Top 450 Bonnie Garmus Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “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.”

— Bonnie Garmus

252. “He was also an introvert, which isn’t really a flaw but often manifests itself as standoffishness.”

— Bonnie Garmus

253. “I don’t have hopes,” Mad explained, studying the address. “I have faith.”

— Bonnie Garmus

254. “Harriet thought it was wrong not to believe in God. It lacked humility. In her opinion, believing in God was required, like brushing teeth or wearing underwear. Certainly, all decent people believed in God – even indecent people, like her husband, believed in God. God is why they.”

— Bonnie Garmus

255. “Some people are born bad apples,” he continued. “The result of parents who were bad themselves. But in your case, I don’t know where it comes from.” “What do you mean?” “I mean,” he said, leaning forward, “that I suspect you were born good but went bad. Rotted,” he said, “through a series of bad choices. Are you familiar with the idea that beauty comes from within?” “Yes.” “Well, your insides match your outward ugliness.” Calvin touched his swollen knuckles, trying not to cry.”

— Bonnie Garmus

256. “Hello, Edna,” she said, “and thanks for your question. The answer is no; I don’t have a favorite grace. In fact, I don’t say grace at all.”

— Bonnie Garmus

257. “Your relatives can’t make you important or smart. They can’t make you you.” “What makes me me, then?” “What you choose to do. How you live your life.”

— Bonnie Garmus

258. “Because what does one say to someone who’s lost everything?”

— Bonnie Garmus

259. “But supper isn’t all we’ve made, ladies. We’ve also made history.”

— Bonnie Garmus

260. “Did he sleep with other women? What a question. Didn’t everyone?”

— Bonnie Garmus

261. “Yet here she was, a single mother, the lead scientist on what had to be the most unscientific experiment of all time: the raising of another human being. Every day she found parenthood like taking a test for which she had not studied. The questions were daunting and there wasn’t nearly enough multiple choice.”

— Bonnie Garmus

262. “It’s a thirty-minute, five-day-a-week lesson in life. And not in who we are or what we’re made of, but rather, who we’re capable of becoming.”

— Bonnie Garmus

263. “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

264. “Families aren’t meant to fit on trees. Maybe because people aren’t part of the plant kingdom – we’re part of the animal kingdom.”

— Bonnie Garmus

265. “That’s one of the things we mean when we say it’s a free country. People are welcome to believe whatever they want as long as their beliefs don’t hurt others.”

— Bonnie Garmus

266. “Because there are naked pictures?” “No!” he said. “No, no – it’s nothing like that. It’s just that sometimes I need a laugh. There’s not much humor in my job.” “Why?” The reverend hesitated. “Because God isn’t very funny, I guess.”

— Bonnie Garmus

267. “Often the best way to deal with the bad,” she said, feeling for her pencil, “is to turn it on end – use it as a strength, refuse to allow the bad thing to define you. Fight it.”

— Bonnie Garmus

268. “When a boat succeeds, it’s because the people in the boat have managed to set aside their petty differences and physical discrepancies and row as one. Perfect harmony – that was the goal. She’d once overheard Calvin telling someone at the boathouse that his Cambridge coach insisted that they even blink at the same time. To her surprise the guy nodded. “We had to file our toenails to the same length. Made a huge difference.”

— Bonnie Garmus

269. “I was fired,” Elizabeth said, her voice filling with fury. “Thanks, in part, to women like you,” she snapped, “women who pander – ” “I do not pander – ” “Who play along – ” “I do not play along – ” “Who seem to think their self-worth is based on what a man – ” “How dare you – ” “No!” Elizabeth shouted, pounding on the thin steel panel that separated them. “How dare you, Miss Frask! How dare you!”

— Bonnie Garmus

270. “When Calvin claimed he held no grudges and hated no one, he only meant it in that way that some people say they forget to eat. Meaning he was lying.”

— Bonnie Garmus

271. “Edna Flattistein asked me a direct question and I answered it. I’m glad she feels she can express her belief in God and I welcome her right to do so. But I should be extended the same courtesy. Plenty of people don’t believe in God.”

— Bonnie Garmus

272. “In her opinion, believing in God was required, like brushing teeth or wearing underwear.”

— Bonnie Garmus

273. “How dare you,” he said, his voice rising. “A woman telling me what pregnancy is. Who do you think you are?” She seemed surprised by the question. “A woman,” she said.”

— Bonnie Garmus

274. “Kim was too short. And then he thought, What about Madeline? Elizabeth had read him Remembrance of Things Past – he couldn’t really recommend it – but he had understood that one part. The part about the madeleine. The biscuit. Madeline Zott? Why not?”

— Bonnie Garmus

275. “Elizabeth simply refused to accept limits, not just for herself, but for others.”

— Bonnie Garmus

276. “The bank manager was grim in his assessment of her situation. “Things will only get worse,” he warned. “As soon as your child is old enough, get her in school. Then find a job that actually pays. Or marry rich.”

— Bonnie Garmus

277. “Some people think you can’t miss what you never had, but I think you can.”

— Bonnie Garmus

278. “I’m sorry,” he said gently, studying her face the way a meteorologist might watch a storm develop. “Please know you can talk to me. Rower to rower. It’s all confidential.”

— Bonnie Garmus

279. “In fact, most people spoke only one – maybe two – unless they were something called Swiss and spoke eight.”

— Bonnie Garmus

280. “Dr. Mason is sick of vaginas,” she’d mentioned at bedtime.”

— Bonnie Garmus

281. “Why do you think so many people believe in texts written thousands of years ago? And why does it seem the more supernatural, unprovable, improbable, and ancient the source of these texts, the more people believe them?”

— Bonnie Garmus

282. “We can learn more, we can go further, but to accomplish this, we must throw open the doors.”

— Bonnie Garmus

283. “And there they were in the thick of it, the only living dead things.”

— Bonnie Garmus

284. “On top of his grudge holding, he had a reputation for impatience. Like so many brilliant people, Calvin just couldn’t understand how no one else got it. He was also an introvert, which isn’t really a flaw but.”

— Bonnie Garmus

285. “They either wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her, or tell her what to do. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just treat her as a fellow human being, as a colleague, a friend, an equal, or even a stranger on the street, someone to whom one is automatically respectful until you find out they’ve buried a bunch of bodies in the backyard.”

— Bonnie Garmus

286. “Elizabeth shook her head. “Our future happiness does not depend on whether or not we’re married, Calvin – at least not to me. I’m fully committed to you; marriage will not change that. As for who thinks what, it’s not just a handful of people: it’s society – particularly the society of scientific research. Everything I do will suddenly be in your name, as if you’d done.”

— Bonnie Garmus

287. “I’m referring to atoms and molecules, Roth,” she explained. “The real rules that govern the physical world. When women understand these basic concepts, they can begin to see the false limits that have been created for them.”

— Bonnie Garmus

288. “But weathering is called weathering for a reason: it erodes.”

— Bonnie Garmus

289. “He thought about the people who designed these dresses; how, like bomb manufacturers or pornography stars, they had to remain vague about the way they made their livings.”

— Bonnie Garmus

290. “I see,” Wakely said, slowly unraveling her guilt. “Your brother saved you – so you think you should have been able to save him. Is that it?” She turned to look at him, her face hollow. “But Elizabeth, you couldn’t swim – that’s why he jumped in after you. You have to understand, suicide isn’t like that. Suicide is lot more complicated.” “Wakely,” she said. “He didn’t know how to swim either.”

— Bonnie Garmus

291. “Take a moment for yourself,” Harriet said. “Every day.”

— Bonnie Garmus

292. “But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness in the world. And we have the power to fix it.” “But surely you’re not suggesting that humans can fix the universe.”

— Bonnie Garmus

293. “She had neither the education nor the experience of the others. She not only lacked their credentials but their papers, peer support, financial backing, and awards. And yet, she knew – she knew – she was onto something. Some people were born to things; she was one of those people.”

— Bonnie Garmus

294. “But my dad isn’t in the past. He’s still my dad.”

— Bonnie Garmus

295. “Mrs. Mudford. Room six. I realize she might be a little more advanced than some of the other children, but I doubt she’ll be the only one reading Zane Grey, don’t you?”

— Bonnie Garmus

296. “Because humans are animals. Technically. Although sometimes I think the animals we consider animals are far more advanced than the animals we are but don’t consider ourselves to be.”

— Bonnie Garmus

297. “Meyers was also famous for being a lecher.”

— Bonnie Garmus

298. “Oh really?” Her mother laughed. “I see. So you think you’re going to marry your work like the nuns marry Jesus? Although say what you want about nuns – at least they know their husband won’t snore.”

— Bonnie Garmus

299. “Do you hate advice givers? I do. They have a way of making one feel inadequate. And the advice is usually lousy.”

— Bonnie Garmus

300. “I don’t know what to do, he confessed to the bones below. And on top of everything else, she’s still trying to teach me words. Which was awful because he was unable to give her any hope for the future using these words. Besides, even if he knew every word in the English language, he still wouldn’t have any idea what to say. Because what does one say to someone who’s lost everything?”

— Bonnie Garmus