frog and Toad Are Friends on Amazon
52. “It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.” —Matilda by Roald Dahl
Buy it: Matilda on Amazon
53. “When Harry thought about Winnie and the voyage across the ocean, his head said, ‘I shouldn’t.’ His head said, ‘I can’t.’ But his heart made up his mind.” —Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick
Buy it: Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear on Amazon
54. “Out there, under the stars, I really tried to focus on myself and what I needed. I took walks, I read books, I floated in the river, I wrote in my journal and found simple moments to be quiet.” —The Good Egg by Jory John
Buy it: The Good Egg on Amazon
55. “Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child. Listen to the DON’TS. Listen to the SHOULDN’TS, the IMPOSSIBLES, the WONT’S. Listen to the NEVER HAVES. Then listen close to me—Anything can happen, child, ANYTHING can be.” —Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Buy it: Where the Sidewalk Ends on Amazon
Quotes From Books for Young Adults
56. “Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.” —Divergent by Veronica Roth
Buy it: Divergent on Amazon
57. “That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.” —The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Buy it: The Fault in Our Stars on Amazon
58. “I try to think about how it all works. At school dances, I sit in the background, and I tap my toe, and I wonder how many couples will dance to ‘their song.’ In the hallways, I see the girls wearing the guys’ jackets, and I think about the idea of property. And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are.” —The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Buy it: The Perks of Being a Wallflower on Amazon
59. “Things were rough all over but it was better that way. That way, you could tell the other guy was human too.” —The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Buy it: The Outsiders on Amazon
60. “You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” —Looking for Alaska by John Green
Buy it: Looking for Alaska on Amazon
61. “Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.” —Night by Elie Wiesel
Buy it: Night on Amazon
62. “I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It’s nice.” —The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Buy it: The Catcher in the Rye on Amazon
63. “I was half in love with her by the time we sat down.” —The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Buy it: Catcher in the Rye on Amazon
64. “I have a theory that selflessness and bravery aren’t all that different.” —Divergent by Veronica Roth
Buy it: Divergent on Amazon
65. “I think you can sort of slip out of your life and it can be hard to find a way back in.” —I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Buy it: I’ll Give You the Sun on Amazon
66. “THE BEST word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words.” —The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Buy it: The Book Thief on Amazon
67. “Dreams are hopeful because they exist as pure possibility. Unlike memories, which are fossils, long dead and buried deep.” —We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
Buy it: We Are the Ants on Amazon
68. “I wonder what it’s like to have that much power over a boy. I don’t think I’d want it; it’s a lot of responsibility to hold a person’s heart in your hands.” —To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Buy it: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Amazon
69. “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” —To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Buy it: To Kill a Mockingbird on Amazon
70. “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” —To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Buy it: To Kill a Mockingbird on Amazon
71. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” —The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Buy it: The Alchemist on Amazon
72. “Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.” —The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Buy it: The Year of Magical Thinking on Amazon
73. “The world may be mean, but people don’t have to be, not if they refuse.” —The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Buy it: The Underground Railroad on Amazon
74. “You may be born into a family, but you walk into friendships. Some you’ll discover you should put behind you. Others are worth every risk.” —They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Buy it: They Both Die at the End on Amazon
75. “I think that maybe forgiveness is like change—it comes in small steps.” —The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Buy it: The Adoration of Jenna Fox on Amazon
76. “I shiver, thinking how easy it is to be totally wrong about people—to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it’s the effect or vice versa.” —Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Buy it: Before I Fall on Amazon
77. “Books are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them.” —Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Buy it: Ignite Me on Amazon
78. “I am coming to terms with the fact that loving someone requires a leap of faith, and that a soft landing is never guaranteed.” —This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
Buy it: This Lullaby on Amazon
79. “We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither.” —These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Buy it: These Shallow Graves on Amazon
80. “The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe.” —Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Buy it: Eragon on Amazon
Classic Literature Quotes
81. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” —As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Buy it: As You Like It on Amazon
82. “I love her and that’s the beginning and end of everything.” —The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Buy it: The Great Gatsby on Amazon
83. “If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.” —Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Buy it: Wuthering Heights on Amazon
84. “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for.” —Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Buy it: Little Women on Amazon
85. “It is dreadful that one cannot tear out the past by the roots. We cannot tear it out but we can hide the memory of it.” —Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Buy it: Anna Karenina on Amazon
86. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” —A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Buy it: A Farewell to Arms on Amazon
87. “One day I will find the right words, and they all will be simple.” —The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Buy it: The Dharma Bums on Amazon
88. “All we can know is that we know nothing. And that’s the height of human wisdom.” —War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Buy it: War and Peace on Amazon
89. “Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.” —Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Buy it: Catch-22 on Amazon
90. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” —Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Buy it: Their Eyes Were Watching God on Amazon
91. “It’s funny. All one has to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.” —The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Buy it: The Catcher in the Rye on Amazon
92. “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” —A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Buy it: A Christmas Carol on Amazon
93. “You can’t pick out the pieces and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that’s the blessing.” —Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Buy it: Tuck Everlasting on Amazon
94. “All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.” —The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Buy it: The Fellowship of the Ring on Amazon
95. “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” —The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Buy it: The Hobbit on Amazon
96. “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.” —Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Buy it: Lord of the Flies on Amazon
97. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” —1984 by George Orwell
Buy it: 1984 on Amazon
98. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” —Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Buy it: Jane Eyre on Amazon
Literary Quotes From Memoirs
99. “The only way we will survive is by being kind. The only way we can get by in this world is through the help we receive from others. No one can do it alone, no matter how great the machines are.” —Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Buy it: Yes Please on Amazon
100. “Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions. … Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” —Bossypants by Tina Fey
Buy it: Bossypants on Amazon
101. “What’s so wrong with effort, anyway? It means you care.” —Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Buy it: Why Not Me? on Amazon
102. “People are their most beautiful when they are laughing, crying, dancing, playing, telling the truth, and being chased in a fun way.” —Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Buy it: Yes Please on Amazon
103. “It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there, it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators. They are the magic people of the world.” —Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Buy it: Yes Please on Amazon
104. “My life is my message.”—The Story of My Experiments With Truth by Mahatma Gandhi
Buy it: The Story of My Experiments With Truth on Amazon
105. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” —I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Buy it: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on Amazon
Like these quotes from books for students? Check out these poetry quotes to share with students too!
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