Quotes about being
page 26

“The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.”

Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938) American writer

The Anatomy of Loneliness (1941)

Life, Men, Loneliness

“Life is a miracle, and being aware of simply this can already make us very happy.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life

Life, Happiness

“Okay, that so did me in. Mr. Rock being all emotional? Expressing his feelings?" p. 12”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Final Warning

Feeling

“Amazing how being bathed in arterial blood can wash out any lingering romantic disappointments.”

Diana Peterfreund (1979) American writer

Source: Rampant

Disappointment

“there's nothing more intimate in life than simply being understood. And understanding someone else.”

Brad Meltzer book The Inner Circle

Source: The Inner Circle

Life, Understanding

“In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do.”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)

Letter to A. Bronson (30 July 1838); a similar idea was later more famously expressed by Abraham Lincoln, "With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right".

Men

“Wake the sleeper must, and confront his fears, or risk being lost in the dark places of the mind forever.”

Juliet Marillier book Daughter of the Forest

Source: Daughter of the Forest

Fear

“You like being vague, don't you? (Amanda)
It was a choice of being a Dark-Hunter or a prophet. Personally I like the slash-and-kill stuff much more than prayers and the lotus position. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Night Pleasures

Source: Night Pleasures

Personality

“Shane - "Tell you what: you can be Glammera the vampire hunter. I'll stick with being manly and
heavily armed.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Variant: Tell you what: you can be Glammera the vampire hunter. I'll stick with being manly and heavily armed.
Source: Ghost Town

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”

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

Essays
Source: Kenyon College Commencement Speech, April 21, 2005, published as This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.

People, Way, Effort, Freedom

“I hate being told what to do! Especially by myself!”

Lynn Flewelling (1958) American writer

Hate

“It should not be denied… that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West.”

Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) American historian, writer, and environmentalist

Law, History, Freedom

“Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone, and the only one who seeks out another.”

Octavio Paz book The Labyrinth of Solitude

The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950)
Variant: Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.
Context: Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone, and the only one who seeks out another. His nature – if that word can be used in reference to man, who has 'invented' himself by saying 'no' to nature – consists in his longing to realize himself in another. Man is nostalgia and a search for communion. Therefore, when he is aware of himself he is aware of his lack of another, that is, of his solitude.

Solitude

“Nothing else wounds so deeply and irreparably. Nothing else robs us of hope so much as being unloved by one we love”

Clive Barker (1952) author, film director and visual artist

Love, Hope, Heartbreaking, Hurtful

“If your friend is sick and dying, the most important thing he wants is not an explanation; he wants you to sit with him. He's terrified of being alone more than anything else. So, God has not left us alone.”

Lee Strobel (1952) American writer

God

“Ancient astronauts didn't build the pyramids. Human beings built the pyramids, because they're clever and they work hard.”

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) American television screenwriter and producer

Variant: No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids - human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard. And 'Star Trek' is about those things.

“Do you know what the definition of insane is? Yes. It’s the inability to relate to another human being. It’s the inability to love.”

Richard Yates book Revolutionary Road

Source: Revolutionary Road

Love

“She knew she could help him best by being silent and by being near.”

John Steinbeck book The Pearl

Source: The Pearl

Help

“Ammu said that human beings were creatures of habit, and it was amazing the kind of things one could get used to.”

Arundhati Roy book The God of Small Things

Source: The God of Small Things

“I believe in the goodness of fellow human beings. We have a true desire for greatness and genuine good intention to be helpful to others. That's enough. Change is possible.”

Ilchi Lee (1950) South Korean businessman

Source: Change: Realizing Your Greatest Potential

Change, Help

“We're going to be okay."

Here's the thing about being a spy: sometimes all you have are your lies. They protect your cover and keep your secrets, and right then I needed to believe that it was true even when all the facts said otherwise.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

Secret

“I live in the present because the future is always chancy. When it comes to being with you, I'm willing to take the risk.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Exiled Queen

Future

“All of a sudden it didn't bother me not being modern.”

Roland Barthes (1915–1980) French philosopher, critic and literary theorist

“Will you marry me, vile and abominable girl that you are?

Yes, but, mind, it only to save my neck from being wrung!”

Georgette Heyer book The Grand Sophy

Source: The Grand Sophy

Girl

“Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested." The boy remembered an old proverb from his country. It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Search, Boy, Night, Country

“Jason hated being old.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Variant: Jason hated being an old man.
Source: The Blood of Olympus

Hate

“.. then when the hurt goes, anger takes its place; when the anger runs out of system, loneliness steps in to take over. it's a never ending circle of emotions; every lost emotion being replaced by another.”

Cecelia Ahern book A Place Called Here

Source: A Place Called Here

Hurt, Loneliness, Anger

“I'm thinking of being a professional mourner. How hard can it be? Tear at your hair, sing a dirge or two, take the rest of the week off.”

