Quotes about closing
page 8

“I keep a close watch on this heart of mine;
I keep my eyes wide open all the time.
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds.
Because you're mine, I walk the line.”

Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter

I Walk the Line
Song lyrics, Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957)

Time, Heart

“What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?
The hearts bleed longest, and heals but to wear
That which disfigures it.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Heart

“The longest way must have its close - the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe book Uncle Tom's Cabin

Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Ch. 40 The Martyr
Context: The longest day must have its close — the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night, and the night of the just to an eternal day.

Hope, Good Night, Way, Night

“I've learned never to close my mind to an idea simply because it seems miraculous.”

Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol

Source: The Lost Symbol

Idea, Learning

“And I have no desire to get ugly,
But I cannot help mentioning that the door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

Good Intentions (1942), Seeing Eye to Eye is Believing

Help

“You left me."
Not realizing until I've said my final good-bye and closed the door behind me, that he's not referring to the past.
He's prophesying our future.”

Alyson Nöel book Blue Moon

Source: Blue Moon

Past, Future

“We have a name," said Jace. "Magnes B-"
"Shut up." Alec hissed, thwacking Jace with his closed menu. Jace looked injured.
"Jesus," he rubbed his arm. "What's your problem?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Problem

“I will always be there. I will walk across the whole planet if I have to.”
I closed my eyes and whispered, “I’ll meet you halfway.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Shifts

“And, in the darkness, David closed his eyes as all that was lost was found again.”

John Connolly The Book of Lost Things

Source: The Book of Lost Things

“Old Dan must have known he was dying. Just before he drew his last breath, he opened his eyes and looked at me. Then with one last sigh, and a feeble thump of his tail, his friendly gray eyes closed forever.”

Wilson Rawls book Where the Red Fern Grows

Source: Where the Red Fern Grows

“Rabbits live close to death and when death comes closer than usual, thinking about survival leaves little room for anything else.”

Richard Adams book Watership Down

Source: Watership Down

Death, Thinking

“Now it's like a fog has lifted. I sense Leetu just as clearly as I can see the moon.'
Your eyes are closed, and the moon as a haze around it.”

Donita K. Paul (1950) American writer

Source: DragonSpell

Sense

“They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.”

Jean Rhys book Wide Sargasso Sea

Source: Wide Sargasso Sea

People

“You know how it is when you're reading a book and falling asleep, you're reading, reading… and all of a sudden you notice your eyes are closed? I'm like that all the time.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Books, Time, Reading

“I like to be admired from afar, and then complimented up close.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Seduction

“Close your eyes and stare into the dark.”

Cecelia Ahern book Thanks for the Memories

Source: Thanks for the Memories

“They’re waiting for you. Go on in.” Adrian leaned close to Keith’s ear and spoke in an ominous voice. “If. You. Dare.” He poked Keith’s shoulder and gave a "Muhahaha” kind of monster laugh.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Waiting

“In the wild, an elephant mother and daughter stay in close proximity their whole lives; I hope I am that lucky.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Leaving Time

Hope, Daughters

“At the most difficult moments of my life, when it seemed that every door was closed to me, the taste of those apricots comes back to comfort me with the notion that abundance is always within reach, if only one knows how to find it.”

Isabel Allende book Paula

Source: Paula

Life

“Any librarian or scholar will tell you: Close is not the same as accurate.”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

“When you win, you often lose, that's just a fact. There's no currency to straighten a warped spirit, or open a closed heart, a selfish heart…”

Abraham Verghese book Cutting for Stone

Source: Cutting for Stone

Heart, Selfishness

“Morning would come before we knew it. It always did. But we still had the night, and for now, we were together, so I just closed my eyes and drank it all in.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

Night

“Once you let yourself grow close to someone, cutting the ties could be painful.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

Pain

“When pain brings you down, don't be silly, don't close your eyes and cry, you just might be in the best position to see the sun shine.”

Alanis Morissette (1974) Canadian-American singer-songwriter

Pain, Sun, Cry

“To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.”

