Quotes about the world
page 51

“Smaller World:
I know he's not really gone, she said, but the world still feels smaller to me today.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

“Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights”

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German philosopher

“None of us alone can save the nation or the world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so. (p. 109)”

Cornel West book Race Matters

Source: Race Matters

“What on earth have you packed in here? Bricks?" asked Mo as he carried Meggie's book-box out of the house.
You're the one who says books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them," said Meggie.”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkheart

Books, Housing, Box

“Just each of us being me, me, me first. The murderer, the victim, the witness each of us thinks our role is the lead.
Probably that goes for anybody in the world.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

Thinking

“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

Nature, Strong, Parting

“How can you respect the world when you see it's being run by a bunch of kids turned old?”

John Updike book Rabbit Is Rich

Source: Rabbit Is Rich

“But God fears women even more that He fears the devil- and is right to. She, with her power to bring life into the world, was truly made in the image of the Creator, not man.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Life, Women, God, Fear

“Imagine a world in which there is no time. Only images.”

Alan Lightman book Einstein's Dreams

Source: Einstein's Dreams

Imagination, Time

“And what would they be scared of? There's nothing to fear in a perfect world, is there?”

Catherine Fisher (1957) Welsh children's writer

Fear, Perfection

“You never read Spider-Man? Accepting your true identity means understanding that you are a stranger to this world. A freak, ostracized by the very people you want to help.”

Ted Dekker book Saint

Source: Saint

People, Understanding, Reading, Help

“Upon the whole, a contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

No. 574 (30 July 1714).
The Spectator (1711–1714)

“Forget solar energy—if you could harness denial, it would power the world for generations.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: Challenger Deep

Forgetting

“Perhaps the best conversationalist in the world is the man who helps others to talk.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Help

“I didn’t know what was more disturbing—the fact that something was obviously wrong, or that three faculty members of the world’s premiere spy school had forgotten to lock the door.”

Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

School

“But I don't love you, Daisy, and you can't begin to know how sorry I am about that because if I could chose anyone in this world to love, it'd be you.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Kiss an Angel

Love

“Little by little, the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

Imagination

“Real travel would be to see the world, for even an instant, with another's eyes”

Robyn Davidson (1950) Australian writer

Source: Desert Places

Travel

“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

Parting, Cheating, Selfishness

“We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away.”

Alan Moore book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

“I learned the bad guys are not always bad, the good guys are not always good, and to quote Captain Barbossa, the parameters are like rules, mostly guidelines. And that it takes a little bit of bad boy to fight the evil in the world.
--Terri Mitchell”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Phantom in the Night

Guy, Quotes, Boy, Learning

“The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom.”

Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian

Wired interview http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/stewart.html?pg=2&topic=stewart&topic_set=, September 13, 2005 <br class="br">Context: The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom. That's all it is. All those media companies say, "We're going to make a killing here." You won't because it's still only as good as the content.

Funny

“Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.”

Terry Tempest Williams (1955) American writer

Beauty, Moving On

“Of course there are worlds. Millions of them! Every star you see has worlds, and most of those you don't see.”

Isaac Asimov book Pebble in the Sky

Source: Pebble in the Sky

Star

“The world was the Overlook Hotel, where the party never ended. Where the dead were alive forever.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Source: Doctor Sleep

Dead

“Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.”

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist

Sense

“How wonderful to know someone who was bad and dishonorable and a cheat and a liar, when all the world was filled with people who would not lie to save their souls and who would rather starve than do a dishonorable deed!”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

People, Lie, Soul, Cheating

“I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”

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

Letter to James Madison (30 January 1787); referring to Shays' Rebellion Lipscomb & Bergh ed. 6:65
1780s

“Look, I know you meant well creating the world and all, but how could you let it get away from you like this? How come you couldn't stick with your original idea of paradise? People's lives were a mess.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

People, Idea

“The Brotherhood was strong, a unit. a powerful force in their world for good. And so too were the females. Strong. A unit. A powerful force for good in their world.”

Jessica Bird book Lover Revealed

Source: Lover Revealed

Strong

“If I was getting harder, it was in response to the world around me.”

Charlaine Harris Dead and Gone

Source: Dead and Gone

“If I had a view like this to look down on every day, I would have the energy and inspiration to conquer the world. The trouble is, when you most need such a view, no one gives it to you.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

“I know that when he has sex he laughs like the world is a perfect place. And when he did that, my hands curled into fists because I thought about touching his face like maybe I could catch joy in my hands and hold it.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Iced

Sex, Joy, Perfection

“Show no fear to your enemies. Only contempt. Never let anyone look down on you. You're just as good as any of them. I don't care who they are. Better in fact. In our world, Dagans are royalty and you, my son, are a prince.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Shadows

Fear

“That's the trouble with the world. We all despise ourselves.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

“The World Itself:
When she held out her arms, the world itself wrapped around me & held me tight.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

“The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

“You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”

Darren Shan book Birth of a Killer

Source: Birth of a Killer

Loneliness

“Only after a person has their heart broken does the world appear as it truly is.”

Michael Gilbert (1912–2006) Author

Source: Perfected Sinfulness

Appearance, Heart, Personality

“A lot of the world seems to repeat itself”

Emma Donoghue Room

Source: Room

“There's so many problems in our world, so much negativity. Don't worry about the darkness — turn on the light and the darkness automatically goes.”

