Steppenwolf Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis He went on two legs, wore clothes and was a human being, but nevertheless he was in reality a wolf of the Steppes. He had learned a good deal . . . and was a fairly clever fellow. What he had not learned, however, was this: to find contentment in himself and his … Read more

Atlas Shrugged Quotations and Analysis

“But what can you do when you have to deal with people?” This question is repeated in the book. The above is from Dr. Stadler in Part One, Chapter VII. It stems from his belief that most people are not really capable of rational thought. They are basically irrational and must be dealt with manipulative … Read more

Anne of Green Gables Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive—it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” Anne … Read more

Le Morte d’Arthur Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.” Obviously the prophecy which foretells the coming of Arthur as the rightful king. The quotations encapsulates the theme of fate which pervades the story. It also demonstrates some of the pre-Christian, pagan dimensions retained in … Read more

Flowers for Algernon Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “Prof Nemur said but why did you want to lern to reed and spell in the frist place. I tolld him because all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb and my mom always tolld me to try and lern just like Miss Kinnian tells me but its very … Read more

Alice in Wonderland Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “Who in the world am I?” Ah, that’s the great puzzle.” In Chapter 2, Alice asks herself this question after she has grown to an enormous size. In this quotation we see how Alice is attempting to not only understand Wonderland, but also herself. As she is plunged into a world in … Read more

Symbols, Important Quotes and Key Facts Lolita

Symbols The Theatre: The theatre is symbolic of artistry and artifice. Humbert blames Lolita’s newly learned ability to lie on her participation in a school play. Quilty uses that same school play to convince Lolita to come with him. Lolita is drawn to the theatre because of Quilty. This is particularly upsetting for Humbert, as he … Read more

Through the Looking Glass Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “It’s a great huge game of chess that’s being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.” Alice says this in Chapter 2 as she looks out on a landscape which appears to be a large chess board. She deduces that Looking-Glass World is like a great chess game, … Read more

Hamlet – Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, / Or that the Everlasting had not fixed / His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God, God, / How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world! Act One … Read more

Heart of Darkness Quotes and Analysis

The word ivory rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on … Read more

The Awakening Quotations and Analysis

“In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The motherwomen seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy … Read more

Their Eyes Were Watching God Quotes and Explanations

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, … Read more

Beowulf Quotes – Explanation and Analysis

“They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships, the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures were piled on him, and precious gear.” (lines 34-37) From the opening lines of the poem, here is evidence of the declarations of loyalty to the founder of the Danes. As they send him off to a … Read more

As I Lay Dying Quotations and Analysis

Quotes That’s what they mean by the love that passeth understanding: that pride, that furious desire to hide that abject nakedness which we bring here with us, . . . carry stubbornly and furiously with us into the earth again. At the end of Section 11, these are the thoughts that Peabody has about the soon to pass, … Read more

Beloved Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom.” 124 serves as a central image in the novel and all three part begin with an observation of this type. This begins Part One. The problem of haunting will pervade the novel, both literally and figuratively. Beloved is a character who can be read … Read more

The Sun Also Rises – Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of … Read more

The Odyssey Quotes and Analysis

Quotes and Analysis Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save his life and … Read more

Things Fall Apart Quotations and Analysis

“Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” Interestingly, Achebe uses a quotation form Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming” to open the novel. This sets the tone for what will unfold. That the center cannot hold is foreshadowing of … Read more

The D’Urbervilles Important Quotes

Important Quotes “Don’t you really know, Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d’Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d’Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?” “Never heard it before, sir!” Taken from Chapter … Read more

Les Misérables Important Quotes, Symbolism and Key Facts

Important Quotes “Valjean strained his eyes in the distance and called out…”Petit Gervais!…” His cries died away into the mist, without even awakening an echo…[H]is knees suddenly bent under him, as if an invisible power suddenly overwhelmed him with the weight of his bad conscience; he fell exhausted…and cried out, “I’m such a miserable man!” … Read more

The Tempest Quotes from the Book – Explanation and Analysis

“You taught me language, and my profit on’t is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for learning me your language! (I.ii366-368) Dictated by Caliban to Miranda and Prospero, this statement clearly illustrates the tumultuous relationship between the slave and master (or the colonized and the colonizer). Caliban is regarded as a ‘savage’ … Read more

The Catcher in the Rye Quotations and Analysis

“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”“Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.”Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, … Read more

Night Quotes and Analysis

Quotes and Analysis Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke … Read more

Brave New World – Quotations and Analysis

“Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet. The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby. No wonder those poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable. Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy.”  This quotation is … Read more

Death of a Salesman – Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped … Read more

The Prince Quotations and Analysis

Quotations and Analysis “At this point one may note that men must be either pampered or annihilated. They avenge light offenses; they cannot avenge severe ones; hence, the harm one does to a man must be such as to obviate any fear of revenge.” This quote is from Chapter 3 and it demonstrates the emphasis on … Read more

