Two favorites from Life of Pi:

"The individual soul touches upon the world soul like a well reaches for the water table."

"These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defined, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart."

"Education is the peg on which the poor man hangs his pride."

I read this as a line of dialog in a novel many years ago. Since then, I have searched every possible quote site, but I have never found the source.
Nancy

I have found many.

"Sometimes a light will go from your life, and your life becomes a prayer till you are strong enough to stand under the weight of your own thought again." How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

"Nobody knows what she really believes. You've got to guess at it by how you find yourself acting." Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley

"You see, if only people didn't refuse quick and hard to think about next Monday, Virtue wouldn't have such a hard and thankless time of it." The Reivers by William Faulkner

"It was as though, so long as the deceit ran along quiet and monotonous, all of us let ourselves be deceived, abetting it unawares or maybe through cowardice, since all people are cowards and naturally prefer any kind of treachery because it has a bland outside." As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

"No doubt she thought her poor young heart was broken. I knew it was still intact, or she couldn't have been so angry. When something breaks, all the contents spill out; there is nothing left inside but emptiness." The Master of Blacktower by Barbara Michaels

"A fellow is more afraid of the trouble he might have than he ever is of the trouble he's already got. He'll cling to trouble he's used to before he'll risk a change." Light in August by William Faulkner

"Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force." Dorothy Sayers

I'll stop now!

Mudlady, I have just read/heard your quote within the past week or so....now to find it! :)

"Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there...often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led - make of that what you will."

From the novel Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry.

I have an entire journal full of these!

Pfmastin!!!!

I am 67 and read this when I was around 11. I had read all the kids' books in our little library and was allowed to take books from the adult section. I don't remember when this thought became important to me, but it had to be prior to age 30. I have an AAS in Nursing, a BS in Nursing, and an MS in Nursing, a BS in Music Ed. and an MS in Health Ed. All through my Nursing career of 28 1/2 years I attended every in-house and paid in service or conference. I was driven, especially after divorcing when I was terrified I might somehow become unemployed. I am retired now and prefer educational and informational TV. I hope I learn the source before I die! Please, please find your source. I will be eternally grateful. Good luck in your search.
Nancy

"Crushing truths perish for being acknowledged."

(Albert Camus, from, I think, his "Myth of Sisyphus."

"Men love with their eyes; women love with their ears."

(from one of Adriana Triganami's "Big Stone Gap" books.)

Siobhan, I, too, have a large notebook of favorite quotations from literary sources that I keep entries in.

"When you have to work that hard to be normal, then you know you aren't." Jodi Picault, I think, from "House Rules."
This may not be verbatim but it means a lot to me because I was in my 60s when I learned that I wasn't just weird, I am actually "on the spectrum" (refers to autism and Asperger syndrome) and test slightly positive for Asperger behavior. It was first a relief to find there was a reason that I never think, feel or respond like "normal" people, but then the realization that the "treatment" for Asperger syndrome is to become a great actor and fake "normal" responses and reactions in order to fit into polite society is quite depressing. It is, indeed, very hard to fake being normal.
Nancy

mudlady....you're going to kill me. I discovered where I read it...right here on the forum...from your post on May 8. I am so sorry...I know I raised your hopes. I promise I will keep it in mind and remember you if I ever come across it.

......blushing....
Pam

Pam--
That's too funny! I have been searching on the web for around 20 years for the source and whatever suggested books or sites I check always come up with nothing. A while ago I tried again and the answer was "author unknown." I think my periodic searches are the reason it is now at least attributed to "unknown." I say I don't want to die without learning the source, but maybe I just have to die and go to Heaven to get an answer ;-)
Nancy

Well, I feel pretty silly. :) When I read your post above, I got so excited...I thought, "oh my gosh, I've just seen that quote!"....of course not realizing it was on this very forum. I searched the last few kindle books I'd read with no luck and thought hard about what else I'd read in the past few week. It must have struck a cord with me, too. I hope you find it.

"We look on past ages with condescension, as mere preparation for us... but what if we're only an after-glow of them?"

The Siege of Krishnapur

J.G. Farrell

I have a couple of books with quotes from books I have read...hand written, typed, scanned and printed. What surprises me is that I actually do take it from the shelf and read it. And that I remember the original reading and that I still find them significant.

Two of my more recent findings:

"No, not Bach's Gloria. Yours! Your 'Gloria' lives within you. The greatest sin is not finding it, ignoring what God made possible in you."

And:

"Life, too, is like that. You live if forward, but understand it backward."

These are both tin the first few pages of Cutting for Stone. Which I am enormously enjoying.

"This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants...re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem...

Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of Grass

"It is only with the heart that one sees clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

From "The Little Prince" by A. St. Exupery (one of my favorite books).

While setting up our local library book sale, I found this book : I AM MY MOTHER'S DAUGHTER, Making Peace With Mom Before It's Too Late.

There are SO many thought provoking passages but this one struck me....

" We have lived long enough to see our mothers grow up themselves, to become more gentle and compassionate. This can help counterbalance some of the hurt and pain that a mother may have caused, often unwittingly, as a younger, less-developed person."

"...The bonus of a mother's increased longevity gives a daughter the added opportunity to heal the wounded self of an earlier time."

siobhan - That Whitman quote is beautiful. I've saved it to my own quotes file. Thank you.

One thing I read in the last year had a letter in it left by a character who committed suicide. The letter explained that her suicide had nothing to do with anyone else. Her body just never seemed right or habitable - nothing seemed to fit. And no one ever guessed that about her. I related so much to what she felt, the struggle to figure out where I fit in my environment, feeling I didn't belong anywhere and was invisible. I often feel like a stranger in my own body. It made me start to think about how it's so easy to present an outside facade that has nothing to do with what's going on internally. And maybe if we share a little more, we might get more from others. Anyway, I had a nice philosophical discussion with myself and actually have started being more open with others. I'm drawing myself out of my shell :)

"No matter what befalls you, may you always be curious."
from "The Memory Palace" by Mira Bartok

"I have many questions but no patience to think them through"
from The Principles of Uncertainty" by Maira Kalman

And one of my favorites from many places:

"DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT"