Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Quotes (and Some Thoughts About Bookish Tattoos!)

When I was a kid, I loved the idea of getting tattoos, specifically, tattoos of quotes from some of my favorite books. It started with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland - "And she fell down, and down, and down," which I could easily envision spiraling around my left wrist - and by the time I got to high school, I had a list of maybe twelve or so quotes and literary references that I wanted permanently added to my body.

Basically, since I couldn't crack my rib cage open like a cabinet and stuff books into my chest cavity to carry around with me all the time, I wanted them typed out where I could see them everyday. I wanted to be a living library, with words scrawled out across my skin in ink that I would never have to worry about washing off. Furthermore, I thought this was all a really, really good idea.

Then, once I turned 17 and some of my friends started actually getting tattoos, I realized that there was no way this plan was going to work out in my favor. Between abrasive parental controls that are still in place as a 24 year old, to my only semi-functional fear of needles, and the very legitimate question of financial worthiness, I've decided to forgo the tattoos, for now.

But that doesn't mean my love for those words have gone away, at all. Which is why I was so intrigued by today's Top Ten prompt, "Favorite Book Quotes." A worthy category, to be sure, which is why it took me several days to narrow down to some of my favorites. Whether it's for an Instagram caption or a tattoo of your own, I hope you take inspiration in some of my faves!


1."If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." from Emma, Jane Austen
Out of all of the quotes on this list, this is the one I reference the most frequently in daily life, mainly because I think the idea of being too emotionally overwhelmed by love to speak about it eloquently is a pretty relatable concept.

2. The "Cool Girl" monologue from Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
Obviously I can't transcribe the whole thing here, but it's more than worth a quick Google search and a few minutes' reading. If I was anywhere near as stagelight-oriented as I was when I was much younger, this would be my audition monologue.

3.“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between.” from The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
There are a litany of reasons I love The Phantom Tollbooth, the virtues of which I have extolled on the blog for many a post, but one of the best parts of the novel is its universality. The book is relatable across age, background, decade, and more, and the lessons contained within are, as well. This one, delivered by the Princesses Rhyme and Reason, is one of the best. 

4.“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” from Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
This might be a silly choice, but it's one of my favorites particularly because of how frequently it's misquoted or misinterpreted. In the context of the book, the character speaking these lines is Miss Caroline Bingley, and she's doing it strictly to impress Mr. Darcy, and not at all in an earnest reflection of the importance of books, being that she abandons her reading material shortly thereafter. Still, you can find it on plenty a bookmark and tote bag! (I, myself, have a different quote from the same material elsewhere: "What are men compared to rocks and mountains," on a sticker on top of my journal.) 

5."Ah, if only he could die temporarily!" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain 
Thus setting in motion one of the greatest sequences in children's fiction, as Tom does just that. Like The Phantom Tollbooth, I've spoken on my lifelong obsession with Tom Sawyer on the blog before, so it only makes sense that a quote would make the list of potential tattoos.

6.“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” from Frankenstein, Mary Shelley 
You don't see this quote many places, which is a shame, because it's a great one. I read Frankenstein for the first time when I was15, and have returned to it regularly ever since, easily becoming one of my favorite great works of literature. While I'd have to grow into the idea a little bit - as is probably obvious, I am not fearless by any stretch - having it as a tattoo would probably help prompt me to do so. 

7. Okay, so I don't know the exact wording of it, I can't track it down anywhere, and I don't know where my copy's gotten off to, but there's this one quote in Scott Westerfeld's So Yesterday, where he says something stands out "like a black spider on a slice of Wonderbread." Or something... like I said, I can't be sure. All I know, is that it stood out to me the first time I read it, and is one of my favorite parts of the book. (Besides, how cute would a little doodle of a piece of bread with a spider on the middle of it be as a tattoo?)

8."[W]e have some history together that hasn't happened yet." from A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
The postmodern perfection of this book helped define my collegiate career, and cemented Egan as one of my forever favorite and auto-buy authors. Like the first quote on this list, the feeling is relatable: when you meet someone for the first time, and immediately recognize that they'll have significance in your own life.

9."Maybe feeling like an empty room is what inspires you to fill it." from Everyone's an Aliebn When You're an Aliebn Too, Jomny Sun 
The most recent release on this list, and not even something found within the contents of the graphic novel itself, but instead, within its endpages. When I read it for the first time, I gasped out loud, because it was such a simple, but still moving, statement of hope.

10.“We all create stories to protect ourselves.” from House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
This book is one of those that you'll never understand the hype for, until you really set about trying to read the novel. Well, more like deconstruct. The best way I can explain it, is that the book is filled with secrets, and you really need to set aside a month to puzzle it out... if you even actually manage to escape the labyrinth yourself. This quote is one that resonated with me, but there are plenty more where that came from: the dedication in the book simply reads, "This is not for you," and I can't think of a more supremely kick-butt nerd tattoo than that.

What's in your Top Ten? Do you have any bookish tattoos? Let me know, in the comments below!