Quotes about thinking
page 53

“Did you hear that Mitch? Your mom thinks you're beautiful.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Rescue

Source: The Rescue

Beauty, Moms

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

People, Religion, Art, Animals

“That ones yours, huh?"he asked, pointing to 3A."How come it just says 'Kyle'? Doesnt he have a last name?"
"Kyle wants to be a rock star,"Simon said, heading down the stairs."I think his working the one-name thing. Like Rihanna.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Star

“I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my child & I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

“I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

World

“A parent is inexcusable who does not personally teach her child to think.”

Elizabeth Gilbert (1969) American writer

Source: The Signature of All Things

Parent, Personality

“It's simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite.”

Sam Levenson (1911–1980) American journalist

Stupidity

“You'd think the Angel would have been foresighted enough to give us a birth-control rune, but no dice.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Angels, Birth

“I didn't think my day could get any worse until my best friend told me she might be going crazy. Again.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others. Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don't think of themselves.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

People

“Always do what you're afraid to do.
…
I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick.
I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Variant: I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick. I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak -Cady Sinclair
Source: We Were Liars

Strong

“What business had I to think of one that never thought of me?”

Anne Brontë book Agnes Grey

Source: Agnes Grey

Business

“I think we're made up of all these different pieces and every time someone goes, you're left with less of yourself.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Saving Francesca

Time

“I am like the fish in the aquarium, thinking in a different language, adapting to a life that’s not my natural habitat. I am the people in the other cars, each with his or her own story, but passing too quickly to be noticed or understood.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

Life, People, Cars, Nature

“The horror of knowing someone and living with them and even thinking you're lucky and then wham and now you know that every person is really two people and how can you ever know what the other half is up to.”

Michelle Tea (1971) American writer

Source: The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America

People, Personality

“That's it? That's your big goodbye?" Eve asked.
Claire looked at Eve mystified. "I think I need guy CliffNotes."
"Guys aren't deep enough to need CliffNotes."
"What were you waiting for, flowery poetry?" Shane snorted. "I hugged. I'm done.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Lord of Misrule

Guy, Waiting

“We can buy you one of those books they have for little kids 'Timmy Has Two Dads'. Except I don't think they have one called 'Timmy Has Two Dads and One of Them Was Evil'. That part you're just going to have to work through on your own.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Books, Evil, Parting

“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

People, Beauty, Animals

“Do you think there's such a thing as a ghost who masquerades as a person? Do you believe that there are people whose bodies are still alive here on earth but whose souls are already in hell?”

Ann-Marie MacDonald book Fall on Your Knees

Source: Fall on Your Knees

People, Soul, Hell, Personality

“I see you looking at my cookies,' my father said to Morelli. 'Don't even think about it. Go get your own cookies.”

Janet Evanovich Twelve Sharp

Source: Twelve Sharp

“Only those who have never known fear are allowed to think less of others for being afraid. Frankly, I think anyone who has never been afraid of anything in their entire life is either a liar or lacks imagination.”

Laurell K. Hamilton (1963) Novelist

Life, Fear, Imagination

“I'm me and nobody else; and whatever people think I am or say I am, that's what I'm not, because they don't know a bloody thing about me.”

Alan Sillitoe book Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Source: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

People

“I don’t know, I don’t feel right unless I’ve got the sea and mountains nearby. People are mostly a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel’s always linked to the lay of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

People, Feeling, Mountain, Sea

“I think I am, therefore I am. I think.”

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

Books, Napalm and Silly Putty (2001)

“Though I was standing in front of a mirror, I wasn't really seeing my reflection. I was seeing, very clearly, that—at the moment—I was all in the world that Eric could think of as his own. I had better not fail him.”

Charlaine Harris book Dead to the World

Source: Dead to the World

World

“Everything I think of now is too rude to actually say.”

Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…

“In the beginning there was only a small amount of injustice abroad in the world, but everyone who came afterwards added their portion, always thinking it was very small and unimportant, and look where we have ended up today.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

World

“The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood--
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Food, Drink

“Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing - with wave lengths, just as sound and light have.”

Richard Connell book The Most Dangerous Game

Source: The Most Dangerous Game

Light, Evil

“Every time I think that it’s not worth it – that the people in it deserve the misery of their lives – I come across someone who makes me rethink that.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

People, Time

“The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.”

David Bohm (1917–1992) American theoretical physicist

As quoted in New Scientist (February 1993), p. 42

Knowledge

“I don’t think man was meant to attain happiness so easily. Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Happiness, Fight

“It was completely fifth garde and completely silly and I loved it, because he wasn't afraid to be silly. It was like kissing him first - I could do whatever I wanted and not have to worry what he'd think of me.”

