The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is told through the experience of a young boy named Jonas.
Jonas is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in a futuristic world without fear, pain, hatred, and war.
No one has free will, and every person is assigned a role based on their ability.
Jonas is chosen to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver is the only one with memories of true pleasure and pain. What will happen when Jonas learns the truth?
I’ve included page numbers and who said them for easy reference.
The Giver Quotes With Page Numbers
“For all the children
To whom we entrust the future”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, from the author, Page 0
“It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Jonas, Chapter 1, Page 1
“Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas’s thoughts, Chapter 1, Page 1
“I feel sorry for anyone who is in a place where he feels strange and stupid.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 1, Page 6
“Lily appeared, wearing her nightclothes, in the doorway. She gave an impatient sigh. ‘This is certainly a very LONG private conversation,’ she said. ‘And there are certain people waiting for their comfort object.’
Lily,’ her mother said fondly, ‘you’re very close to being an Eight, and when you’re an Eight, your comfort object will be taken away. It will be recycled to the younger children. You should be starting to go off to sleep without it.’
But her father had already gone to the shelf and taken down the stuffed elephant which was kept there. Many of the comfort objects, like Lily’s, were soft, stuffed, imaginary creatures.
Jonas’s had been called a bear.
Here you are, Lily-billy,’ he said. ‘I’ll come help you remove your hair ribbons.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas’s mother and father, Chapter 2, Page 18
“Depth, he decided; as if one were looking into the clear water of the river, down to the bottom, where things might lurk which hadn’t been discovered yet.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 3, Page 21
“There was never any comfortable way to mention or discuss one’s successes without breaking the rule against bragging, even if one didn’t mean to.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 4, Page 27
“Thank you for your childhood.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Chief Elder, Chapter 7, Pages 56, 64
“He hunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smaller in the seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not to exist.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator, Chapter 7, Pages 57, 58
“There was just a moment when things weren’t quite the same, weren’t quite as they had always been through the long friendship”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Asher, Chapter 9, Page 66
“You may lie.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Number 8 of the instructions for Jonas, Chapter 9, Page 68
“His mind reeled. Now, empowered to ask questions of utmost rudeness-and promised answers-he could, conceivably (though it was almost unimaginable), ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps: “Do you lie?”
But he would have no way of knowing if the answer he received was true.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Jonas, Chapter 9, Page 71
“I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him.’I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas to the Giver, Chapter 10, Pages 77, 78
“There’s much more. There’s all that goes beyond – all … that is Elsewhere – and all that goes back, and back, and back. I received all of those, when I was selected. And here in this room, all alone, I re-experience them again and again. It is how wisdom comes. And how we shape our future.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver to Jonas, Chapter 10, Page 78
“The man corrected him. “Honor,” he said firmly. “I have great honor. So will you. But you will find that that is not the same as power.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver, Chapter 11, Page 84
“Always, in the dream, it seemed as if there were a destination: a something–he could not grasp what-that lay beyond the place where the thickness of snow brought the sled to a stop. He was left, upon awakening, with the feeling that he wanted, even somehow needed, to reach the something that waited in the distance. The feeling that it was good. That it was welcoming. That it was significant. But he did not know how to get there.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator, Chapter 12, Page 88
“Even trained for years as they all had been in precision of language, what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator, Chapter 12, Page 89
“…what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Jonas, Chapter 12, Page 89
“…how could you describe a hill and snow to someone who had never felt height or wind or that feathery, magical cold?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Jonas, Chapter 12, Page 89
“Once, back in the time of the memories, everything had a shape and size, the way things still do, but they also had a quality called COLOR.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, by The Giver to Jonas, Chapter 12, Page 94
“We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver, Chapter 12, Page 95
“Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with difference. We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver, Chapter 12, Page 95
“I’m going to give you the memory of a rainbow.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver, Chapter 12, Page 96
“If everything’s the same, then there aren’t any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 13, Page 97
“Well…,” Jonas had to stop and think it through. “If everything’s the same, then there are no choices! I want to wake up in the morning and DECIDE things! A blue tunic, or a red one?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 13, Page 97
“It’s the choosing that’s important, isn’t it?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, by The Giver to Jonas, Chapter 13, Page 98
“What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 13, Page 98
“They were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Jonas, Chapter 13, Page 99
“Now he saw another elephant emerge from the place where it had stood hidden in the trees. Very slowly it walked to the mutilated body and looked down. With its sinuous trunk it struck the huge corpse; then it reached up, broke some leafy branches with a snap, and draped them over the mass of torn thick flesh. Finally it tilted its massive head, raised its trunk, and roared into the empty landscape.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator about Jonas, Chapter 13, Page 100
“Didn’t life consist of the things you did each day?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas’s thoughts, Chapter 13, Page 103
“My instructors in science and technology have taught us about how the brain works. It’s full of electrical impulses. It’s like a computer. If you stimulate one part of the brain with an electrode, it…
They know nothing.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas and the Giver, Chapter 13, Pages 104, 105
“It’s just that… without the memories it’s all meaningless.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver, Chapter 13, Page 105
“They have never known pain, he thought. The realization made him feel desperately lonely.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas’s thoughts, Chapter 14, Page 110
“I knew that there had been times in the past-terrible times-when people had destroyed others in haste, in fear, and had brought about their own destruction”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 14, Page 112
“But why can’t everyone have the memories? I think it would seem a little easier if the memories were shared. You and I wouldn’t have to bear so much by ourselves, if everybody took a part.”
