New Moon Quotes

The 10 most famous lines from Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon (2006), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.

• “I was racing to save something infinitely more precious. My own life meant little to me today.”

  - Bella Swan. Preface, p. 1 - the flash-forward that opens the book; we only learn what she is running toward in Italy.

• “It will be as if I'd never existed.”

  - Edward Cullen. Chapter 3, p. 71 - the sentence the leaving is built on; the cruelest promise in the saga, made as a kindness.

• “A new moon. I shivered, though I wasn't cold.”

  - Bella Swan. Chapter 3, p. 74 - the title drop: the darkest phase of the moon, walking home alone through the forest edge.

• “Time passes. Even when it seems impossible... but pass it does. Even for me.”

  - Bella Swan. Chapter 4, p. 93 - the paragraph the four blank pages stand for; the most-quoted passage of grief in the series.

• “Forbidden to remember, terrified to forget; it was a hard line to walk.”

  - Bella Swan. Chapter 4, p. 117 - the rules of the after-Edward months, stated as a tightrope.

• “Like an earthbound sun, whenever someone was within his gravitational pull, Jacob warmed them.”

  - Bella Swan. Chapter 6, p. 145 - Jacob introduced in a single image; the warmth the whole second half of the book runs on.

• “How strongly are you opposed to grand theft auto?”

  - Alice Cullen. Chapter 19, p. 439 - the joke that breaks the book's grief, mid-race to save Edward's life.

• “I love a happy ending. They are so rare.”

  - Aro. Chapter 21, p. 468 - the Volturi's cheerful overlord, in the room where the saga's endgame is decided.

• “Bella, I can't live in a world where you don't exist.”

  - Edward Cullen. Chapter 23, p. 509 - the confession after Volterra; the lie of the forest fully retracted.

• “Marry me first. / Okay. What's the punch line?”

  - Edward and Bella. Chapter 24, p. 540 - the proposal that ends the book on a laugh; the thread Eclipse picks up.

Why these lines survive

Stephenie Meyer’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 10 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.

Quote collectors: pair this page with the New Moon quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 9 hours and 18 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like New Moon list is next.

Want the whole shelf’s lines? Our Stephenie Meyer books in order guide lists every book.

How to use a quotes page

Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of Stephenie Meyer are an invitation, not a summary.

More quote collections

Twilight quotes, The Fault in Our Stars quotes, It Ends with Us quotes, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.

Frequently asked questions