Random Book Quotes

Quotes from books I've read. There is no theme. 

[random-bookquotes]

To snap out of truth-default mode requires what Levine calls a “trigger.” A trigger is not the same as a suspicion, or the first sliver of doubt. We fall out of truth-default mode only when the case against our initial assumption becomes definitive. We do not behave, in other words, like sober-minded scientists, slowly gathering evidence of the truth or falsity of something before reaching a conclusion. We do the opposite. We start by believing. And we stop believing only when our doubts and misgivings rise to the point where we can no longer explain them away.

Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers

[random-bookquotes]

Regular people care about things like having a good life, eating well, talking with friends, and finding love. The elite care about power and control. They obsess over it, and are terrified of losing it.

Uranium Phoenix, The Years of Apocalypse

[random-bookquotes]

If we don’t know the stories behind the stuff, we will never be able to freely let go of it.

Matt Paxton, Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life

[random-bookquotes]

But being the least evil genocidal slaver still meant that you were a genocidal slaver.

C. Peinhopf, West Peak (Fallen Lands Book 2)

[random-bookquotes]

The armadillo had not known many murderers in his life, but he had a feeling that once you started killing people for fun, you didn’t stop.

T. Kingfisher, Minor Mage

[random-bookquotes]

“Fate so does love to weave her tangled tapestries. Never trust a coincidence. That advice has done me well in this life.”

Arcane Cadence, New Life as a Max Level Archmage

[random-bookquotes]

"Tarot is... well, it's not really a game or even just a tool. It's a way to tap into the unseen threads that weave through our lives. Think of it as a mirror—one that doesn't just show your reflection, but the reflection of your thoughts, your emotions, and even the choices ahead of you."

C Peinhopf, Siren's Reach (Fallen Lands Book 3)

[random-bookquotes]

When a space is decluttered, that space is comparatively organized. If I remove the things we don’t need, there’s nothing getting in the way of things we do need. We can function in that space. We can use it. And isn’t that the goal of organizing?

Dana K. White, How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets

[random-bookquotes]

‘Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war and then seek to win.’

Nemorosus, Jackal Among Snakes #1

[random-bookquotes]

But an animal may in principle experience all sorts of emotions upon another’s demise. She may be happy, if the death means that she will rise in the social hierarchy. She may feel scared, if she interprets it as a sign that there is some danger nearby. She may feel a purely selfish form of sadness, if it entails the loss of the individual who best scratched her back. She may feel excitement or hunger, if she perceives the corpse as a food source. Or she may even feel indifference, if the one who died meant nothing to her. The concept of death is compatible with a very wide range of emotional reactions, only one of which is grief.

Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

[random-bookquotes]

Death is not terrifying. What is terrifying is a meaningless existence.

Lilith Marlowe, Path of the Saintess: A Progression Fantasy Novel (Volume I)

[random-bookquotes]

Chili is a subset of soups and stews, but it’s really its own thing, much as Texas is technically part of the United States but also functionally its own distinct nation. The mention of Texas here is not casual—chili is one of those dishes that make people get incredibly heated about what does and doesn’t belong in it, and Texans tend to feel especially strongly.

Margaret Eby, You Gotta Eat: Real-Life Strategies for Feeding Yourself When Cooking Feels Impossible

[random-bookquotes]

Loving someone was a great happiness. It was a gift to him. Even if he risked everything to get nothing in return, his life would be more full.

Feng Yu Nie, Mistakenly Saving the Villain (Novel) Vol. 3

[random-bookquotes]

Respect for others requires a complicated calculation in which one party agrees to moderate their own desires, to consider the longer-term consequences of their own behavior, to think about something other than the thing right in front of them. And that is exactly what the myopia that comes with drunkenness makes it so hard to do.

Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers

[random-bookquotes]

Saffra didn’t ask what had been occupying her time. If a person spoke in generalities like that, it was because they didn’t want to be specific. It annoyed her how many people couldn’t pick up on that.

Arcane Cadence, New Life as a Max Level Archmage

[random-bookquotes]

There is nothing wrong with tears. They are only wrong when one cries and doesn’t change. As my father used to say, if you’re tired of smelling like crap, stop living in it.

Shawn Wilson, Loopbreaker: Book 1

[random-bookquotes]

Even goblins hate goblins! Damn goblins, they ruined goblindom! Or better yet. There can be only one! Goblin, that is. Me. Frick the Great! Besides I want to taunt something that understands me as they die.

Ellake, Blank Canvas (The Runic Artist #1)