Famous Literary Quotes
1st Marking Period
Format:
1. Copy the quote, literary source, and author into your journal.
2. Respond to the quote with a minimum of five complete sentences. Do you agree/disagree with the quote? Why? Is its meaning
still relevant today? How can you relate the quote to your life? I am looking for a personal reference, not a generalization.
3. Each quote/response is worth five (5) points for a total of 100 possible points for the marking period. Your journal is due October
19th. If submitted early, by October 12th, you receive five bonus points.
1. “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”
The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger
2. “This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Hamlet, Shakespeare
3. “True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.”
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare
4. “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you
know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes
you do.”
To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee
5. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.”
Lord of the Flies, Golding
6. “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has
to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.”
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde
7. “The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of
existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.”
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce
8. “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde
9. “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”
The Awakening, Chopin
10. “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.”
Of Human Bondage, Maugham
11. “He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired uneasiness. That was it!”
Heart of Darkness, Conrad
12. “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent
to sting you, as mine has been.”
Frankenstein, Shelley
13. “Would the world ever have been made if its maker had been afraid of making trouble? Making life means making trouble.”
Pygmalion, Shaw
14. “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft…When you kill a man, you steal a life.
You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth.
When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.”
The Kite Runner, Hosseini
15. “The greater your arrogance, the heavier God's revenge.”
Antigone, Sophocles
16. “Such is life.”
Waiting for Godot, Beckett
17. “Ye think sin in the beginning full sweet
Which in the end causeth the soul to weep”
Everyman, Anonymous
18. "If you care about something you have to protect it – If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the
courage to live it."
A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irving
19. “I like them to talk nonsense. That's man's one privilege over all creation. Through error you come to the truth! I am a man
because I err! You never reach any truth without making fourteen mistakes and very likely a hundred and fourteen."
Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky
20. "Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule."
Great Expectations, Dickens