Quotes about break
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“Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Death, Boy

“love means breaking all the rules”

Lori Foster (1958) American writer

Source: Simon Says

Love

“Breaking rules isn't bad when what you're doing is more important than the rule itself”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Once Dead, Twice Shy

“Oh, Blimey O'Riley's pantyhose…. What is the point of Shakespeare? I know he is a genius and so on, but he does rave on. 'What light doth through yonder window break?' It's the bloody moon, for God sake, Will, get a grip!”

Louise Rennison (1951–2016) British writer

Variant: Oh Blimey O‘Reilly's pantyhose... what is the point of Shakespeare? I know he is a genius and so on, but he does rave on. It's the bloody moon, for God's sake, Will, get a grip!!
Source: Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants

God, Light

“Until this moment, I had not realized that someone could break your heart twice, along the very same fault lines.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Heartbreaking, Heart

“Some men break your heart in two,
Some men fawn and flatter,
Some men never look at you;
And that cleans up the matter.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Source: Enough Rope

Men, Heart

“I loved her for so long. Our past trails behind us like a comet's tail, the future stretched out before us like the universe. Things happen. People get lost and love breaks.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: This is Where I Leave You

Love, People, Universe, Past

“To think new thoughts you have to break the bones in your head”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

Thinking

“He was Will, in all his perfect imperfection; Will, whose heart was as easy to break as it was carefully guarded; Will, who loved not wisely but entirely and with everything he had.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, Heart, Perfection

“The Symbol of all Art is the Prism. The goal is destructive. To break up the white light of objective realism into the secret glories it contains.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Secret, Art, Light

“I hurl the glass teapot to the ground.

we both stare at it, stunned.

"it was supposed to break," I explain after a pause, " and that was going to signify that yes, I would throw something away. If I knew it wasn't right for me.”

Sophie Kinsella book Can You Keep a Secret?

Source: Can You Keep a Secret?

“All human errors are impatience, the premature breaking off of what is methodical, an apparent fencing in of the apparent thing.”

Franz Kafka book The Zürau Aphorisms

2
Variant translation: All human errors are impatience, a premature breaking off of methodical procedure, an apparent fencing-in of what is apparently at issue.
The Zürau Aphorisms (1917 - 1918)

Error

“I watch with breaking heart as you slowly fade away”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Heart

“Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

Stupidity, Evil, Time

“We search for patterns, you see, only to find where the patterns break. And it’s there, in that fissure, that we pitch our tents and wait.”

Nicole Krauss book Great House

Source: Great House

Search, Waiting

“Our ignorance allowed us to live, as you are in the mountains, and your rope is frayed and about to break, but you don't know it and feel safe.”

Primo Levi book The Periodic Table

Source: The Periodic Table

Feeling, Mountain

“The ties that bind us to life are tougher than you imagine, or than any one can who has not felt how roughly they may be pulled without breaking.”

Anne Brontë book Agnes Grey

Source: Agnes Grey

Life, Imagination

“Their closeness wouldn't break, but it would bend and stretch into a new shape.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“I’m breaking my attachment to physical power and possessions, because only through destroying myself can I discover the greater power of my spirit.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“Strength is the ability to break up a solid piece of chocolate—and then eat just one of the pieces.”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Lucky in Love

“Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to break the rules. And we have to discover the sensuality of fear. We need to face it, challenge it, dance with it.”

Kyra Davis (1950) writer

Fear, Dance

“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”

Emily Dickinson Life, and Death, and Giants —

Life, p. 6
Collected Poems (1993)

Life, Pain, Help, Heart

“By all means break the rules, and break them beautifully, deliberately and well.”

Robert Bringhurst The Elements of Typographic Style

Source: The Elements of Typographic Style

“It's the hour when night breaks away from the day, my dove, let me go.”

Jean Genet The Balcony

Source: The Balcony

Night

“Punch any of mine, and I’ll break your arm off and beat you to death with it.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

Death

“Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.”

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

“An ear can break a human heart
As quickly as a spear,
We wish the ear had not a heart
So dangerously near.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Heart

“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip," Jonathan would say, other times, "is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.”

Richard Bach book Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Source: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Time

“Sometimes it was daunting, knowing how easily I could break things. This one simple curse seemed to dominate my entire life.”

Brandon Sanderson Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Life

“Soulmates. That was the word. Maggie could sense what it meant. Two people connected, bound to each other forever, soul to soul, in a way that even death couldn't break. Two souls that were destined for each other.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Night World, No. 3

Death, People, Way, Soul

“I have to spring a cat out of Rumelt Animal Shelter. Think of it as a prison break."

It does the trick. He laughs. "Whose cat?"

"My cat. What do you think? That I break out the cats of strangers?"

"Let me guess, she was framed. She's innocent.”

Holly Black book White Cat

Source: White Cat

Spring, Cats, Thinking, Animals

“I don't break up, I trade up”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Source: Something Borrowed

“To everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Yes.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Silence, Time, Season

“That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours.”

Kristin Hannah (1960) American writer

Source: Firefly Lane

Friendship, For Mother, For Friend, For Bestfriend

“You're going to break my heart, aren't you?”

Christopher Moore book Bloodsucking Fiends

Source: Bloodsucking Fiends

Heart

“So I would choose to be with you,
That's if the choice were mine to make,
But you can make decisions too,
And you can have this heart to break”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

Decision, Heart

“I can wade Grief --
Whole Pools of it --
I'm used to that --
But the least push of Joy
Breaks up my feet --
And I tip -- drunken --
Let no Pebble -- smile --
'Twas the New Liquor --
That was all!”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Source: Final Harvest: Emily Dickinson's Poems

Smile, Joy

“Whose hearts must I break? What lies must I maintain? - Through whose blood am I to wade?”

Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) French Decadent and Symbolist poet

Heart

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms (1929), Ch. 34

World, Strong

“It isn’t easy being a brilliant inventor, always alone. Always misunderstood. Easy to turn bitter, make horrible mistakes. People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can’t be fixed.

-Hephaestus”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

People, Personality

“Jennifer Merrick had stored all her tears inside her, and her pride and courage would never permit her to break down and shed them.”

Judith McNaught book A Kingdom of Dreams

Source: A Kingdom of Dreams

Courage, Tear

“Should the whole frame of Nature round him break,
In ruin and confusion hurled,
He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack,
And stand secure amidst a falling world.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

Translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii.

World, Nature

“once you laugh at you own weaknesses, you can move forward. Comedy breaks down walls. It opens up people. If you're good, you can fill up those openings with something positive. Mabye…….. combat some the ugliness in the world.”

Goldie Hawn (1945) American actress, film director, and producer.

People, World

“Uh-huh," I said. "Because all you mad, evil scientists sit around whipping up batches of Pillsbury's finest during your coffee breaks. I mean, this is pathetic.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Coffee, Evil, Madness

“She said that you've break my heart”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Heart

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

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

Source: There Is No Dog

Life, Stupidity, Way, Thinking

“He cried that night for all that he had lost, but he would say it taught him a valuable lesson: that holding on to things "will only break your heart.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

Heart, Night

“What do you do when you know you are breaking someone's heart, but to do anything else would break your own?”

Laurell K. Hamilton book A Lick of Frost

Source: A Lick of Frost

Heart

“I saw his scars - the visible ones-and saw how breaking him had not made him any less beautiful. If anything, he stood stronger, because he'd survived.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Invisibility

Beauty

“My dinner party,' Miles grated. 'It's just breaking up.”

Lois McMaster Bujold A Civil Campaign

Source: A Civil Campaign

“Hard-covered books break up friendships. You loan a hard covered book to a friend and when he doesn’t return it you get mad at him. It makes you mean and petty. But twenty-five cent books are different.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Friendship, Books, Madness

“I belong to you. You could do anything you wanted with me and I would let you. You could ask anything of me and I'd break myself trying to make you happy. My heart tells me this is the best and greatest feeling I have ever had.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Feeling, Heart, Happiness

“Using your feminine wiles to lead my familiar astray. If all you want is dangerous sex, I can give that to you better than he can, and I won't break your heart afterward." - Al to Rachel”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Black Magic Sanction

Sex, Heart

“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but Chinese throwing stars get you a dozen stitches.”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: Dead Beat

Star

“Because here’s what guys don’t do if they can’t live without you: They don’t break up with you.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Source: He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys

Guy

“Words are tricky. Sometimes you need them to bring out the hurt festering inside. If you don't, it turns gangrenous and kills you…. But sometimes words can break a feeling into pieces.”