The Giver sighed. “You’re right,” he said. “But then everyone would be burdened and pained. They don’t want that. And that’s the real reason The Receiver is so vital to them, and so honored. They selected me – and you – to lift that burden from themselves.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas and the Giver, Chapter 15, Pages 112, 113
“I liked the feeling of love,’ [Jonas] confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. ‘I wish we still had that,’ he whispered. ‘Of course,’ he added quickly, ‘I do understand that it wouldn’t work very well. And that it’s much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live.’
…’Still,’ he said slowly, almost to himself, ‘I did like the light they made. And the warmth.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 16, Page 126
“Do you love me?”
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. “Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!”
“What do you mean?” Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.
“Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it’s become almost obsolete,” his mother explained carefully.
Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.
“And of course our community can’t function smoothly if people don’t use precise language. You could ask, ‘Do you enjoy me?’ The answer is ‘Yes,'” his mother said.
“Or,” his father suggested, “‘Do you take pride in my accomplishments?’ And the answer is wholeheartedly ‘Yes.'”
“Do you understand why it’s inappropriate to use a word like ‘love’?” Mother asked.
Jonas nodded. “Yes, thank you, I do,” he replied slowly.
It was his first lie to his parents.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas and his parents, Chapter 16, Page 127
“Things could change, Gabe,” Jonas went on. “Things could be different. I don’t know how, but there must be some way for things to be different. There could be colors. And grandparents,” he added, staring through the dimness toward the ceiling of his sleepingroom. “And everybody would have the memories.”
“You know the memories,” he whispered, turning toward the crib.
Garbriel’s breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing barefoot on a damp lawn.
“Gabe?”
The newchild stirred slightly in his sleep. Jonas looked over at him.
“There could be love,” Jonas whispered.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas to Gabriel, Chapter 16, Pages 128, 129
“Gabe?”
The newchild stirred slightly in his sleep. Jonas looked over at him.
“There could be love”, Jonas whispered.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas to Gabriel, Chapter 16, Page 128
“Today is declared an unscheduled holiday.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 17, Page 130
“…now he saw the familiar wide river beside the path differently. He saw all of the light and color and history it contained and carried in its slow – moving water; and he knew that there was an Elsewhere from which it came, and an Elsewhere to which it was going”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 17, Page 131
“He knew that there was no quick comfort for emotions like those. They were deeper and they did not need to be told. They were felt.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 17, Page 132
“If you were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you.
Memories are forever.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver to Jonas, Chapter 18, Page 144
“Memories are forever.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver to Jonas, Chapter 18, Page 144
“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 20, Page 154
“Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 20, Page 156
“The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without colour, pain or past.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 21, Page 165
“All of it was new to him. After a life of Sameness and predictability, he was awed by the surprises that lay beyond each curve of the road.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 22, Page 171
“It was as simple as that. Once he had yearned for choice. then, when he had had a choice, he had made the wrong one: the choice to leave. And now he was starving.
But if he had stayed…
His thoughts continued. If he had stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for love.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The Giver to Jonas, Chapter 22, Pages 172, 173
“If he had stayed, he would have starved in other ways.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas’s thoughts, Chapter 22, Page 173
“He wept because he was afraid now that he could not save Gabriel. He no longer cared about himself”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 22, Page 173
“…an urge, a need, a passionate yearning to share the warmth with the one person left for him to love.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 23, Page 176
“But there was nothing left to do but continue”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 23, Page 177
“For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 23, Page 179
“Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 23, Page 179
Important Quotes From The Giver With Page Numbers
1. “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 20, Page 154
2. “We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Character: The Giver, Chapter 12, Page 95
3. “If you were to be lost in the river, Jonas, your memories would not be lost with you. Memories are forever.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Character: The Giver, Chapter 18, Page 144
4. “For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator about Jonas, Chapter 23, Page 179
5. “It’s the choosing that’s important, isn’t it?”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Character: The Giver, Chapter 13, Page 98
6. “I feel sorry for anyone who is in a place where he feels strange and stupid.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 1, Page 6
7. “Of course they needed to care. It was the meaning of everything.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 20, Page 156
8. “I liked the feeling of love,’ [Jonas] confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. ‘I wish we still had that,’ he whispered. ‘Of course,’ he added quickly, ‘I do understand that it wouldn’t work very well. And that it’s much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live.’
…’Still,’ he said slowly, almost to himself, ‘I did like the light they made. And the warmth.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, Jonas, Chapter 16, Page 126
9. “The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without colour, pain or past.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, The narrator, Chapter 21, Page 165
10. “They were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.”
~Lois Lowry, The Giver, the narrator, Chapter 13, Page 99
29 Gathering Blue Quotes With Page Numbers
The Giver Summary
The Giver by Lois Lowry is a dystopian novel set in a future society where emotions, color, and choices are forgotten. Jonas, the protagonist, is chosen to be the Receiver of Memories, a role only he can fulfill.
With the help of the Giver, an old man storing past memories, Jonas discovers the truth about his seemingly perfect community.
He learns of joy, love, and pain and understands the significance of choice, something sorely lacking in his world. Jonas ultimately takes a stand against the oppressive system and risks his life to set things right. In the end, Jonas and the Giver can restore freedom and color to the world.
The worst part about holding the memories page number
This quote from The Giver is on page 154, chapter 20.
Further Reading: