Home / Authors / Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell Quotes

Author

Rainbow Rowell (born 1973) is a bestselling American author known for her works in young adult and adult fiction. Her notable novels include 'Eleanor & Park,' 'Fangirl,' and 'Carry On,' which are praised for their emotional depth, relatable characters, and clever integration of pop culture. Rowell's stories often explore themes of adolescence, love, family, and identity, with a warm and humorous writing style. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and worked as a newspaper columnist before turning to fiction. Her books have appeared on The New York Times bestseller list and have been translated into multiple languages, earning her a global fanbase. Rowell also writes comics and screenplays, showcasing her versatility as a storyteller.

Filter quotes by topic

All Said Love Want Ifs Knows Eleanor Fangirl Thinking People Feels

Famous Rainbow Rowell Quotes

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just feel like I have to do something.” “Do what?” “I don’t know. That’s what’s wrong. Or part of what’s wrong. I feel like I’m sleepwalking.”

Wrong Something Sleepwalking

Book:Attachments

Source: Attachments

“You don’t have any friends, your sister dumped you, you’re a freak eater..and you’ve got some weird thing about Simon Snow." "I object to every single thing you just said." Reagan chewed. And frowned. She was wearing dark red lipstick. "I have lots of friends," Cath said. "I never see them." "I just got here. Most of my friends went to other schools. Or they’re online." "Internet friends don’t count." "Why not?" Reagan shrugged disdainfully. "And I don’t have a weird thing with Simon Snow," Cath said. "I’m just really active in the fandom." "What the fuck is ‘the fandom’?”

Funny Friends Internet Fangirl Fandom Simon Snow Cath

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“I let myself slip away... Just to stay sane. Just to get through it. And when I felt myself slipping too far, I held on to the one thing I'm always sure of - Blue eyes. Bronze curls. The fact that Simon Snow is the most powerful magician alive. That nothing can hurt him, not even me. That Simon Snow is alive. And I'm hopelessly in love with him.”

Love Carry On Baz

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“He was hers. To have and hold. Not forever, maybe--not forever, for sure--and not figuratively. But literally. And now. Now, he was hers. And he wanted her to touch him. He was like a cat who pushes its head under your hands.”

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“Cath probably should have texted Abel by now, just to tell him that she'd made it - but she wanted to wait until she felt more breezy and nonchalant. You can't take back texts. If you come off all moody and melancholy in a text, it just sits there in your phone, reminding you of what a drag you are.”

Emotion Regret Anger Message Text

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“You looked like the girl I loved.”

Book:Attachments

Source: Attachments

“Even if you break with me and crush my heart, I'm never getting back together with Dawn. I know that the world isn't flat now, I'm not going back.”

Book:Landline

Source: Landline

“I just want to know—are you rooting for me? Are you hoping I pull this off?”

Forgiveness Romantic Second Chance

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“I remember seeing her and thinking that I’d never seen anything so beautiful. And that if you were that beautiful, that graceful, nothing could ever really touch you. It would be like being a lion or a unicorn. Nobody could really touch you, because you wouldn’t even be on the same plane as everyone else.”

Beautiful Sad Romantic

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“For a moment—not even a moment, a split second—I imagine him saying, “The truth is, I’m desperately attracted to you.” And then I imagine myself spitting in his face. And then I imagine licking it off his cheek and kissing him. (Because I’m disturbed. Ask anyone.)”

Romantic Cute Messy Sexy Humor

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“Hey, Cath. Will you warn me when you take off your glasses?”

Romantic Cute Swoon Levi

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“I glance over at him; he still looks like something I want to eat.”

Love Romantic Sexy

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“»Imaginaba a una chica que torna cada instante, todo aquello que toca y a las personas que la rodean, en algo más llevadero y bonito. » Te imaginaba a ti —dijo—. Pero no sabía cómo eras. »Y entonces, cuando lo supe, comprendí que una chica capaz de todas esas cosas no podía tener otro aspecto. Eras idéntica a la chica que amaba.”

Book:Attachments

Source: Attachments

“I know the world is flat now, I'm not going back.”

Book:Landline

Source: Landline

“You can't make me do anything. I'm an adult. And I'm much stronger than you." "Upper body strength isn't everything; I have wiles." "Not really." "Yes, I do. I'm a woman. Women have wiles." "Some women. It's not like every woman is born wily." "If I don't have wiles, she said, "how come I can get you to do most anything I want?" "You don't get me to do anything. I just do things. Because I love you." "Oh." "Christ, Georgie, don't sound so disappointed.”

Love Humor Women Control Wiles

Book:Landline

Source: Landline

“It might not be the circle of life,” Lamb says. “But it is the food chain. I didn’t see you feeling sorry for that pig we had for lunch. Or that rabbit you had for dessert. Everything eats something else.” I swing my head towards him. “What eats you?” He raises an eyebrow, giving me a taste of my own medicine. “Existential despair.”

Despair Immortality Existential Dark Humor Food Chain Circle Of Life

Book:Wayward Son

Source: Wayward Son

“It had felt so good to cry. Like her outsides matched her insides.”

Book:Scattered Showers: Stories

Source: Scattered Showers: Stories

“If Levi were a dog, he'd be a golden retriever. If he were a game, he'd be a Ping-Pong, incessant and bouncing and light.”

Boys Boyfriends Fangirl Rainbow Rowell

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“He was probably being so quiet because he was trying not to say it out loud.”

Silence Holding Back

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“They still didn’t talk on the bus, but it had become a less confrontational silence. Almost friendly. (But not quite.)”

Silence Almost Friendly

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“He shakes his head, and he's saying something, and I think I might kiss him. Because I've never kissed anyone before. (I was afraid I might bite.) And I've never wanted to kiss anyone but him. (I won't bite. I won't hurt him.) I just want to kiss him, then go. "Simon...," I say. And then he kisses me.”

Love Carry On Baz

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“She knew Neal loved her. Good for him for realizing it wasn't enough to make him happy. That was very mature of him. He was probably saving them both a lot of heartache.”

Love Heartbreak Heartache Love Hurts

Book:Landline

Source: Landline

“You don't get to choose," Lincoln said. "It's just happening.”

Love Relationships Heartache Walking Away Rainbow Rowell Attachments

Book:Attachments

Source: Attachments

“Hey, mister, I don’t think so. You go outside and yell at sky, you so angry.”

Humor Inspirational Attitude

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“Just… isn’t giving up allowed sometimes? Isn’t it okay to say, ‘This really hurts, so I’m going to stop trying’?”

Inspirational Quote

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“Whenever Eleanor felt nervous or scared, she told herself to be happy instead. (It didn’t really make her feel better, but it kept her from feeling worse …)”

Positive Thinking Happy Life Motto

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“She had the kind of smile you see in toothpaste commercials, where you can see practically all of somebody's teeth. She should smile like that all the time, Park thought; it made her face cross over from weird to beautiful. He wanted to make her smile like that constantly.”

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“Really," Neal said. That's what he always said when he didn't have anything to say and he just wanted her to keep talking. There was a smile that went with it, sort of a mocking smile that would have seemed mean if his eyes weren't shining.”

Young Love Smiles Keep Talking Mysterious Attraction Neal

Book:Landline

Source: Landline

“There should be a word for a laugh that ends as soon as it starts. A laugh that's more a syllable of surprise and acknowledgment than it is anything else.”

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“I’m disrespectful,” I say, “but I’m not rude.”

Funny True Relatable

Book:Wayward Son

Source: Wayward Son

“Cath shook her head. "Now is all you get," she spat out, wishing she could make more sense. Wishing for more words, or better ones. "Now is all you ever get.”

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“That's a tremendous thing—to be able to hold the world inside of yourself, and still feel compassionate for it.”

World Compassion Weight Of The World

Book:Any Way the Wind Blows

Source: Any Way the Wind Blows

“He's still looking in my eyes. Staring me down like he did that dragon, chin tilted and locked. "I'm not the Chosen One," he says. I meet his gaze and sneer. My arm is a steel band around his waist. "I choose you," I say. "Simon Snow, I choose you.”

