100 phrases from famous books and writers (essential)

Throughout history, literary works have been written that have left phrases to frame, that is, phrases from books written by great authors that have remained to be remembered.

Some of them talk about love, others are reflective phrases and others are motivational phrases. Now, what these phrases have in common is that they are full of a deep and sure feeling that will make you think. That is why in this article we have decided to collect the best quotes from books.

If you are a lover of reading, first of all, we invite you to read the following articles:

• The 50 recommended books that you should read throughout your life
• The 25 best Psychology books you can't miss
• Top 10 Self-Help and Self-Improvement Books
• The 8 most useful Educational Psychology books for parents

The most famous phrases from famous books

Here are the best phrases from books, which collect reflections, opinions and essential experiences. Let us begin.

1. The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to experience (Duna, Frank Herbert)

The importance of experience is what really makes us live. Only in this we can know the mystery of life.

2. Being alone has nothing to do with how many people are around (Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates)

Loneliness is a feeling that is generally associated with a huge sadness. You can have a lot of people around you, but feel incredibly lonely.

3. Be a man or be more than a man. He be firm with his purpose and firm as a stone (Frankestein, Mary Shelley)

You have to move on and not leave your aspirations behind. Only then will you continue to feel alive.

4. The weak man becomes strong when he has nothing, because only then he can feel the madness of despair (The White Company, Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is at the worst times when we can grow more than ever. You have to learn from the bad

5. If you seek perfection you will never be happy (Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy)

Perfectionists are incredibly unhappy.

• If you want to know more about perfectionism, you can visit our article: Perfectionist personality: the downsides of perfectionism

6. While the heart beats, while the body and soul are still together, I cannot admit that any creature gifted with will, she needs to lose hope in life (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Julio Verne)

A great phrase uttered by Julio Verne in his best-known work.

7. I can't die yet doctor. Not yet. I have things to do. After all, I will have a whole life in which to die (The Angel Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafón)

The force of hope keeps us alive in the most delicate moments.

8. I have hope or I might not live (The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells)

As in the previous point, without hope we have nothing left.

9. I call people "rich" when they are able to satisfy the needs of their imagination (The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James)

A prayer of Henry James that speaks of the thinking of rich people.

10. The sun is weak when it first rises, and gains strength and courage as the day progresses (Old Curiosity Store, Charles Dickens)

Some nice words that express the grandeur of the sun, the star that gives us light and warmth.

11. It is on the nights of December, when the thermometer is at zero, when we most think about the sun (Les miserables, Victor Hugo)

This phrase reminds us that if when we have something we do not value it, when we lose it we miss it

12. Every book, every volume that you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it, lived and dreamed of it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone lowers their eyes to the pages, his spirit grows and strengthens (La Sombra del Viento, Carlos Ruiz Zafón)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, one of the great Spanish writers, tells us about the immensity of books and how passionate writers are when they bring their stories to life.

13. My advice is: never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time (David Copperfield, Charles Dickens)

Charles dickens It tells us that we should not be procrastinators.

• Do you want to know what procrastination or the "I'll do it tomorrow" syndrome is? To have all the information, click here

14. Fight until the last breath (Henry VI, William Shakespeare)

William Shakespeare, the well-known English playwright, poet and actor, gives us a great motivating phrase.

15. Getting what you want is as difficult as not getting what you want. Because then you have to figure out what to do with it, instead of figuring out what to do without it. (The Realm of Possibility, David Levithan)

David levithan expresses that humans are nonconformists. When we get what we want, then we want more.

16. Stop worrying about getting old and think about growing up (The Dying Animal, Philip Roth)

To be happy you have to think about continuing to grow continuously and one must continue to develop.

17. He would create a perfume that was not only human, but superhuman. An angel scent, so indescribably good and full of vigor that whoever smelled it would be enchanted and would have no more The remedy is to love the person who wore it, that is, to love him, Grenouille, with all his heart (El Perfume, Patrick Süskind)

A romantic phrase that was pronounced in "El Perfume", a work by Patrick Süskind.

18. How wonderful it is that no one needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world! (The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank)

Anna Frank He was one of the best known Nazi Holocaust victims. In his diary, he wrote this nice thought.

19. You think you know all your possibilities. Then other people come into your life and suddenly there are many more (The Realm of Possibility, David Levithan)

The possibilities increase as we meet new people. The important thing is to be in motion. This is how things come.

