Quotes about people page 89
“You cannot expect to live a positive life if you hang with negative people.”
Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author
“People become trustworthy when they are trusted.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer
“The torment of love can transform people into wretched monsters”
Mathias Malzieu book La Mécanique du cœur
Source: La Mécanique du cœur
Stephen Crane (1871–1900) American novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist
Source: Complete Poems of Stephen Crane
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor
“Pursuing your passions makes you more interesting, and interesting people are enchanting.”
Guy Kawasaki (1954) American businessman and author
“I believe people ought to mate for life… like pigeons or Catholics.”
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
Source: Manhattan
“Looking at the ocean makes me miss people, and hanging out with people makes me miss the ocean.”
Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist
Source: Wind/Pinball: Two Novels
Cheryl Strayed book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Source: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
“you must be careful with kindness. It's usually mistaken for weakness by stupid people.”
Clive Barker Days of Magic, Nights of War
Source: Days of Magic, Nights of War
“the words people do not speak are louder than the ones they do.”
Mitch Albom (1958) American author
Source: The First Phone Call from Heaven
“People simply feel better about themselves when they’re good at something.”
Stephen R. Covey book The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
Source: The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
Judith McNaught (1944) American writer
Source: Paradise
“Harry: All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it.”
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
“Life is full of grief, to exactly the degree we allow ourselves to love other people.”
Orson Scott Card book Shadow of the Giant
Source: Shadow of the Giant
“Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.”
Arthur Yorinks (1953) American writer and director
Shirley Jackson book The Haunting of Hill House
Source: The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
Context: This house, which seemed somehow to have formed itself, flying together into its own powerful pattern under the hands of its builders, fitting itself into its own construction of lines and angles, reared its great head back against the sky without concession to humanity. It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
As quoted by Ernst Straus in Einstein: A Centenary Volume by A.P. French (1980), p. 32. <br class="br">Attributed in posthumous publications <br class="br">Variant: "if you want to be a happy man, you should tie your life to a goal, not to other people and not to things." A quote from Ernst Straus' memoir of Einstein in Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives edited by Gerald Holton and Yehuda Elkana (1982), p. 420 http://books.google.com/books?id=CNuwE3NL1QgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA420#v=onepage&q&f=false
“People and their rituals. They cling to things so hard sometimes.”
Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain
Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Variants (Many of MLKs' speeches were delivered many times with slight variants): An Individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity. Every person must decide at some point, whether they will walk in light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment: Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'
As quoted in The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Coretta Scott King, Second Edition (2011), Ch. "Community of Man", p. 3
1950s, Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)
“Some people have a way with words, and other people… oh, uh, not have way.”
Steve Martin (1945) American actor, comedian, musician, author, playwright, and producer
“The people one loves should take all their things with them when they die.”
Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer
“It is not what happens to people that is significant, but what they think happens to them.”
Anthony Powell (1905–2000) English novelist
“I never trust people with no appetite. It's like they're always holding something back on you.”
Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Source: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 35, Nail Clippers, Butter Sauce, Iron Vase
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) Austrian-American psychoanalyst
Source: Children of the Future: On the Prevention of Sexual Pathology
Fannie Flagg book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Source: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson book The Conduct of Life
The Conduct of Life, Chapter 6, “Worship,” p. 214
1860s, The Conduct of Life (1860)
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst
Source: Love, Sexuality and Matriarchy: About Gender
“Politics is not about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives”
Paul Wellstone (1944–2002) American politician
“Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Variant: You can't blame gravity for falling in love.
Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Secrets of a Summer Night
Karen Joy Fowler book We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Source: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.”
John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer
“Rich People plan for three generations
Poor people plan for Saturday night”
Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist
Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer
Source: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
“The tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible.”
Anderson Cooper (1967) journalist and author
“Sometimes people use thought to not participate in life.”
Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Chuck Klosterman book Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Source: Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor
Jenny McCarthy (1972) American model, comedian, actress, author, activist, and game show host
Source: Love, Lust & Faking It: The Naked Truth About Sex, Lies, and True Romance
“Nothing unites two people so completely, especially if, like you and me, all they have is words.”
Franz Kafka book Letters to Felice
Source: Letters to Felice