Quotes about back
page 20

“Thousand Moments:
I still remember the day the world took you back & there was never time to thank you for the thousand scattered moments you left behind to watch us while we slept.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

World, Time

“You could say I'm on the troubleshooting squad."
"Troubleshooting?"
He put a hand on the back of his waistband. "I see trouble and I shoot it.”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Hunt the Moon

“I prayed the monsters would give up. Or that perhaps Philip of Macedonia would climb back to the terrace (do crocodiles climb?) and renew the fight.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Fight

“Keys," she repeated, and slowly stepped back. "What do you mean, keys?"

"Car keys. As in, give them up. Now." Shane had that look -- hard, and no bullshit. "We don't have time for your drama, Monica. Nobody does.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Last Breath

Cars, Time

“At some point I believe one has to stop holding back for fear of alienating some imaginary reader or real relative or friend, and come out with personal truth.”

May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist

Truth, Fear, Personality

“If you come back; I'll marry you. If you break your promise, you'll break my heart”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Heart

“And I found that I can do it if I choose to - I can stay awake and let the sorrows of the world tear me apart and then allow the joys to put me back together different from before but whole once again.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (1954) Canadian author

Source: The Invitation

World, Tear, Joy

“Maybe this was what Aunt Peg meant all along - returning was a weird thing. You can never visit the same place twice. Each time, it's a different story. By the very act of coming back, you wipe our what came before.”

Maureen Johnson (1973) writer from the USA

Source: The Last Little Blue Envelope

Time

“Trace cursed. He actually wanted to hit something, but a tree would break his knuckles, he didn't want to put another dent in the truck, and Dare would hit back.”

Lori Foster (1958) American writer

Source: Trace of Fever

Tree

“Now he understood. This was death. Death was a silence that gave back no answer.”

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings book The Yearling

Source: The Yearling

Death, Silence

“But once in a while… I don't know. I feel so close, Rose. So close to the edge. Like if I allow myself one small misstep, I'll plunge away and never come back. It's like I'll lose myself.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Feeling

“You know how hind-sight is 20/20? Love is when you look back and wouldn't change anything.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Love, Change

“Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

As quoted in A Joke, a Quote, & the Word : Feed Your Body, Soul and Spirit (2006) by Ronald P. Keeven, p. 147

Sense, Success, Horse

“Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands - it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.”

Ken Follett (1949) British novelist

Water

“The mace prodded
Will in the back again. That little habit was starting to annoy him and he was tempted to take the weapon from the sergeant major and do a little prodding of his own.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Sorcerer in the North

“I feel like a big faker because I've been putting my life back together, and nobody knows.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Life, Feeling

“The hamster called. He wants his home back.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Final Warning

Home

“Beat him until there’s no skin left on his back. If he passes out, wake him and beat him again. (Father)
Love you, too, Father. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

Love

“If you love something set it free, but don't be surprised if it comes back with herpes.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Love, Funny

“But they wanted you. Time is not something you give back. The very next moment may be answer to your prayer. To deny that is to deny the most important part of the future.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

Time, Future, Parting

“We come from nothing, we are going back to nothing-In the end what have we lost? Nothing!”

Graham Chapman (1941–1989) English comedian, writer and actor

“Jason patted me on the back. “Tomorrow night we'll take you out chasing deer.”
“I thought you'd chase cars,” I said.
He grinned. “What fun is that? Cars don't bleed.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book The Killing Dance

Source: The Killing Dance

Cars, Night

“So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling that we are making it too difficult for them to come to Jesus.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer book The Cost of Discipleship

Source: The Cost of Discipleship

People, Feeling, Home

“Events conspired to bring you back to where you'd been. It was what you did then that made all the difference: it was all about potential.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

“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

Thinking, Loneliness

“YEAH! WHO DIED? WHO CAME BACK? WHO’S YOUR FREAKIN’ SUPERSIZED McSHIZZLE NOW, BABY? WOOOOOOOO!”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Baby

“Shall I call the others back in?"
He nodded. "Why ask me? It's all of you who are making the decisions.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: Erak's Ransom

Decision

“She felt as if the mosaic she had been assembling out of life's little shards got dumped to the ground, and there was no way to put it back together.”

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

Source: Crooked Little Heart

Life, Way

“Do you ever sit back and wonder what it all means? Whether this is it or if there's something greater out there? Or if you were meant for something better?”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

“When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top.”

Jacqueline Susann book Valley of the Dolls

Source: Valley of the Dolls

Time

“If I feel ragged, my prep team seems in worse condition, knocking back coffee and sharing brightly colored little pills. As far as I can tell, they never get up before noon unless there's some sort of national emergency, like my leg hair.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Color, Feeling, Coffee

“Doctor."" Gideon set one ankle on the opposite knee and settled back, creating a picture of unyielding decisiveness.
""The only way I'm keeping my hands off her is if I'm dead. Find another way to fix us.""”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Chapter 3 pg 50
Source: Reflected in You

Way, Decision, Dead

“If you love something, let it go. if it was meant to be, it will come back to you.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

For Him, For Boyfriend, Love

“Sugar, it's no parade but you'll get down the street one way or another, so you'd just as well throw your shoulders back and pick up the pace.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Way

“Like my mother said, you can't go back to holding hands”

Judy Blume (1938) American children's writer

Source: Forever . . .

