TOP TEN TUESDAY | INSPIRING QUOTES

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday on The Broke and the Bookish is: Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books. Umm… this one’s tough. I don’t underline my books. I don’t read a ton of uplifting books even if I did. And I usually write down quotes that are beautifully worded, interesting, or that I deeply connect to rather than ones that are necessarily motivational. But with a bit of journal reviewing and flipping through books, I’ve found some that I’ve found meaningful – whether motivational or just in the sense that they made me feel known – that I wasn’t alone at the moment I read them. Here are my favourites.

On the bad things: 

“Life is not a PG feel-good movie. Real life often ends badly. Literature tries to document this reality, while showing us it is still possible for us to endure nobly.” – Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook

On growing up:

“Remember, Maya: the things we respond to at twenty are not necessarily the same things we will respond to at forty and vice versa. This is true in books and also in life.” – Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

On sadness: 

“Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.” – John Green, The Fault in Our Stars 

On courage:

“Being brave is never easy. That’s why it’s good for you.” – Michael Christie, If I Fall, If I Die

On pain:

“Maybe there’s something you’re afraid to say, or someone you’re afraid to love, or somewhere you’re afraid to go. It’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna hurt because it matters.” – John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

On simple pleasures:

“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” – L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea 

On speaking loud and proud:

“There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told, especially if that person is a woman.” – Lena Dunham, Not That Kind of Girl

On finding your way:

“If you care about something you have to protect it – If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.” – John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany 

On why you can’t always get what you want:

“I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn’t mean anything? What then?” – Neil Gaiman, Coraline 

On failure:

“I guess you could call it a ‘failure,’ but I prefer the term ‘learning experience.'” – Andy Weir, The Martian

And on endings:

“Sure, everything is ending,” Jules said, “but not yet.” – Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad 

I can’t wait to see which quotes you have each selected that mean something special to you – and to experience that thrill of recognition when they’re ones I’ve likewise read. Link up in the comments and I’ll pop over and check yours out!