Quotes about thinking
page 39

“Why do only the awful things become fads? I thought. Eye-rolling and Barbie and bread pudding. Why never chocolate cheesecake or thinking for yourself?”

Connie Willis Bellwether

Source: Bellwether (1996), Chapter 3 “Tributaries”, Section 3 (p. 119)

“And in that one grey hair I saw my whole life and I said "I think I need a hair.”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

Source: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Life

“You think Ivy's a planner? She has nothing on a motivated elf with too much money.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Pale Demon

Money, Motivation

“People want pretty much the same things: They wanted to be happy. Most young people seemed to think that those things lay somewhere in the future, while most older people believed they lay in the past.”

Nicholas Sparks book Nights in Rodanthe

Source: Nights in Rodanthe

Happiness, People, Past, Future

“Oh, that's just great. I come all the way back here, risking major brain cell burnout, and you don't even believe me? I'm basically guaranteeing myself a lifetime of heartbreak, and all you have to say is that you think I'm not right in the head?”

Meg Cabot book Twilight

Source: Twilight

Way

“Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think?”

Peter Hitchens (1951) author, journalist

“… think of the solution, not the problem. If your mind was filled only with thoughts of why you were going to lose, then you couldn't think of how to win.”

Terry Goodkind Blood of the Fold

Source: Blood of the Fold

Problem

“Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

People, Time

“Don't you think it would be wonderful to get rid of everything and everybody and just go someplace where you don't know a soul? Sometimes I feel like doing that. I really really want to do it sometimes.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Feeling, Soul

“All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

Source: A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories

People, Support

“We're taught to expect unconditional love from our parents, but I think it is more the gift our children give us. It's they who love us helplessly, no matter what or who we are.”

Kathryn Harrison book The Kiss

Source: The Kiss

Love, Children, Parent

“I think i'm just breathing, that's all. And there's a difference between breathing and being alive.”

John Boyne book The Absolutist

Source: The Absolutist

“The key to seeing the world's soul, and in the process wakening our own, is to get over the confusion by which we think that fact is real and imagination is illusion.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

Source: Original Self: Living with Paradox and Originality

World, Soul, Imagination

“Was it better to think you had lost everything, and to start over? Or easier to know that the people you loved were alive, even if you could never see them again?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Love, People

“I don’t think many people appreciate silence or realize that it is as close to music as you can get.”

Toni Morrison book God Help the Child

Source: God Help the Child

People, Music, Silence

“We needn't talk about Tessa if you don't want to, you know."
"It's not Tessa." This was true. Will hadn't been thinking of Tessa. He was getting good at not thinking about her, really; all it took was determination and practice.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard - one that thinks too much.”

Benjamin Hoff book The Tao of Pooh

Source: The Tao of Pooh

Way

“Now that I think about it, you’d have to be a glutton for punishment to keep coming near me given my acerbic personality where you’re concerned. (Tory)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

Personality

“You can't control everything. You can't control how someone feels about you. Or what makes them tick. You can only control how you react, how you act, how you think and feel.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Rush

Feeling

“People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think.”

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

People

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.”

George Bernard Shaw Major Barbara

Source: 1900s, Major Barbara (1905)

Funny

“We are not philosophers, we are sovereigns. The rules that govern our behavior are not the rules for other men, and our honor, I think, is a different thing entirely, difficult for anyone but the historians and the gods to judge.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

Men, God, Behavior

“I could not think without writing.”

Jean Piaget (1896–1980) Swiss psychologist, biologist, logician, philosopher & academic

“He had to keep thinking of them because if he forgot them and did not think of them they might forget about him. And he had to keep hoping.”

Gary Paulsen book Hatchet

Source: Hatchet

Hope, Forgetting

“Do you think if people knew how crazy you really were, no one would ever talk to you?”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

People

“Perhaps the way to succeed is to think of life on Earth as a colossal joke, a creation of such immense stupidity that the only way to live is to laugh until you think your heart will break.”

Meg Rosoff (1956) American-British children's writer

Source: There Is No Dog

Life, Stupidity, Way, Heart

“How strange too and unfamiliar to think that one had been loved, that one's presence had once had the power to make a difference between happiness and dullness in another's day.”

Graham Greene book The End of the Affair

Source: The End of the Affair

Love, Happiness

“Mom told me, “It probably gets pretty lonely to be Grandma, don’t you think?” I told her, “It probably gets pretty lonely to be anyone.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Moms, Grandma

“Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Heart

“I think that, with age, people come to realize that death is inevitable. And we need to learn to face it with serenity, wisdom and resignation. Death often frees us from a lot of senseless sufferings.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

Death, Wisdom, People, Age

“You've already said you were going to kill me," Alex said, "but I didn't think that meant you were going to bore me to death.”