“She warned me about Mr. Herondale, though, said he’d likely be rude to me, and familiar. She said I could be rude right back, that nobody would mind.”

“Someone ought to be rude to him. He’s rude enough to everyone else.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“I buried a nickel under the porch when I was 8, she said, but one day my grandma died & they sold the house & I never got to go back for it.
A nickel used to mean something, I said.
She nodded. It still does, she said & then she started to cry.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Source: Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

Grandma, Housing, Cry

“When youre sharing a foxhole with another man, you don't worry about what color he is, just whether or not he will protect your back”

Lee Benson American journalist

Color

“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

Thinking, Wealth

“Apparently unaffected, she rose. "Yeah, you're probably right. I should be going." She feigned a yawn. "You've gotta head back to work and I've gotta head to jail. Big night for me. I'm planning to shiv someone for a bar of soap. --”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Night

“Jem drew back from her, looking dazed. "By the Angel," he said. "Perhaps we do need a chaperon.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Angels

“Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

People, Way, Travel

“But there are victories far worse than defeats; and to overcome an angel too gentle to put out all his strength, and ride away in triumph on the back of a devil, is one of the poorest.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Source: The Lost Princess: A Double Story

Angels, Victory

“We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Source: I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World

“When I got across, I looked back and saw Tyson giving Grover a piggyback ride (or was it a goatyback ride?).”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

“Nothing connects to the moment like music. I count the music to bring me back, or more precisely, to bring her forward.”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

Music

“I will practice coming back to the present moment… not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past or letting anxieties, fears, or cravings pull me out…”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life

Fear, Past

“You can measure the happiness of a marriage by the number of scars that each partner carries on their tongues, earned from years of biting back angry words.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Relationship, Marriage, Happiness

“A woman's mind is her most precious weapon. It must not be employed clumsily or prematurely. Much like the aforementioned knife in the back, a clever gibe is most effective when it is unanticipated.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

“A man can't ride your back unless it's bent”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Variant: A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

“You go away for a long time and return a different person - you never come all the way back”

Paul Theroux (1941) American travel writer and novelist

Variant: You go away for a long time and return a different person - you never come all the way back.
Source: Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town

Way, Time, Personality

“Retribution is tricky…. The insult isn't usually worth the risk of punishment. And eventually one learns that karma has a surprising way of taking care of these situations. All you have to do is sit back and watch.”

Candace Bushnell book One Fifth Avenue

Source: One Fifth Avenue

Way, Learning

“When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

The Second World War, Volume II : Their Finest Hour (1949) Chapter 8 (September Tensions).
Post-war years (1945–1955)

Deep, Happy, Life

“I hated school. I don't trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Variant: I hated high school. I don’t trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there’s something wrong with you.

Hate, School

“Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

“Why are you stingy with yourselves? Why are you holding back? What are you saving for—for another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now.”

George Balanchine (1904–1983) Georgian choreographer, dancer and ballet master (1904-1983)

Time

“I don't think anyone ever remembers what they were really like as kids. Adults think they do, but they don't. Photos and videos don't capture the real you, or bring back to life the person you used to be. You have to return to the past to do that.”

Darren Shan book Sons of Destiny

Source: Sons of Destiny

Life, Photo, Thinking, Past

“Whenever I have endured or accomplished some difficult task -- such as watching television, going out socially or sleeping -- I always look forward to rewarding myself with the small pleasure of getting back to my typewriter and writing something.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Pleasure, Sleep

“Sorrow is not a raven perched persistently above a chamber door. Sorrow is a thing with teeth, and while in time it retreats, it comes back at the whisper of it's name.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Time

“I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

“When I'm with you, bells go off in my head like a moving truck that's backing up.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts

“But there are forces that don't let you turn back and undo things, because to do so would be to deny what is already in motion, to unwrite and erase passages, to shorten the arc of a story you don't own.”

Salvador Plascencia The People of Paper

Source: The People of Paper

“There are moments in every girl’s life that are bigger than we know at the time. When you look back, you say, that was one of those life-changing,
fork-in-the-road moments and I didn’t even see it coming. I had no idea.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: We'll Always Have Summer

Life, Girl, Idea, Change

“I sit on a man's back, choking him, and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by any means possible, except getting off his back.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

Writings on Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence (1886)
Source: What Then Must We Do?

“Every time I think I'm missing a piece of me, you give it back.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Thinking, Time

“If we act the truth the people who really love us are sure to come back to us in the long run”

E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist

Love, People, Truth

“Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back.”

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

Forgiveness

“The story of each stone leads back to a mountain.”

