Quotes about people
page 64

“Your father always tries to see the good side of people; to find the excuse. But sometimes there isn't a good side. There isn't an excuse.
(Mom - to Lara Lington)”

Sophie Kinsella book Twenties Girl

Source: Twenties Girl

Moms

“Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

Random Thoughts http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell101705.asp, Oct. 17, 2005 <br class="br">2000s

Education, Way, Feeling, Intelligence

“My worst character flaw that I'm conscious of is that I tend to think my way into circles instead of resolving anything. It's paralyzing and boring for people around me.”

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

Way, Thinking

“The only faithfulness people have is to emotions they're trying to recapture”

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate

Faith

“People used what they called a telephone because they hated being close together and they were too scared of being alone.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Survivor

Source: Survivor

Hate

“No matter how many people care about you, she thought, if you can't be open with them about who you truly are, you're still alone.”

Diane Chamberlain (1950) American writer

Source: The Silent Sister

“People die of broken hearts. They have heart attacks. And it's the heart that hurts most when things go wrong and fall apart.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Source: I Am the Messenger

Heart, Hurt

“People don't expect too much from literature. They just want to know they're not alone with being confused.”

Jonathan Ames (1964) American novelist, memoirist

Literature

“I can't believe you just did that! Are you crazy?"
I gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Why do people keep asking me that?"
He turned to stare at me, his eyes worried. "Who else keeps asking you that? Are any of them doctors?”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: Just One Wish

“It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer "universal health care."”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

Random Thought
2000s, Ever Wonder Why? and Other Controversial Essays (2006)
Source: Knowledge And Decisions

Health, Thinking, Universe

“Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty.
I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“I am looking for the people who have always been there, and belong to the places they live. The others I do not wish to see.”

Norman Lewis (1908–2003) British travel writer

“It’s bad enough… when a country gets colonized, but when the people do as well! That’s the end, really, that’s the end.”

Tsitsi Dangarembga Nervous Conditions

Source: Nervous Conditions

Country

“It’s not just other people we need to forgive. We also need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should have done.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Variant: We need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened.
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Forgiveness

“he wanted people to like his mind again-after awhile it might be such a nice place in which to live.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book This Side of Paradise

Source: This Side of Paradise

“I don't see,' I said, 'how people stand being old. Your insides all dry up. When you're young you're so self-reliant. You don't even need much religion.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Religion

“You can never be upset with the people who forced you into your dream or up higher.”

Tyler Perry (1966) American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author, and songwriter

Dreams

“Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people and that most of them seemed to come from Texas.”

Ian Fleming book Casino Royale

Source: Casino Royale

“Maybe you should make me a list of people I can kill and ways in which they’re allowed to die,” he said. “You are not funny.” “I’m very funny.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Way

“There's the beautiful people and then there's the rest of us.”

Thom Yorke (1968) English musician, philanthropist and singer-songwriter

Beauty

“People who think dying is the worst thing don't know a thing about life.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Variant: Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.
Source: The Secret Life of Bees (2002)

Life, Thinking

“A classroom. People trying to stick me in classrooms was becoming as predictable and annoying as people trying to kill me, but with less-fun results.”

James Patterson book Maximum Ride

Source: Max

“If you let people break your spirit and detour you from your path, then you have not been true to yourself or those you're here to touch, those who believe in you.”

Allison DuBois (1972) American psychic

“If the devil doesn't exist… how do you explain that some people are a lot worse than they're smart enough to be?”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: Jayber Crow

“She liked to disappear, even when she was in the same room as other people. It was a talent, as it was a curse.”

Alice Hoffman (1952) Novelist, young-adult writer, children's writer

Source: The Red Garden

“When people see you're happy doing what you're doing, it sort of takes the power away from them to tease you about it.”

Wendy Mass book Every Soul a Star

Source: Every Soul a Star

Happiness

“But I don't understand God. I don't understand how he could see the way people treat one another, and not chalk up the whole human race as a bad idea.”

Jim Butcher book Grave Peril

Source: Grave Peril

God, Way, Idea, Understanding

“People hardly ever make use of the freedom which they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as compensation.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

Source: The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard

Freedom

“Elaine: Ugh, I hate people.
Jerry: Yeah, they're the worst.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

Hate

“It's when people compliment you that you're in trouble. That means they expect you to keep it up.”

Ned Vizzini (1981–2013) American writer

“I’m merely talking about learning to be less bothered by the actions of people.”

Richard Carlson (1961–2006) Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker

Source: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... and it's all small stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life

Learning

“To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.”

Aristophanés The Knights

Source: The Knights

Cooking

“People who think they know everything are annoying to those of us who do.”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Get A Clue

Thinking

“Make your interactions with people transformational, not just transactional.”

