Top Ten Tuesday

This week at Top Ten Tuesday (brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish) the topic is your Top Ten Favorite Book Quotes!!!!!

This is going to be a bit hard for me. Not to come up with ten. That's no problem at all, but which ten??? I collect quotes from the books I read like ships collect barnacles. One of the criteria that works into how a good a book is for me is "did I gather any quotes from it?" I have been gathering quotes of all sorts from all kinds of places for eons (well, at least since junior high). I guess I'll just go to my notebook where the most recent are and go from there. So, without further ado, in no particular order, and taking them as they come:

1. A strong personality comes into the world, touches some people, infuriates others, then goes out again. The absent one remains present to those people. Evenings at Five by Gail Godwin (p. 20)

2. And so, wisely no doubt, I left philosophy to my brother, and returned to literature, which did and still does, tell us best what the world consists of. It can also tell us how best to live in that world, though it does so most effectively when appearing not to do so. Nothing to Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes (p. 148)

3. Two loving hearts looking at each other say more things than all the tongues of this Universe could express in a day-- The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco (p. 158)

4. For better or worse, somebody has noticed you. And there's no way now to get yourself unnoticed. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (p. 3)

Bonus: ...the world is unkind to the shoeless and frolicsome. (Berry; p. 33. I like this one simple for its whimsy.)

5. Captain, it's my general philosophy that in a world rife with absurdity, an arched eyebrow and an ironic aside are sometimes the only defenses against going stark raving mad. The Hindenburg Murders by Max Allan Collins (p. 78)

6. I have enough problems all my on my own. No need to go out of my way looking for people who are only going to confuse me even more. I Been There Before by David Carkeet (p. 33)

7. He charmed me in the way that all true charmers do: he made me feel I was the only person who mattered to him. Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile by Gyles Brandreth (p. 68)

8. ...being successful in life depends on two gifts, and two only. One is to know where to go for anything you want to get done; the other is to be able to get it done for you. Death Under Sail by C. P. Snow (p. 67)

9. It is not a pleasant prospect to be book-less. The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull

10. My dear Markham, you're far too logical. It's your legal training, of course. But the world is not run by logic. I infinitely prefer to be emotional. Think of the masterpieces of poetry that would have been lost to humanity if their creators had been logicians. The Dragon Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (pp. 44-5)