Quotes about help
page 12

“Yes. He knows I’m dying, but he can’t really accept it and
he’ll be all alone when I’m gone. Can’t you help him?”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: Every Fifteen Minutes

“The centuries are sprinkled with rare magic
with divine creatures
who help us get past the common and extraordinary ills that beset us”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: The Pleasures of the Damned

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1961, Inaugural Address
Variant: If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Context: To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required — not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

“Then shut up or grab a sword and come help. (Takeshi)
Is that a challenge? (Savitar)
It would be if I didn’t know for a fact that you’re too lazy to rise to one. (Takeshi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“The books that have helped me most are the ones I reacted to, not just read”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

“One place understood helps us understand all places better”

Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author

“You have deep-seated survival anxieties. And you don't like bigots, bullies, snobs or hypocrites. Subconsciously there are many people you hate."

"Consciously, sir, consciously," Yossarian corrected in an effort to help. "I hate them consciously.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch-22

Hate, People, Effort

“Green grass breaks through snow,
Artemis pleads for my help,
I am so cool.”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

“To own a certain book - and to choose it without help - is to define yourself.”

Julian Barnes (1946) English writer

Source: A Life with Books

“Straightaway, she'd called to the guard, "Oh, boys?" She'd sauntered to the glass in only her black lace bra and panties. "I need some assistance," When they slowed, agog, she'd purred, "Can one of you help me find my orgasm?”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

“You Keep Using the Word Help. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means”

Rick Riordan book The Hammer of Thor

Source: The Hammer of Thor

“I just don't know," I said, my voice sounding bumby, not like mine, "how do you help someone who doesn't want your help. What do you do when you can't do anything?”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“There are adventures of the spirit and one can travel in books and interest oneself in people and affairs. One need never be dull as long as one has friends to help, gardens to enjoy and books in the long winter evenings.”

D.E. Stevenson (1892–1973) British writer

Source: Listening Valley

People, Books, Travel, Winter

“To look away from the world, or to stare at it, does not help a man to reach God; but he who sees the world in Him stands in His presence.”

Martin Buber book I and Thou

Source: I and Thou

“Who am I helping, what am I breaking, what am I giving, what am I taking?”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

“Positive thinking can be contagious. Being surrounded by winners helps you develop into a winner.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947) actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heritage

Source: Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder

“And try to remember what we discussed, Susannah. A mediator is someone who helps others resolve conflicts. Not someone who, er, kicks them in the face.”

Meg Cabot book Shadowland

Source: Shadowland

“Even mocking people helped their face stats. In the reputation economy, the only real way to hurt anyone was to ignore them completely. And it was pretty hard to ignore someone who made your blood boil.”

Scott Westerfeld book Extras

Source: Extras

People, Way, Hurt

“And of course I'm a chauvinist, but it isn't my fault."
"It isn't?"
"No, Jack was born first and I share his genes. I can't help it if he infected me inside the womb."
Briony burst out laughing. "I should have known that would be your excuse.”

Christine Feehan book Conspiracy Game

Source: Conspiracy Game

“But metaphors help eliminate what separates you and me.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

“The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart. There's not getting over that.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

“I feel that the dormant goodwill in people needs to be stirred. People need to hear that it makes sense to behave decently or to help others, to place common interests above their own, to respect the elementary rules of human coexistence.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

People, Feeling, Sense

“What can't be helped must be endured.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: Jayber Crow

“No, you don’t need to help me. But if you don’t, there’s nothing stopping me from calling you up again and again, now that I know you can’t kill me. Think of it as me leaning against your Heavenly doorbell… forever.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

“I have seen sights and travelled in countries you cannot imagine. I have been afraid and I have been in danger, and I have never for one moment thought that I would throw myself at at a man for his help.”

Philippa Gregory book The Queen's Fool

Source: The Queen's Fool

Travel, Imagination, Country

“Sometimes you have to live in precarious and temporary places. Unsuitable places. Wrong places. Sometimes the safe place won't help you.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

“Leo couldn't help smiling. "That could be fun."
"Fun" she said unhappily.
"Blue elephants."
"Blue elephants."
"Kiss me you fool."
"You fool.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Smile, Fools, Kiss

“Setting out around midnight, I couldn't help shaking my head, "We're the goddamned hottest vampire hunters ever." I muttered.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

“You know, those parlor tricks would be much more impressive if they actually helped me. (Danger)
I wanted to see what you had in you. (Alexion)
Piss and vinegar. Next time you don’t help me, I’ll unleash it fully against you. (Danger)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Sins of the Night

“I thought helping someone else might take me out of my own head for a while.”

Cammie McGovern

Source: Say What You Will

“Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts—not to hurt others.”

George Eliot book Middlemarch

Daniel Deronda (1876)
Source: Middlemarch

“Part of her revolted against the insanity of the rules. Part of her was grateful. In a world of chaos, any guidelines helped. And she knew that each day she remained alive,. One plus one plus one. The Devil's arithmetic…”

Jane Yolen (1939) American speculative fiction and children's writer

“Whisky, I find, helps clarity of thought. And reduces pain. It has the additional virtue of making you drunk or, if taken in sufficient quantity, very drunk.”

