Famous books are famous for a reason – because of their great lines. Here are some of the finest lines from the finest books, curated by the Greatess review team.

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aurelio Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon that his father took him to discover ice.” —One Hundred Years of Solitude

“What fresh hell is this?” —Jane Eyre

“Heart like shale. What you need is a good fracking.” —MaddAddam

“Always.” —Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“Everything’s profound when there’s guns and zombies.” —Sandman Slim

“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” —The Bell Jar

“For one last time, Miriam does as she is told.” —A Thousand Splendid Suns

“And that’s all we are Jefferson, all of us on this earth, a piece of drifting wood. Until we—each of us, individually—decide to become something else. I am still that piece of drifting wood, and those out there are no better. But you can be better.” —A Lesson Before Dying

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” —The Fault in Our Stars

“‘Nobody run off with her,’ Roscoe said. ‘She just run off with herself, I guess.’” —Lonesome Dove

“At the beginning of the summer I had lunch with my father, the gangster, who was in town for the weekend to transact some of his vague business.” —The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

“What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive.” —Animal Dreams

“He was dancing, dancing. He says he’ll never die.” —Blood Meridian

“We’re all damaged, somehow.” —A Great and Terrible Beauty

“He’s more myself than I am.” —Wuthering Heights

“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” —The Princess Bride

“You know it don’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?” —The Glass Menagerie

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If you are looking for a great classic film to watch now, and especially one with an American setting, then check out this list curated by the Greatess review team.

Double Indemnity. Billy Wilder, 1944. Call it the ultimate film noir. Fred MacMurray is a decent guy until his eye is turned by Barbara Stanwyck — and her ankle bracelet — and he is duped into a plot to murder her husband. Edward G. Robinson is great as an insurance man who feels something wrong about the case in his gut.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Frank Capra, 1939. The ultimate American movie and a triumph of naïveté over cynicism. Jimmy Stewart is the young, new senator whose gee-whiz patriotism wins over both the corrupt Claude Rains and the worldly Jean Arthur.

The African Queen. John Huston, 1951. Prim and proper Katharine Hepburn has to share a boat with sloppy, boozing Humphrey Bogart, and the result is movie magic. It helps to have a brilliant, witty script.

Only Angels Have Wings. Howard Hawks, 1939. Tough men doing a tough job in the face of danger — and also in the face of Jean Arthur, who gives Cary Grant something to live for. Hawks’ storytelling is subtle, but powerfully moving. The final scene is one of those great moments of cinema.

Notorious. Alfred Hitchcock, 1946. Ingrid Bergman is in love with Cary Grant, but marries the loathsome Claude Rains to spy on his evil Nazi plans. It’s romance mixed with thrills, and a wine-bottle full of Hitchcock’s best suspense.

Star Wars. George Lucas, 1977. It’s just about as much fun as you can have watching a movie. Basically, it’s a Western set in outer space, with narrative elements from Akira Kurosawa. The now-iconic characters are impossible to watch without a smile on your face.

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Time is a mystery that cannot be touched and these wonderful words epitomize exactly what it is, curated by the Greatess review team.

“Time and space are finite in extent, but they don’t have any boundary or edge. They would be like the surface of the earth, but with two more dimensions.”

Stephen W. Hawking

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

“The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.”

Rick Warren

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”

Lao Tzu

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”

M. Scott Peck

“With endless time, nothing is special. With no loss or sacrifice, we can’t appreciate what we have”

Mitch Albom

“Modern man thinks he loses something – time – when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains, except kill it.”

Erich Fromm

“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

Eckhart Tolle

“You may delay, but time will not.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now.”

George Harrison

“Time is what we want most,but what we use worst.”

William Penn

“How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever.”

David Norris

“Time is a game played beautifully by children.”

Heraclitus

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Looking to sit down with a good movie to take your mind off things? Then choose one of these great American films, selected by the Greatess review team, and get your popcorn popping!

Roman Holiday by William Wyler

It’s a fairy tale about a commoner who falls in love with a princess, but the commoner is a newspaper reporter played by Gregory Peck and the princess is Audrey Hepburn, who has never been lovelier.

The Lady Eve by Preston Sturges

Barbara Stanwyck is at the top of her considerable game as the worldly card sharp who sets out to scam poor befuddled millionaire Henry Fonda, and winds up falling in love with him.

