Quotes about choosing
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“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t
know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder
why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or
steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Business

“Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Life, Death

“Who wants to be used? I love to read, so books are my main friends. They're always available, always friendly, and always interesting, and they never make me choose sides.”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer

Love, Books, Reading

“I choose my battles, Dresden. Not you." She looked up at me calmly. "Let me put this in terms that will get through your skull: My friend is going to save a child from monsters. I'm going with him. That's what friends do, Harry.”

Jim Butcher book Changes

Source: Changes

“YOU don’t choose your life; it chooses you. There’s no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them and carry on.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

Life, Joy

“When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong, every single time.”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Source: The Giver

People, Freedom, Time

“For to speak the truth, there are but few that care thus to spend their time, but choose rather to be speaking of things to no profit.”

John Bunyan The Pilgrim's Progress

Source: The Pilgrim's Progress

Truth, Time

“The Yogic scriptures say that God responds to the sacred prayers and efforts of human beings in any way whatsoever that mortals choose to worship - just so long as those prayers are sincere.”

Elizabeth Gilbert (1969) American writer

God, Way, Effort, Sincerity

“Who wants that? I'd rather choose to fall in love and be hurt. Sometimes I can't even sleep because I love someone too much. And there's always sadness in our lives. It's that sad feeling that keeps us going. - Usagi/Sailor Moon”

Naoko Takeuchi (1967) Japanese manga artist

Source: Sailor Moon, Vol. 1

Love, Sadness, Feeling, Sleep

“Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses to be bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?”

Anthony Burgess book A Clockwork Orange

Source: A Clockwork Orange

God, Way

“All you have the right to ask of life is to choose a battle in this war, make the best you can, and leave the field with honor.”

Leon Uris (1924–2003) American novelist

Life, War

“The eye—it cannot choose but see;
we cannot bid the ear be still;
our bodies feel, where'er they be,
against or with our will.”

William Wordsworth book Lyrical Ballads

Expostulation and Reply, st. 5 (1798).
Source: Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800)

Feeling

“I never had to choose my subject- my subject rather chose me.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

“Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important, in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) American novelist and short story writer (1804 – 1879)

1836
Notebooks, The American Notebooks (1835 - 1853)

World

“How a person seems to show up for us is intimately connected to how we choose to show up for them.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Source: Return to Love

Personality

“Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Death, Evil, Dead

“Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Men, Silence

“Trust is not a passive state of mind. It is a vigorous act of the soul by which we choose to lay hold on the promises of God and cling to them despite the adversity that at times seeks to overwhelms us.”

Jerry Bridges (1929–2016) American writer

Source: Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts

God, Soul, Time

“The ending is nearer than you think, and it is already written. All that we have left to choose is the correct moment to begin.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Thinking

“And does man simply choose evil, or does he create it?”

Ted Dekker book Three

Source: Thr3e

Evil

“Choosing love or war: both are brave choices, in their own ways.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, War, Way

“Any system which allows men to choose their own future will end by choosing safety and mediocrity, and in such a Reality the stars are out of reach.”

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

Men, Star, Reality, Future

“If you do not know what you feel, then it is difficult to choose love; it is better to fall. Then you do not have to be responsible for your actions.”

Bell Hooks book All About Love: New Visions

Source: All About Love: New Visions

Love, Feeling

“The stars know everything,
So we try to read their minds.
As distant as they are,
We choose to whisper in their presence.”

Charles Simic (1938) American poet

Star, Distant, Reading

“But 'Thou mayest!'! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

God, Fight

“If it was a sin for you to choose me… then I would go to the Devil himself and bless him for tempting ye to it.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

“Eve didn't choose to eat the apple. She was tempted by the serpent."
"Yes," I argue, thoughts coming out half-formed. "But… she didn't have to take a bite. She chose to.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

“It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

Personality, Loyalty

“It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Source: The Giver

“What you need to learn, children, is the difference between right and wrong in every area of life. And once you learn the difference, you must always choose the right.”

Jeanne DuPrau The City of Ember

Source: The City of Ember

Life, Children, Learning

“A man is as free as he chooses to make himself, never an atom freer.”

George MacDonald book Lilith

Source: Lilith

“If you look at the person someone chooses to have a relationship with, you’ll see what they think of themselves.”

Carrie Fisher book The Princess Diarist

Source: The Princess Diarist

Thinking, Personality

“Fate isn’t one straight road…there are forks in it, many different routes to different ends. We have the free will to choose the path.”