Julian Barnes book The Sense of an Ending

Source: The Sense of an Ending

“Fear is a part of life. It's a warning mechanism. That's all. It tells you when there's danger around. Its job is to help you survive. Not cripple you into being unable to do it.”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: Dead Beat

Life, Fear, Parting

“I can awaken things inside you that have been sleeping all your life. You're strong enough to live in the dark, to glory in it. You can become a queen of the shadows. Why not take that power, Elena? Let me help you take it.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: The Awakening / The Struggle

Life, Sleep, Strong

“Have you made any plans?
Take an overdose, slash my wrists then hang myself.
All those things together?
It couldn't possibly be misconstrued as a cry for help.”

Sarah Kane book 4.48 Psychosis

Source: 4.48 Psychosis

“It always helps to think about other people instead of ourselves.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding

People, Thinking

“Bob … the Titan … he only helped us in Tartarus because you were kind to him. You told him we were worth saving. That’s the only reason we’re alive.’ She said we so easily, as if she and Percy were interchangeable, inseparable.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

“They were frightening enough, but Tessa could not help but feel that if Will were there, he would have commented that they looked like turnips, and perhaps made up a song about it.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“I cannot help but wonder how many of us walk through our lives, day after day, feeling slightly broken and alone, surrounded all the time by others who feel exactly the same way.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Way, Feeling, Time

“Knowledge is a terrible burden. It may help you, but it might also destroy you.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

“Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help to orchestrate the energy of those around you.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

“And how I watched my little sister become a human torch. Closing my eyes doesn't help. Fire burns brighter in the darkness.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

“See, you have to marry me. I seem to scare off all the help.”

Lynsay Sands Canadian writer

Source: Single White Vampire

“The best life for a writer is the life which helps him write the best books he can.”

Julian Barnes book Flaubert's Parrot

Source: Flaubert's Parrot

“Real leaders are people who “help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

People, Fear, Selfishness

“You can’t help being young, but it’s past time that you stopped being stupid.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Interlude “Locke Stays for Dinner” section 1 (p. 121)
Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006)

Stupidity, Time, Past

“All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)

Children, Youth, Parent, Childhood

“We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

“Grover and Nico came back from their walk, and Grover helped me fix up my wounded arm.
"It's green!" Nico said with delight.”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

“Everything in the gospel teaches us that we can change if we need to, that we can be helped if we truly want it, that we can be made whole, whatever the problems of the past.”

Jeffrey R. Holland (1940) Mormon leader

Source: Created for Greater Things

Problem, Change, Past

“I lied. I need your help."
"Who are we killing?"
"Do you have a pen?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

“Funny, that no matter where you are in the world, there's always someone eager to help you destroy yourself.”

James St. James (1966) American writer

Source: Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

“Every man or woman who makes a stand helps keep the flame of freedom burning.”

Juliet Marillier book Shadowfell

Source: Shadowfell

“other people maay be there to help us, teach us, guide us aolng our path, But the lesson to be learned is always ours”

Melody Beattie (1948) American writer

People, Learning

“Look it Gollum, if you spring me, I’ll help you find your Precious.--Regin”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

“Throughout my life my greatest benefactors have been my travels and my dreams. Very few men, living or dead, have helped me in my struggles.”

Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek writer

Life, Men, Dreams, Travel

“Endeavors that help me satisfy you, my goddess of desire, pleasure, and corny one-liners.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

“Did you read the instructions?” He shook his head. “Why, were you afraid they’d take your man card away?” “Are you going to help me or just make fun of me?” “Can’t I do both?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Rises

“I cry to you, my Lord, my rock! Do not be deaf to me, for if you are silent, I shall go down to the pit like the rest. Hear my voice raised in petition as I cry to you for help, as I raise my hands, my Lord, toward your holy of holies.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

“See, records have helped me to fall in love, no question. I hear something new, with a chord change that melts my guts, and before I know it I’m looking for someone, and before I know it I’ve
found her.”

Nick Hornby book High Fidelity

Source: High Fidelity

Love, Question, Change

“Fair isn't fair, Dean. Like I'm supposed to help you because fair is fair? Try I need you to help me so I wont rip out your spine and beat you with it. I might respond to that, maybe.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: School's Out—Forever

“I couldn't help but think, This car is taking me to a mental hospital and my mother is treating it like open-mic night at a Greenwich Village café.”

Augusten Burroughs book Running with Scissors

Source: Running with Scissors

Cars, Thinking, Night

“… small helpings, no seconds, no snacking, and a little bit of everything. - Julia Child”

Julia Child (1921–2004) American chef

“"God help me," I murmured.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

“Help me to withstand your beauty as it stands out of reach. Give me the capacity to forget ever having felt your touch.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Source: Solipsist

Beauty, Forgetting

“An environment-based education movement--at all levels of education--will help students realize that school isn't supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.”

