# Goodreads Quotes Scraper (`parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper`) Actor

Searches Goodreads quotes by keyword and returns each quote as a flat row with its text, author, book title, tags, and like count. No login required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.62 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Goodreads Quotes Scraper

**Scrape Goodreads quotes by any search keyword and collect up to a million per run.** Each quote includes the full text, author name, book title, tags, and like count. No login required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Goodreads has no official quotes API, and scraping by hand means paginating through endless search results. This Actor searches Goodreads quotes by any keyword you provide and returns every match in a clean, flat schema. It handles the pagination and rate-limiting so you get a complete dataset without writing a single line of code.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Goodreads for |
|---|---|
| Content marketers | Find quotable lines on a topic for social media posts or blog headers. |
| App builders | Populate a quote-of-the-day feature with fresh, tagged content. |
| Researchers | Analyze which authors or books dominate a theme in public discourse. |
| Book marketers | Collect pull quotes from a genre to use in promotional copy. |

### What it does

This Actor searches Goodreads quotes by keyword and returns each quote as a flat row with its text, author, book, tags, and likes.

- 🔍 **Keyword search:** feed the Actor any search term and it returns every matching quote on Goodreads.
- 📊 **Flat output:** each row is one quote with its text, author, book title, tags, and like count in a fixed schema.
- ⚡ **Bulk extraction:** paid users can pull up to 1,000,000 quotes in a single run.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Goodreads data

**📝 Build a quote library by topic.**

A content marketer searches for 'leadership' and exports 5,000 quotes to seed a year of daily social media posts.

**📱 Feed a mobile app with fresh content.**

An indie developer runs the Actor weekly on 'motivation' and 'stoicism' to keep a quote widget populated with new material.

**📚 Analyze author prominence in a genre.**

A literature researcher scrapes quotes for 'science fiction' and tallies which authors appear most often to map influence.

**🏷️ Collect tagged quotes for a niche site.**

A niche publisher scrapes quotes tagged 'writing' and 'creativity' to build a curated resource page that ranks for long-tail searches.

### Why choose this scraper

| | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key needed** | Reads the public Goodreads quote search pages directly. |
| **Fixed schema** | Every quote arrives with the same fields, ready for your database or spreadsheet. |
| **Built-in pagination** | Walks through every page of results until your maxItems count is reached. |
| **Tag preservation** | Goodreads community tags come through so you can filter by theme. |

### How it compares

This Actor focuses on quote search by keyword and returns full quote metadata. The other Goodreads scrapers target books or a narrower quote schema.

| Feature | ParseForge | Goodreads Books Scraper | Goodreads Quotes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search quotes by keyword | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| Returns quote text | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| Returns author name | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| Returns book title | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Returns community tags | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Returns like count | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Up to 1,000,000 items per run | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a single search keyword and set a maximum number of quotes to return. The scraper stops when it hits your limit or runs out of results. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
 "searchQuery": "life",
 "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
 "searchQuery": "life",
 "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.004 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $0.40 |
| 1,000 results | $4.00 |
| 10,000 results | $40.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Goodreads Quotes Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Goodreads through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that your searchQuery is spelled correctly and is not too narrow. Try a broader keyword. Also confirm that Goodreads has quotes for that term by searching the site manually.

**Why did my run stop after only 10 items?**

Free Apify accounts are limited to 10 items as a preview. Upgrade to a paid plan and set maxItems to a higher number to collect more quotes.

**Why are some quotes missing their book title?**

Goodreads does not always associate a book with a quote. When the source page lists no book, that field will be empty in your output. This is expected behavior.

**Why is my run slow?**

The Actor respects Goodreads servers by spacing requests. Large maxItems values will take longer. Use the Apify schedule feature to run it overnight if you need a very large dataset.

**Why do I see a 'request failed' error?**

Goodreads may occasionally block aggressive scraping. The Actor retries automatically. If failures persist, try reducing maxItems or running during off-peak hours.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need a Goodreads account or API key? | No. The Actor reads the public Goodreads quote search pages. No login, no API key, and no OAuth flow are required. |
| What does each result row contain? | Every row includes the quote text, the author who said it, the book title it comes from, the Goodreads tags, and the number of likes the quote received. |
| How many quotes can I scrape in one run? | Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Paid Apify users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 per run. |
| Can I scrape quotes from a specific author or book? | The Actor searches by keyword. To target an author, use their name as the search query. It does not accept author or book IDs directly. |
| What export formats are supported? | You can download your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, or RSS from the Apify storage tab. |
| Does the Actor handle Goodreads rate limiting? | Yes. It spaces requests and retries on failure so your run completes without manual intervention. |
| Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly? | Yes. Apify supports cron-style schedules. Set it to run daily or weekly and it will append new results to your dataset. |
| What happens if my search returns more results than maxItems? | The Actor stops as soon as it has collected the number of quotes you set in maxItems. It will not exceed that limit. |
| Are the tags the same ones Goodreads users assign? | Yes. The tags field preserves the community-added labels exactly as they appear on the Goodreads quote page. |
| Can I filter quotes by minimum likes? | The Actor does not filter by likes during scraping. You can sort or filter the exported dataset by the likes column in your spreadsheet or script. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Goodreads, LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Keyword to search for quotes on Goodreads.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "life",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Complete dataset of all scraped records.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQuery": "life",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQuery": "life",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQuery": "life",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/goodreads-quotes-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bHhLXfiCS53AF7afy/builds/SYUcM3uI5hoo98Toi/openapi.json