David Lynch (1946) American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor

On the Alex Jones Radio show, as quoted in "David Lynch Questions 9/11 On National U.S. Radio" in Prison Planet (25 January 2007)
Source: Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
Context: There's so many problems in our world, so much negativity. Don't worry about the darkness — turn on the light and the darkness automatically goes. Ramp up the light of unity within — help do that for yourself, help do that for the world and then we're really doing something, we're doing something that brings that light of unity.

Problem, Light

“If your intentions are pure, I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: God-Shaped Hole

“When the whole world is crazy, it doesn't pay to be sane.”

Terry Goodkind book The Pillars of Creation

Source: The Pillars of Creation

“It's like when someone dies, the initial stages of grief seem to be the worst. But in some ways, it's sadder as time goes by and you consider how much they've missed in your life. In the world.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Variant: Someday being with Dex will be a distant memory. This fact makes me sad too. Its the initial stages of grief that seem to be worst but in some ways, Its sadder as time goes by and you consider how much they're missed in your life.
Source: Something Borrowed

Life, Way, Time

“As a girl, she had come to believe in the ideal man -- the prince or knight of her childhood stories. In the real world, however, men like that simply didn't exist.”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Men, Girl, Childhood

“The original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us end up hardly living out of it at all. Instead we live out all the other selves, which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

Source: Telling Secrets (1991)

Weather

“There is something about that moment, when literature becomes accessible, and a door of the world opens.”

Lois Lowry (1937) American writer

Literature

“Just think! This whole world of ours is only a speck of mildew sprung up on a tiny planet, yet we think we can have something great - thoughts,, actions! They are all but grains of sand”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Thinking

“The world is very lovely, and it's very horrible--and it doesn't care about your life or mine or anything else.”

Rudyard Kipling book The Light That Failed

Source: The Light That Failed

Love, Life

“A writer's heart, a poet's heart, an artist's heart, a musician's heart is always breaking. It is through that broken window that we see the world…”

Alice Walker (1944) American author and activist

Heart

“Every two people cause and intersection. Every person alters the world.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: How They Met, and Other Stories

People, Personality

“I love you, you see… and I fear I have no way to say or show it that isn't terrible, except coming here. I would kill everyone in the world for you, if you wanted……. Or not obviously”

Holly Black book The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Source: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Love, Fear, Way

“The world is a dream, you say, and it’s lovely, sometimes. Sunset. Clouds. Sky.”

“No. The image is a dream. The beauty is real. Can you see the difference?”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Love, Beauty, Dreams

“Once the world was pulled out from beneath your feet, did you ever get to stand on firm ground again?”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

“In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Art

“He looked at her and for a moment she lived in the bright blue worlds of his eyes, eagerly and confidently.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

Confidence

“Love, I think, is a gateway to the world, not an escape from it.”

Mark Doty (1953) Novelist, memoirist

Love, Thinking

“If you get hung up on everybody else's hang-ups, then the whole world's going to be nothing more than one huge gallows.”

Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer

“Being successful and fulfilling your lifes purpose are not at all the same thing; You can reach all your personal goals, become a raving success by the worlds standard and still miss your purpose in this life.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Life, Success, Personality

“Librarians are the secret masters of the world. They control information. Don't ever piss one off.”

Spider Robinson (1948) Canadian author

Variant: ... one of the secret masters of
the world: a librarian. They
control information. Don't ever p**s one off.
Source: The Callahan Touch

Secret

“Girls are caterpillars while they live in the world, to be finally butterflies when the summer comes; but in the meantime there are grubs and larvae, don't you see - each with their peculiar propensities, necessities and structure.”

J. Sheridan Le Fanu book Carmilla

Source: Carmilla

Girl, Summer

“Always be reading something, he said. Even when we're not physically reading. How else will we read the world? Think of it as a constant.”

Ali Smith book Autumn

Source: Autumn

Thinking, Reading

“This world, it is a tempest sometimes. But remember, the sun always rises again.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

Sun

“Show not what has been done, but what can be. How beautiful the world would be if there were a procedure for moving through labyrinths.”

Umberto Eco book The Name of the Rose

Source: The Name of the Rose

Beauty

“I took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question: "Do you like me?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Variant: We stopped laughing, I took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question: "Do you like me?
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Question

“I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

Heart

“Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper (2004)

People, Disappointment, Solitude

“Who ever said the world was fair?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“I brought you in this world, and I can take you out!”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

“When I was little, I had this science book. There was a section on 'What would happen to the world if there was no friction?' Answer: 'Everything on earth would fly into space from the centrifugal force of revolution.' That was my mood.”

Haruki Murakami book Dance Dance Dance

Source: Dance Dance Dance

Books, Mood, Science, Flying

“Men," he began his address to the officers, measuring his pauses carefully. "You're American officers. The officers of no other army in the world can make that statement. Think about it.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch-22

Men, Thinking

“Some people have a thick skin and you don't. Your heart is really open and that is going to cause pain, but that is an appropriate response to this world.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair

Pain, People, Heart

“One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Friday

Source: Friday

“Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world.”

Carl Sagan book The Demon-Haunted World

"With Science on Our Side" https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1994/01/09/with-science-on-our-side/9e5d2141-9d53-4b4b-aa0f-7a6a0faff845/, Washington Post (January 9, 1994) <br class="br">Variant: Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world. <br class="br">Source: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Love

“The world had taken a deep breath and was having doubts about continuing to revolve.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”

Zora Neale Hurston book Their Eyes Were Watching God

Source: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Ch. 20, p. 193.
Context: Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.

Life, Peace, Soul, Fish