Top 450 Bonnie Garmus Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “It’s one thing to be brilliant, but to be brilliant without opportunity – that was something else. If Mozart had been born to a poor family in Bombay instead of a cultured one in Salzburg, would he have composed Symphony no. 36 in C? Not a chance.”

— Bonnie Garmus

52. “It is my experience that far too many people do not appreciate the work and sacrifice that goes into being a wife, a mother, a woman. Well, I am not one of them. At the end of our thirty minutes together, we will have done something worth doing. We will have created something that will not go unnoticed. We will have made supper. And it will matter.”

— Bonnie Garmus

53. “You love each other, but he’s probably not interested in hearing about the invisible hand. And who can blame him, because you know the invisible hand is libertarian garbage.”

— Bonnie Garmus

54. “Too many brilliant minds are kept from scientific research thanks to ignorant biases like gender and race. It infuriates me and it should infuriate you. Science has big problems to solve: famine, disease, extinction. And those who purposefully close the door to others using self-serving, outdated cultural notions are not only dishonest, they’re knowingly lazy. Hastings Research Institute is full of them.”

— Bonnie Garmus

55. “On the other hand, wasn’t that the very definitely of life? Constant adaptations brought about by a series of never-ending mistakes?”

— Bonnie Garmus

56. “A pencil instead of a pen? Because unlike ink, graphite is erasable. People make mistakes, Mr. Roth. A pencil allows one to clear the mistake and move on. Scientists expect mistakes, and because of it, we embrace failure.” Then she eyed his pen disapprovingly.”

— Bonnie Garmus

57. “But weathering is called weathering for a reason: it erodes. As the months went by, her fortitude was tested again and again. The only thing that gave her any respite at all was the theater, and even that sometimes disappointed.”

— Bonnie Garmus

58. “In short, the reduction of women to something less than men, and the elevation of men to something more than women, is not biological: it’s cultural. And it starts with two words: pink and blue. Everything skyrockets out of control from there.”

— Bonnie Garmus

59. “Many people go to breeders to find a dog, and others to the pound, but sometimes, especially when it’s really meant to be, the right dog finds you.”

— Bonnie Garmus

60. “Because while she was stuck forever being Mrs. Sloane – she was a Catholic – she never wanted to turn into a Mr. Sloane.”

— Bonnie Garmus

61. “And I promise you this: you won’t get away with it.”

— Bonnie Garmus

62. “Discrimination based on skin color is not only scientifically ludicrous, it’s also a sign of profound ignorance.”

— Bonnie Garmus

63. “From below, Six-Thirty exhaled. Lies, lies, and more lies.”

— Bonnie Garmus

64. “Sure, grit was critical, but it also took luck, and if luck wasn’t available, then help. Everyone needed help.”

— Bonnie Garmus

65. “What did I tell you? Your bond with that boy is hydrogen only. When are you going to wake up and smell the ions?”

— Bonnie Garmus

66. “The tombstone was supposed to have read, “Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun,” a quote from Marcus Aurelius, but the tombstone was small and the engraver had made the first part too big and had run out of room.”

— Bonnie Garmus

67. “When one is raised on a steady diet of sorrow, it’s hard to imagine that others might have had an even larger serving.”

— Bonnie Garmus

68. “I don’t have hopes,” Mad explained, studying the address. “I have faith.” He looked at her in surprise. “Well, that’s a funny word to hear coming from you.” “How come?” “Because,” he said, “well, you know. Religion is based on faith.” “But you realize,” she said carefully, as if not to embarrass him further, “that faith isn’t based on religion. Right?”

— Bonnie Garmus

69. “God is why they were still married and why their marriage was her burden to bear – because it was given to her by God. God was big on burdens, and He made sure everyone got one.”

— Bonnie Garmus

70. “Actually, when you think about it, rowing is almost exactly like raising kids. Both require patience, endurance, strength, and commitment. And neither allow us to see where we’re going – only where we’ve been. I find that very reassuring, don’t you? Except for the flip-outs – of course. I could really do with fewer flip-outs.” “You mean flips.” “Flip-outs,” he insisted, getting in his car. “Yesterday one of my kids hit the other with a shovel.”

— Bonnie Garmus

71. “You make a fair point, Evans,” Wakely wrote back. “But people need to believe in something bigger than themselves.” “Why?” Calvin pressed. “What’s wrong with believing in ourselves? Anyway, if stories must be used, why not rely on a fable or fairy tale? Aren’t they just as valid a vehicle for teaching morality? Except maybe better? Because no one has to pretend to believe that the fables and tales are true?”

— Bonnie Garmus

72. “From across the room, Elizabeth straightened her papers, then rose. “Sorry to cut this short, Calvin, but I have a meeting.” “A meeting?” Calvin said, as if she’d just announced she was attending an execution. “If you worked in my lab, you’d never have to go to meetings.”

— Bonnie Garmus

73. “Imagine if all men took women seriously. Education would change. The workforce would revolutionize. Marriage counsellors would go out of business. Do you see my point?”

— Bonnie Garmus

74. “In the past she was either the offspring of an arsonist, the daughter of a serial wife, the sister of a hanged homosexual, or the graduate student of a renowned lecher.”

— Bonnie Garmus

75. “Many believe protein comes from meat, eggs, and fish,” she was saying, “but protein originates in plants, and plants are what the biggest, strongest animals in the world eat.”

