44 Inspiring Quotes From Novels

In the pages of a good novel, words have the power to transcend the boundaries of time and place, offering insights and inspiration that resonate long after the last page is turned. The beauty of fiction lies not just in its stories, but in the timeless wisdom and emotion encapsulated within its prose. Whether it's a line that stirs your soul or a passage that pushes you to view the world differently, quotes from novels have a unique ability to linger in our hearts and minds. In this collection, we've gathered a selection of 44 inspiring quotes from novels that capture the essence of human experience, inviting you to immerse yourself in their elegance and profundity. Whether you're seeking motivation, comfort, or a new perspective, these quotes are sure to ignite the imagination and leave an indelible mark.

1. “A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't even be worth reading.” - Yevgeny Zamyatin

2. “Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination. ” - Janet Frame

3. “Above his head at street level, he saw an angled aileron of a scarlet Porsche, its jaunty fin more or less at the upper edge of his window frame. A pair of very soft, clean glistening black shoes appeared, followed by impeccably creased matt charcoal pinstriped light woollen legs, followed by the beautifully cut lower hem of a jacket, its black vent revealing a scarlet silk lining, its open front revealing a flat muscular stomach under a finely-striped red and white shirt. Val’s legs followed, in powder-blue stockings and saxe-blue shoes, under the limp hem of a crêpey mustard-coloured dress, printed with blue moony flowers. The four feet advanced and retreated, retreated and advanced, the male feet insisting towards the basement stairs, the female feet resisting, parrying. Roland opened the door and went into the area, fired mostly by what always got him, pure curiosity as to what the top half looked like.” - A.S. Byatt

4. “In inventing [General Juan Manuel de] Rosas’ self-justification, I have taken the liberty of drawing almost exclusively on the words of Tony Blair, and the various self-justifications he produced to defend his foreign policy adventures with George Bush in the Middle East and the Central Asia.” - Harry Thompson

5. “For a moment, I wondered how different my life would have been had they been my parents, but I shook the thought away. I knew my father had done the best he could, and I had no regrets about the way I'd turned out. Regrets about the journey, maybe, but not the destination. Because however it had happened, I'd somehow ended up eating shrimp in a dingy downtown shack with a girl that I already knew I'd never forget.” - Nicholas Sparks

6. “فكَّرتُ أنني أستطيع أن أخلق مشهداً ملحميّاً ابتداءً من جورب معلّق على حبل غسيل.لا سحرة ولا غجر ولا بطريرك ولا جنرالات ولا شيء، ولا حتى مدينة متخيَّلة أو قرن يمر على العائلة الموصوفة. لا شيء من كل هذا. فقط جوارب، والأرجح أنها مخططة و.. مبللة.” - هلال شومان

7. “ لم يُكتب قط نصٌ في الدنيا إلا وكان له موسيقاه الخلفية.” - هلال شومان

8. “One’s options in this world are as vast as the horizon, which is technically a circle and thus infinitely broad. Yet we must choose each step we take with utmost caution, for the footprints we leave behind are as important as the path we will follow. They’re part of the same journey — our story.” - Lori R. Lopez

9. “On my website there's a quote from the writer Anthony Burgess: "The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind." I've always found that inspiring because the written word, as an art form, is unlike any other: movies, TV, music, they're shared experiences, but books aren't like that. The relationship between a writer and a reader is utterly unique to those two individuals. The world that forms in your head as you read a book will be slightly different to that experienced by every other reader. Anywhere. Ever. Reading is very personal, a communication from one mind to another, something which can't be exactly copied, or replicated, or directly shared. If I read the work of, say, one of the great Victorian novelists, it's like a gift from the past, a momentary connection to another's thoughts. Their ideas are down on paper, to be picked up by me, over a century later. Writers can speak individually to readers across a year, or ten years, or a thousand. That's why I love books.” - Simon Cheshire

10. “There’s something so great about this,” she whispers. About what?” I whisper back.About this,” she whispers. About being outlaws. It’s just you and me—against the world.” - Sonya Sones

11. “It is the form that allows a writer the greatest opportunity to explore human experience...For that reason, reading a novel is potentially a significant act. Because there are so many varieties of human experience, so many kinds of interaction between humans, and so many ways of creating patterns in the novel that can’t be created in a short story, a play, a poem or a movie. The novel, simply, offers more opportunities for a reader to understand the world better, including the world of artistic creation. That sounds pretty grand, but I think it’s true.” - Don DeLillo