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

Truth

“I don't know if it's better to be close with your daughter or make sure that she has a better life than you do.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Life, Daughters

“Sometimes it is better to have someone you mistrust close to you, so that you can keep an eye on him - Chiron”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

“I close my eyes and ride the mindless bliss. It's all I can do. Be. Feel. Live.
I'magain.
I always will be with this man.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Feeling

“My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Source: Dickinson: Poems

Life, Hell, Parting

“This is the shade of meaning: the door of a physician should never be closed; the door of a priest should always be open.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Variant: A doctor’s door should never be closed, a priest's door should always be open.
Source: Les Misérables

“Is this one of those keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer things?"
"I though it was keep your friends close so you have someone to drive the car when you sneak over to your enemy's house at night and throw up in his mailbox.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Cars, Housing, Night

“if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“He was waving. "Saukerl," she laughed, and as she held up her hand, she knew completely that he was simultaneously calling her a Saumensch. I think that's as close to love as eleven-year-olds can get.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

Love, Thinking

“People should fall in love with their eyes closed. Just close your eyes. Don’t look and it’s magic”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Variant: People should fall in love with their eyes closed.

Love, People

“Cleverness is a quality a man likes to have in his wife as long as she is some distance away from him. Up close, he'll take kindness any day of the week, if there's nothing more alluring to be had.”

Margaret Atwood book The Penelopiad

Source: The Penelopiad

“If she did experience sex--or something close to it--in high school, I'm sure it would have been less out of sexual desire or love than literary curiosity.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Love, School, Sex

“That one,"-he nodded toward the closed door-" will rule more than just Attolia before he is done. He is an Annux, a king of kings.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Now all the mute objects of my life seem to tell my story, to stretch back in time, if I look closely enough.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book Middlesex

Source: Middlesex

Life, Time

“That is a good book it seems to me, which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.”

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist

Books

“If you love someone, truly love them, you should never cause them pain. Never fill their eyes with something so close to grief.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book The Killing Dance

Source: The Killing Dance

Love, Pain

“The rich world likes and wishes to believe that someone, somewhere, is doing something for the Third World. For this reason, it does not inquire too closely into the motives or practices of anyone who fulfills, however vicariously, this mandate.”

Christopher Hitchens book The Missionary Position

Source: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

World, Motivation

“Fear is an enemy that can be killed only at close range. The closest range of all is intimacy. The deeper the fear is embedded in one’s spirit, the more vulnerable it is.”

Andrew Vachss (1942) American writer and lawyer

Source: Haiku

Fear

“My father once told me that respect for truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. 'Something cannot emerge from nothing,' he said. This is profound thinking if you understand how unstable 'the truth' can be.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

Truth, Understanding, Thinking

“None of those other things makes a difference. Love is the strongest thing in the world, you know. Nothing can touch it. Nothing comes close. If we love each other we're safe from it all. Love is the biggest thing there is.”

David Guterson book Snow Falling on Cedars

Source: Snow Falling on Cedars

Love, World

“He played of love and loss and years of silence, words unsaid and vows unspoken, and all the spaces between his heart and theirs; and when he was done, and he'd set the violin back in its box, Will's eyes were closed, but Tessa's were full of tears.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, Tear, Silence, Loss

“Sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

“We live, we love. These are the choices we are given, to open doors or to close them. It is all we have, and it is enough”

Karen White (1964) American writer

Source: The Time Between

Love

“Because letting someone in close meant they could hurt you. I knew all about that kind of fear. I lived with it.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Blue-Eyed Devil

Fear, Hurt

“All you could do was take on as much weight as you can bear. And if you're lucky, there's someone close enough by to shoulder the rest.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

“The front door shut, leaving Alec sitting in the half-lit garden, alone. He closed his eyes for a moment, the image of a face hovering behind his lids. Not Jace's face, for a change. The eyes set in the face were green, slit-pupiled. Cat eyes.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Cats, Change

“There was no closing my eyes and sliding back into that blissful dream of normal. This was my normal now.”

Kelley Armstrong The Awakening

Source: The Awakening

Dreams

“I tried to put things in perspective but sometimes you're just too close to it.”

