56 Coraline Book Quotes (With Page Numbers)

Coraline is one of the best horror stories for children, as well as a brilliant movie to watch during the Halloween holidays. Today, we bring you 56 of the best Coraline book quotes to enjoy and revisit. 

Coraline is a children’s horror story written by Neil Gaiman about a young girl who moves to a new house with her parents. While exploring her new home, Coraline comes across a hidden door that leads to an alternate reality. This other world is similar to her own but better in so many ways. However, things quickly become dark, when her other mother and the rest of her parallel family attempt to keep her there permanently. Coraline must find her way back to her ‘real’ family using all her strength and bravery. 

Click the 'Random' button to get a random Coraline book quote.

The most prominent theme explored in Coraline is being grateful for what you have. Coraline always wants more, but after her stay in the other parallel world, she realises her family’s importance and happiness with what she has. Along with gratefulness, bravery and showing courage in dark times are some more lessons learnt in this wonderfully dark tale. 

You might also enjoy these Oliver Twist quotes, and this collection of motivational Winnie the Pooh quotes. Please note the page numbers in this post may not match your version of the Coraline book – You may find the chapter numbers more useful.

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56 Coraline Book Quotes

From bravery to love, here is a list of the best Coraline quotes from the book with page numbers:

  1. Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. — G. K. Chesterton (Page 4)
  2. ‘No,’ said Coraline quietly, ‘I asked you not to call me Caroline. It’s Coraline.’ — Coraline (Chapter 1, Page 5)
  3. “We are small but we are many We are many we are small We were here before you rose We will be here when you fall” — The Rats (Chapter 1, Page 9)
  4. “They were having an argument as old and comfortable as an armchair, the kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go on forever, if both parties are willing.” — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 2, Page 13)
  5. “Why don’t you play with me?” she asked. “Busy,” he said. “Working,” he added. He still hadn’t turned around to look at her. — Coraline, Coraline’s Father (Chapter 2, Page 13)
  6. Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense. She sometimes wondered who they thought they were talking to. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 2, Page 14)
  7. In danger? thought Coraline to herself. It sounded exciting. It didn’t sound like a bad thing. Not really. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 2, Page 15)
  8. “Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.” — Cat (Chapter 4, Page 23)
  9. “It won’t hurt,” said her other father. Coraline knew that when grown-ups told you something wouldn’t hurt it almost always did. She shook her head. — Neil Gaiman, Other Father (Chapter 4, Page 27)
  10. “And then we’ll all be together as one big happy family,” said her other mother. “For ever and always.” — Other Mother (Chapter 4, Page 28)
  11. She tried four or five times before she was forced to accept that she just wasn’t big enough, and she put them down on the counter next to the door. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 5, Page 30)
  12. CORALINE’S STORY. THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME WAS APPLE. SHE USED TO DANCE A LOT. SHE DANCED AND DANCED UNTIL HER FEET TURND INTO SOSSAJES THE END. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 5, Page 31)
  13. All alone, in the middle of the night, Coraline began to cry. There was no other sound in the empty flat. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 5, Page 31)
  14. She walked into the drawing room and looked at the door. She had the feeling that the door was looking at her, which she knew was silly, and knew on a deeper level was somehow true. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 5, Page 33)
  15. “Because,” she said, “when you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.”— Coraline (Chapter 5, Page 34)
  16. “It wasn’t brave because he wasn’t scared: it was the only thing he could do.” — Coraline (Chapter 5, Page 34)
  17. I will be brave, thought Coraline. No, I am brave. — Coraline (Chapter 5, Page 35)
  18. Coraline was too close to stop, and she felt the other mother’s cold arms enfold her. She stood there, rigid and trembling as the other mother held her tightly. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 5, Page 35)
  19. “You don’t frighten me,” said Coraline, although they did frighten her, very much.” — Coraline (Chapter 5, Page 36)
  20. The cat wrinkled its nose and managed to look unimpressed. “Calling cats,” it confided, “tends to be a rather overrated activity. Might as well call a whirlwind.” — Cat, Neil Gaiman (Chapter 5, Page 37)
  1. “Challenge her. There’s no guarantee she’ll play fair, but her kind of thing loves games and challenges.” — Cat (Chapter 5, Page 38)
  2. It is astonishing just how much of what we are can be tied to the beds we wake up in in the morning, and it is astonishing how fragile that can be. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 6, Page 39)
  3. I’m an explorer, thought Coraline to herself. And I need all the ways out of here that I can get. So I shall keep walking. — Coraline (Chapter 6, Page 41)
  4. “But how can you walk away from something and still come back to it?” — Coraline (Chapter 6, Page 42)
  5. “Nothing to find here,” said the cat. “This is just the outside, the part of the place she hasn’t bothered to create.” — Cat (Chapter 6, Page 42)
