My Favorite Book Quotes of All Time – Part 2 | #Blogtober22 – Day 19

Here’s part 1 of this series: My Favorite Book Quotes of All Time – Part 1.

Books make life more understandable. They give us the time to think about every possible thing in the world, mostly about people and their behavior. They explain to us calmly whatever they are trying to say. We can pause and reflect on what the author is saying without having to rush on with the next point in the flow. Which is why I love reading to no end. It makes me, me. As I mentioned in the previous post in this series, I’m not nothing without books and reading, but a huge part of me would be missing if reading wasn’t in my life. Reading makes me a better person.

And while I read, I give my all to it. I maintain a notebook to note down my thoughts about the books that I am reading, and I jot down the quotes that I like. I later transfer them to another notebook that’s specifically for these quotes. I’ve filled up 4 so far and have started on a fifth, which might give you an idea about how long this series is going to be. The short answer is: very long. 😛

In the past many months, however, I’ve also come to tab and annotate some of the books that I’m reading. Of course, I can’t do that to library books or ebooks, but the books that I own that I think are impactful, I highlight, tab, annotate, and write in them. Some examples are In Other Words, Translating Myself and Others, Interior Chinatown, and Mythos. Since these books are going to stay with me for the rest of eternity, I don’t think I need to note down quotes from them. However, I have noted some from books like Roar.

The books that you will see in today’s blog post are from a time when I was a strict no-noer when it came to tabbing and annotating. Along with listing the quotes from these books, I’ll also be explaining why I loved any particular quote, as was asked for previously. Let’s go on the second leg of this journey and let me share with you my favorite book quotes of all time, from 7 books that I’ve read in my lifetime. Some of these books are favorites, some aren’t, and some I’m indifferent to. A little bit like life, if you may. 😉

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One of the most gut-wrenching books to exist out there, Things Fall Apart could tear you from the inside out, yet make you declare that it’s your favorite book. It’s not just in the way it tells its story, but also the truths about stories and storytelling in itself that it lays down for us to read and absorb. Here’s what Achebe says:

“There is no story that is not true. The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others.“

Which is something that I believe with everything I have. If someone is different from you or if they’ve had different experiences than what you’ve had, it does not mean that they’re bad. What is bad in some cultures are good in some, and what is good in some is bad in others. So to think that one’s own story or one’s own truth is the only truth to exist is not only arrogant, but also disrespectful to humanity as a whole. Saying that humankind has just one truth is denying its different colors, its possibilities, its different layers, the different stories that makes humankind what it is.

I could go on about this for ages, but I’ve already spoken about this in bookish context in a previous Blogtober post. Here’s the link if you’d like to go check it out: Overhyped Books.

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I’ve spoken about why I love Ruskin Bond as recently as the latest book recommendations blog post and video that I made. He’s such a sweet, grandfatherly figure and his stories – apart from a few – give these vibes. Here’s something about writing and typing that he talks about that made me question my own likes and preferences:

“A machine in front of me is rather daunting. A pen is more personal and that gives me some control over it – a feeling of power as the words flow with the electric thrill that runs down my arm, through my fingers and onto the clean white page. It is a sensuous act, writing by hand. The feel of the paper, as my hand glides over it, its touch, and its texture. The flow of ink, the gliding motion of the pen, the letters themselves as they appear as if by magic in my individual script. No two people have the same handwriting. Your character, your personality is revealed the minute you put pen to paper.”

I agree with him when he says that a pen is more personal, but I don’t find a machine, a laptop, to be more daunting. In fact, it eases my work and my pain, given my arthritis. Agreed that it doesn’t equate writing by hand to any end and I also agree that a handwriting can reveal so much about any given person. Maybe that’s one more reason why I do love typing just a little more at this point in my life. I can type my thoughts faster than I can write them, while keeping my thoughts to myself, even if it is for a short duration.

Yet, I must say that the poetry in that explanation, the beauty in it, reminded me of a time when I wrote everything. From stories to journals to quotes to farewell gifts for friends – everything went down in my handwriting. Which is why I love the nostalgia it provides me. I love that it peeks into my past and acknowledges it, even if for as seemingly mundane a reason as a handwriting.