Patti Smith (1946) American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist

“I don't feel the slightest interest in the next world; I think it's here. And I think anything good that you're going to do, you should do for other people here and not so you can try to have a happy time in the next world.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

Happiness, World, Feeling, Thinking

“Point is, people lie a lot. Sometimes out of habit. Not many people are good at telling the truth.”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

Source: Rot & Ruin

Truth, Lie

“It seemed the more I knew about people the more I knew about the strange magic hidden in their hearts.”

Rudolfo Anaya book Bless Me, Ultima

Source: Bless Me, Ultima

Heart

“You guys looking for my dad? People are always, like, looking for him, and he's never around. Daddy is so not here. And I mean that literally and spiritually.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Eternity Code

Guy

“Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it.”

Elizabeth Strout book Olive Kitteridge

Source: Olive Kitteridge

Life

“Sometimes ah think that people become junkies just because they subconsiously crave a wee bit ay silence.”

Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting

Renton, "Kicking: The Skag Boys, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mother Superior" (Chapter 1, Story 1).
Source: Trainspotting (1993)

Thinking, Silence

“… even the most independent people sometimes needed help. And if I'd learned nothing else from my life thus far, it was that you don't always end up where you think you're going.”

Margaret Peterson Haddix book Just Ella

Source: Just Ella

Life, Thinking, Learning, Help

“I have a catchphrase to describe my plot-generation technique — "What's the worst possible thing I can do to these people?"”

Lois McMaster Bujold (1949) Science Fiction and fantasy author from the USA

"Putting It Together" p. 6
The Vorkosigan Companion (2008)
Source: Cordelia's Honor

“Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. … The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“But crazy people never think they're crazy. You're sane just by the virtue of the question.”

Jacquelyn Frank (1968) writer

Source: Seduce Me in Dreams

Question, Thinking

“When I tell people I went to library school, the most common reaction is either “You’re joking, right?” or “They have schools for librarians? Do they teach you how to properly sssh people?”

Scott Douglas (1963) American wheelchair tennis player

School

“Where people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work.”

David Ogilvy book Confessions of an Advertising Man

Source: Confessions of an Advertising Man

“Perhaps most people in the world aren’t trying to be free, Kafka. They just think they are. It’s all an illusion. If they really were set free, most people would be in a real pickle. You’d better remember that. People actually prefer not being free?”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

World, Thinking

“Often people who are wonderful with animals aren't always terribly good with human beings.”

Clive Barker (1952) author, film director and visual artist

Animals

“I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps and others emphasize my loneliness.”

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

Loneliness

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,' I said. 'By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

World, Thinking

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American writer and editor

Variant: Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.

Life, Time

“Just because you’re grown up and then some doesn’t mean settling into the doldrums of predictability. Surprise people. Surprise yourself. (281)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

“If getting drunk was how people forgot they were mortal, then hangovers were how they remembered.”

Matt Haig (1975) British writer

Source: The Humans

“The spectacle is not a collection of images; rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.”

Guy Debord book The Society of the Spectacle

Source: Society of the Spectacle (1967), Ch. 1, sct. 4.
Source: The Society of the Spectacle

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”

Laurence J. Peter book The Peter Principle

Source: The Peter Principle

World

“no people can be both ignorant and free.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

“Love is for weak people, it's a delusion and it can be deadly.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Black Dawn

Love

“When somebody walks out, it leaves a hole in you. Some people fill it up, the good and the bad, and get on that way. Some people leave it open, maybe long enough to heal, maybe too long, picking at it now and then so it doesn't heal all the way.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Source: Chasing Fire

Way

“Personally, I think they killed the bear because they were afraid of it. That s what people do, kill the things they re afraid of.”

Michael Thomas Ford (1968) American writer

Source: Suicide Notes

Thinking, Personality

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Variant: When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Motivation

“If you love people, you take them on trust.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

Love

“I don't like people who like me because I'm a Negro; neither do I like people who find in the same accident grounds for contempt. I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. I think all theories are suspect, that the finest principles may have to be modified, or may even be pulverized by the demands of life, and that one must find, therefore, one's own moral center and move through the world hoping that this center will guide one aright.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Autobiographical Notes (1952)
Context: I don't like people who like me because I'm a Negro; neither do I like people who find in the same accident grounds for contempt. I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. I think all theories are suspect, that the finest principles may have to be modified, or may even be pulverized by the demands of life, and that one must find, therefore, one's own moral center and move through the world hoping that this center will guide one aright. I consider that I have many responsibilities, but none greater than this: to last, as Hemingway says, and get my work done.
I want to be an honest man and a good writer.

Love, Life, World, Hope