100+ Best Book Phrases & Inspirational Quotes for Readers and Writers

“I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love.” – Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” – Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” – A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.” – Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” – Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

“I would rather spend one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“In your light I learn how to love.” – Rumi

“To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life.” – Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“I saw that you were perfect, and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.” – Angelita Lim

“You don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not.” – Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” – J.D. Salinger, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” – Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.” – Desmond Tutu

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” – Maya Angelou

“It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

“Survival was victory. And victory had never tasted so sweet.” – Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost

“Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.” – Allen Saunders

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anaïs Nin

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” – Jorge Luis Borges

“The best thinking has been done in solitude.” – Thomas Edison

“Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition.” – Octavio Paz

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax and do nothing.” – Mark Black

“I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” – Francis Bacon

“In silence, we find ourselves. In solitude, we rediscover who we are.” – Unknown

“Be silent. Let others talk. Listen. You will learn far more.” – Ernest Hemingway

“There is no remedy for love but to love longer.” – Henry David Thoreau

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass

“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.” – May Sarton

“Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty, to poetry, to freedom.” – Thomas Mann

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

“You must write the book that wants to be written. If the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then write it for children.” – Madeleine L’Engle

“Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.” – Marsha Norman

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” – Langston Hughes

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” – Albert Einstein

“Dreams are the touchstones of our character.” – Henry David Thoreau

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” – Ayn Rand

“What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” – Erin Hanson

“Grief is the price we pay for love.” – Queen Elizabeth II

“Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day.” – Unknown

“When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.” – Unknown

“The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” – Pierre Auguste Renoir

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather holes in the sky where all the love we have lost escapes to.” – Czech Proverb

“She wanted to remember it all. She knew that someday, the ache would fade, but she didn’t want to forget a single detail.” – Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

“Tears are words the heart can’t express.” – Gerard Way

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller

“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give but cannot.” – Jamie Anderson

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” – Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“Let us not weep for what is gone, but smile for having had it.” – Unknown

“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted.” – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” – Elbert Hubbard

“True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.” – David Tyson

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” – C.S. Lewis

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” – Helen Keller

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” – Albert Camus

“Loyalty is what makes us trust. Trust is what makes us stay. Staying is what makes us family.” – Unknown

“Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.” – Euripides

“The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” – Henry David Thoreau

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell

“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there.” – Unknown

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” – Alice Walker

“Loyalty is the chain that holds relationships together when everything else tries to break them apart.” – Unknown

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’” – Lao Tzu

“The trouble is, you think you have time.” – Buddha

“Time isn’t precious because it’s scarce. It’s precious because it’s infinite.” – Haruki Murakami

“Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.” – Samuel Smiles

“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.” – William Gibson

“Time is the longest distance between two places.” – Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” – William Faulkner

“Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.” – John Lennon

“We are the authors of our own time.” – Seneca

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn

“Time is a river that carries me along, but I am the river.” – Jorge Luis Borges

“The future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed.” – William Gibson

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” – Carl Jung

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” – Rumi

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” – Carl Jung

“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.” – Brené Brown

“Don’t ask yourself who you are. Ask, ‘Who do I want to be?’” – Unknown

“We are all broken—that’s how the light gets in.” – Ernest Hemingway

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you won’t do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck

“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” – John Mason

“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.” – Steve Maraboli

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse

“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

“The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before.” – Neil Gaiman

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso

“The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

“To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage.” – Georgia O'Keeffe

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” – Pablo Picasso

“We don’t need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already.” – J.K. Rowling

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein

“The imagination is the workshop of the mind.” – Christine Nöstlinger