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

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

— Bonnie Garmus

253. “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

254. “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

255. “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

256. “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

257. “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

258. “You’re saying that if an unmarried man makes an unmarried woman pregnant, there is no consequence for him. His life goes on. Business as usual.”

— Bonnie Garmus

259. “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

260. “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

261. “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

262. “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

263. “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

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

— Bonnie Garmus

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

— Bonnie Garmus

266. “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

267. “Or perhaps your marriage is more of a covalent bond,” she said, sketching a new structural formula. “And if so, lucky you, because that means you both have strengths that, when combined, create something even better.”

— Bonnie Garmus

268. “But then you talk and discover he’s a closet Nazi and thinks women complain too much.”

— Bonnie Garmus

269. “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

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

— Bonnie Garmus

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

— Bonnie Garmus

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

— Bonnie Garmus

273. “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

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

— Bonnie Garmus

275. “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

276. “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

277. “Still, one of the panelists continued to drone on about how real change only ever arose through the application of kinetic energy. That’s when someone in the audience asked for an example of an ineffective collision – something that lacked energy and never changed, but still had a big effect. Evans had leaned into his microphone. “Religion,” he said. Then he got up and left.”

— Bonnie Garmus

278. “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

279. “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

280. “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

281. “Because she says exactly what she thinks,” Walter said. “Which is very rare. But also because the food she makes is very, very good. And because everyone seems to want to learn chemistry. Oddly.”

— Bonnie Garmus

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

— Bonnie Garmus

283. “It’s classic neurogenic deprivation,” Elizabeth said, nodding. “The brain doesn’t get the rest it needs, resulting in a drop in executive function and accompanied by an increase in corticosterone levels.”

— Bonnie Garmus

284. “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

285. “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

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

— Bonnie Garmus

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

— Bonnie Garmus

288. “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

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

— Bonnie Garmus

290. “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

291. “They’re not missing, Calvin,” the priest said. “They’ve been removed.” “Why?” “Because they’re wrong, that’s why. Now open your books to page one hundred nineteen, boys. We’ll start with – ” “Evolution’s missing,” Calvin persisted, riffling through the pages.”

— Bonnie Garmus

292. “And such a pretty puppy!” the mother rejoined. “No,” the child said, “it’s not pretty. The puppy’s dead. It got killed!” Which Six-Thirty, after a second, closer look, found disturbingly accurate. “It is not a dead puppy,” the mother said sternly. “It is a very happy puppy, and it is eating a bowl of ice cream.” At which point the frustrated child flung.”

— Bonnie Garmus

293. “If there’s a truism in journalism, it’s this: it’s only when the reporter stops asking that the subject starts telling.”

— Bonnie Garmus

294. “Take a moment for yourself,′ Harriet said, ‘Every day. A moment where you are your own priority. Just you. Not your baby, not your work, not your dead Mr. Evans, not your filthy house, not anything. Just you. Elizabeth Zott. Whatever you need, whatever you want, whatever you seek, reconnect with it in that moment. Then recommit.”

— Bonnie Garmus

295. “She’d felt this way her entire life. She’d been defined not by what she did, but by what others had done... she was never just Elizabeth Zott.”

— Bonnie Garmus

296. “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.”

— Bonnie Garmus

297. “Out of the corner of his eye he spied some bills and made a mental note to file the latest crop of flimflam correspondence. He’d gotten yet another letter from the woman claiming to be his mother – They told me you’d died, she always wrote.”

— Bonnie Garmus

298. “Before I go, Elizabeth, can I offer just one bit of advice?” Harriet began. “Actually no, I won’t. I hate getting advice, especially unsolicited advice.” She turned a ruddy color. “Do you hate advice givers? I do. They have a way of making one feel inadequate. And the advice is usually lousy.”

— Bonnie Garmus

299. “Almost no one bought this story. Dr. Meyers had a reputation.”

— Bonnie Garmus

300. “Are you sad, honey?” Mad placed her small, chalky hands on either side of her mother’s face. “No. But you are.”

— Bonnie Garmus