Quotes about believer
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“You've done so many things and read so many books. Do you still believe in happy endings?"
"Oh my Lord, yes." Bernadette's hands were pressed against each other like a book, like a prayer. "I guess I would. I've had about a hundred of them.”

Karen Joy Fowler The Jane Austen Book Club

Source: The Jane Austen Book Club

Happiness, Books, Reading

“Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, Sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Life, Smile, Beauty, Heartbreaking

“Change isn't easy. Changing the way you live means changing the way you think, means changing what you believe about life. That's hard.”

Dean Koontz book One Door Away from Heaven

Geneva Davis; chapter 1, p. 8
Source: One Door Away from Heaven (2001)
Context: Change isn't easy, Micky. Changing the way you live means changing the way you think. Changing the way you think means changing what you believe about life. That's hard, sweetie. When we make our own misery, we sometimes cling to it even when we want so bad to change, because the misery is something we know. The misery is comfortable.

Life, Way, Thinking, Change

“I felt lonely and content at the same time. I believe that is a rare kind of happiness.”

Stephen King book Bag of Bones

Source: Bag of Bones

Happiness, Time

“There is never one absolutely right thing to do. All you can do is honor what you believe, accept the consequences of your own actions, and make the best out of what happens.”

Garth Nix book Superior Saturday

Source: Superior Saturday

“Be sure to lie to your kids about the benevolent, all-seeing Santa Claus. It will prepare them for an adulthood of believing in God.”

Scott Dikkers (1965) American comic writer

Source: You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day

God, Lie, Adulthood

“The sad truth about humanity… is that people believe what they're told. Maybe not the first time, but by the hundredth time, the craziest of ideas just becomes a given.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: UnWholly

People, Truth, Sadness, Idea

“Malcolm Dresden: Son. Everyone dies alone. That's what it is. It's a door. It's one person wide. When you go through it, you do it alone." His fingers squeezed me tight. "But it doesn't mean you've got to be alone before you go through the door. And believe me, you aren't alone on the other side."”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: The Dresden Files, Dead Beat (2005), Chapter 43

Personality

“I can't believe you know someone named Freaky Pete," said Simon.
"I know alot of people," said Luke. "Not that Freaky Pete is strictly people, but I'm hardly one to talk.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

People

“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Author's Note, p. xi
Source: Life of Pi (2001)

Dreams, Imagination, Support, Reality

“I don't believe in making war with food. Food is not the enemy.
Said by Claire in The 5th Horseman”

James Patterson (1947) American author

War, Food

“[Chess] is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

1900s
Source: The Irrational Knot (1905)

People, Time

“Oh confound that gray-and-scarlet suit!" Sophie said. "I refuse to believe that I was the one that got caught with it!”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“We believe in the wrong things, that's what frustrates me the most. Not the lack of belief, but the belief in the wrong things. You want meaning? Well, the meanings are out there. We're just so damn good at reading them wrong.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Reading

“Inside each of us resides the truth, I began, the absolute truth. But sometimes the truth is hidden in a hall of mirrors. Sometimes we believe we are viewing the real thing, when in fact we are viewing a facsimile, a distortion.”

Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain

Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain

Truth

“Relationship Principle 5
Don't believe what anyone tells you about yourself.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Variant: Don't believe what anyone tells you about yourself.
Source: Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart

“But to believe that getting stuff is the purpose and aim of life is madness.”

Hubert Selby Jr. Requiem for a Dream

Source: Requiem for a Dream

Life, Madness

“Boys never believe I can beat them, she told me back then. But I always win in the end.”

Holly Black book Black Heart

Source: Black Heart

Boy

“He is an atheist who does not believe in himself.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.
Call to the Nation

“Do you think everybody misses somebody? Like I miss my mama?” “Mmmm-hmmm,” said Gloria. She closed her eyes. “I believe, sometimes, that the whole world has an aching heart.”

Kate DiCamillo book Because of Winn-Dixie

Source: Because of Winn-Dixie

World, Thinking, Heart

“Because reason… is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us…”

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

Men

“Krishna was once asked what was the most miraculous thing in all creation, and he replied, "That a man should wake each morning and believe deep in his heart that he will live forever, even though he knows that he is doomed.”

Christopher Pike (1954) American author Kevin Christopher McFadden

Source: Phantom

Heart

“I look for the words, Professor. I look for the words because I believe that the words is the way to your heart.”