Cormac McCarthy book No Country for Old Men

Source: No Country for Old Men

“Anyway, it doesn't matter how much, how often, or how closely you keep an eye on things because you can't control it. Sometimes things and people just go. Just like that.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

People

“I’ll never pause again, never stand still, till either death hath closed these eyes of mine, or fortune given me measure of revenge.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Death, Revenge

“Close, close all night
the lovers keep.
They turn together
in their sleep,

Close as two pages
in a book
that read each other
in the dark.

Each knows all
the other knows,
learned by heart
from head to toes.”

Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) American poet

Source: Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke-Box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts, and Fragments

Books, Lovers, Sleep, Learning

“I never had intimate friends, and the few who came close are in New York. By which I mean they're dead, because that's where I suppose condemned souls go in order not to endure the truth of their past lives.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Source: Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Truth, Soul, Past, Dead

“Yes, if you're looking for infinity, just close your eyes!”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“And in this passion for understanding her soul lay close to his; she had him all to herself. But he must be made abstract first.”

D.H. Lawrence book Sons and Lovers

Source: Sons and Lovers

Soul, Understanding, Passion

“Sam looked at me soft. And she hugged me. And I closed my eyes because I wanted to know nothing but her arms. And she kissed my cheek and whispered so nobody could hear.
"I love you.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Love, Kiss

“The past is a candle at great distance: too close to let you quit, too far to comfort you.”

Amy Bloom (1953) Fiction writer, screenwriter, social worker, psychotherapist

Source: Away

Missing You, Past

“They're waiting for you. Go on in." Adrian leaned close to Keith's ear and spoke in an ominous voice."If. You. Dare.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Waiting

“What is a friend if not someone you feel close to, someone you like being with, someone you can confide in and share pleasure with.

-Jeremy Malory”

Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) American writer

Source: A Loving Scoundrel

Pleasure, Feeling, Confidence

“Can I see you outside for a second?" Kat glared at Hale, then walked to the patio doors and out onto the veranda.
As Hale closed the door behind him, Kat heard Angus say, "Ooh, Mom and Dad are going to fight now.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

Moms, Fight

“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

Life, Past

“Closing the gate on her oldest fears as she had closed the gate of her own fenced yard, she discovered the wings she'd always wished she had.”

Natalie Babbitt book Tuck Everlasting

Source: Tuck Everlasting

Fear

“The solitude of writing is also quite frightening. It's quite close to madness, one just disappears for a day and loses touch.”

Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) South african Nobel-winning writer

Source: Conversations With Nadine Gordimer

Solitude, Madness

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”

William Golding book Lord of the Flies

Source: Lord of the Flies

Thinking, Parting

“I know I'm famous and irresitible - a combination whose properties closely resemble radioactivity - and I know that you in this room are helpless against me.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

“So that plan worked out well.'

Skulduggery, your entire plan consisted of, and I quote, "Let's get up close and then see what happens."'

All the same,' he said, 'I think the whole thing worked out rather beautifully.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Playing with Fire

Quotes, Thinking

“She had never been so close to anybody. It was as if they were one being, together, not predator and prey, but partners in a dance. Poppy-and-James.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Night World, No. 1

Dance

“Destroy them later?" Cal offered, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

“He stared at her, knowing with certainty that he was falling in love. He pulled her close and kissed her beneath a blanket of stars, wondering how on earth he'd been lucky enough to find her.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

Love, Star, Kiss

“A house is a compressed territory where our basic needs can be fulfilled close by and safely.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Housing

“He closed his eyes. “I’m so tired, Tess,” he said. “I only wanted pleasant dreams for once.”
“That is not the way to get them, Will,” she said softly. “You cannot buy or drug or dream your way out of pain.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Pain, Dreams, Way

“You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

People, Heart

“Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants and peach pits and death and where the world went when I closed my eyes.”

Toni Morrison book The Bluest Eye

Source: The Bluest Eye

Death, World, Spring, Grass

“I see the difference now, between loving someone from afar and loving someone up close. When you see them up close, you see the real them, but they also get to see the real you.”

