37 Inspiring Nonfiction Quotes

Nonfiction literature has long been a wellspring of inspiration and insight, offering readers a window into real-life experiences, profound truths, and the complexities of the human condition. Whether penned by historians, scientists, memoirists, or thought leaders, these works often contain passages that resonate deeply, sparking reflection and motivation. In this curated collection, we delve into 37 of the most inspiring nonfiction quotes that have the power to uplift, challenge, and galvanize readers in their own journeys. Each quote serves not only as a testament to the author's wisdom but also as a beacon for those seeking enlightenment and encouragement in the pages of reality.

1. “Friendship is greater than the colonial and dominating race ideologies of hundreds of years." -"Some of My Best Friends” - Luis Rodriguez

2. “What you believe can change your experience.” - Staness Jonekos

3. “I am six years old and instead of celebrating with birthday cakes, I chew on a piece of charcoal. ” - Loung Ung

4. “I think how the world is still somehow beautiful even when I feel no joy at being alive within it. ” - Loung Ung

5. “On previous trips the pirates have stolen valuables, killed people, raped and abducted girls...the women work frantically to ugly themselves up by smearing black charcoal paste on their faces and bodies. With ashen faces, some of the younger, prettier girls reach into the bags we have vomited into and scoop out handfuls of it to smear on their hair and clothes. ” - Loung Ung

6. “Each of us is a book waiting to be written, and that book, if written, results in a person explained.” - Thomas M. Cirignano

7. “Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them. ” - Ishmael Beah

8. “Many of the members of the class had never held ice. ” - Dave Eggers

9. “But while Sasha told us that in America even the most successful men can have but one wife at once--my father had six--and talked about escalators, indoor plumbing, and the various laws of the land, he did not warn us that I would be told by American teenagers that I should go back to Africa. ” - Dave Eggers

10. “At mealtime a very broad cloth is laid on the trestle table in the solar. to facilitate service, places are set along one side only. On that side the cloth falls to the floor, doubling as a communal napkin...there are several kinds of knives...but no forks.” - Joseph Gies

11. “As the baby grows bigger, she [wet nurse] will chew his meat for him.” - Joseph Gies

12. “Instrumental keys [on organs], introduced in the twelfth century, are so heavy and stiff that they must be played with clenched fists. ” - Joseph Gies

13. “No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.” - Kurt Vonnegut

14. “a raped girl is bad for the family: it shows that they can’t protect their women; that they have little social standing; and that they’re not respectable. It’s worse for the victim because once a woman, or a girl—or a boy—is known as the target of a rape she becomes so despised, so shamed, so worthless that she turns into public property. No one is raped only once.” - Louise Brown

15. “For a woman to deny the necessity of true love in her life would be to deny herself, and her creator.” - Dwain K. White Sr.

16. “The foundation of adult trust is not "You will never hurt me." It is "I trust myself with whatever you do.” - David Richo

17. “When we feel unsafe with someone and still stay with him, we damage our ability to discern trustworthiness in those we will meet in the future.” - David Richo

18. “We mark with light in the memory the few interviews we have had with souls that made our souls wiser, that spoke what we thought, that told us what we knew, that gave us leave to be what we inly are.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

19. “Our higher needs include making full use of our gifts, finding and fulfilling our calling, being loved and cherished just for ourselves, and being in relationships that honor all of these. Such needs are fulfilled in an atmosphere of the five A’s by which love is shown: attention, acceptance, appreciation, affection, and allowing.” - David Richo

20. “Your life is a trajectory. Every choice you make alters that trajectory, in a positive or negative way. Will you categorize that dinner with friends as a business expense? Will you be honest with your daughter? Will you take more credit than you’re due? These are just the small questions that we face every day, and little by little, the answers influence the trajectory of our lives and beings.” - Donald Van de Mark

21. “Your limits are somewhere up there, waiting for you to reach beyond infinity.” - Arnold Henry

22. “My limitless ability to weave time and space does not make me a god - just a da-n good writer.” - Edmund Alexander Sims

23. “Asked who attacked America on 9/11, [Sarah Palin] suggested several times that it was Saddam Hussein.” - John Heilemann, Mark Halperin

24. “This marriage had resulted from impulse: he had seen her on a high-flying swing at Tsarkoe Selo and her skirt, flared by the breeze, had exposed her ankles; he had proposed the following day.” - Robert K. Massie