20. There is nothing in the world, neither man nor devil nor anything else, that is so suspicious to me as love, for it penetrates the soul more than anything else. There is nothing that occupies and ties more to the heart than love. For this reason, when it does not have weapons to govern itself, the soul sinks, for love, in the deepest of ruins (The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco)

This statement of Umberto Eco refers to how love floods us, and how heartbreak is capable of leaving us dead while alive.

21. Whoever you are, whatever you do, when you firmly desire something it is because this desire was born in the soul of the universe. It is your mission on earth (The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho)

Paulo Coelho explains that when we have a passion in life, we must fight for it.

22. He suddenly slid down the hall, as he passed me his surprising golden pupils stopped for an instant on mine. I must have died a little. I couldn't breathe and my pulse stopped (La Casa de los Espíritus, Isabel Allende)

A phrase from the book "The house of the spirits", in which a love affair lived in the first person is recounted.

One of those situations in which we come across someone who attracts us a lot. Time to stop standing 23. Man goes much further to avoid what he fears than to achieve what he wants (The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown)

Negative situations can be positive to help us grow and to develop as people.

24. Our lives are defined by opportunities, even those we lose (The curious case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott Fitzgerald)

The opportunities we lose, whether we like it or not, are also part of our life and mark us.

25. Not all that is gold glitters, nor are all wandering people lost (The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien)

A phrase to reflect on, taken from the famous work: "The Lord of the Rings."

26. Love and desire are two different things; that not everything that is loved is desired, nor everything that is desired is loved (Don Quixote de la Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes)

Miguel de Cervantes it separates what is love from what is desire.

27. When you have consoled yourself, you will be glad you met me (The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupèry)

An ironic phrase that can be found on one of the pages of "The Little Prince", by Antoine Saint-Exupèry.

28. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of folly, it was the age of belief, it was the age of disbelief, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair (Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens)

This is a phrase taken from the great text of Charles dickens "History of cities".

29. And once the bad smells of the past had dissipated, now I wanted to flood it with fragrances (El Perfume, Patrick Süskind)

When you overcome the bad things that have happened to you, the future and the present seem less bad to you.

30. It will be very difficult for me to avenge all those who have to be avenged, because my revenge would be just another part of the same inexorable rite (La Casa de los Espíritus, Isabel Allende)

Revenge is not a good option, so you have to leave grudges behind

• And what are spiteful people like? You can find out in this text: Spiteful people: 10 traits and attitudes that characterize them

31. I know who I was this morning when I woke up, but I think I have had to change several times since then (Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)

People can change their mood throughout the day. It's normal

32. I am not a bird and no net catches me. I am a free human being with an independent will (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte)

Human beings, at least in the West, have the great virtue of deciding to be free and independent. Charlotte bronte.

33. The greatest adventure is the one that awaits us. Today and tomorrow have not yet been said. The possibilities, the changes are all yours to do. The mold of his life in his hands is to break (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien)

We can, at least to a great extent, choose the path we want to follow in life. It is up to us to strive to achieve the goals we have in mind.

34. I feel like I'm moving forward as well as away from something, and anything is possible (American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis)

A phrase uttered in the great novel of Bret Easton Ellis, entitled "American Psycho."

35. If people just love others just a little, they can be very happy (Germinal, Émile Zola)

How different would the world be if people only cared a little for others,

36. You never know what bad luck has saved you from worse luck (No country for old men, Cormac McCarthy)

A fine irony that expresses that, Despite bad luck, things could always be worse.

37. I don't like working - no man likes it - but I like what's in work - the opportunity to find yourself. Your own reality - for you, not for others - what no other man will be able to know (The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad)

Work may be hard many times, but work is synonymous with health.

38. Alice: How long is forever? White Rabbit: Sometimes just a second (Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)

A phrase about the time of Lewis Carroll It invites reflection.

39. The worst thing about religion was religious people (The Wedding Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides)

A few words from Jeffrey eugenides that talk about religious issues.

40. The mind makes its own place, and in itself it can make a heaven from hell, and a hell from heaven (Paradise Lost, John Milton)

John milton refers to our mind being powerful. It is not the events that cause us suffering, but how we interpret these events.

41. Ammu said that human beings were creatures of habit, and that it was amazing what kind of things they could get used to (The god of little things, Arundhati Roy)

Habituation is a type of learning very common in humans. It is part of our species.

42. Love those you love while you have them. That is all you can do. Let them go when you must. If you know how to love, you will never escape (My name is memory, Ann Brashares)

You have to love and respect the people for whom you feel a special affection

43. There are people who, the more you do for them, the less they do for themselves (Emma, ​​Jane Austen)

If you do a lot for someone, they get used to it and they become dependent. It is a problem that can be prevented by taking certain precautions.

