Theme Quotes - Page 8

• So this is supposed to be about the how, and when, and why, and what of reading -- about the way that, when reading is going well, one book leads to another and to another, a paper trail of theme and meaning; and how, when it's going badly, when books don't stick or take, when your mood and the mood of the book are fighting like cats, you'd rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time.

  Nick Hornby

  Book, Reading, Cat

  Nick Hornby (2006). “The complete polysyllabic spree”

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• He was the boy that made mix tapes with themes and hand-colored covers until the day he hit my sister and stopped crying.

  Stephen Chbosky

  Boys, Hands, Tape

  Stephen Chbosky (2013). “The Perks of Being a Wallflower YA edition”, p.19, Simon and Schuster

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• I didn't want to tell the story of what makes two people come together, although that's a theme of great power and universality. I wanted to find out what it takes for two people to stay together for fifty years -- or more. I wanted to tell not the story of courtship, but the story of marriage.

  Diana Gabaldon

  Years, Two, People

  Diana Gabaldon (2015). “The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated): Companion to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn”, p.35, Delacorte Press

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• Look, then, into thine heart, and write! Yes, into Life's deep stream! All forms of sorrow and delight, All solemn Voices of the Night, That can soothe thee, or affright, - Be these henceforth thy theme. (excerpt from "Voices of the Night")

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Writing, Heart, Night

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Voices Of The Night: Prelude”

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• And before long there will be no more milk in bottles delivered to the doorstep or sleepy rural pubs, and the countryside will be mostly shopping centers and theme parks. Forgive me. I don't mean to get upset. But you are taking my world away from me, piece by little piece, and sometimes it just pisses me off. Sorry.

  Bill Bryson

  Sorry, Mean, Shopping

  Bill Bryson (1989). “The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-town America”, p.232, VNR AG

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• Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

  William Shakespeare

  Memorable, Hands, Play

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 5, sc. 1, l. [38]

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• She glanced across to where Tilly and her brand new husband were posing for photographs, Tilly fluttering a fan coquettishly in front of her face. 'Unfortunately I didn't realise there was a French Revolutionary theme.' 'The Marie-Antoinette thing?' said Dexter. 'Well at least we know there'll be cake.

  David Nicholls

  Husband, Cake, Fans

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• Ryan stared at me as I pulled my phone out to see who was calling at this late hour. “You have the Fraggle Rock theme song as your ring tone,” he said, with a bemused look on his face. “You are so weird.

  Diana Rowland

  Song, Rocks, Phones

  Diana Rowland (2009). “Mark of the Demon”, p.248, Bantam

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• And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  May, Wonderful, Source

  J.R.R. Tolkien (2012). “The Silmarillion”, p.18, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• As I travel through life, I gather experiences that lie imprinted on the deepest strata of memory, and there they ferment, are transformed, and sometimes rise to the surface and sprout like strange plants from other worlds. What is the fertile humus of the subconscious composed of? Why are certain images converted into recurrent themes in nightmares or writing?

  Isabel Allende

  Memories, Lying, Writing

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• If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

  William Shakespeare

  Good Night, Dream, Liars

  'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595-6) act 5, sc. 2, l. 54

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• Before I start a project, I always ask myself the following question. Why is this book worth a year of my life? There needs to be something about the theme, the technique, or the research that makes the time spent on it worthwhile.

  David Morrell

  Book, Years, Technique

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• My only experience with dances was what I had seen on TV, but it really wasn’t that far off. The theme appeared to be “Crepe Paper in the Gymnasium,” and they had mastered it perfectly.

  Amanda Hocking

  Paper, Tvs, Gymnasiums

  Amanda Hocking (2014). “Trylle: The Complete Trilogy”, p.21, Pan Macmillan

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• Above all, one hideous figure grew as familiar as if it had been before the general gaze from the foundations of the world - the figure of the sharp female called La Guillotine. It was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented hair from turning gray, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack.

  Charles Dickens

  Hair, Foundation, Female

  Charles Dickens, General Press (2016). “A Tale of Two Cities: A Story of the French Revolution”, p.252, GENERAL PRESS

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• I don't know how to choose work that illuminates what my life is about. I don't know what my life is about and don't examine it. My life will define itself as I live it. The movies will define themselves as I make them. As long as the theme is something I care about at the moment, it's enough for me to start work. Maybe work itself is what my life is about.

  Sidney Lumet

  Long, Care, Life Is

  Sidney Lumet (2010). “Making Movies”, p.13, Vintage

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• It is remarkable how a man cannot summarize his thoughts in even the most general sort of way without betraying himself completely, without putting his whole self into it, quite unawares, presenting as if in allegory the basic themes and problems of his life.

  Thomas Mann

  Men, Self, Way

  Thomas Mann (1995). “The magic mountain: a novel”, Random House, Inc.

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• What tale do you like best to hear?' 'Oh, I have not much choice! They generally run on the same theme - courtship; and promise to end in the same catastrophe - marriage.

  Charlotte Bronte

  Running, Choices, Promise

  Charlotte Bronte (2013). “Jane Eyre”, p.252, Simon and Schuster

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• Such movies are always a danger...falling in love is something most adults have actually experienced...The theme is universal and encourages...unhealthy comparisons...why can't our lives be like that? It's a box left unopened, and its avoidance explains the continued popularity of vampire epics and martial-arts extravaganzas.

  David Sedaris

  Falling In Love, Art, Epic

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• Something brushed his leg, and he gazed down into the face of Pippi Tucker. The theme from Jaws raced through his head.

  Susan Elizabeth Phillips

  Legs, Faces

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• The life's work of Walt Disney and Ray Kroc had come full-circle, uniting in perfect synergy. McDonald's began to sell its hamburgers and french fries at Disney's theme parks. The ethos of McDonaldland and of Disneyland, never far apart, have finally become one. Now you can buy a Happy Meal at the Happiest Place on Earth.

  Eric Schlosser

  Mcdonalds, Ethos, Circles

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• If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn't act the way we want God to, and why I don't act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.

  Philip Yancey

  Christian, Prayer, Struggle

  Philip Yancey (2011). “Prayer”, p.18, Hachette UK

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• Yet if we would know God and for other's sake tell what we know we must try to speak of his love. All Christians have tried but none has ever done it very well. I can no more do justice to that awesome and wonder-filled theme than a child can grasp a star. Still by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. So as I stretch my heart toward the high shining love of God someone who has not before known about it may be encouraged to look up and have hope.

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Christian, Stars, Children

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• Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashipn the theme of Iluvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into the depths and into the heights, and the places of the dwelling of Iluvatar were filled to overflowing, and the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Echoes, Voice, Dwelling

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• When men talk about the agony of being men, they can never quite get away from the recurrent theme of self-pity. And when women talk about being women, they can never quite get away from the recurrent theme of blaming men.

  Pat Conroy

  Men, Self, Agony

  Pat Conroy (2010). “The Prince of Tides: A Novel”, p.312, Open Road Media

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• A genius doesn't adjust his treatment of a theme to a tyrant's taste

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Tyrants, Genius, Taste

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (2005). “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel”, p.77, Macmillan

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