Anthony Horowitz book Point Blanc

Source: Point Blank

Death

“Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Understanding

“That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking of what things they can do next. That is not what people want. People want to be left alone to look after their cattle.”

Alexander McCall Smith The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Source: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

People, Business, Problem, Time

“Warm-hearted! I should think he has to wear asbestos vests!”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Inimitable Jeeves

Source: The Inimitable Jeeves

Heart

“Yes, I can talk and think at the same time. Most people can, though I suppose you wouldn't know that from personal experience.
Elena (Bitten)”

Kelley Armstrong (1968) Canadian writer

People, Time, Personality

“I was thinking, that when my time comes, I should be sorry if the only plea I had to offer was that of justice. Because it might mean that only justice would be meted out to me.”

Agatha Christie Murder at the Vicarage

Source: Murder at the Vicarage

Justice, Time

“It seemed better to delay thinking.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

“I don't think a female running a house is a problem, a broken family. It's perceived as one because of the notion that a head is a man.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

Family, Problem, Housing

“You do not think much of me, do you, Cogburn?
I don't think about you at all when your mouth is closed.”

Charles Portis book True Grit

Source: True Grit (1968), Chapter 6, p. 151 : exchange between 'LaBoeuf' and 'Rooster Cogburn'

“When you think you are in love, you don't want to know about the things that could end it.”

Luke Davies (1962) Australian writer

Source: Candy

Love

“To live your best life now, you must learn to trust God’s timing, you may not think He’s working, but you can be sure that right now, behind the scenes, God is arranging all the pieces to come together to work out His plan for your life.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

Life, God, Learning, Time

“We don't even love each other.
I do a bit, you know.
You do what a bit?
You know. Like you… whatever… love you a bit.
I think I kind of love you too.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Love

“To think is to be sick…”

Djuna Barnes book Nightwood

Source: Nightwood

“Why do you think there's only a single stairway to heaven, but an entire highway to hell? Because it's a lot easier to slide down then climb up, and it takes a whole lot less energy to boot.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Inferno

Hell

“I tell myself that I know you,
and then when I think about it, I realize that I don't.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Lucky One

Source: The Lucky One

“If you think I’m handsome, there’s obviously nothing wrong with your vision.”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: Every Fifteen Minutes

“We see a hearse; we think sorrow. We see a grave; we think despair. We hear of a death; we think of a loss. Not so in heaven. When heaven sees a breathless body, it sees the vacated cocoon & the liberated butterfly.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Source: Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Death, Loss, Despair

“I swear, sometimes it feels like there's this monkey in my head who runs around turning the dials and changing channels on me. One minute I'm sitting around eating chocolate chip cookies and then all of a sudden I'm thinking about bears.”

Michael Thomas Ford (1968) American writer

Source: Suicide Notes

Feeling, Change

“If your ceiling should fall down, then you have lost a room, but gained a courtyard. Think of it that way.”

Alexander McCall Smith book The Right Attitude to Rain

Source: The Right Attitude to Rain

Way

“I don't think anybody cares about unwed mothers unless they're black or poor. The question is not morality, the question is money. That's what we're upset about.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

Money, Question

“I've known you for years. Everyone says you were beautiful when you were young, but I want to tell you I think you're more beautiful now than then. Rather than your face as a young woman, I prefer your face as it is now. Ravaged.”

Marguerite Duras book The Lover

Source: The Lover

Beauty

“Do you ever think of anything
but sex?”
“Yes, I do. Sometimes I think of waking up next to you. Or making you laugh.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Mourns

Sex

“I think of myself as a freewheeling bisexual," added Magnus.
"Please never say those words in front of my parents," said Alec.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Parent

“Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

People

“I know that what you call 'God' really exists, but not in the form you think; God is primal cosmic energy, the love in your body, your integrity, and your perception of the nature in you and outside of you.”

Wilhelm Reich book Listen, Little Man!

Source: Listen, Little Man!

Love, God, Nature

“I think I have this thing where everybody has to think I'm the greatest. And if they aren't completely knocked out and dazzled and slightly intimidated by me, I don't feel good about myself.”

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot and screenwriter

Source: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Feeling

“For most of us, I think it's easier to admit doing wrong than being stupid.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

Stupidity

“Across the room, Hale smiled slightly. 'We can draw you a diagram if you need it.'