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1956) novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist

Source: Queen of Dreams

Feeling, Hurt

“Your heart can break at any age.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Age, Heart

“… there was no such thing as curses. People make and break their own fortunes -they are the masters of their own fate.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

Fate, People

“When I break into the clearing, she's on the ground, hopelessly entangled in a net. She just has the time to reach her hand through the mesh and say my name before the spear enters her body.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Time

“Sticks and stones can break your bones, but names can kill you.”

Philip G. Zimbardo book The Lucifer Effect

Source: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

“Life's had to break you down so you could be rebuilt”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

Source: The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life

Life

“Hearts are tough, Most times they don't break. Most times they are only bend”

Stephen King book Hearts in Atlantis

Source: Hearts in Atlantis

Time, Heart

“You can smile when your heart is breaking because you are a woman, and a courtier, and a Howard. That's three reasons for being the most deceitful creature on God's earth.”

Philippa Gregory book The Other Boleyn Girl

Source: The Other Boleyn Girl

God, Smile, Heart

“To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success--the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history--with a society that provides opportunities for all.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: Outliers: The Story of Success

World, History, Birth, Success

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

World, Strong

“How memories lie to us. How time coats the ordinary with gold. How it breaks the heart to go back and attempt to re-live them. How crushed we are when we discover that the gold was merely gold-plating thinly coated over lead, chalk and peeling paint.”

Henry Rollins book Black Coffee Blues

Source: Black Coffee Blues

Lie, Memory, Time, Heart

“You can smile when your heart is breaking because you're a woman.”

Philippa Gregory book The Other Boleyn Girl

Source: The Other Boleyn Girl

Smile, Heart

“You would be amazed by what you can give up, lose, or break, and yet still be a person who gets happy over brownies.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

Personality, Happiness

“Break my heart? Is that what you just said? I have news for you; you didn't break my heart. My heart's fine. My heart's in the best shape of its life. You know what you did to me? You took an AK-47 and blew my soul open.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Life, Soul, Heart

“She mailed me a Merry Christmas-I'm-Breaking-Up-with-You card. I'll read it to you," he said. He cleared his throat. "Dear Marcus. Merry Christmas. I'm breaking up with you. Mia.”

Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist

Source: Sloppy Firsts

Reading, Christmas

“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

“Tis a strange thing, that the only friends I have I found in the same way, lying flat in the meadows, crying as if their hearts would break.”

Elizabeth George Speare book The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Source: The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Way, Lying, Heart, Cry

“I moved to leave, and Dylan actually grabbed me by my shoulders. I was so surprised that I forgot to karate-chop his elbows and break his arms.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

“She's got the kind of ethereal, unselfconscious beauty some young girls possess that breaks your heart. Or theirs.”

Ilsa J. Bick (1957) American writer

Source: Drowning Instinct

Beauty, Girl, Heart

“You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Fear, Waiting

“You can do anything when it's not real.
When it is real, nothing breaks your fall. Nothing gets between you and the ground.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Source: Getting the Girl

“The glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul -- breaking the mental manacles -- getting the brain out of bondage -- giving courage to thought -- filling the world with mercy, justice, and joy.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Source: Humboldt From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

World, Justice, Soul, Courage

“Shut up, Axl!" he whispered fiercly. "If you want to break your neck, do it quietly or I'll break it for you.”

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

Source: Erak's Ransom

“You can break a thing, but you cannot always guide it afterward into the shape you want.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Tithe

“Sometimes, Ms. Lane,” he said, “one must break with one’s past to embrace one’s future. It is never
an easy thing to do. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics between survivors and victims.
Letting go of what was, to survive what is.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Variant: Sometimes, Ms. Lane," he said, "one must break with one's past to embrace one's future. It is never an easy thing to do. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics between survivors and victims. Letting go of what was, to survive what is.
Source: Darkfever

Past, Future