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas

Source: Odd Thomas

Fate

“What was I thinking? Of all the assistants I could have wound up with, why did I have to choose the one with the scary mother and troublemaking in his bloodlines? I am doomed.”

Trudi Canavan The Ambassador's Mission

Source: The Ambassador's Mission

Thinking

“I am a believer in free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Castle in the Air

Source: Castle Series, Castle in the Air (1990), p. 31.
Context: "Maybe," he said, "you should be more careful about whom you let your dog bite."
"Not I!" said Jamal. "I am a believer of free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so."

Hate, Dogs

“The truth is, wherever you choose to be, it's the wrong place.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Diary

Source: Diary

Truth

“Choosing to be honest is the first step in the process of love. There is no practitioner of love who deceives. Once the choice has been made to be honest, then the next step on love's path is communication.”

Bell Hooks book All About Love: New Visions

Source: All About Love: New Visions

Love, Communication

“Only the weak blame their past for the faults they find in their present; the strong acknowledge the effects of their past and then move on from it. We are all free to choose whether we will be weak or strong.”

Penny Jordan (1946–2011) British women's author

Source: The Italian Duke's Virgin Mistress

Strong, Past

“Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That's their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

"Sisterhood" in New York Magazine (20 December 1971), p. 49

Nature

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

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

Peaceful

“Life is hard enough as it is without choosing someone difficult to share it with”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

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

Life

“You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”

Darren Shan book Birth of a Killer

Source: Birth of a Killer

World, Loneliness

“Here's a tip, Alyconeus. Next time you choose the biggest state for your home, don't set up base in the part that's only 10 miles wide.
Welcome to Canada, idiot.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Home, Time, Parting

“What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

Life, Happiness, Secret

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Business

“Those who choose to be servants know the most about being free.”

Janette Oke (1935) Canadian writer

“We can retreat and retreat and let ourselves get backed into corners forever,” she’d said once. “Or we can go out and meet the enemy at the time
and place we choose. Not them.”

Okay, Tasha, I thought. Let’s see if your advice gets me killed.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

Time

“The thing about fate, Magnus: even if we can't change the big picture, our choices can alter the details. That's how we rebel against destiny, how we make our mark. What will you choose to do?”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

Fate, Change

“I will hate the man you choose because he isn't me, and love him if he makes you smile.”

Robert Jordan book The Eye of the World

Source: The Eye of the World

Love, Hate, Smile

“Don't choose the better guy, choose the guy that's gonna make you the better girl”

Chelsea Handler (1975) American comedian, actress, author and talk show host

Guy, Girl

“When all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) American feminist, writer, commercial artist, lecturer and social reformer

Death

“It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Life, Night

“It is every man's right to choose when to Sheathe the Sword."
--- Ingtar Shinowa ---”

Robert Jordan The Great Hunt

Source: The Great Hunt

“No matter how people try to dispute it, perception is reality. Its what you choose to believe that makes you the person you are.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

People, Reality, Personality

“If I cling to circumstances I could feel
not responsible. Only she who says
she did not choose, is the loser in the end.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

Feeling

“Survivors can't always choose their methods.”

Patricia Briggs (1965) American writer

Source: Dragon Blood

“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose”

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) American writer and social activist

“It's what you choose to believe that makes you the person you are.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

Personality

“The remarkable feature of physical laws is that they apply everywhere, whether or not you choose to believe in them. After the laws of physics, everything else is opinion.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

Source: Death by Black Hole - And Other Cosmic Quandaries

Law

“A person's last moments are an important thing. You can't choose how you're born but you can choose how you die.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

Personality

“Sometimes one must choose whether to be kind or honorable," he said. "Sometimes one cannot be both.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“It's a shame that we have to choose between two such second-rate countries as the USSR and the USA.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

Country

“Every decision you make, makes you. Never let other people choose who you’re going to be.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Lost Herondale

People, Decision

“We can always choose to perceive things differently. We can focus on what's wrong in our life, or we can focus on what's right.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Life

“You seem to think you have a choice," Cam said. "But you have it backwards. Love chooses you. The shadow moves as the sun commands.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Married By Morning

Love, Thinking, Sun

“There is how we
were before, and how we are now, and the time between is spent choosing
which doors to open, and which to close.”

