Your favourite snippets from books

I love the author John Irving.
Here are some of my favourite quotes from some of his books:

“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“We often need to lose sight of our priorities in order to see them.”
― John Irving, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed


“A truly happy woman drives some men and almost every other woman absolutely crazy”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean––make sure they know what they mean!”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“Every American should be forced to live outside the United States for a year or two. Americans should be forced to see how ridiculous they appear to the rest of the world! They should listen to someone else's version of themselves--to anyone else's version! Every country knows more about America than Americans know about themselves! And Americans know absolutely nothing about any other country!”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“It´s natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you have to let everything happen to them. You can't interfere with people you love any more than you're supposed to interfere with people you don't even know. And that's hard, ..., because you often feel like interfering -you want to be the one who makes the plans.”
― John Irving, The Cider House Rules

Good grief. How long have you got? This will take me days to figure out. Damn you Eds.

eddie wrote:I love the author John Irving.
Here are some of my favourite quotes from some of his books:

“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“We often need to lose sight of our priorities in order to see them.”
― John Irving, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed


“A truly happy woman drives some men and almost every other woman absolutely crazy”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean––make sure they know what they mean!”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“Every American should be forced to live outside the United States for a year or two. Americans should be forced to see how ridiculous they appear to the rest of the world! They should listen to someone else's version of themselves--to anyone else's version! Every country knows more about America than Americans know about themselves! And Americans know absolutely nothing about any other country!”
― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany


“It´s natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you have to let everything happen to them. You can't interfere with people you love any more than you're supposed to interfere with people you don't even know. And that's hard, ..., because you often feel like interfering -you want to be the one who makes the plans.”
― John Irving, The Cider House Rules

My favourite quotes are often the funny moments in otherwise serious and profound stories. None of these are really 'serious' messages (some maybe) but they stood out enough that I even photographed the pages so I could look back and smile when looking through old photos

From Dicken's Tale of Two Cities. A HILARIOUS parody of lawyer speak:

"Silence in the court! Charles Darnay had yesterday pleaded Not Guilty to an indictment denouncing him (with infinite jingle and jangle) for that he was a false traitor to our serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, prince, our Lord the King, by reason of his having, on divers occasions, and by divers means and ways, assisted Lewis, the French King, in his wars against our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth; that was to say, by coming and going, between the dominions of our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, and those of the said French Lewis, and wickedly, falsely, traitorously, and otherwise evil-adverbiously(dying pmsl), revealing to the said French Lewis what forces our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, had in preparation to send to Canada and North America. This much, Jerry, with his head becoming more and more spiky as the law terms bristled it, made out with huge satisfaction, and so arrived circuitously at the understanding that the aforesaid, and over and over again aforesaid, Charles Darnay, stood there before him upon his trial; that the jury were swearing in; and that Mr. Attorney-General was making ready to speak."



From Brandon Sanderson's Oathbringer. Cause I LOVE a good bit of cheesy romance (this from a guy to the woman he just realised actually loves him):

"You mentioned something about kissing me until I can't breathe. But here I am, not even winded."

A character in the same book offers a silly but lovely opinion on a gay love:

"Drehy likes other guys. That's like … he wants to be even less around women than the rest of us. It's the opposite of feminine. He is you could say extra manly."



And from the legendary late Terry Pratchett, a funny if rather harsh view on the qualifications of parenting from Susan (Death's daughter):

"Sometimes I really think people ought to have to pass a proper exam before they're allowed to be parents." (I'm sometimes inclined to agree lol)


If I come across or recall anymore I'll be sure to pop them in here too

Liked those Les! Yes keep adding more!

Your Book has loads of great "Snippets" Eddie !

nicko wrote:Your Book has loads of great "Snippets" Eddie !

Which book? The one I posted on this thread or mine and Ben’s book?

Yours and Bens !

nicko wrote:Yours and Bens !

Why thank you Nicko! That’s really kind of you. You should read it...there’s some sex in it

nicko wrote:Yours and Bens !

Thanks so much, Nicko -- no better feeling as a writer than to have someone say they like your writing.

"And he turned his stupid face and looked at the sky like it was full of angels singing."

Barbara Vine - The House of Stairs.

Raggamuffin wrote:"And he turned his stupid face and looked at the sky like it was full of angels singing."

Barbara Vine - The House of Stairs.  

I like that.

“…we’re all part of nature. Some day the world will recognize this…”
― Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness


“There is something that mankind can never destroy in spite of an unreasoning will to destruction, and this is its own idealism, that integral part of its very being.”
― Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness


“What remained? Loneliness, or worse still, far worse because it so deeply degraded the spirit, a life of perpetual subterfuge, of guarded opinions and guarded actions, of lies of omission if not of speech, of becoming an accomplice in the world's injustice by maintaining at all times a judicious silence, making and keeping the friends one respected, on false pretences, because if they knew they would turn aside, even the friends one respected.”
― Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness


“Nothing appears to succeed like success in a world that is principally made up of failure.”
― Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness

This has to be one of the best things I’ve ever read.
It really resonates with me:


“Finally, spurred by the appetite to which he was indifferent, he took any one, read the printing on the parti-colored label of paper. He held the soup can like a skull; and at once he did not want it. The soup was made from celery. Mr. Lecky put it back. He stood in mild misery, harassed again by the plague of a will impotent in its restored freedom.

If the mind cannot direct, it can be cunning to protect its ease. Mr. Lecky now proposed a fantastic pact to himself. He shut his eyes. He reached again and took a can. Eyes still shut, he ripped the label from it, crumpled and threw away the paper. Now he could not tell what he had until he opened it.”
― James Gould Cozzens, Castaway

“People only ask questions when they're ready to hear the answers.”
― John Irving, The Cider House Rules

“It´s natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you have to let everything happen to them. You can't interfere with people you love any more than you're supposed to interfere with people you don't even know. And that's hard, ..., because you often feel like interfering -you want to be the one who makes the plans.”
― John Irving, The Cider House Rules