12. “Do we really mean it when we say ‘in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, until death do us part or do we add a silent clause, ‘unless you shame me or disappoint me?’ What is the cost of unconditional love and how capable are we of giving that?” - Deirdre-Elizabeth Parker

13. “Why else do we write and write except to move our readers?” - Jerome Charyn

14. “The sight of her made him understand why he'd lost his faith in God.” - Sarah Langan

15. “aku tak habis mengerti, mengapa orang-orang gampang sekali mengata-ngatai pemerintah. Kalau bicara, sekehendak hatinya saja. Apa mereka kira gampang mengelola negara? Mengurusi ratusan juta manusia? Yang semuanya tak bisa diatur. Kalau mereka sendiri yang disuruh mengurusi negara, takkan becus juga!” - Andrea Hirata

16. “There’s no better way to get to know a city than to walk its streets. A place will reveal its soul through its sights, sounds and smells, and eventually, it’ll teach you its rhythm.” - Henry Mosquera

17. “A great book increases my heartbeat as if I’m prey, melts my insides in anticipation of a first kiss, immerses me in its depths.” - Carmen DeSousa

18. “And they...LIVED! Life isn't always ‘Happily Ever After’, rather, loving FOREVER, regardless.” - Carmen DeSousa

19. “Amar es ponerse al cuello el nudo corredizo de la ilusión; adorar a alguien mientras pareces asfixiarte. Pero incluso el amor no correspondido, el amor fugaz, es mejor que nada.” - Susan Vreeland

20. “El que ella no se lo reproche, no lo justifica a él. Solo demuestra que ella carece de algo, bien de prudencia, bien de sentimiento.” - Jane Austen

21. “Hay tanto de gratitud o de vanidad en casi todos los defectos, que no es cauto abandonarse de ellos.” - Jane Austen

22. “God Hates divorce.""He hates cruelty even more."Caring For Eleanor” - Sonia Rumzi

23. “Laf aramızda, sen neden sinir krizi geçiriyorsun acaba? yani, bütün gücün kuvvetinle çöküntüye uğrayabiliyorsan eğer, neden aynı enerjiyi sapasağlam ayakta kalmak için harcamıyorsun?” - J.D. Salinger

24. “Succede, a volte, di provare una grande attrazione per qualcuno che poco ha a che fare con i nostri valori, le nostre abitudini, le nostre passioni. Che sia chimica, follia, istinto animale poco importa. Ciò che importa è che spesso, invece di dare alle cose il proprio nome, ci si affanna a interpretarle nel modo più indolore possibile, per non mettere in discussione la propria dignità, per tener fede a dogmi e precetti dai quali ci si sta svincolando, senza volerlo ammettere. (…) Si forniscono alibi, giustificazioni, si cercano attinenze che non esistono ma alle quali ci si aggrappa come polpastrelli in una scalata che renderà difficile sgretolare poi la roccia, pena il precipizio.” - Cristina Obber

25. “Matt was almost completely naked. A tattered loincloth and an ugly chain with a yellow diamond were his only apparel.” - Priya Ardis

26. “Someone once told me that we move when it becomes less painful than staying where we are".” - Anne Hines

27. “Aku ingin melihatmu tertawa dan bahagia karenaku.” - Irin Sintriana

28. “If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people — a very few people, but a few novelists are among them — are trying to do this. Every institution and vested interest is against such a search: organized religion, the State, the family in its economic aspect, have nothing to gain, and it is only when outward prohibitions weaken that it can proceed: history conditions it to that extent. Perhaps the searchers will fail, perhaps it is impossible for the instrument of contemplation to contemplate itself, perhaps if it is possible it means the end of imaginative literature — [...] anyhow—that way lies movement and even combustion for the novel, for if the novelist sees himself differently, he will see his characters differently and a new system of lighting will result.” - E.M. Forster

29. “They all dreamt of each other that night, as was natural, considering how thin the partitions were between them, and how strangely they had been lifted off the earth to sit next each other in mid-ocean, and see every detail of each others' faces, and hear whatever they chanced to say.” - Virginia Woolf

30. “Love is a way of living so how can our souls be healthy enough to live without love. I will continue to love you for as long as I have life because you've showed me the light. I always look forward to waking up in the morning because you're there waiting to love me again with your arms open wide waiting to embrace me with your love. The love I will strive to keep hold on forever. I love you!!” - Atul Purohit

