Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
Source: Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor
Quotes about people page 72
“All masters want to appear more brilliant than other people.”
Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power
Source: The 48 Laws of Power
“a poem is a naked person... some people say that I am a poet”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Liner notes http://bobdylan.com/linernotes/bringing.html, Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
“The basic mistake people make is to think that happiness is the goal!”
François Lelord book Hector and the Search for Happiness
Source: Hector and the Search for Happiness
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
1770s, Declaration of Independence (1776)
Context: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye
Ham On Rye (1982)
Source: Ham on Rye
Context: And my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born. The only difference was that now I could drink now and then, though never often enough. Drink was the only thing that kept a man from feeling forever stunned and useless. Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought. God, they all had assholes and sexual organs and their mouths and their armpits. They shit and they chattered and they were dull as horse dung. The girls looked good from a distance, the sun shining through their dresses, their hair. But get up close and listen to their minds running out of their mouths, you felt like digging in under a hill and hiding out with a tommy-gun. I would certainly never be able to be happy, to get married, I could never have children. Hell, I couldn't even get a job as a dishwasher.
“What a quality of innocence people have when they don't expect to be harmed.”
Hanif Kureishi (1954) English playwright, screenwriter, novelist
Source: Intimacy: das Buch zum Film von Patrice Chéreau
Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner
Source: The Kite Runner (2003), Ch. 2
Context: Then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break.Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.Mine was Baba.His was Amir. My name.Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975—and all that followed—was already laid in those first words (11).
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter
Source: The Ice Palace and Other Stories
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Suddenly You
“People are more than just the way they look.”
Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time
Source: A Wrinkle in Time
“It's stupid what keeps people apart.”
Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus
Source: The Blood of Olympus
Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist
Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 23
Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie
Variant: I don’t want to be one of those easily forgotten people, so important at the time, so special, so influential, and so treasured, yet years later just a vague face and a distant memory. I want us to be best friends forever
Source: Love, Rosie
John Boyne (1971) Irish novelist, author of children's and youth fiction
Source: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“If people can't stand being alone, they have no choice but to die”
Natsuo Kirino book Grotesque
Source: Grotesque
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
“They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.”
Jean Rhys book Wide Sargasso Sea
Source: Wide Sargasso Sea
“People who say that money can't buy happiness just don't know where to shop.”
Kathy Lette (1958) Australian author
“People run away to be alone,' he said. Some people had to be alone.”
William Trevor book Love and Summer
Source: Love and Summer
“Do I have to talk to insane people?"
"You're a librarian now. I'm afraid it's mandatory.”
Jasper Fforde book The Woman Who Died a Lot
Source: The Woman Who Died a Lot
“Nothing is boring exept to people who aren't really paying attention.”
Michael Chabon book Summerland
Source: Summerland
Isaac Asimov book Foundation’s Edge
Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 11 “Sayshell” section 3, p. 205
Source: Foundation's Edge
Context: Pelorat sighed. “I will never understand people.”
“There’s nothing to it. All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will understand everyone else. We’re in no way different ourselves... You show me someone who can’t understand people and I’ll show you someone who has built up a false image of himself.”
“Hard work is rewarding. Taking credit for other people's hard work is rewarding and faster.”
Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer
Source: Dilbert's Guide to the Rest of Your Life: Dispatches from Cubicleland
“People left him alone. And that was all he wanted.”
Patrick Süskind (1949) German writer and screenwriter
Source: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…
Source: The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them
“My inventory of people who can save me is down to just me.”
Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters
Source: Invisible Monsters
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
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2009, Farewell speech to the nation (January 2009)
Context: As we address these challenges – and others we cannot foresee tonight – America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace.
Richard Scarry (1919–1994) author and illustrator from the United States
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
Oprah's commencement speech at Howard University (12 May 2007) http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0024-winfrey.htm
Rachel Caine (1962) American writer
Variant: Jackass!" Eve yelled.
"You know, when people say that, I just hear the word awesome," Shane said.
Source: Last Breath
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
“I just think people overvalue argument because they like to hear themselves talk.”
Iain Banks book Use of Weapons
Source: Culture series, Use of Weapons (1990), Chapter II (p. 417).
Context: He shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Aw, Darac, come on; argue, dammit.”
“I don’t believe in argument,” he said, looking out into the darkness (and saw a towering ship, a capital ship, ringed with its layers and levels of armament and armor, dark against the dusk light, but not dead).
“You don’t?” Erens said, genuinely surprised. “Shit, and I thought I was the cynical one.”
“It’s not cynicism,” he said flatly. “I just think people overvalue argument because they like to hear themselves talk.”
“Oh well, thank you.”
“It’s comforting, I suppose.” He watched the stars wheel, like absurdly slow shells seen at night: rising, peaking, falling...(And reminded himself that the stars too would explode, perhaps, one day.) “Most people are not prepared to have their minds changed,” he said. “And I think they know in their hearts that other people are just the same, and one of the reasons people become angry when they argue is that they realize just that, as they trot out their excuses.”
“Excuses, eh? Well, if this ain’t cynicism, what is?” Erens snorted.
“Yes, excuses,” he said, with what Erens thought might just have been a trace of bitterness. “I strongly suspect the things people believe in are usually just what they instinctively feel is right; the excuses, the justifications, the things you’re supposed to argue about, come later. They’re the least important part of the belief. That’s why you can destroy them, win an argument, prove the other person wrong, and still they believe what they did in the first place.” He looked at Erens. “You’ve attacked the wrong thing.”
“People change and forget to tell each other.”
Lillian Hellman (1905–1984) American dramatist and screenwriter
“When two or more people agree on an issue, I form on the other side.”
Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian
“People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
“My dad says people who insist that youtrust them usually don't deserve it.”
Brandon Mull The Candy Shop War
Source: The Candy Shop War
Tyler Perry (1966) American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author, and songwriter
“Most people's problems would be solved if they would only give more things a chance.”
Gabrielle Zevin (1977) American writer
Source: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Ford Madox Ford book The Good Soldier
Part Four, Ch. V (pp. 237-238)
Source: The Good Soldier (1915)
Context: It is a queer and fantastic world. Why can't people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has got the wrong thing. Perhaps you can make head or tail of it; it is beyond me.
Is there any terrestrial paradise where, amidst the whispering of the olive-leaves, people can be with whom they like and have what they like and take their ease in shadows and in coolness? Or are all men's lives like the lives of us good people — like the lives of the Ashburnhams, of the Dowells, of the Ruffords — broken, tumultuous, agonized, and unromantic lives, periods punctuated by screams, by imbecilities, by deaths, by agonies? Who the devil knows?
Franz Wright (1953–2015) American poet
Source: Walking to Martha's Vineyard
Dorothy Dunnett (1923–2001) British writer
Source: The Game of Kings
“You can change only what people know, not what they do.”
Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer
Source: God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