Richard Louv (1949) American journalist

Source: Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

World, Education, School

“The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

“‎If you ever find you need help again, you know, if you're in trouble, need a hand out of a corner…"
"Yeah?"
"Please don't hesitate to get lost.”

Douglas Adams book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Source: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

“Jules: Why are you on the floor?
Emma: I've heard roling out of bed in the morning helps you build up resistance to surprise attacks.
Jules: Oh yeah? What does screaming "holy crap!" do?
Emma: That part's optional.”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

“You are freakishly tall, aren’t you? (Tory)
For a woman wanting my help you are ever determined to insult me. Should I make this as painless as possible and leave now before the die-painfully-you-asshole-prick stuff starts again? (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“It is the prerogative of wizards to be grumpy. It is not, however, the prerogative of freelance consultants who are late on their rent, so instead of saying something smart, I told the woman on the phone, "Yes, ma'am. How can I help you today?”

Jim Butcher book Storm Front

Source: Storm Front

“Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is.”

Russell Banks book Continental Drift

Source: Continental Drift

“I suppose we must work on being gracious and grateful until we can do for ourselves. Someday the wheel of fate will put us in a position to be of use to them, and we will remember how much easier it is to give help than it is to accept it.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

Source: River Marked

“Theres this other half of him i dont know of, its like he is trying it keep it a secret…. if he would just let me inside so i can help”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“Furthermore, worrying about people and problems doesn't help. It doesn't solve problems, it doesn't help other people, and it doesn't help us. It is wasted energy.”

Melody Beattie (1948) American writer

Source: Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself

People, Problem

“I told her why we are here. I told you wouldn't hurt Jack."
"The coffin?"
I smiled. I couldn't help it. He was a 'jack in a box.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Guilty Pleasures

Source: Guilty Pleasures

Smile, Hurt, Box

“Uh, the Council," I said. "Big shock, they aren't helping."

Murphy looked like she might be asleep, but she snorted. "So we're on our own."

Yeah."

Good. It's more familiar.”

Jim Butcher book Changes

Source: Changes

“To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Universe, Personality

“The only advice I can give to aspiring writers is don't do it unless you're willing to give your whole life to it. Red wine and garlic also helps.”

Jim Harrison (1937–2016) American novelist, poet, essayist

“Any human face is a claim on you, because you can't help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness of it. But this is truest of the face of an infant. I consider that to be one kind of vision, as mystical as any.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

Source: Gilead

Courage, Understanding, Loneliness

“If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a Juniper tree or the wings of a vulture-that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.”

Edward Abbey book Desert Solitaire

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
Source: Desert Solitaire

“It's not when you realise that nothing can help you - religion, pride, anything - it's when you realise that you don't need any aid.”

William Faulkner book The Sound and the Fury

Source: The Sound and the Fury

“But the very fact that this world is so challenging is exactly why you sometimes must reach out of its jurisdiction for help, appealing to a higher authority in order to find your comfort.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

“Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.”

Ken Robinson (1950) UK writer

Source: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Education, Future

“Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos, we see despite all the chaos.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

“Though sympathy alone can't alter facts, it can help to make them more bearable.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Source: Dracula

“I couldn't help it. I tried to keep it down but it just flooded through all my quiet spaces. It was a message more than a feeling, a message that tolled like a bell: change, change, change.”

Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Feeling, Change

“One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong

World, Beauty, Personality

“The turtle couldn't help us.”

Stephen King book It

Source: It

“"Your voice will come. We all go through the same thing. You cannot talk when you first arrive." He smiled. "It helps you listen."”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)

“This is where you can find your soul if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you that you've never dared look at before. Do not come here and ask me to show you how to draw a face. Ask me to help you find the wind.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Soul, Parting, Drawing

“But the thing about a cry for help is that someone else needs to be around to hear it.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

“My dad always says, some people will treat you badly and you can't help that. But how you handle it and how it makes you feel, that's up to you.”

Elise Broach (1963) American writer

Source: Shakespeare's Secret

People, Feeling

“No amount of love can cure madness or unblacken one's dark moods. Love can help, it can make the pain more tolerable, but, always, one is beholden to medication that may or may not always work and may or may not be bearable”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Love, Pain, Mood, Madness

“Is my name dorothy?
No
Then why do u think munchkins could help me?”

Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer

Source: It's Not Easy Being Mean

“We cannot build our own future without helping others to build theirs.”

Bill Clinton (1946) 42nd President of the United States

“It is the writer's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“He [Percy] pleaded with those sea-green eyes, like a cute baby seal that needed help. Piper wondered how Annabeth ever won an argument with this guy.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

“Lothaire said, “I have a much better plan.”
“Why help him?” Thad asked pointedly. “When you don’t help anybody else?”
Lothaire exhaled ruefully. “Incurable romantic.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior