Top Ten Tuesday | Inspiring Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Inspiring Quotes From Books'. I had a lot of fun putting this list together, so without ado, here it is!

This is one of my favourite ever quotes from one of my favourite classics. If I ever got a tattoo, I'd get this quote tattooed somewhere on my body because I just love it.

There are plenty of quotes from Harry Potter to choose from, but I've always loved this one; it's such a good message for children, because when we're younger we'll often do a lot of things we don't want to to impress people. It took me a long time before I learned it was okay to tell my friends 'no', at which point I decided to go and make some better friends.

I'm not even the biggest fan of Wuthering Heights, but even I can't deny that this quote - and so many others - is just gorgeous. Cathy and Heathcliff's obsession with each other is so twisted, but it's fascinating.

I've always loved this quote. There's something so adventurous about it that makes me want to go and explore.

I don't think this is a quote from a book, but it's about books so that counts, right? I've always loved this one. That stunning piece of dragon art can be found here.

I'm going to be surprised if I don't see this on several lists today. Jane Eyre is just such a quotable classic, and this quote in particular is wonderful.

Macbeth is my favourite of Shakespeare's plays, and Lady Macbeth has some fantastic lines. This one has always been my favourite.

I've never actually read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I love this quote.

I couldn't leave out Anne if I was going to mention Charlotte and Emily! Agnes Grey is full of lovely quotes. This one's one of my favourites.

I love this quote so much that I actually opened my MA reflective essay with it. I'm not the biggest fan of Woolf's fiction, sadly, but she's just so fantastically quotable.

What are some of your favourite quotes?

Banned Books Week!

This week it's Banned Books Week, so, just like last year, let's celebrate our freadom!

Why not read one of these famous classics which are, or have been, banned:

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

When George Orwell completed Animal Farm in 1943 no publisher would print it because of its criticism of the USSR, Britain's ally during the war. When it was finally published it was banned there and in other communist countries. In 1991 a play adapted from the book was banned in Kenya because it criticised leaders, and in 2002 the book was banned in schools in the United Arab Emirates because it involved a talking, anthropomorphic pig which goes against Islamic values. Today Animal Farm is still banned in Cuba and North Korea, and is censored in China.

"Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear."

During the American Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was banned in the Confederate States because of its views on slavery. In 1852, it was banned in Russia during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I because of its ideas regarding equality and because it "undermined religious ideals."

"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted."

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was banned in Ireland in 1932 and in Australia from 1932-1937 because of its references to sexual promiscuity.

"I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other."

In 1955, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was banned in South Africa because it was believed to contain "obscene" and "indecent" material.

What have you been reading this week?