— Bonnie Garmus

76. “Dolphins are smart,” they’d say. “But cows aren’t.” This seemed partly based on the fact that cows didn’t do tricks. In Six-Thirty’s view that made cows smarter, not dumber.”

— Bonnie Garmus

77. “The point is, you and your husband are completely different and yet you still have a strong connection. That’s fine. It’s also ionic.”

— Bonnie Garmus

78. “But instead,” she continued, “women are at home, making babies and cleaning rugs. It’s legalized slavery. Even the women who wish to be homemakers find their work completely misunderstood. Men seem to think the average mother of five’s biggest decision of the day is what color to paint her nails.”

— Bonnie Garmus

79. “In the case of our chicken pot pie, notice how your carrots, peas, onions, and celery are mixed yet remain separate entities. Think about that. A successful chicken pot pie is like a society that functions at a highly efficient level. Call it Sweden.”

— Bonnie Garmus

80. “Afternoon Depression Zone.”

— Bonnie Garmus

81. “Life’s a mystery, isn’t it? People who try and plan it inevitably end up disappointed.”

— Bonnie Garmus

82. “As he bent down to tie his laces, his chest filled with something new. Was it gratitude? He, the early orphaned, never-before-loved, unattractive Calvin Evans, had, by hook or by crook, found this woman, this dog, this research, this row, this run, Jack. It was all so much more than he’d ever expected, so much more than he ever deserved.”

— Bonnie Garmus

83. “I believe in a few things,” he corrected. “Mostly the things about not giving up hope, not giving in to darkness. As for the word ‘preach,’ I prefer ‘relate.’ Anyway, what I believe is irrelevant.”

— Bonnie Garmus

84. “And then there was the illogical art of female friendship itself, the way it seemed to demand an ability to both keep and reveal secrets using precise timing. Whenever she moved to a new town, girls would take her aside at Sunday school and breathlessly confide their crushes on certain boys.”

— Bonnie Garmus

85. “You know very well women do not continue to work when pregnant. But you-you’re not only with child, you’re unwed. It’s disgraceful.”

— Bonnie Garmus

86. “He’d not had much experience with families, but he’d always assumed that being part of one was important: a prerequisite for stability, what one relied on to get through the hard times. He’d never really considered that a family could actually be the hard times.”

— Bonnie Garmus

87. “Plus, getting back in a boat will make you feel so much better. We all,” he said, thinking of his row that morning, “will feel so much better. Ask your neighbor. See if she won’t watch the baby.” “At four thirty in the morning?” “This is what is so unsung about rowing,” Dr. Mason said, turning to leave. “It happens at a time when no one’s really that busy.”

— Bonnie Garmus

88. “It’s one thing to be brilliant, but to be brilliant without opportunity – that was something else.”

— Bonnie Garmus

89. “She couldn’t remember how soon into their marriage she began to realize she wasn’t in love with him, nor he with her, but it was probably somewhere between the way he pronounced drawer “joor” and the way his thicket of body hair constantly detached itself like seeds from a dandelion head, blanketing their home.”

— Bonnie Garmus

90. “People often underestimate what a pregnant woman is capable of, but people always underestimate what a grieving pregnant woman is capable of.”

— Bonnie Garmus

91. “Do not allow your talents to lie dormant, ladies. Design your own future. When you go home today, ask yourself what you will change. And then get started.”

— Bonnie Garmus

92. “They were all strangers, each living in a far-off city with lives and children of their own. She wanted to think there was some iron-clad bond that connected her to them for life, but that’s not how it worked. Families required constant maintenance.”

— Bonnie Garmus

93. “It was a form of naivete, he thought, the way she continued to believe that all it took to get through life was grit. Sure, grit was critical, but it also took luck, and if luck wasn’t available, then help. Everyone needed help.”

— Bonnie Garmus

94. “Naked and the Dead.”

— Bonnie Garmus

95. “Kin,” she finished. It was that last word that cemented their odd, tell-all friendship, the kind that only arises when a wronged person meets someone who has been similarly wronged and discovers that while it may be the only thing they share, it is more than enough.”

— Bonnie Garmus

96. “Nature works on a higher intellectual plane. We can learn more, we can go further, but to accomplish this, we must throw open the doors. Too many brilliant minds are kept from scientific research thanks to ignorant biases like gender and race. It infuriates me and it should infuriate you. Science has big problems to solve: famine, disease, extinction.”

— Bonnie Garmus

97. “But she had learned that underemployment was worse. Not only did her paycheck reflect her lowly status, but her brain hurt from inactivity. And yet despite the fact that her colleagues knew she could run intellectual circles around them, she was expected to rah-rah whatever minor accomplishments they churned out.”

— Bonnie Garmus

98. “I’ve never understood why when women marry, they’re expected to trade in their old names like used cars, losing their last and sometimes even their first – Mrs. John Adams! Mrs. Abe Lincoln! – as if their previous identities had just been twenty-odd-year placeholders before they became actual people. Mrs. Peter Dickman. It’s a life sentence.”

— Bonnie Garmus

99. “Imagine if all men took women seriously. Education would change. The workforce would revolutionize.”

— Bonnie Garmus

100. “I’m an atheist, Mr. Roth,” she said, sighing heavily. “Actually, a humanist. But I have to admit, some days the human race makes me sick.”

— Bonnie Garmus