Karen White (1964) American writer

Source: The Time Between

Time

“I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Life, Happiness, Suffering, Future

“In the infinity of life where I am,
All is perfect, whole and complete,
I no longer choose to believe in old limitations and lack, I now choose to begin to see myself
As the Universe sees me --- perfect, whole, and complete.”

Louise L. Hay book You Can Heal Your Life

Source: You Can Heal Your Life

Life, Universe, Perfection

“The time will come when you will be forced to make a choice,” Hanalea said. “When that time comes, choose love.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Gray Wolf Throne

Love, Time

“Life’s greatest gift is the freedom it leaves you to step out of it whenever you choose.”

André Breton book Anthology of Black Humor

Source: Anthology of Black Humor

Life, Freedom

“Everyone dies. I just choose the time and place for some of them!”

Gaston Leroux (1868–1927) French writer

Time

“Dear Jack,

I love you, too.

And I think I know the secret to a long and happy marriage— just choose someone you can't live without.

For me, that would be you.

So if you insist on being traditional…

Yes.

—Ella”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Smooth Talking Stranger

Love, Marriage, Happiness, Secret

“You know how every now and then, you have a moment where your whole life stretches out ahead of you like a forked road, and even as you choose one gritty path you've got your eyes on the other the whole time, certain that you're making a mistake.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Life, Time

“I choose not to make a graveyard of my body for the rotting corpses of dead animals.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Animals, Dead

“Being good is something that one must choose over and over again, every day, throughout the day, for the rest of one’s life.”

Cate Tiernan (1961) American novelist

Source: Immortal Beloved

Life

“A woman is a full time job. You have to choose your profession.”

Charles Bukowski book Factotum

Source: Factotum

Time

“Some men […] choose to seek greatness, while others are forced to it. It is always better to choose than to be forced.
A man who is forced is never completely his own master. He must dance on the strings of those who forced him.”

Robert Jordan The Great Hunt

Source: The Great Hunt

Men, Dance

“Happiness is not a feeling, it is a choice. To be happy, one must choose to be happy, not respond to a circumstance that now controls your happiness.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Happiness, Feeling

“There are those who stay at home and those who go away, and it has always been so. Everyone can choose for himself, but he must choose while there is still time and never change his mind.”

Tove Jansson book Moominvalley in November

Source: Moominvalley in November

Home, Change, Time

“Then I choose to drown. In hope. Rather than float into nothing.”

Melina Marchetta Finnikin of the Rock

Source: Finnikin of the Rock

Hope

“It is better to look suffering straight in the eye, acknowledge and respect it’s presence, and then get busy as soon as possible focusing on things we choose to focus on.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934) Hungarian American psychologist

Business, Suffering

“The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

“Have your adventures, make your mistakes, and choose your friends poorly -- all these make for great stories.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

“Don’t be flattered that he misses you. He should miss you. You are deeply missable. However, he’s still the same person who just broke up with you. Remember, the only reason he can miss you is because he’s choosing, every day, not to be with you.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

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

Personality

“‎"But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art.”

Aldous Huxley book Brave New World

Source: Brave New World

Happiness, People, Art

“Because the world isn’t divided into the special and the ordinary. Everyone has the potential to be extraordinary. As long as you have a soul and free will, you can be anything, do anything, choose anything”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Variant: Because the world isn’t divided into the special and the ordinary. Everyone has the potential to be extraordinary. As long as you have a soul and free will, you can be anything, do anything, choose anything.
Source: City of Heavenly Fire

World, Soul

“Memory chooses to preserve what desire cannot hope to sustain.”

Rabih Alameddine book An Unnecessary Woman

Source: An Unnecessary Woman

Hope, Memory

“He understood well enough how a man with a choice between pride and responsibility will almost always choose pride--if responsibility robs him of his manhood.”

Stephen King The Running Man

Source: The Running Man

For Men

“The path I choose through the maze makes me what I am. I am not only a thing, but also a way of being--one of many ways--and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming.”

Daniel Keyes book Flowers for Algernon

Source: Flowers for Algernon

Way, Understanding, Help

“Sometimes I think if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn.”

Sara Gruen book Water for Elephants

Source: Water for Elephants

Love, Making love, Thinking

“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Feeling

“We are who we are, because of those we choose to love and because of those who love us.”

Kate Mosse book The Winter Ghosts

Variant: And I shall set this last truth down. We are who we are because of those we choose to love and because of those who love us.
Source: The Winter Ghosts

Love