31. “She cries cuz shes lost and she doesn't even know what she wants. Her eyes grow cold as she begs the world to just let her go.lines from Love Vs Destiny...” - Atul Purohit

32. “Bukankah sangat menyenangkan jika kau bisa menciptakan sebuah dunia dan mengajak orang lain untuk tinggal di dalamnya?” - Irin Sintriana

33. “I just came this morning and haven't been debriefed yet about the status of our latest prisoners. As a matter of fact, I'd barely stepped inside,” - Elle Aycart

34. “The manager swiftly overtook him, sliding effortlessly past the skinny Englishman, with the practiced ease of someone used to slinking around ailing, despotic monarchs.” - Tom Vater

35. “Our books are the deepest glimpses into our souls, the most raw and real anybody will ever find us.” - Melodie Ramone

36. “God is at the helm even when you think your ship is sinking. Just keep trusting that the captain knows more about where you're heading than you do, and eventually you'll get where you need to be.” - Kevin Alan Milne

37. “Ardo,aku tidak meminta banyak padamu, aku tidak akan meminta uangmu, tidak waktumu dan tidak nyawamu, aku hanya minta tetaplah menjadi seperti Ardo yg aku kenal, tidak hanya hari ini, tetapi juga esok dan seterusnya” - Rangga Wirianto Putra

38. “Looking back on my life, I sigh. The caprice of youth goes with the wind, I’ve no regrets.” - Roman Payne

39. “Outside of the dreary rubbish that is churned out by god knows how many hacks of varying degrees of talent, the novel is, it seems to me, a very special and rarefied kind of literary form, and was, for a brief moment only, wide-ranging in its sociocultural influence. For the most part, it has always been an acquired taste and it asks a good deal from its audience. Our great contemporary problem is in separating that which is really serious from that which is either frivolously and fashionably "radical" and that which is a kind of literary analogy to the Letterman show. It's not that there is pop culture around, it's that so few people can see the difference between it and high culture, if you will. Morton Feldman is not Stephen Sondheim. The latter is a wonderful what-he-is, but he is not what-he-is-not. To pretend that he is is to insult Feldman and embarrass Sondheim, to enact a process of homogenization that is something like pretending that David Mamet, say, breathes the same air as Samuel Beckett. People used to understand that there is, at any given time, a handful of superb writers or painters or whatever--and then there are all the rest. Nothing wrong with that. But it now makes people very uncomfortable, very edgy, as if the very idea of a Matisse or a Charles Ives or a Thelonious Monk is an affront to the notion of "ain't everything just great!" We have the spectacle of perfectly nice, respectable, harmless writers, etc., being accorded the status of important artists...Essentially the serious novelist should do what s/he can do and simply forgo the idea of a substantial audience.” - Gilbert Sorrentino

40. “عندما بلغتُ الخامسة والعشرين احتفلتُ واحتفل بى أصدقائى، وقلت لهم بصوت سكران: أمهلونى حتى الثلاثين، وفى الثلاثين لم أحتفل وأمهلت نفسى حتى الخامسة والثلاثين، وها قد تجاوزت منتصف المهلة الثانية ولا شىء تغير سوى شعرى الذى اكتسب بياضاً وراثياً جاءنى مبكراً كأنما ليزيد من وطأة الزمن، أكبرُ بلا مجد ولا أطفال، وتقولين يا أمى لا تسأل ولا تزور. أى خيبة تريدين أن أحمل إليك؟.” - محمد خير

41. “Ia tampak begitu lembut, membuat semua orang yang berkata kasar padanya seperti berengsek kelas dunia.” - Ayuwidya

42. “We were afraid of so many things: Of our children, who lived in their own world of casually lurid pleasures, zombies and cartoon killers and thuggish music. Of our neighbors, who were buying gold and ammunition and great quantities of freeze-dried food, and who were organizing themselves into angry tribes recognizable to one another by bumper stickers.” - Jean Thompson

43. “Why worry, if today be sweet'?” - Thrity Umrigar

44. “We’re novel worthy, day walking, blood sucking, tortured souls trapped in a body that can’t die for all eternity with no feelings, no emotions and no heart. - Elaine White, Runaway Girl” - Stavros and contributors