The Stranger Quotations and Analysis

“Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” These are the opening lines of the novel. Spoken, or perhaps thought, by Meursault, these lines indicate the tremendous indifference he shows toward everything. That … Read more

Symbols and Quotes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Symbols The Fog Machine As part of his delusion, Bromden regularly sees a haze of fog. Fog is a natural phenomenon that clouds the way the world is seen, and in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest fog is used to symbolize lack of awareness and to offer an escape from reality. As Bromden slips further and … Read more

Quotes from Frankenstein

There is a number of spot-on quotes dealing with various important subjects of the book. Quotes about science and what price can be paid for it “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for the dominion I should acquire and transmit … Read more

To Kill a Mockingbird Quotes – Explanation and Analysis

The image of Boo Radley can at first seem strange and even disturbing, according to the overall tone of the story. The mysterious man – or even creature – who never leaves the Radleys” house is an embodiment of all the childish horrors about the haunted houses and their inhabitants. Atticus Finch is one of the main … Read more

Important Quotes and Key Facts in Grapes of Wrath

“I got thinkin’ how we was holy when we was one thing, an’ mankin’ was holy when it was one thing. An’ it on’y got unholy when one mis’able little fella got the bit in his teeth an’ run off his own way, kickin’ an’draggin’ an’ fightin’. Fella like that bust the holi-ness. But when … Read more

Virgil’s Aeneid Symbols and Quotes

Symbols Flames: Fire plays an important role in the play. It is symbolic not only of erotic love or desire, but also of destruction and ruin. Under the imagery of flames, Virgil is able to explain how one relates to the other, and how both are connected. The desire the Paris has for Helen is what … Read more

1984 by George Orwell Quotations and Analysis

WAR IS PEACEFREEDOM IS SLAVERYIGNORANCE IS STRENGTH These are the slogans engraved on the Ministry of Truth. They evoke the double think of the totalitarian regime of Oceania. The meaning and logic of the slogans run counter to all conventional sense and they reveal the mind-numbing force of the Party. All reality is what the … Read more

The Things They Carried Quotes and Analysis

Quotes and Analysis They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died … Read more

Doctor Faustus Quotes and Analysis

Quotes and Analysis The reward of sin is death? That’s hard.Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas.If we say that we have no sin,We deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.Why then belike we must sin,And so consequently die.Ay, we must die in everlasting death.What doctrine call you this? Che sara … Read more

The Outsiders Quotes and Analysis

Quotes and Analysis Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold. The most popular quote in the book, these are the words that Johnny utters as he lays dying. Stay Gold is a reference to the poem by Robert Frost that Ponyboy read to Johnny while the pair hid out in the abandoned church. As the poem says, … Read more

Wuthering Heights Quotations and Analysis

“The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, ‘Let me in – let me in!’ ‘Who are you?’ I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. ‘Catherine Linton,’ it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of LINTON? … Read more

A Doll’s House Quotes and Analysis

Quotes and Analysis One day I might, yes. Many years from now, when I’ve lost my looks a little. Don’t laugh, I mean, of course, a time will come when Torvald is not as devoted to me, not quite so happy when I dance for him, and dress for him, and play with him. Taken from … Read more

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Quotations and Analysis

“I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I … Read more

Quotations and Analysis of Gulliver’s Travels

“My Father had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of five Sons. . . . I was bound Apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent Surgeon in London . . . my Father now and then sending me small Sums of Money. . . . When I left Mr. Bates, I went … Read more

Animal Farm Important Quotes Explained

“Four legs good, two legs bad.” Read in Chapter III, this is how Snowball paraphrases the Seven Commandments of Animalism, which are designed to support Old Major’s speech on the importance of animal unity in the face of oppression by the humans. This is one example that the author uses to substantiate how elitist, or … Read more

Quotes and Analysis of Pride and Prejudice

The quotes from this book are widely known and often used by its readers. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (51). The first line and the most famous line of the novel. This introduces the entire theme of … Read more

The Handmaid’s Tale Quotations and Analysis

“Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and not man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles. There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given … Read more

Macbeth Quotations and Analysis

“Yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.” Act I, scene v. Spoken by Lady Macbeth as she reads a letter from her husband explaining the prophecy of the witches. She fears he is too influenced by human kindness to simply take the … Read more

Romeo and Juliet Quotations and Analysis

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,Who is already sick and pale with griefThat thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. . . .The brightness of her cheek would shame those starsAs daylight doth a lamp; her … Read more

The Great Gatsby Quotes – Explanation and Analysis

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Related Characters: Nick Carraway (speaker) Explanation and Analysis: … Read more

Quotes from Fahrenheit 451 – Explanation and Analysis

“Surely you remember the boy in your own school class who was exceptionally ‘bright,’ did most of the reciting and answering while the others sat like so many leaden idols, hating him. And wasn’t it this bright boy you selected for beatings and tortures after hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. … Read more