Meet Me in St. Louis by Vincente Minelli

It’s pure froth, but what froth it is. Think about this: “The Trolley Song” is only the third best original song in the show.

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If you are looking for a great classic read to enjoy now, why not select one of these curated by the Greatess review team.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This one’s gotten a lot of attention with the recent announcement that Lee will be releasing a prequel this summer, so even if you’ve read it before, now might be a good time to revisit it. Told through the point of view of the 6 year-old Scout Finch, the story recounts a crisis that rocks her Alabama hometown when the African American Thom Robinson is accused of raping a young white woman. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, is the lawyer appointed to represent Robinson. Alternately humorous and brutally honest, the novel looks critically at social issues of class, race, and sex politics and the sometimes ironic injustice of the American legal system.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

When 11 year-old orphan Anne Shirley goes to live with the middle-aged brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, she discovers that there’s been some mistake and that they had actually wanted to adopt a boy. While this debacle initially drops Anne into a world where she fears being rejected and unloved, you’ll ultimately be rewarded as Anne’s spirited imagination and kind heart win over everyone whose life she touches. This is a heartwarming story of love and friendship and a poignant reminder that sometimes life not working out the way we want it to is actually the best thing that can happen.

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi Duro

This novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and black father. When Rachel, her mother, and her younger brother fall nine stories from an apartment building, Rachel is the only survivor, and she’s taken in by her black grandmother in a predominantly white Portland neighborhood. With her brown skin and blue eyes (a white girl’s eyes in a Black girl’s face) Rachel faces the challenge of learning what it means to be biracial in a black-and-white world. Duro offers a masterful novel that interrogates the cultural construction of race in America and challenges us to confront our own prejudices.

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If you love the classics then be sure to check out these two great novels from classic authors, curated by the Greatess review team.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

A well-known abolitionist novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a political and puritanical indictment of American slavery. Stowe weaves together the stories of several slaves from the fierce Eliza who will stop at nothing to rescue her son from being sold to the meek, modest Uncle Tom who bears his burden calmly and quietly, serving his masters with the faithful honesty of a man for whom freedom is as much a state of mind as a physical condition. This is a novel about the endurance of the human spirit and the moral obligation to fight for right.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar is a hauntingly realistic novel based on Plath’s own life and tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a talented young woman who gains a summer internship at a large New York magazine and discovers that instead of enjoying the glamorous New York lifestyle, she finds it frightening and disorienting. Lifted from Plath’s own struggle with depression, the Bell Jar is an authentic look into the human psyche and sheds light on the realities of mental illness.

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Maybe it’s time to trade in a few beloved classics for fresh takes from any of these selected by the Greatess review team.

Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is read in classrooms all over the country, however, the novel includes a disturbingly prejudiced view of Africa, including a moment when an African person is referred to as “a dog wearing trousers.”

We could do better by reading about Africa from authors who call the continent their home. Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a great place to start. It’s the story of a brave, wealthy warrior named Okonkwo during the late 1800s.

Gone With the Wind

It’s no surprise that a story set in the Civil War–era Confederacy includes some revisionist history. In Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, African American slaves toil happily in the fields, singing and laughing as their owners flit around in pretty dresses and suits.

If you are craving a realistic read about southern women during the Civil War then consider Karen Abbott’s Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.

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Feeling in the mood to read some classic quotes to change the pace of your day? Then you will love this list curated by the Greatess review team.

l“A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimists.” – Don Marquis

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” – Dorothy Parker

“Never doubt the courage of the French. They were the ones who discovered that snails are edible.” – Doug Larson

“To err is human; to admit it, superhuman.” – Doug Larson

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” – Douglas Adams

“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don’t know the answer.” – Douglas Adams

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” – Douglas Adams

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

“I was born to make mistakes, not to fake perfection.” – Drake

“An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.” – Dylan Thomas

“Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.” – E. B. White

“If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.”– Earl Wilson

“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” – Edward Abbey

“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard

“A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell she is.” – Ellen DeGeneres

“A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.”– Emo Philips

“How many people here have telekenetic powers? Raise my hand.” – Emo Philips

“I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.” – Emo Philips

“Leave something for someone but dont leave someone for something.” – Enid Blyton

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.” – Erma Bombeck

“Never have more children than you have car windows.” – Erma Bombeck

“I drink to make other people more interesting.” – Ernest Hemingway

“Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

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