44. There are books whose backs and covers are by far the best part (Oliver Twist, Charles Dickes)

Not all books are masterpieces. And in fact, some, even, not worth reading.

45. The world was so recent that many things lacked a name, and to mention them you had to point your finger at them (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Marquez)

The world, and specifically human beings, have evolved over the centuries.

46. Older people can never understand something on their own and it is very boring for children to have to explain them over and over again (The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

A sarcastic phrase that can be found in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book, “The Little Prince”.

47. When you feel like criticizing someone, remember that not everyone has had the same opportunities that you had (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Criticizing is easy, and criticism is not always well founded. Therefore, before carrying them out, the reasons must be clear.

• Related article: "10 tips to better fit criticism"

48. Life changes fast. Life changes in an instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends (The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion)

You have to make the most of life because it happens so fast. You have to stop regretting it and enjoy it.

49. Do you know what happens when you hurt people? Ammu said. When you hurt people, they start loving you less. That's what sloppy words do. They make people love you a little less (The God of Little Things, Arundhati Roy)

You have to take care of the people who love you. Because if not, we can hurt them.

50. When you're scared but you do it anyway, that's bravery (Coraline, Neil Gaiman)

Courage is a very positive quality that people can possess, and helps us overcome great obstacles.

51. We must be careful with books and what is inside them, since words have the power to change us (The Mechanical Angel, Cassandra Clare)

Words can be very powerful and have an effect on our thoughts.

52. Friendship is undoubtedly the best balm for the pains of love disappointment (Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen)

This phrase refers to another popular phrase that says: "who has a friend, has a treasure."

53. We tell ourselves stories to live (The White Album, Joan Didion)

Joan Didion, talks about how, after all, we all live the story of our lives.

54. Talk nonsense is the only privilege humanity has over other organisms. It is by speaking nonsense that one comes to the truth. I speak nonsense, therefore I am human (Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky)

The great Dostoevsky He leaves us this pearl to reflect on how we come to give meaning to our lives.

55. You can't say "no" to the people you love, not often. Thats the secret. And when you do, it has to sound like a "yes" or you have to make him say "no" (The Godfather, Mario Puzo)

It's hard to love someone and have to mention the word "no" to them. Still, sometimes it is necessary.

56. Others will write from the head, but he writes from the heart, and the heart always understands him (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories, Washington Irving)

From the soul is when the best stories are written, because it allows you to unleash creativity and authentic emotions.

57. If you want to know what a man is like, look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals (Harry Potter and the Goblet, Fire by J.K. Rowling)

Our behaviors are a reflection of who we are. They are the reflection of our thoughts.

58. All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know at the time (The Five People You'll Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom)

When something is over, it is an opportunity to start something new. One more chance to be happy.

59. Wands are as powerful as the witches who use them. Some witches like to boast that they are bigger and better than other people (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling)

It is not the wand that does good or evil, but it is the people who use it who decide what to do with it.

60. People find it much easier to forgive others for being wrong than for being right (The Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling)

A nice phrase from J.K. Rowling on forgiveness. Should or should we not forgive who has hurt us? Know the answer here.

61. Have you ever fallen in love? It's not horrible? It makes you so vulnerable. Open your chest and open your heart and it means that someone can enter you and undo you (The benevolent, Neil Gaiman)

Closing out of love is great suffering and can cause serious emotional problems. Therefore, you have to open up and love.

62. Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, only by remembering to turn on the light (The Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling)

Even in bad times you have to turn on the switch of happiness so as not to live anchored in suffering.

63. In the afternoon he went to see the cinema "The Lord of the Rings", which he had not had time to see before. He thought that orcs, unlike humans, were simple and uncomplicated creatures (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson)

Human beings are experts in the art of complicating our lives.

64. It is strange to think that, when one fears something that is going to happen and wants time to begin slower, time tends to pass faster (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling)

Recreating yourself in worries is nothing positive. What's more, negative thinking can lead to what's known as self-fulfilling prophecy.

66. Reflecting serenely, very serenely, is better than making desperate decisions (The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka)

Self-reflection is key to mental and emotional well-being.

• Therefore, we invite you to read the following article: "Personal Development: 5 reasons for self-reflection"

67. She was so impressed by her huge tarabiscote nudity that she felt the urge to back off (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez)

This is a beautiful extract from the book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

68. Better to look at the sky than to live there (Breakfast with diamonds, Truman Capote)

The sky is there to behold. Living there would mean that our end has come.

