Quotes about people
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“I’ve not learned the acceptable way of saying you fascinate me… I’ve not even learned how to say I like you without frightening people away”

Nikki Giovanni (1943) American writer and academic

Way, Learning

“Go moan for man. It's the pathos of people that gets us down, all the lovers in this dream.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Source: On the Road

Dreams, Lovers

“Neglecting to broaden their view has kept some people doing one thing all their lives.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

“I wonder if what makes a family a family isn't doing everything right all the time but, instead, giving a second chance to the people you love who do things wrong.”

Jodi Picoult book Lone Wolf

Source: Lone Wolf

Love, Family, Chance, Time

“Why do I act like this, agreeing when I really disagree, letting people force me to do things I don't want to do?”

Haruki Murakami book The Strange Library

Source: The Strange Library

“I like long walks, especialy when they are taken by people who annoy me.”

Noel Coward (1899–1973) English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer

“She even learnt the language of a strange country which Senior Cosetti had been told some people believed still existed, although no-one in the world could say where it was. The name of this country was Wales.”

Susanna Clarke book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Source: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

World, Country

“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It's not good at much else.”

Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American author

2000s, Kudlow & Cramer interview (2003)

Freedom

“It's a fact that people are afraid of what they don't understand. And most are too lazy or ignorant to find out more.”

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

Understanding

“You don't have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Life, Personality

“In any relationship in which two people become one, the end result is two half people.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Hurtful

“As a purely mathematical fact, people who sleep less live more.”

Amy Chua book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Source: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Mathematics, Sleep

“Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn't mean only artistic creativity, although that's part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people.”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Life, Parting

“The lesson I was learning involved the idea that I could feel compassion for people without acting on it.”

Melody Beattie (1948) American writer

Source: Beyond Codependency: And Getting Better All the Time

Feeling, Idea, Learning

“Some people see things that are and ask, Why?
Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not?
Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.”

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

Cf. Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah (1921), Pt. I : In the Beginning: I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
Books, Brain Droppings (1997)
Variant: Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that shit.

Dreams, Time

“Oh, why did people have to be seperated before they understood how much they meant to each other?”

Linda Crew book Children of the River

Source: Children of the River

“If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

Thinking

“In the end, people should be judged by their actions, since in the end, it was actions that defined everyone.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

“But I do think that when people say 'a learning curve,' they make a mistake. Learning to me always seems to go in a straight, ignorant line and then, every so often, takes a jump straight upward.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Enchanted Glass

Source: Enchanted Glass

Thinking, Learning

“If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.”

Tony Benn (1925–2014) British Labour Party politician

Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007).
2000s

Money, Help

“I knew you loved me and that you'd do anything for me. And that was one of the reasons it hurt so much when you ended it, Dawson. Because I knew even then how rare that kind of love is. Only the luckiest people get to experience it at all.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

Source: The Best of Me

Love, Hurt

“Who does ever get what they want? It doesn’t seem to happen to many of us if any at all. It’s always two people bumping against each other blindly, acting out old ideas and dreams and mistaken understandings.”

Kent Haruf (1943–2014) Novelist

Source: Our Souls at Night

Dreams, Idea, Understanding

“People--stupid when they lived; potentially stupid when they died.”

Rob Thurman (1950) American writer

Source: Roadkill

Stupidity

“People, he thought, were as hungry for a sight of joy as he had always been--for a moment's relief from that gray load of suffering which seemed so inexplicable and unnecessary. He had never been able to understand why men should be unhappy.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Men, Understanding, Suffering, Joy

“Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

Time

“There will always be those who want to tell you who you are based on your name or the blood in your veins. Do not let other people decide who you are. Decide for yourself.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Tessa Gray, to Clary Fray, pg. 716
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Context: I feel a kinship with you, too, you who have lost both brother and father. I know you have been judged and spoken of as the daughter of Valentine Morgenstern, and now the sister of Jonathan. There will always be those who want to tell you who you are based on your name or the blood in your veins. Do not let people decide who you are. Decide for yourself. That freedom is not a gift; it is a birthright. I hope that you and Jace will use it.

“Like all strong people, she suffered always a measure of loneliness; she was a marginal outsider, a secret infidel of a certain sort.”

Anne Rice book Interview with the Vampire

Source: Interview with the Vampire

Secret, Strong, Suffering, Loneliness

“I wish I had more friends, but people are such jerks. If you can just get most people to leave you alone, you're doing good. If you can find even one person you really like, you're lucky. And if that person can also stand you, you're really lucky.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Source: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

Jerk, Personality

“It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better… while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Variant: There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.

World

“Who and what we surround ourselves with is who and what we become. In the midst of good people, it is easy to be good. in the midst of bad people, it is easy to be bad.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Iced

“If letting go, if letting people and things work themselves out in the way that they needed to without your help was the most important thing, then it was also the hardest.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Six Rules of Maybe

Way, Help, Moving On

“Yes, and I’m sure the arena will be full of bags of flour for me to chuck at people.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“Frightened people live in their own special hell. You could say they make it themselves, but they can't help it. It's the way they're built. They deserve sympathy and compassion.”

Stephen King book Revival

Source: Revival

Way, Hell, Help

“Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Children, Age

“You oughta be thankful, a whole heaping lot,
For the places and people you're lucky you're not!”

Dr. Seuss book Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

The last sentence of this statement is often misquoted as "You oughta be thankful, a whole heaping lot, / For the people and places you're lucky you're not!"
Source: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (1973)
Context: It’s a troublesome world. All the people who're in it
are troubled with troubles almost every minute.
You oughta be thankful, a whole heaping lot,
For the places and people you're lucky you're not!