Cormac McCarthy The Sunset Limited

Source: The Sunset Limited

Way, Heart

“I can't believe you just did that! Are you crazy?"
I gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Why do people keep asking me that?"
He turned to stare at me, his eyes worried. "Who else keeps asking you that? Are any of them doctors?”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: Just One Wish

People

“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

(From an introductory speech at a session of the Académie Française, December 24, 1896)”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

Source: Works of Anatole France

Dreams

“If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

Feeling, Reality, Change, Past

“Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Variant: Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will?

Heartbreaking, Inspirational, Life, love

“If you let people break your spirit and detour you from your path, then you have not been true to yourself or those you're here to touch, those who believe in you.”

Allison DuBois (1972) American psychic

People

“Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.”

William Faulkner book Light in August

Source: Light in August

Memory

“If Alex has chosen you, then I want you to believe that I have chosen you as well.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

“Sometimes I wanted to believe something so badly, I deliberately manufactured excuses and ignored painful reality.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Reflected in You

Pain, Reality

“Sometimes the most preposterous lies are the most believable.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Rise of the Evening Star

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl book The Minpins

The Minpins (1991)

Secret, World

“Well you can't believe everything you read. After all, by definition, fiction writers lie for a living.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Lie, Reading

“When you believe that you are not worthwhile in and of yourself, in the back of your mind you also begin to believe that life is not worthwhile in and of itself. It is only worthwhile insofar as it relates to your crusade. It is a kamikaze mission.”

Marya Hornbacher book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Source: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Life

“53. 'We mainly suppose the experiential quality to be an intrinsic quality of the physical object'-this is the so-called systematic illusion of color. Perhaps it is also that of love. But I am not willing to go there-not just yet. I believed in you.”

Maggie Nelson (1973) American writer

Source: Bluets

Love, Color

“If I could believe in myself, why not give other improbabilities the benefit of the doubt?”

David Sedaris book Holidays on Ice

Source: Holidays on Ice

“If you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Love, Success

“I think you don't grow up until you stop worrying about other people's purposes or lack of them and find the purposes you believe in for yourself.”

Orson Scott Card book Xenocide

Source: Xenocide

People, Thinking

“It's gonna be okay," I said. It was the first time in a long time that I believed it. "It will.”

Sarah Dessen book Keeping the Moon

Source: Keeping the Moon

Time

“Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Hope, Universe

“Just friends, just friends. Standing there in the bookstore, watching Seth walk away, I half wondered how anyone could still use that line. But I knew why, of course. It was used because people still believed it. Or at least they wanted to.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Blues

People

“How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Source: Frankenstein

World, Nature, Knowledge

“It's a strange thing to discover and to believe that you are loved when you know that there is nothing in you for anybody but a parent or a God to love.”

Graham Greene book The End of the Affair

Source: The End of the Affair

Love, God, Parent

“I detest the idea that love between two persons can lead to salvation. All my life I have fought against this oppressive type of relationship. Instead, I believe in searching for a kind of love that somehow involves all of humanity.”

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945–1982) German film director, screenwriter, and actor

Love, Life, Search, Idea

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Self-Reliance
Context: I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instil is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, — and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.

Men, Heart

“… But he believed that every great love was in some measure a terrible mistake.”

Michael Chabon A Model World and Other Stories

Source: A Model World and Other Stories

Love

“You shouldn't believe everything you hear you're young, not stupid.”

Terry Brooks The Wishsong of Shannara

Source: The Wishsong of Shannara

Stupidity

“I believe that there's a cloud for every silver lining,' I said.”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: Dead Beat

“I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

"Why Liberty?”, in the Chicago Tribune (30 January 1927)
1920s
Context: I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.

“What --- you don't believe in true love?" Petra asked. "The kind that can then be parlayed into awesome merchandising opportunities?"
- "Beauty Queens”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Source: Beauty Queens

Love, Beauty

“The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.”

Laura Hillenbrand book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Source: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Men, Pain, Suffering, Dependency

“His lips pressed against her forehead and she felt him smile against her skin. "Believe me… the only place in the world I want to be is wherever you are."

-Grant Morgan”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Someone to Watch Over Me

World, Smile

“School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.”

Ivan Illich (1926–2002) austrian philosopher and theologist

School

“Forsooth, I no longer toil in vain,
To prove that demon pox warps the brain.
So though 'ti pity, it's not in vain
That the pox-ridden worm was slain:
For to believe in me, you all must deign.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“Most people believe me when I lie. I've learned how to say the words just right. I have a trusting kind of face. But the boy in front of me was a trained operative, so Zach knew better. And besides, Zach new me.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

People, Lie, Boy, Learning

“That wasn't very nice… I do believe you killed my hat.
~Kisuke Urahara”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”

John Jakes (1932) American historical novelist and fantasy writer

“Whereas she wished more of the population were better educated, she also believed that education was largely wasted on the majority of the people she met.”