69. Despite you, me and the world that is falling apart, I love you (Gone with the Wind, Margareth Mitchell)

When love is so intense, there is nothing that can separate you from that special someone.

70. Joy sometimes causes a strange effect; oppresses the heart almost as much as pain (The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas)

Surely this phrase from the book of Alexander dumas he will make you think and reflect.

71. Walking in a straight line one cannot get very far (The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupèry)

If we want to grow, we must try different paths. In other words, get out of the comfort zone.

72. What a treacherous thing to think that a person is more than a person (Paper Towns, John Green)

You have to be humble in this life, because not everyone has the same opportunities.

73. Each one must be asked what is within their power to do (The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupèry)

You don't have to be hard on people. You cannot expect more from someone than they can offer.

74. When a woman remarries it is because she detested her first husband. When a man remarries it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde)

An ironic prayer of Oscar Wilde that talks about the risk men take when they get married.

75. Death tears man apart: the idea of ​​death saves him (Howards End, E. M. Forster)

Sometimes thinking about death can help people avoid taking excessive risks that could end badly.

76. It is true that you almost always find something, if you look, but it is not always what you are looking for (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien)

Being on the go gives us new opportunities. Although they are not always what we had planned, they may be positive.

77. The supreme joy of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves; rather loved in spite of us (Les miserables, Victor Hugo)

It is not easy to love yourself, but sometimes we are our own enemies.

78. No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched (George Jean Nathan)

George Jean Nathan contrasts reason and feelings in a very lyrical way. One of the most cited phrases in literature.

79. A man who is a master of patience is a master of everything else (George Savile)

The power of patience and the ability to manage time well, in a wise phrase.

80. Someone who does not believe in miracles is not realistic (David Ben-Gurion)

About the anomalies and inexplicable events contained in reality.

81. There is no sadder vision than that of a pessimistic young man (Mark Twain)

Mark Twain refers here to the value associated with youth and the possibility that we despise it.

82. Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad dinner (Francis Bacon)

Hope as something that has a double edge: it is positive when a whole world of possibilities opens up before us, but not so much when it is the last resort.

83. Education is the movement from darkness to light (Allan Bloom)

A powerful image to explain what education is.

84. The risk of a bad decision is preferable to the terror of indecision (Maimonides)

This philosopher from Muslim Córdoba talks about the negatives of indecision and analysis paralysis.

85. A mind needs a book as a sword needs its sharpening stone (George R. R. Martin)

One of the witty phrases of the fashionable writer in the world of fantasy literature.

86. What today is proven once could only be imagined (William Blake)

This quote refers to the perspective with which we should take what seems impossible.

87. Only the educated are free (Epictetus)

Education as the engine of freedom and autonomy.

88. All knowledge is hurtful (Cassandra Clare)

A wise phrase referring to the way in which each new piece of knowledge upsets the foundations of what we thought we knew.

89. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom (Thomas Jefferson)

For Thomas Jefferson, these two values ​​are closely related.

90. Every society is three meals away from chaos (Lenin)

The Soviet politician and revolutionary, on the fragility of the cohesions formed within a country.

91. It is not said I broke eating or I broke walking. You start crying or laughing. I think it is worth being shattered by those feelings (Albert Espinosa)

A phrase that emphasizes the human character of crying.

92. Time is what we want the most and also what we use the worst (William Penn)

A paradox posed by the English philosopher William Penn. To be aware that life is there to make the most of it.

93. Freedom is never given; is always won (Asa Philip Randolph)

About the effort and sacrifices required to win freedom.

94. Once you have something to do, it is better to do it than live with fear because of it (Joe Abercrombie)

Another of the writers in vogue in the world of medieval fantasy offers us this reflection on pending accounts.

95. Man is the only creature who refuses to be who he is (Albert Camus)

Albert Camus, in one of his philosophical phrases about the struggle that human beings have with the creation of a meaning for his existence.

96. Creativity requires courage to be detached from certainties (Erich Fromm)

The father of humanist psychoanalysis, on the relationship between courage and uncertainty.

97. The best part of beauty is that which no image can express (Francis Bacon)

Francis Bacon, about that part of beauty that cannot be shown.

98. Those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it (Edmund Burke)

Conservative philosopher Edmund Burke, on the need to know the past.

99. Nothing is so incredible that oratory cannot make it acceptable (Cicero)

Cicero talks about the power of well-designed speeches.

100. A small spark can ignite a flame (Dante)

A wise phrase in which one glimpses, through a poetic image, the unsuspected ways in which very important and significant phenomena can appear.