Quotes about parting
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“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Way, Madness

“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

April 6, 1775
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. Vol 2

Books, Time, Reading

“… you spend a much larger part of your life being old, not young. Rules change along the way. The first things to go are those things you thought were eternal.”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Life, Way, Change

“In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.”

Doris Lessing book Martha Quest

Martha Quest (1952), Part III, ch. 2

Law, Fools, Learning, Universe

“To give up our imaginary position as the center, to renounce it, not only intellectually but in the imaginative part of our soul, that means to awaken to what is real and eternal, to see the true light and hear the true silence.”

Simone Weil book Waiting for God

Source: Waiting for God

Soul, Imagination, Light, Silence

“The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants, sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything.”

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union

World, Nature, Strong

“But God will know the slow tread of an old couple’s love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.”

Kazuo Ishiguro book The Buried Giant

Source: The Buried Giant

Love, God, Understanding

“He shrugged. "The same as any other. It's a way to make people feel better about themselves. Everyone likes feeling special. Being part of an elite group is a way to do that."
"But you weren't part of it?"
"No need. I already know I'm special.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

People, Way, Feeling

“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

World, Cheating, Selfishness

“Here's a tip, Alyconeus. Next time you choose the biggest state for your home, don't set up base in the part that's only 10 miles wide.
Welcome to Canada, idiot.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Home, Time

“People will tell you most of the story… and I’ve learned that the part they neglect to tell you is often the most important part. People hide the truth because they’re afraid.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

People, Truth, Learning

“Every new book I read comes to be a part of that overall and unitary book that is the sum of my readings… if you need little to set the imagination going, I require even less: the promise of reading is enough.”

Italo Calvino (1923–1985) Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels

Source: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Books, Imagination, Reading

“We are more than the parts that form us.”

Patrick Rothfuss (1973) American fantasy writer

“For a woman who can handle herself so well in a fight, I can’t believe you got taken out by a defenseless doorjamb. (Ravyn)
Given the size of my goose egg, I would argue the defenseless part. That doorjamb has a mean left hook.(Susan)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dark Side of the Moon

Fight

“For the best part of 40 years she had genuinely believed that not doing things would somehow prevent regret, when, of course, the exact opposite was true.”

Nick Hornby book Juliet, Naked

Source: Juliet, Naked

“The egocentric is always frustrated, simply because the condition of self-perfection is self-surrender. There must be a willingness to die to the lower part of self, before there can be a birth to the nobler.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

Source: Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons from Cana and Calvary

Birth, Perfection

“There is still that singular perfection, and it's perfect in part because it seemed, at the time, so clearly to promise more.”

Michael Cunningham book The Hours

Source: The Hours

Time, Perfection

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Beauty, Literature, Universe

“I will always take your part, Bee. Right or wrong. That is why you must always take care to be right, lest you make your father a fool.”

Robin Hobb book Fool's Assassin

Source: Fool's Assassin

Fools, Bee

“If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace. It will always be in conflict. If you accept that, everything gets a lot better.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Happiness, Peace, Thinking

“You want me to do what? What part of stupid crawled up your sphincter and died?” – Caleb”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Stupidity

“I came to think that maybe God was what you believed in because you needed to feel you weren’t alone. Maybe God was simply that part of yourself that was always there and always strong, even when you were not.”

Augusten Burroughs book A Wolf at the Table

Source: A Wolf at the Table

God, Feeling, Thinking, Strong

“But perhaps the best part of all was that I, Sydney Katherine Sage, guilty of constantly analyzing the world around me, well, I stopped thinking.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

World, Thinking

“If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.”

Eldridge Cleaver (1935–1998) American activist

Problem

“And it occurred to him that there were two parts to being a better person. One part was thinking about other people. The other part was not giving a toss what other people thought.”

Mark Haddon book A Spot of Bother

Source: A Spot of Bother

People, Thinking, Personality

“… You're omniscient, right?"
"For the most part, yes."
"Then you have to tell me this ‘cause I have to know. What's at the end of everything?"
He shrugged. "That's easy enough."
"Then tell me."
"The letter G.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“No… I mean, I'm sorry he… You know, said those things to you."
"It's part of being a 'good' family. Everyone's got skeletons in their closet.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

Family

“The most important part of education — to teach the meaning of to know”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist

in the scientific sense
The last statement in her notebook
Waiting on God (1950)

Education

“Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally on our planet, serves a thousand different functions, all of them positive. To make marijuana against the law is like saying that God made a mistake. Like on the seventh day God looked down, "There it is. My Creation, perfect and holy in all ways. Now I can rest. [Gives shocked expression] Oh my Me! I left fuckin' pot everywhere. I should never have smoked that joint on the third day. Hehe, that was the day I created the possum. Still gives me a chuckle. But if I leave pot everywhere, that's gonna give people the impression they're supposed to … use it. Now I have to create Republicans."”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian

" … and God wept", I believe is the next part of that story.
Chicago '91 (1991)

God, People, Law, Way

“Disaster is a natural part of my evolution toward tragedy and dissolution.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Nature

“Think of the universal substance, of which thou has a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art”

Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Ancient Rome

Source: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Art, Thinking, Universe, Time

“If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don’t change because of it. It’s just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Variant: If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don't change because of it. It's just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it.
Source: Just Listen

Change

“It was only the matter of a new voice. Nobody listened to an old voice anymore. Old voices became a part of one's self, like a fingernail.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Source: Women

“Everyone has things they're afraid of. It's part of being human.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“A love that does not discriminate seems to me to forfeit a part of its own value, by doing an injustice to its object; and secondly, not all men are worthy of love.”