John Irving book A Widow for One Year

Source: A Widow for One Year

People, Education

“Believe me, it is a great deal better to find cast-iron proof that you're innocent than to languish in a cell hoping that the police---who already think you're guilty---will find it for you.”

Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Hope, Thinking

“It could be worse,' Passini said respectfully. "There is nothing worse than war."
Defeat is worse."
I do not believe it," Passini said still respectfully. "What is defeat? You go home.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

War, Home

“"Love is a myth", Grandfather Trout said. "Like summer."
"What?"
"In winter," Grandfather Trout said, "summer is a myth. A report, a rumor. Not to be believed in. Get it? Love is a myth. So is summer."”

John Crowley book Little, Big

Bk. 5, Ch. 4
Source: Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament (1981)

Love, Winter, Summer

“It is hard to accept being different, hard to have people avoid looking at you, and still believe in yourself.”

Patricia Briggs (1965) American writer

Source: The Hob's Bargain

People

“But I don't believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel.”

Gloria Naylor (1950–2016) American writer

Life, Feeling

“Some things aren't meant to be known. Only believed.”

Mary E. Pearson book The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Source: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

“She was reflecting back on a truth she had learned over the years: that people heard what they wanted to hear, saw what they wanted, believed what they wanted.”

Jeffery Deaver book The Bodies Left Behind

Source: The Bodies Left Behind

People, Truth, Learning

“I told you, Ms. Lane, never believe anything is dead-"
"- I know, I know, until you've 'burned it, poked around in its ashes, and then waited a day or two to see if anything rises from them.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Variant: Don't celebrate yet, Ms. Lane. Don't believe anything is dead until you've burned it, poked around in its ashes, and then waited a day or two to see if anything rises from them.
Source: Bloodfever

Waiting, Dead

“I laid it all out for him: Eliza believes in me, she moves me, and she's moved BY me. She makes me happy, she makes me sad, she makes me try harder, she makes me laugh, and she makes me feel like I can fly. Isn't that the goddamn definition of Love?”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Love, Happiness, Sadness, Feeling

“Why did adults have to be so thick? They always say “tell the truth,” and when you do, they don’t believe you. What’s the point?”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Truth

“What is it about childhood that never lets you go, even when you're so wrecked it's hard to believe you ever were a child?”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Childhood

“Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega?
-No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so.”

Isabel Allende book Zorro

Source: Zorro

Life

“I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

“For moral reasons… the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created… intentionally.”

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) Polish science fiction author

From Peter Engel, "An Interview With Stanislaw Lem": The Missouri Review, Volume VII, Number 2 (1984) http://www.missourireview.org/index.php?genre=Interviews&title=An+Interview+with+Stanislaw+Lem <br class="br">Context: For moral reasons I am an atheist — for moral reasons. I am of the opinion that you would recognize a creator by his creation, and the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created by anyone than to think that somebody created this intentionally.

Pain, World, Way, Appearance

“You don't have to be 'adults'… but be someone who can take responsibility for their own words and actions. Believe it or not, that's actually harder.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 8

“Most people our brought up to believe they are as good as the person next to them, I was told I was better.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

People, Personality

“In the end, it is impossible not to become what others believe you are.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

“I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.”

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

As quoted in Philosophy on the Go (2007) by Joey Green, p. 222
General sources

Life, Fear, Hell, Thinking

“There was something about Jace, though, that made her want to push him, crack that shell of cynicism and make him admit her believed something, felt something, cared about anythinng at all.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“Bad people succeed and good people fail, but that's not the end of the story. Miracles happen that nobody sees, and among us walk heroes who are never recognized, and people live in loneliness because they cannot believe they are loved.”

Dean Koontz book The Darkest Evening of the Year

Source: The Darkest Evening of the Year

Love, People, Loneliness

“Imagine a man who stands before a mirror; a stone strikes it, and it falls to ruin all in an instant. And the man learns that he is himself, and not the mirrored man he had believed himself to be.”

Gene Wolfe book The Urth of the New Sun

Source: The Urth of the New Sun

Imagination, Learning

“Because you believed I was capable of behaving decently, I did.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse.”

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

Letter to William Eustis http://books.google.com/books?id=S088AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA319 (22 June 1809), published in Writings of John Quincy, Adams (1914), The Macmillan company. <br class="br">Variant: All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.

Men

“Her heart had already been broken many times over, and yet she still believed she was destined to meet the man of her life.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

Life, Time, Heart

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Variant: There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.
Source: Frankenstein

Love, Imagination, Rage