Romance Simon Carry On Baz

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“I can touch you less gently, but I won't love you less kindly.”

Romance Simon Snow Snowbaz Any Way The Wind Blows

Book:Any Way the Wind Blows

Source: Any Way the Wind Blows

“I know I'll never love anyone like I love Baz. I know he's the love of my life. Of all my lives.”

Romance Simon Snow Snowbaz Any Way The Wind Blows

Book:Any Way the Wind Blows

Source: Any Way the Wind Blows

“There's only one of him, she thought, and he's right here. He knows I'll like a song before I've heard it. He laughs before I even get to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes me want to let him open doors for me. There's only one of him.”

Romance Young Adult Fiction

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“There's no reason to think we're going to stop loving each other,' he said. 'And there's every reason to think that we won't.”

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“When she opened her door, Levi was sitting in the hallway, his legs bent in front of him, hunched forward on his knees. He looked up when she stepped out. “I’m such an idiot,” he said. Cath fell between his knees and hugged him. “I can’t believe I said that,” he said. “I can’t even go nine hours without seeing you.”

Love Romance Romantic Cute Apology Dreamy Fangirl Cute Moments Guyswelove

Book:Fangirl

Source: Fangirl

“I'm ending this.' 'No. Come on. It's not worth it.' 'You are,' he said fiercely, looking at her. 'You're worth it.”

Love Feels Romance Eleanor Park

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“What if it was Persephone who kidnapped Hades...”

Book:Landline

Source: Landline

“I'm sorry, too,' she said. 'For what?' 'For acting mad at you all the time.' 'It's okay,' he said, 'sometimes I like it.' 'But not always.”

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“Me, too...Huh, maybe I do like Tom Cruise. But I hate feeling pressured to find him attractive. I don't.”

Book:Attachments

Source: Attachments

“I just meant that … I want to be the last person who ever kisses you, too.… That sounds bad, like a death threat or something. What I’m trying to say is, you’re it. This is it for me.”

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“You look like you. Only with the volume turned up.”

Cute Reality Of Life Park

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“To have and hold. Not forever, maybe-not forever, for sure-and not figuratively. But literally. And now. Now, he was hers.”

Love Forever Lovers True Love

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“I can't explain how it's different. Why kissing is easy, and being kissed is like being suffocated.”

Book:Wayward Son

Source: Wayward Son

“Mags nodded, and pushed with her shoulders away from the house, then Noel pushed her right back - pinning her as much as he was hugging her as much as he was crowding her against the wall.”

Love Kissing New Years

Book:Almost Midnight

Source: Almost Midnight

“Snow's table manners are atrocious - it's like watching a wild dog eat. A wild dog you'd like to slip the tongue.”

Love Dog Kissing Tongue Silly Adorable Otp Simon Snow Baz Just Be Together

Book:Carry On

Source: Carry On

“There was a necklace inside. A thin silver chain with a small pendant, a silver pansy.”

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

“They were almost never alone, and now that they almost-practically were, he felt kind of frantic for her attention.”

Attention Alone

Book:Eleanor & Park

Source: Eleanor & Park

About the Author

Born: 1973
Known for: Author
Quotes: 457

Related Topics

Said Love Want Ifs Knows Eleanor Fangirl Thinking People Feels

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

FangirlRelated source material

The Rainbow Rowell Collection: Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, Landline, and Carry OnRelated source material

Eleanor & ParkRelated source material

AttachmentsRelated source material

The Rainbow Rowell YA CollectionRelated source material

Carry OnRelated source material

LandlineRelated source material

Wayward SonRelated source material

Fangirl: A NovelRelated source material

Landline: A NovelRelated source material

Similar Authors

Blanche Wiesen CookBrowse related quotes
Sarah DessenBrowse related quotes
David LevithanBrowse related quotes
Holly BlackBrowse related quotes
Julia QuinnBrowse related quotes
William A. RusherBrowse related quotes
Meg CabotBrowse related quotes
Lisa KleypasBrowse related quotes
Taylor SwiftBrowse related quotes
Sarah Rees BrennanBrowse related quotes