25. “No one cared what St. Louis thought, although the city got a wink for pluck.” - Erik Larson

26. “Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.” - Bernard Branson

27. “Writing nonfiction means I tell people's stories for them, not because they're special but because we all are.” - Jo Deurbrouck

28. “Anything that doesn't fit this mode has been shoved into an area of lesser solemnity called 'genre fiction,' and it is here that the spy thriller and the crime story and the adventure story and the supernatural tale and the science fiction, however excellently written, must reside, sent to their rooms, as it were, for the misdemeanor of being enjoyable in what is considered a meretricious way. They invent, and we all know they invent, at least up to a point, and they are, therefore, not about 'real life,' which ought to lack coincidences and weirdness and action-adventure, unless the adventure story is about war, of course, where anything goes, and they are, therefore, not solid.” - Margaret Atwood

29. “from the Basement tapes Eric outdid Dylan with the apologies. To the untrained eye, he seemed sincere. The psychologists on the case found Eric less convincing. They saw a psychopath. Classic. He even pulled the stunt of self-diagnosing to dismiss it. "I wish I was a fucking sociopath so I didn't have any remorse," Eric said. "But I do."Watching that made Dr. Fuselier angry. Remorse meant a deep desire to correct a mistake. Eric hadn't done it yet. He excused his actions several times on the tapes. Fuselier was tough to rattle, but that got to him."Those are the most worthless apologies I've ever heard in my life," he said. It got more ludicrous later, when Eric willed some of his stuff to two buddies, "if you guys live.""If you live?" Fuselier repeated. "They are going to go in there and quite possibly kill their friends. If they were the least bit sorry they would not do it!” - Dave Cullen

30. “I read nonfiction."She reared back as if offended.” - Anne Osterlund

31. “What is necessary, he explains, is an understanding that the youth are not the Other. It is being able to see your humanity reflected in them.” - John Hubner

32. “I'm sure the holy refrigerator is packed solid with cartons of Blue Bell ice cream - times a million. All those amazing flavor combinations minus the calories and fat grams, of course. After all, we are talking about heaven here, amen?” - Diane Moody

33. “My pastor, Pete Wilson, gave a message on prayer, specifically citing this idea many of us have that prayer is a kind of transaction. beside him on the platform, an object the size of a refrigerator stood cloaked beneath a black cover. He said, 'most of us have reduced prayer down to a transaction. A way to manipulate what we want. A vending machine.' At that point, he yanked off the cover revealing a large vending machine, loaded with all kinds of snacks. He inserted some coins and pushed the button for peanut M&Ms (smart man, my pastor). Nothing happened. He hit the machine a couple of times, tried to rock it. Nothing.He continued. 'Most of the time when we go to God, it's because we want something. If we get what we want, we turn and walk off, satisfied. If we don't get what we want, we get frustrated; we kick the machine and blame God for not answering our request.'This 'transaction' view of prayer will always disappoint us because at the root of it, we think it's all about us. but prayer is so much more than giving God a list of our wants and needs or, in some cases, our demands. Prayer is communication. It's talking and listening.” - Diane Moody

34. “El Shaddai. My all-sufficient God who is able to handle all my needs. Everything I will ever need I can find in Him. Think about that for a moment. Do you sense the power He offers us in those words? There is nothing, absolutely nothing in your life that He cannot handle.” - Diane Moody

35. “For you and me, just knowing His presence is all around us can help lift us from the darkest night, embrace us in the loneliest hour, give us strength when we are tempted, and enable us to live confident and secure in His promises.” - Diane Moody

36. “The good news is we don't have to suffer alone. We don't have to carry the burdens of our messy lives alone. God is there for us. He wants to be the Comforter in Chief for the worst that life on this earth may hand us. but we need to know Him - genuinely know Him - not just when tragedy strikes. We need to know Him every moment of every day we live. We need to quit leaving it to the professionals and make know Him the most important mission of our lives.” - Diane Moody

37. “Jenny slowly awoke on the sacrificial altar to an Ethereal Light that flamed through the east wall, a radiant aura of love dispersing the frightful scene. A glow pulsating from Angeletta's body still burning in the fire pit slowly rose to join the Light. A Heavenly peace infused Jenny as she realized, "There's a man standing in the air straight above me!” - Judy Byington