Sigmund Freud book Civilization and Its Discontents

Source: Civilization and Its Discontents

Love, Men

“Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

“You can't love your mother or father if you don't also have the capacity to grieve their deaths and, perhaps even more so, grieve parts of their lives.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

Source: The 7: Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life

Love, Death

“Part of life is learning what to be ashamed of and what to be proud of.”

Stephen Fry (1957) English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist

Life, Learning

“Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Music

“Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.”

Lynn Abbey (1948) American writer

Idea

“Everything happens for a reason, and part of that beauty of life is that we're not allowed to know those reasons for certain.”

Aron Ralston Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Source: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Life, Beauty

“It's a strange courage
you give me ancient star:Shine alone in the sunrise
toward which you lend no part!”

William Carlos Williams book Al Que Quiere!

"El Hombre"
Al Que Quiere! (1917)

Star, Courage

“I suspect that I am the result of particularly weak conception on the part of my father. His sperm was probably emitted in a rather offhand manner.”

John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces

Source: A Confederacy of Dunces

“I'm so burned out, the only person I can stand is myself.
I'm the only one I would put through this.
Wheels and wings,
The ride is everything.
I'm all I've got.
I'm all I can take.
Another day has destroyed a part of me.
So far so good.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Source: See A Grown Man Cry/Now Watch Him Die

Personality

“I comfort myself with the reflection that your wife will possibly be able to curb your desire--I admit, a natural one for the most part--to exterminate your fellows.”

Georgette Heyer book Devil's Cub

Source: Devil's Cub

Nature

“I guess when you’re trying to find all the parts of yourself, it’s difficult to be with someone who’s already fully intact.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: The Time of My Life

“Because most Christians want it both ways. They want to be able to proudly declare they are believers in the Bible and yet simply ignore those parts they find too difficult or too inconvenient to believe.”

Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol

Source: The Lost Symbol

Way

“You don't have to be part of a couple to be happy, you know.”

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1933) American children's writer

Source: Alice Alone

Happiness

“What are you? (Danger)
Well, had you listened before you stabbed me, you would have heard the ‘I’m Acheron’s Squire’ part. Apparently that somehow escaped your hearing and you mistook me for a pin cushion. (Alexion)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Sins of the Night

“Do you work for the government, any government?”
"I pay taxes, which means I work for the government, part of the time. Yes.”

Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) American speculative fiction writer

Source: My Name is Legion

Time

“If you didn't love him, this never would have happened. But you did. And accepting that love and everything that followed it is part of letting it go.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Source: Dreamland

Love

“Zaphod did not want to tangle with them and, deciding that just as discretion is the better part of valor, so was cowardice is the better part of discretion, he valiantly hid himself in a closet.”

Douglas Adams Life, the Universe and Everything

Source: Life, the Universe and Everything

“You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. And wish from this day forth never to be parted from you.”

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist

Love, Soul, For Him

“He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time.”

Jack London book Call of the Wild

Source: The Call of the Wild

Nature, Time

“There is always a part of my mind that is preparing for the worst, and another part of my mind that believes if I prepare enough for it, the worst won’t happen.”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

“It was like that part of my life, was just gone. It was almost too easy, for something I once thought had meant everything.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Life

“Of course I was under the spell, and the wonderful part is that, even at the time, I perfectly knew I was. But I gave myself up to it; it was an antidote to any pain, and I had more pains than one.”

Henry James book The Turn of the Screw

Source: The Turn of the Screw

Pain, Time

“She and I were still friends, but not best friends, not like we used to be. But we were still friends. She'd known me my whole life. It's hard to throw away history. It was like you were throwing away a part of yourself.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: The Summer I Turned Pretty

Life, History

“Who's Myrnin?"
Claire controlled an urge to roll her eyes. "Badass crazy vampire scientist who's my boss."
"You realize no part of that sentence made sense, right?”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ghost Town

Sense

“Yet once you've come to be part of this particular patch, you'll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.”

Nelson Algren (1909–1981) American novelist, short story writer

Source: Chicago: City on the Make (1951), Chapter 2, ""Are you a Christian?""
Context: [About Chicago:] It's every man for himself in this hired air. / Yet once you've come to be part of this particular patch, you'll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.

Love

“You don't have to look back to see those children; part of your mind will see them forever. They are not necessarily the best part of you, but they were once the repository of all you could become.”

Stephen King book It

Source: It (1986)

Children

“Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a foretaste of the resurrection.”

Arthur Schopenhauer book Parerga and Paralipomena

"Psychological Observations"
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Studies in Pessimism

Death

“Magnus began to be truly alarmed. Will's voice would have shaken, betraying that his cruelty had been part of his playacting, but his son's laugh was that of someone genuinely delighted by the chaos erupting all around him”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Midnight Heir

“GO FOR HIS EYES! OR BITE HIM ON THE NOSE! DRAGON NOSES ARE VERY SENSITIVE!"
Oh, very helpful, Camicazi, very helpful… thought Hiccup. What if he doesn't obligingly hold me up to his nose? What if the only part I get close to is the TEETH?”

Cressida Cowell book How to Break a Dragon's Heart

Source: How to Break a Dragon's Heart

Help

“I find it impossible to experience either pride or shame over accidents of genetics in which I had no active part. I'm not necessarily proud to be female. I am not even proud to be human—I only love to be so.”

Zadie Smith (1975) British writer

Love

“But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by everybody at times, whatever be their education or state. Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience; or give it a more fascinating name: call it hope.”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Pain, Happiness, Education, Hope

“Back in Khufu's day I knew a magician who parted the Nile just so he could climb to the bottom and retrieve a girl's necklace. Then there was that Israelite fellow, Mickey."
"Moses?"
"Yeah, him.”

Rick Riordan book The Throne of Fire

Source: The Throne of Fire

Girl

“I enjoy the fun of failure. It's fun to fail, I kept repeating. It's part of being ambitious; it's part of being creative. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Failure