W.S. Merwin (1927–2019) American poet

Mountain

“Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. It wasn't meant to be, and we have no right to do it. A woman gains status when she refuses to see anything killed to be put on her back. Then she's truly beautiful.”

Doris Day (1922–2019) American actress, singer, and animal rights activist

Beauty, Animals

“They walked back into the world together, wearing the gift that had been given them: just life. Pity was not love, Barbie reflected… but if you were a child, giving clothes to someone who was naked had to be a step in the right direction.”

Stephen King book Under the Dome

Source: Under the Dome

Love, Life, World, Clothes

“I'm gonna barf," I whispered to Fang, wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans.
You'll be fine," he whipered back. "You always are.
I'm gonna die," I moaned.
You can't die," he said a hint of a smile in his voice."You're the indesructible Max.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Smile

“He [Nico] regarded Jason, as if waiting for an attack. 'If the others found out-'
'If the others found out,' Jason said, 'You'd have that many more people to back you up, and to unleash the fury of the gods on anybody who gives you trouble.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

God, People, Waiting

“I'd made it back to the land of the living. No matter how boring or mediocre a world it might be, this was it.”

Haruki Murakami book A Wild Sheep Chase

Source: A Wild Sheep Chase

World

“One of the oddest things about being grown-up was looking back at something you thought you knew and finding out the truth of it was completely different from what you had always believed.”

Patricia Briggs book Bone Crossed

Source: Bone Crossed

Truth

“If you love someone, you're not supposed to want them to come back. Better a peaceful sleep in the earth than the life of a zombie--not really dead but not really alive, either.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Zombies Vs. Unicorns

Love, Life, Peace, Sleep

“There in that pool stained with green blood, he had learned two things: one was that all the pain stopped when you stopped fighting death; and the other was that as long as you could still hear your heart beating, you had to keep fighting back.”

Ryū Murakami book Coin Locker Babies

Source: Coin Locker Babies

Death, Pain, Learning, Heart

“That disapproving look was back in her eyes. Her teacher face. The one that could make you squirm from ten paces, even if you were innocent. And I hadn't been innocent for years.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Circus of the Damned

Source: Circus of the Damned

Teachers

“I want to take back at least half of the “I love you”s, because I didn’t mean them as much as the other ones.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

Love

“Maybe, there's a moment growing up when something peels back… Maybe, maybe, we look for secrets because we can't believe our mind.”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted

Secret

“It's not bad enough I am exiled? It's not bad enough you take away the few good heroes I'm allowed to meet? You think it's funny to send me this this ― this charbroiled runt of a boy to ruin my tranquility? This is NOT FUNNY! Take him back!”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Boy, Thinking

“I stared at him. Did he really say that? Did he remember? The way he looked back at me, one eyebrow raised, I knew he did. And this time, I was the one to look away.
Because I remembered. I remembered everything.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: It's Not Summer Without You

Way, Time

“It isn't for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for that long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American aviator and author

Faith, Courage

“Please come to me, Cat, because there's no surviving you. You don't have to love me back. You don't have to be mine. Just let me be yours.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Married By Morning

Love, Cats

“Your Dark-Huntress, Danger, called for Acheron and since he’s busy, I was sent to check things out and report back to him on what’s happening. So here I am. Joy, oh joy of my life. (Alexion)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Sins of the Night

Life, Business, Joy

“And this is my life, getting dumped with no warning. Or liking people who don't like me back, or who don't like me enough, or not as much as they like someone else.”

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

Source: The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Life, People

“To love someone was not what she had expected. It was like falling from somewhere high up and breaking in half, and only one person having the secret to the puzzle of putting her back together.”

Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Tiger Lily

Love, Secret, Personality

“You & I are here but the wind is everywhere. Cast no words upon it you don’t wish followed back to you.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Change, Past, Future

“I am taking this in, slowly,
Taking it into my body.
This grief. How slow
The body is to realize
You are never coming back.”

Donna Masini (1954) American writer

“When I'm with him, I can feel myself getting better. It's like he's picking up broken pieces of me and putting me back together, and I don't even know he's doing it. We never talk about it. We don't go to therapy. He just loves me and that's enough.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Love, Feeling

“Even if we could turn back, we'd probably never end up where we started.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

“Fear can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy… fear makes you always, always hold something back.”

Philip K. Dick book VALIS

Source: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (1974), Chapter 21 (p. 171)
Source: VALIS
Context: "Fear,” Jason said, “can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you're afraid you don’t commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back.”'

Hate, Fear, Jealousy

“Fang! Come Back!" I started pulling his hair. Shaking his head and shoulders. Hard. "Wake up! Snap out of it! You stupid jerk! I am going to kill you if you die on me!”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Stupidity, Jerk

“Demon?” Gwen gasped out. Her back jerked ramrod-straight, and her face leeched of
color. “Did you just say demon?”

Oh, uh…did I say that?” Strider once again glanced around the plane helplessly. “No, no.
I think I said seaman.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Whisper

Color, Jerk, Thinking