Kelley Armstrong The Gathering

Source: The Gathering

Love, Kiss

“I don't know. I do think, half of what we call madness is just some poor slob dealing with pain by a strategy that annoys the people around him.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book Mirror Dance

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Mirror Dance (1994)

Pain, People, Madness

“This book, when I am dead, will be
A little faint perfume of me.
People who knew me well will say,
She really used to think that way.”

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

Source: Collected Poems

People, Books, Way, Dead

“This won't stop her from getting elected," Shane said. "Stupider people get elected all the time. It's America. We love the sleazy. And the crazy." "I would like to think better of us," Claire said, "but yeah. You're right.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bitter Blood

Love, People, Stupidity, Time

“Quoting: "Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.”

James Boswell (1740–1795) Scottish lawyer, diarist and author

Source: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

Women, Men, Quotes

“Our eyelashes brushed like they would weave together by themselves, turning us into one wild thing. I say, “I think I missed you before I met you even.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

“The things that break your heart when you think there`s nothing left to break”

Meg Rosoff book How I Live Now

Source: How I Live Now

Heart

“I believe in God, but I don't think you have to go crazy to prove it.”

Fannie Flagg book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Source: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

God

“Don't go there Rule" Lawe warned him softly. " I don't think your horoscope declared today to be a good day to die.”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Lawe's Justice

Law

“For an instant I think I saw. I saw the loneliness of man as a gigantic wave which had been frozen in front of me, held back by the invisible wall of a metaphor.”

Carlos Castaneda book Journey to Ixtlan

Source: Journey to Ixtlan

Loneliness

“I think it's kinda nice.' And I did. my mom isn't famous for her pies. No, she's famous for defusing a nuclear device in Brussels with only a pair of cuticle scissors and a ponytail holder. Somehow, at the moment, pies seemed cooler.”

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

Moms

“Whatever you get paid attention for is never what you think is most important about yourself.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

“Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Appearance

“I think you are wrong to want a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart.”

L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

People, Heart, Heartbreaking, Hurtful

“I haven't had a very good day. I think I might still be hung over and everyone's dead and my root beer's gone.”

Holly Black book The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Source: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Beer, Dead

“If the history-deniers who doubt the fact of evolution are ignorant of biology, those who think the world began less than ten thousand years ago are worst than ignorant, they are the deluded to the point of perversity.”

Richard Dawkins book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

Source: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

World, History

“I think all mothers are alike, regardless of cultural background, when it comes to illogical cleaning.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: Antsy Does Time

“You know the minute you stop thinking about it, it'll happen.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“I think given the choice between loving Mare - betrayal included - and never knowing her, I'd chose love. I risked, and I lost, but the risk was still worth it.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Love, Betrayal

“Catholics have more extreme sex lives because they're taught that pleasure is bad for you. Who thinks it's normal to kneel down to a naked man who's nailed to a cross? It's like a bad leather bar.”

John Waters (1946) American filmmaker, actor, comedian and writer

Pleasure, Sex

“Sometimes,' Jem said, 'our lives can change so fast that the change outpaces our minds and hearts. It's those times, I think, when our lives have altered but we still long for the time before everything was altered.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Change, Time, Heart

“Now you are beginning to think for yourself instead of letting others think for you. That’s the beginning of wisdom.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Wisdom

“You Keep Using the Word Help. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means”

Rick Riordan book The Hammer of Thor

Source: The Hammer of Thor

Help

“Keep true. Never be ashamed of doing right. Decide what you think is right and stick to it.”

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator

“well i think its quite obvious that if you're going to rely on something to carry your wishes, you might as well know where exactly it has come from and where it intends on going”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

“This has to be the most self-centered thing I've ever said, but no, I think you just wanted to vex me.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: The Viscount Who Loved Me

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

World, Change, Deep

“You may never have proof of your importance but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

“Don't be too ambitious. Do the most important thing you can think of doing every year and then your career will take care of itself.”

Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State

“P. P. S. Just because I like you, it doesn't mean I still don't think you're an evil creature of the night. You are.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

Evil, Night

“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”

Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth

Source: The Power of Myth

“Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care… -Wintergirls”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Life, Pain, Family, Hurt

“The things you think are the disasters in your life are not the disasters really. Almost anything can be turned around: out of every ditch, a path, if you can only see it.”

Hilary Mantel Bring Up the Bodies

Source: Bring Up the Bodies

Life

“I think it's possible to realize you love someone as deeply as you know how to love and not end up spending the rest of your life with him.”

Robin Jones Gunn (1955) American writer

Source: As You Wish

Love, Life

“It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”

Douglas Adams Life, the Universe and Everything

Source: Life, the Universe and Everything

Problem

“Think about yourself at least once in your life otherwise you may miss the best comedy in this world.”

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

Life, World

“Most people tend to think the best of those who are blessed with beauty; we have difficulty imagining that physical perfection can conceal twisted emotions or a damaged mind.”

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas

Source: Odd Thomas

People, Beauty, Imagination, Perfection

“I have a renewed commitment to elegance, she said, in case you think I'm just spending money for the fun of it.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Money

“My prayers, my God, flow from what I am not;
I think thy answers make me what I am.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Source: The Diary of an Old Soul & the White Page Poems

God

“And none at all has ridden at the king's side since Aerinha, goddess of honor and flame, first taught men to forge their blades. You'd think Aerinha would have had better sense.”

Robin McKinley book The Hero and the Crown

Source: The Hero and the Crown

Men, Sense

“People think they know the mystery of living in your skin. They don't. There's no one who knows except the person who carts it around her own self.”

Colum McCann book Let the Great World Spin

Source: Let the Great World Spin

People, Personality

“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Books, Reading

“If she had hurt me, I could have forgiven her without even having to think about it; but I couldn't forgive her for being hurt.”

Tana French In the Woods

Source: In the Woods

Forgiveness, Hurt

“I think the canary left some feathers in there after you ate it.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

“It is therefore senseless to think of complaining since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are.”

Jean Paul Sartre book Being and Nothingness

Source: Being and Nothingness

Feeling

“I lay back and tried not to think of the minutes passing. Just yesterday we had a wealth of them. Now each was a drop of heartsblood lost.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

Wealth

“You'd think he'd ran out off rocks," I muttered”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

“I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I've got to think.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Feeling, Time

“I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Dreams

“I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.”

Tom Stoppard The Real Thing

Henry, Act II, scene V
Source: The Real Thing (1982)

Children, World, Dead

“I wondered again why the right thing always seemed to be met with so much resistance, when you'd think it would be the easier path. You had to fight to be virtuous…”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Someone Like You (1998)

Fight

“I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.”

Ernest Hemingway book The Old Man and the Sea

Source: The Old Man and the Sea

“I don’t think so,” Clary said. “I think maybe she reminded me of you.”
“Because I’m tiny, blonde, and look good in pigtails?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

“I couldn't think of one clever way to stop this guy, so I just trusted to mindless violence.”

Grant Morrison (1960) writer

Source: Doom Patrol, Vol. 1: Crawling from the Wreckage

Way, Guy

“To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

The Miracle of Mindfulness (1999)
Source: The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
Context: To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is. A pessimistic attitude can never create the calm and serene smile which blossoms on the lips of Bodhisattvas and all those who obtain the way.

Truth, Optimism, Problem, Reality

“A prude is a person who thinks that his own rules of propriety are natural laws.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

Law, Nature, Personality

“The truth is, if we become comfortable with who we are rather than who we think we should be, then we will be less insecure.”

Daniel Gottlieb (1939–2010) French rabbi

Source: Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living, Loving, and Listening

Truth

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Life

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Books, Reading

“I'm just not having a very good time and I don't have any reason to think it'll get anything but worse. I'm tired. I'm hurt. I'm sad. I feel used.”

Marsha Norman 'night, Mother

Source: 'night, Mother

Sadness, Feeling, Time, Hurt

“You think that just because it's already happened, the past is finished and unchangeable? Oh no, the past is cloaked in multicolored taffeta and every time we look at it we see a different hue.”

Milan Kundera (1929–2023) Czech author of Czech and French literature

Source: Life is Elsewhere

Time, Past

“A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Hate, Funny

“After all this kind of fanfare, and even more, I came to a point where I needed solitude and to just stop the machine of 'thinking' and 'enjoying' what they call 'living,' I just wanted to lie in the grass and look at the clouds…”

Jack Kerouac book Lonesome Traveler

Variant: I came to a point where I needed solitude and just stop the machine of ‘thinking’ and ‘enjoying’ what they call ‘living’, I just wanted to lie in the grass and look at the clouds.
Source: Lonesome Traveler

Lie, Solitude, Grass

“Defeating one ant had taken all my energy. (I don’t think I have ever written a sadder sentence than that.)”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

“So I stared out at that cold window, watching my breath collect on the glass, trying not to think about my life after the thaw.”

Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Life

“After all, I think, isn't it always about a boy?”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Source: Love the One You're With

Boy