Christopher Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Source: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Thinking, Tear, Singing

“Literature offers the thrill of minds of great clarity wrestling with the endless problems and delights of being human. To engage with them is to engage with oneself, and the lasting rewards are not confined to specific career paths.”

Jonathan Stroud (1970) British writer of fantasy fiction

Literature, Problem

“Poets are simply those who have made a profession ans a lifestyle of being in touch with their bliss.”

Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth

Source: The Power of Myth

“They were connected, one being, fused together. She belonged to him, and he to her.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Whisper

“The type of human being we prefer reveals the contours of our heart.”

José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist

Heart

“All human beings search for either reasons to be good, or excuses to be bad.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Tell-All

Source: Tell-All

“I can only assume that there’s only one thing more frustrating than not being able to find someone, and that’s not being found. I would want someone to find me, more than anything.”

Cecelia Ahern book A Place Called Here

Source: A Place Called Here

“I wonder if I am capable of being somebody’s sun, somebody’s everything. Am I centered enough now to be the center of somebody else’s life?”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Life, Sun

“I determine to render more and better service, each day, than I am being paid to render. Those that reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what is required of them.”

Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World

Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World

“I wished she’d never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly crushed by someone who loved me.”

Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted

Source: Ella Enchanted

Love, Life

“Putting up with the fear of being with the wrong person because you can't deal with the fear of being alone.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

Fear, Personality

“Just because someone does not love you as you want, it does not mean that you do not love with all his being.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Love

“Left alone, human beings are a plague. They multiply relentlessly, consuming every resource, destroying everything they touch.”

Scott Westerfeld book Pretties

Source: Pretties

“Changing the world is good for those who want their names in books. But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives of others, and hold the hearts of others as the treasure most dear.”

Orson Scott Card book Children of the Mind

Source: Children of the Mind

Happiness, Books, World, Change

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Smile

“I think when you become a parent you go from being a star in the movie of your own life to the supporting player in the movie of someone else's.”

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

Source: American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

Life, Star, Support, Thinking

“Being a wiseass in a groupthink environment is like throwing an egg at a bulldozer.”

Matt Taibbi (1970) author and journalist

Source: The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire

“I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Love

“I didn't know what to say. I felt like crying, Goddammit everybody in the world wants an explanation for your acts and for your very being.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Source: On the Road

World, Cry

“Everyone in the world worth being nice to. Because God never creates inferior human beings, each person deserves respect and dignity.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

God, World, Personality

“some soap opera, you know, real people pretending to be fake people with made-up problems being watched by real people to forget their real problems.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Choke

Source: Choke

People, Problem, Forgetting

“Where the myth fails, human love begins. Then we love a human being, not our dream, but a human being with flaws.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Love, Dreams

“I looked at the stained-glass image of the lamb in the window above me, but that only reminded me that lambs are famous for being led to slaughter, or sometimes hanging out with lions in ill-advised relationships.”

Maureen Johnson (1973) writer from the USA

Source: The Name of the Star

“If a man is really into you, nothing will stop him from being with you - including a fear of intimacy.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Fear

“Being poor is only romantic in books.”

Sidney Sheldon book Rage of Angels

Source: Rage of Angels

Books

“But in the night he woke and held her tight as though she were all of life and it was being taken from him. He held her feeling she was all of life there was and it was true.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Life, Feeling, Night

“He hated being filled with terror. It was embarrassing.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Hate

“Nothing like being with people you’ve known almost your entire life. Having a shared history is something you just can’t create with the new ones. No matter how much you like that, it just isn’t the same.”

Jane Green (1968) British writer

Source: Second Chance

Life, People, History

“Her grandmother had once told her that one of life's best lessons was not being afraid to look foolish -- to just ask the question.”

Melissa Senate (1965) american writer

Life, Question

“Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

World

“To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

World, Color

“If there was one thing worse than being cheated, it was being cheated by someone who referred to themselves in the third person.”

Chris Wooding (1977) British children's writer

Source: The Iron Jackal

Cheating, Personality

“Results aside, the ability to have complete faith in another human being is one of the finest qualities a person can possess.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Faith, Personality

“It gets tiresome being spoken to as if you are a child, even if you happen to be one.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“Sometimes being surronded by everyone is the loneliest, because you'll realise you have no one to turn to.”

Soraya (1969–2006) Singer-songwriter

“Human beings are strange creatures. As people come across one another they produce various outcomes. Good things, sometimes. And other times, bad.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 16

People, Time

“It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.”

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

Life, Happiness, Books, School

“The beginning of genius is being scared shitless.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline (1894–1961) French writer

Source: The Church: A Comedy in Five Acts

“How ravished one could be without ever being touched. Ravished by dead words become obscene and dead ideas become obsessions.”

D.H. Lawrence book Lady Chatterley's Lover

Source: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Idea, Dead

“I'm gonna enjoy being old I think I'll be awesome at it.”

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

Thinking

“Manners are about imagination, ultimately. They are about imagining being the other person.”