Jenny Han book To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Love

“At last he reached out and with a gentle hand, closed Valentine’s eyes.
", Shadowhunter," he said.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“What deep wounds ever closed without a scar?”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.
:This quote, often attributed to Jomo Kenyatta, was first written in a fiction play published by holocaust doubter Rolf Hochhuth, in his controversial The Deputy, a Christian tragedy (1964), Grove Press, p. 144. No reference to any historical or original source was given. Other citations are found in books written by critics of religion, such as Christos Tzanetakos's "The Life and Work of an Atheist Pioneer", iUniverse; and Jack Huberman's "Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Nonbelievers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and Those Generally Hell-Bound" (2008), 175. No references are given.
: In Desmond Tutu: A Biography (2004) by Steven Gish, p. 101; is clarified Tutu used it as a joke which was not of him.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Misattributed

Life, Books, Religion, Quotes

“I love you so much, so incredibly much," he went on, "and I forget when you're close to me, I forget who you are. I forget that you're Jem's. I'd have to be the worst sort of person to think what I'm thinking right now. But I am thinking it.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Variant: Will-"
"I love you so much, so incredibly much," he went on, "and when you're this close to me, I forget who you are. I forget you're Jem's. I'd have to be the worst sort of person to think what I'm thinking right now. But I am thinking it.
Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, Thinking, Personality, Forgetting

“Forgiveness does not require us to close our eyes but rather to truly open them.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Gift

Forgiveness

“I close my eyes. And i scream. If my whole world is crashing down around me, then I am going to make the sound of the crashing. I want to scream until all my bones break.”

David Levithan book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Source: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

World

“Crying is right at hand in the smothering dark, closed inside someone else, when you see how everything you can ever accomplish will end up as trash.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Cry

“Do you ever just want to take your car out onto the highway and gun the engine as fast
as you can and then close your eyes and see what happens?”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Cars

“Nico was devastatingly alone. He’d lost his big sister Bianca. He’d pushed away all other demigods who’d tried to get close to him. His experiences at Camp Half-Blood, in the Labyrinth and in Tartarus had left him scarred, afraid to trust anyone.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Sister

“I'm not prepared for Rue's family. Her parents, whose faces are still fresh with sorrow. Her fiver younger siblings, who resemble her so closely. The slight builds, the luminous brown eyes. They form a flock of small dark birds.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Family, Bird, Parent, Siblings

“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

“And suddenly solitude fell across his heart like a dusty reflection. He closed his eyes. The dark doors within him opened and he entered. The next performance in the theater of Grenouille's soul was beginning.”

Patrick Süskind (1949) German writer and screenwriter

Source: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Soul, Solitude, Heart

“Question: What is the opposite of faith?

Not disbelief. Too final, certain, closed. Itself is a kind of belief.

Doubt.”

Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses

Source: The Satanic Verses

Faith, Question

“Love, after all, was universal. Qhuinn closed his fist up tight, and knew he would never, ever take that ring off. “Always,” Blay murmured. “Because family is an always kind of thing.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover at Last

Love, Family, Universe

“Then, I turned around and walked to my room and closed my door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.”

Stephen Chbosky (1970) American writer

“If the dream is held close to the heart, and imagination is applied to what there is close at hand. Everything is still possible.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Dreams, Imagination, Heart

“If you married me, it would be scandalous and innapropriate, and doors would be closed to you."
"Good God, woman, I let two of my sisters marry Gypsies. Those doors have already been closed, bolted, and nailed shut.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Married By Morning

God, Sister

“She maintained a careful balance by her window, never allowing the men to come too close, never allowing them to stray too far.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Men

“Although the photographer and the art thief were close friends, neither had ever taken the other's picture.”

George Carlin book Brain Droppings

Source: Brain Droppings

Art

“If you want a happy ending, it just depends on where you close the book!”

Orson Welles (1915–1985) American actor, director, writer and producer

From the published screenplay for "The Big Brass Ring" (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Santa Teresa Press, 1987)
Variant: If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.

Books, Dependency, Happiness