Match the quotations with their themes

Key Notes :

📌 1. What is a Quotation?

  • A quotation is a sentence or phrase taken from a text, speech, or literary work.
  • It usually reflects a key idea or message.

📌 2. What is a Theme?

  • A theme is the central idea, message, or underlying meaning in a story or poem.
  • Common themes include:
    • Love
    • Friendship
    • Courage
    • Power
    • Betrayal
    • Freedom
    • Hope
    • Justice

📌 3. How to Match Quotations with Themes

✅ Step 1: Read the quotation carefully.

Ask: What is this quote trying to say?

✅ Step 2: Identify the key words and ideas.

Look for emotional tone or repeated ideas.

✅ Step 3: Understand the deeper meaning.

Think about what life lesson or message the quote expresses.

✅ Step 4: Choose the theme that best fits.

Match it with the closest universal theme.

📌 4. Examples

Quotation:
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Theme: Courage / Overcoming Fear

Quotation:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Theme: Justice / Human Rights

Quotation:
“It is not our abilities that show what we truly are, it is our choices.”
Theme: Character / Moral Decisions

📌 5. Tips for Students

  • Always consider the context of the quotation (who said it, when, and why).
  • A quotation may match more than one theme, but choose the best fit.
  • Practice with famous literary works, poems, and speeches to build understanding.

Learn with an example

🤜 Read the quotations below from Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty. Match each one with the theme or lesson it suggests.

  • Not being able to talk about something can be a burden.
  • Good things stand out only next to bad things.

© 2003 Martha E. Bray

Read each quotation and make an inference. Then, apply your inference to the wider world to find the theme.

Quotation 1: And I could only stand by . . . The keeper of a secret so terrible it made me afraid to speak, scared that it would pour out of me like kerosene, burning everyone.

Inference 1: The speaker feels like keeping her secret is a tremendous responsibility.

Theme 1: Not being able to talk about something can be a burden.

Quotation 2: ‘Because you don’t notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light.’

Inference 2: The speaker believes that you only notice things through contrast.

Theme 2: Good things stand out only next to bad things.

🤜 Read the quotations below from Clare B. Dunkle’s The Hollow Kingdom. Match each one with the theme or lesson it suggests.

  • People are willing to make sacrifices for the people they care about.
  • Nature can be a source of courage and comfort.

© 2003 Clare B. Dunkle

Read each quotation and make an inference. Then, apply your inference to the wider world to find the theme.

Quotation 1: ‘If you love her enough to give up your world for her, don’t you think she would want to do the same for you?’

Inference 1: The speaker believes that if you love someone enough, you are willing to sacrifice everything.

Theme 1: People are willing to make sacrifices for the people they care about.

Quotation 2: She looked around at the stars, the moon, the trees. These were things she could count on.

Inference 2: The character feels reassured by the stability of the natural world.

Theme 2: Nature can be a source of courage and comfort.

🤜 Read the quotations below from Brian Jacques’s Redwall. Match each one with the theme or lesson it suggests.

  • The power of a tool lies in its user.
  • You must learn new things slowly and thoughtfully.

© 1986 Redwall Abbey Company

Read each quotation and make an inference. Then, apply your inference to the wider world to find the theme.

Quotation 1: ‘Knowledge . . . is the fruit of wisdom, to be eaten carefully and digested fully, unlike that lunch you are bolting down, little friend.’

Inference 1: The speaker compares knowledge to food and implies that it must be learned carefully and fully understood.

Theme 1: You must learn new things slowly and thoughtfully.

Quotation 2: ‘Maybe the sword does have some magic. Personally, I think it’s the warrior who wields it.’

Inference 2: The speaker believes that the magic does not come from the sword but from the person who is using it.

Theme 2: The power of a tool lies in its user.

let’s practice!