If you search the #quotes hashtag on Instagram you’ll instantly be met with nearly 60 million results. From motivational quotes, “great success comes only with great ambition” to inspirational “never forget those who helped you along the way”, we sure do get a kick out of a great quote.

But the quotes that will always resonate with us, from one decade to the next, come from literature. The well-read and much loved books that stand tall on our shelves always offer us the greatest nuggets of wisdom.

Which is why we’ve found the quotes from literature that have shone with the colour yellow. It’s bright. It’s bold. And it’s a shade that manages to always captivate us.

Here are some of the best quotes about yellow from literature. 

The Goldfinch by Donna Tart 

“And I’m hoping there’s some larger truth about suffering here, or at least my understanding of it - although I’ve come to realise that the only truths that matter to me are the ones I don’t, and can’t, understand.

“What’s mysterious, ambiguous, inexplicable. What doesn’t fit into a story, what doesn’t have a story. Glint of brightness on a barely-there chain. Patch of sunlight on a yellow wall. The loneliness that separates every living creature from every other living creature. Sorrow inseparable from joy.”

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

“It’s no fun to be yellow. Maybe I’m not all yellow. I don’t know. I think maybe I’m just partly yellow and partly the type that doesn’t give much of a damn if they lose their gloves. One of my troubles is, I never care too much when I lose something – it used to drive mother crazy when I was a kid. Some guys spend days looking for something they’ve lost. I never seem to have anything that if I lost it I’d care too much. Maybe that’s why I’m partly yellow. It’s no excuse, though. It really isn’t. What you should be is not yellow at all.” 

When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

“She wore her yellow sun bonnet,

“She wore her greenest gown;

“She turned to the south wind

“And curtsied up and down.

“She turned to the sunlight

“And shook her yellow head,

“And whispered to her neighbour:

“Winter is dead.” 

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“Red was the blood of the siblings massacred in the North, black was for mourning them, green was for the prosperity Biafra would have, and, finally, the half of a yellow sun stood for the glorious future.” 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

“All told, she owned 14 books, but she saw her story as being made up predominantly of ten of them. Of those 10, six were stolen, one showed up at the kitchen table, two were made for her by a hidden Jew, and one was delivered by a soft, yellow-dressed afternoon.” 

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio

“Past their normal blooming season, the trees had shed many of their blossoms, but the ones that remained were vibrant and showy, like the finale of a fireworks show. Up close, the trees did not disappoint. I stared up in awe at a yellow blossom, touching its petals lightly and breathing in the balmy, lemony scent.” 

stylist.co.uk has had a yellow makeover on 15 August, to celebrate our Yellow Issue and pay homage to the colour of the season. Read more about the most playful shade of all here.

Images: Getty / Courtesy of publishers