  6. “Mirrors,” she said, “are never to be trusted.” — Other Mother (Chapter 6, Page 44)
  7. “I have no plans to love you,” said Coraline. “No matter what. You can’t make me love you.” — Coraline (Chapter 6, Page 44)
  8. “Still, the proudest spirit can be broken, with love.” — Other Mother (Chapter 6, Page 44)
  9. Her long white fingers fluttered gently, like a tired butterfly, and Coraline shivered. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 6, Page 44)
  10. “You may come out when you’ve learned some manners,” said the other mother. “And when you’re ready to be a loving daughter.” — Other Mother (Chapter 6, Page 45)
  11. “The names are the first things to go, after the breath has gone, and the beating of the heart. We keep our memories longer than our names.” — The Ghost Children (Chapter 7, Page 47)
  12. “She will take your life and all you are and all you care’st for, and she will leave you with nothing but mist and fog. She’ll take your joy. And one day you’ll awake and your heart and your soul will have gone.” — The Ghost Children (Chapter 7, Page 49)
  13. Nobody sensible believes in ghosts anyway—that’s because they’re all such liars. — Other Mother (Chapter 8, Page 51)
  14. “How do I know you’ll keep your word?” asked Coraline. “I swear it,” said the other mother. “I swear it on my own mother’s grave.” “Does she have a grave?” asked Coraline. “Oh yes,” said the other mother. “I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.” — Other Mother, Coraline (Chapter 8, Page 52)
  15. “If I lose I’ll stay here with you forever and I’ll let you love me. I’ll be a most dutiful daughter. I’ll eat your food and play Happy Families. And I’ll let you sew your buttons into my eyes.” — Coraline (Chapter 8, Page 52)
  16. Coraline shivered. She preferred the other mother to have a location: if she were nowhere, then she could be anywhere. And, after all, it is always easier to be afraid of something you cannot see. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 8, Page 53)
  17. It was true: the other mother loved her. But she loved Coraline as a miser loves money, or a dragon loves its gold. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 9, Page 58)
  18. Coraline knew that she was a possession, nothing more. A tolerated pet, whose behavior was no longer amusing. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 9, Page 58)
  19. “Run, child. Leave this place. She wants me to hurt you, to keep you here forever, so that you can never finish the game and she will win. She is pushing me so hard to hurt you. I cannot fight her.” — Other Father (Chapter 9, Page 61)
  20. She hugged herself, and told herself that she was brave, and she almost believed herself. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 9, Page 62)
  21. “I’m an explorer,” said Coraline out loud, but her words sounded muffled and dead on the misty air. She had made it out of the cellar, hadn’t she? — Neil Gaiman, Coraline (Chapter 10, Page 63)
  22. “Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right.” — Mr. Bobo (Chapter 10, Page 64)
  1. “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?” — Coraline (Chapter 10, Page 65)
  2. “You know I love you,” said the other mother flatly. “You have a very funny way of showing it,” said Coraline. — Other Mother, Coraline (Chapter 11, Page 69)
  3. The expression of delight on her face was a very bad thing to see. “You’re wrong! You don’t know where your parents are, do you? They aren’t there.” She turned and looked at Coraline. “Now,” she said, “you’re going to stay here for ever and always.” — Neil Gaiman, Other Mother (Chapter 11, Page 70)
  4. The sky had never seemed so sky, the world had never seemed so world. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 11, Page 73)
  5. Then she hugged her mother so tightly that her arms began to ache. Her mother hugged Coraline back. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 12, Page 75)
  6. Dinner that night was pizza, and even though it was homemade by her father (so the crust was alternately thick and doughy and raw, or too thin and burnt), and even though he had put slices of green pepper on it, along with little meatballs and, of all things, pineapple chunks, Coraline ate the entire slice she had been given. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 12, Page 75)
  7. “Nothing,” said Coraline. “I just miss you sometimes. That’s all.” — Coraline (Chapter 12, Page 75)
  8. “There’s a but, isn’t there?” said Coraline. “I can feel it. Like a rain cloud.” — Coraline (Chapter 12, Page 77)
  9. Be wise. Be brave. Be tricky. — The Boy (Chapter 12, Page 77)
  10. “used to say that nobody is ever given more to shoulder than he or she can bear.” — The Boy (Chapter 12, Page 77)
  11. “Oh- my twitchy witchy girl I think you are so nice, I give you bowls of porridge And I give you bowls of ice Cream. I give you lots of kisses, And I give lots of hugs, But I never give you sandwiches With bugs In.” — Coraline (Chapter 13, Page 83)
  12. From the corner of her eye she saw something bone white scamper from one tree trunk to another, closer and closer. She forced herself not to look at it. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 13, Page 84)
  13. “Here you go,” she said. “I don’t need it anymore. I’m very grateful. I think it may have saved my life, and saved some other people’s death.” — Coraline (Chapter 13, Page 85)
  14. Normally, on the night before the first day of term, Coraline was apprehensive and nervous. But, she realized, there was nothing left about school that could scare her anymore. — Neil Gaiman (Chapter 13, Page 85)

Which of these Coraline book quotes is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below!

Coraline Book Quotes

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