Lynne Truss (1955) British writer

Source: Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door

Imagination, Personality

“Are you nervous about no longer being a big fish in a small pond?”

Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer

Source: Alphas

Fish

“… maybe, in the face of abandonment, we are all the same; maybe not even a very orderly mind can endure the discovery of not being loved.”

Elena Ferrante (1943) Italian writer

Source: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Love

“Adventures are only interesting once you've lived to see the end of them. Before that, they are nothing but fear, and being too cold or too hot or too wet or too hungry, and getting hurt.”

Holly Lisle (1960) American writer

Source: The Silver Door

Fear, Hurt

“The atheist view is correspondingly life-affirming and life-enhancing, while at the same time never being tainted with self-delusion, wishful thinking, or the whingeing self-pity of those who feel that life owes them something.”

Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion

Source: The God Delusion

Life, Feeling, Thinking, Time

“It is necessary that the weakness of the powerless is transformed into a force capable of announcing justice. For this to happen, a total denouncement of fatalism is necessary. We are transformative beings and not beings for accommodation.”

Paulo Freire book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Source: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Justice

“If you're looking for Mr. Perfect, you‟re going to spend your whole life being disappointed, because he doesn‟t exist. You have to get the best deal you can, but there will always be problems.”

Linda Howard (1950) American writer

Source: Mr. Perfect

Life, Disappointment, Problem, Perfection

“Whoever possesses God in their being has Him in a divine manner, and He shines out to them in all things; for them all things taste of God and in all things it is God's image that they see.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

God

“Being touched by Jericho Barrons with kindness makes you feel like you the biggest, most savage lion in the jungle, lying down, placing your
head it its mouth and, rather than taking your life, it licks you and
purrs.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

Life, Feeling, Lying

“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”

Elizabeth Berg (1948) American novelist

Source: The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation

Feeling

“Last forever!' Who hasn't prayed that prayer? You were lucky to get it in the first place. The present is a freely given canvas. That it is constantly being ripped apart and washed downstream goes without saying.”

Annie Dillard book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Source: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

“My mother used to tell me that when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to. That being a family isn't a social construct but an instinct.”

Jodi Picoult book Keeping Faith

Source: Keeping Faith

Family, Family

“Being turned into a lizard can really mess up your day.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“Before I knew you, I thought brave was not being afraid. You've taught me that bravery is being terrified and doing it anyway.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Blood Noir

Source: Blood Noir

“So long as you do no harm to another, change your opinion once in a while. Contradict yourself without being embarrassed. This is your right. It doesn't matter what others think -because that's what they will think, in any case.”

Paulo Coelho Maktub

Source: Maktub

Thinking, Change

“But, Polly, a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, isn't worthy of the name.”

Louisa May Alcott book An Old-Fashioned Girl

Source: An Old-Fashioned Girl

“I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Persuasion (1817)
Works, Persuasion
Source: Pride and Prejudice

Learning, Happy

“It's bullshit to think of friendship and romance as being different. They're not. They're just variations of the same love. Variations of the same desire to be close.”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

Love, Friendship, Thinking

“I want to explain how exhausted I am. Even in my dreams. How I wake up tired. How I’m being drowned by some kind of black wave.”

Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967–2020) American author and journalist

Dreams

“It is quite clear that between love and understanding there is a very close link… He who loves understands, and he who understands loves. One who feels understood feels loved, and one who feels loved feels sure of being understood.”

Paul Tournier (1898–1986) Swiss physician and author, pastoral counsellor

Source: To Understand Each Other

Love, Feeling, Understanding

“What in the world are you thinking?” She sounded pretty flustered.
“I try not to think,” Leo admitted. “It interferes with being nuts. Just concentrate on moving that Celestial bronze. Echo, you ready?”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

World, Thinking

“Elephants can remember, but we are human beings and mercifully human beings can forget.”

Agatha Christie Elephants Can Remember

Source: Elephants Can Remember

Forgetting

“Trevor possessed many of the qualities of a vampire without actually being one. He constantly preyed on me, was deeply charismatic, and tried to suck the life out of me.”

Ellen Schreiber (1967) American writer

Source: Cryptic Cravings

Life

“If we don't want to define ourselves by things as superficial as our appearances, we're stuck with the revolting alternative of being judged by our actions, by what we do.”

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

My Point... And I Do Have One. New York: Bantam Books, 1995

Appearance

“But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.”

Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness

Source: Heart of Darkness

Soul, Madness

“No human being can be more human than another human being. I liberate you from my ignorance.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Virginia Resolution of 1798 (24 December 1798) http://www.constitution.org/cons/virg1798.htm Federalist No. 46 (29 January 1788) Full text at Wikisource 1790s Variant: [The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. Context: That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the "Alien and Sedition Acts" passed at the last session of Congress; the first of which exercises a power no where delegated to the federal government, and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government; as well as the particular organization, and positive provisions of the federal constitution; and the other of which acts, exercises in like manner, a power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a power, which more than any other, ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right. Context: Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

People, Country