'No thanks,' Nick said. 'I think I've got everyone but you.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

Smile, Drawing

“Maybe he thinks he can rescue me? No one is that stupid.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: The Outlaw Demon Wails

Stupidity

“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

God

“I think most serious and omnivorous readers are alike- intense in their dedication to the word, quiet-minded, but relieved and eagerly talkative when they meet other readers and kindred spirits.”

Paul Theroux book Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Source: Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

“Victor smiled through the pain and the blood. "Of course you have. I used to think Belikov was the savage one, but it's really you, isn't it? You're the animal with no control, no higher reasoning except to fight and kill.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Pain, Smile, Animals, Fight

“I hate it when you answer a question with a question."
"No you don't, you think it's charming.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Hate, Question

“As far as we know, we are the only species on the planet who have been given the gift-or curse, perhaps-of awareness about our own mortality. Everything here eventually dies; we're just the lucky ones who get to think about this fact every day.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

“Simon, don’t you think I’m scared of that too? You’re not the only one on that ledge. If we jump, we jump together. We fall together.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Pale Kings and Princes

“Which is weird. But not the craziest thing I can think of Rose doing.ʺ I appreciated the support.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Support

“People seem to think that if you keep your head empty you automatically fill your balls.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Mandarins

Source: The Mandarins

People

“That's the thing about people who think they hate computers … What they really hate are lousy programmers.”

Larry Niven book Oath of Fealty

Oath of Fealty (1982) (co-written with Jerry Pournelle)

Hate, People

“But I think some people wait forever, and only at the end of their lives do they realize that their life has happened while they were waiting for it to start.”

Jess Walter book Beautiful Ruins

Source: Beautiful Ruins

Life, People, Waiting

“There are books that I own that somehow even without reading them they mean something to me. So I think people have a relationship with books in a library whether you’ve come specifically to read them or not.”

Rem Koolhaas (1944) Dutch architect (b.1944)

People, Books, Reading

“You'll have to ask Bill that, Sookie. And this is the only reason we're going? You're not cleverly using
this as an excuse to make out with me?"
"I'm not that clever, Eric."
"I think you deceive yourself, Sookie," Eric said with a brilliant smile.”

Charlaine Harris book Living Dead in Dallas

Source: Living Dead in Dallas

Smile

“Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favor.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

"The Black Cottage" (1914)
1910s

Life, Truth, Change

“A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it … gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

Source: (1962), Ch. 1 The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom, 2002 edition, page 15

People, Freedom

“It felt like being a child again, though it was not. Being a child is like nothing. It's only being. Later, when we think about it, we make it into youth.”

China Miéville Embassytown

Source: Embassytown (2011), Chapter "Formerly, 2"

Youth

“I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them.”

Anne Tyler The Accidental Tourist

Source: The Accidental Tourist

Love

“The small are always dependent on the great; they are “small” precisely because they think they are independent. The great thinker is one who can hear what is greatest in the work of other “greats” and who can transform it in an original manner.”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

Source: Nietzsche (1961), p. 35

Dependency

“Spook: No, I'm not troubled. In fact, I actually think everything is going to be all right. Finally.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Hero of Ages

“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough-a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice-which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

“I shall think of you
Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you High in my hand against whatever darkness.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Source: Collected Poems

Happiness, Sadness, Beauty

“You know, do nice shite for her. Buy her things. Really think about what she likes and what makes her happy and make it happen. She'll come around. And if she doesn't, you can cut off your horns for her. Chicks dig that." (Cadeon)”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Kiss of a Demon King

Happiness

“You will hear thunder and remember me,
And think: "she wanted storms.”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

Variant: You will hear thunder and remember me,
and think: she wanted storms...

“I've never seen anyone get so excited over books before. You'd think they were diamonds.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Books

“The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is 'look under foot.' You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Life

“Some times I think this whole world
Is one big prison yeard
Some of us are prisoners
The rest of us are guards”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

World, Time

“People think of hearts when they think of love, but a heart is a bloody organ in the body. It doesn't have any emotions. It's like a metaphor for love that has nothing to do with what love actually is.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything

Love, People, Heart

“It doesn't seem to matter what we think… The prince will come up here and look at us as if we're barrels in a trader's wagon. And if I'm salt pork and he doesn't care for salt pork, then there's nothing I can do.”

Shannon Hale Princess Academy

Source: Princess Academy

“If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Variant translation: If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one ever was truly harmed. Harmed is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance.
VI, 21
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VI

Truth, Home, Search, Change