A hundred years ago, I used to participate in Top Ten Tuesdays, and then I started doing the occasional batch of Top Ten quotes from books I’d read. The last one of these was December 2017. For every book I read, I write a review in LibraryThing, and often include quotes. Since 2017 was five (5) years ago, there’s a bit of a backlog…but here’s a new batch of ten, from books read July 27-August 27:

1. “You’re never going to make everyone happy….It’s more important to stand up for what you believe in.” (The Secret Battle of Evan Pao, Wendy Wan-Long Shang)
2. “Think about what you want. Don’t just react.”(The Peach Rebellion, Wendelin Van Draanen)
3. “I think sometimes comedians are able to tell the truth about things other people won’t talk about.” (The New One, Mike Birbiglia)
4. “…if you’re fluent in a language, there’s a place you belong.” (My Broken Language, Quiara Alegría Hudes)
5. “The richness of our lives depends on what we are willing to notice and what we are willing to believe.” (Mr. and Mrs. Bunny–Detectives Extraordinaire, Polly Horvath)
6. “The problem is that these squirrels are definitely cats.” [Paraphrased] (Mina, Matthew Forsythe)
7. “The past pulled us and the future pushed us.” (Sigh, Gone, Phuc Tran)
8. “The things we do to avoid difficult things are often worse than the difficult thing.” (Just Last Night, Mhairi McFarlane)
9. “Did I have it in me to confront the past without getting stuck in it?” (Cult Classic, Sloane Crosley)
10. “Maybe that is what drives us to make art out of the worst things that happen to us. Maybe for some of us, that is how we survive.” (Mother Noise, Cindy House)