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I came to know Cecelia Ahern through P.S. I Love You, which is arguably her most famous book of all time. It’s a heartbreaking romantic story, made better by Gerard Butler in the movie adaptation. 😉 But for me, Cecelia Ahern’s best works are the books in the Flawed duology. It’s a YA, dystopian duology in which the main character battles her doubts but through all the fear, finds strength and courage to do the right thing. Here’s a quote that lays this down barely:

“To be courageous is to feel fear within, every step of the way. Courage does not take over, it fights and struggles through every word you say and every step you take. It’s a battle or a dance as to whether to let it pervade. It takes courage to overcome, but it takes extreme fear to be courageous.“

And it’s not just about the courage to face the world. It’s also about the courage to turn away from it whenever it’s getting too much. Because in order to keep our sanity, more often than not, we need to step away, to take a break. And as I’ve mentioned before, I know how to do this very well: I read. So, when she says this in the book, I wanted to say to her exactly what she wanted to say to those fictional characters:

“I can now understand why people read, why they like to get lost in somebody else’s life. Sometimes I’ll read a sentence and it will make me sit up, jolt me, because it is something that I have recently felt but never said out loud. I want to reach into the page and tell the characters that I understand them, that they’re not alone, that I’m not alone, that it’s ok to feel like this. And then the lunch bell rings, the book closes, and I’m plunged back into reality.“

Everything in this quote is me. I see her doing these things, feeling these things and I think, “You’re not alone. I’m not alone. It’s ok to feel like this.” Just like she does.

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The second in the Flawed duology, Perfect gives you the perfect wrap-up to a fantastic story. But in the process, it also tells us a lot of little, bare, raw truths, especially those that are heavily romanticized but which people have also torn apart from time to time. Here’s one about being a dreamer:

“The problem with people who are always gazing at the stars is that they often miss what’s going on around them.“

We’re taught to always aim for the stars but when we do look up at the stars and begin to dream, we’re heckled and made fun of for having our heads in the clouds. Maybe there’s a grain of truth in it, though, since looking up to the stars, to the future, if you will, does indeed limit your vision of the now and present. And because of this, we tend to make mistakes. Yet, mistakes aren’t the all-consuming, all-ending things that they’re made out to be.

“Mistakes are nothing to be ashamed of. Mistakes teach us to take responsibility. They teach us what works and what doesn’t. We learn what we would do differently the next time, how we will be different, better and wiser in the future. We are not just walking mistakes, we are human.“

This might seem a little too motivational, but for me, it’s the right kind of motivational. It resonated with me and gave me hope and courage, which I’ve been hoarding, yet again hoping that a situation won’t arise when I’ll need them but also hoping that they will come in handy whenever they’re needed. That’s the beauty of quotes, I think.

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This book is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read and I found myself howling with laughter late at night because of the dry wit and humor. These quotes were not the motivating kind, but instead, they made me wonder. Like a light dawning over my mind and pulling these questions from the darkest recesses, they asked questions similar to ones I’ve had – ones that I thought were too outrageous or stupid to be asked out loud. Here’s one:

Will the irritating china dog pieces of one day be the expensive trinkets of another? We, in this age, do not see the beauty of that dog. We are too familiar with it. It is like the sunset and the stars: we are not awed by their loveliness because they are common to our eyes. So it is with our china dog. In 2288 people will gush over it. The making of such dogs will have become a lost art. Our descendants will wonder how we did it, and say how clever we were.

It’s true, isn’t it? We look back on lost civilizations in wonder. When we find anything, be it a skull bone or a teacup or a saucer or anything at all, we collectively go nuts. But time is a player. And without going into the heavier details of it, so is karma. So, what we are experiencing now, people in the future (if we’re still around, that is, seeing the pace at which we’re going) will experience too. They will gush over our china dog, which could be anything from laptops to skateboards to pots and pans.

I won’t lie but this one made me smile and nod, both very vigorously. 😂

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Those were my favorite book quotes of all time from the second set of five books from my quote books. If you’d like to read the first part, here’s the link: Favorite Quotes – Part 1.

What did you think of this blog post? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did you like any of the quotes on here? What’s on your ‘my favorite book quotes of all time’ list? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you! ❤

I’ll see you in tomorrow’s Blogtober post.

Until next time, keep reading, and add melodrama to your life! 😊

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