Quotes about difference
page 18

“Things are always different than what they might be… If you wait for them to change, you will never do anything.”

Henry James book The Portrait of a Lady

Source: The Portrait of a Lady

Change, Waiting

“You got a God. Don't make no difference if you don' know what he looks like.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

Source: The Grapes of Wrath

God

“Nice is different than good.”

Stephen Sondheim (1930) American composer and lyricist

“Every life is different because you passed this way and touched history.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Life, Way, History

“You and I were different. We came from different worlds, and yet you were the one how taught me the value of love. You showed me what it was like to care for another, and I am a better man because of it. I don't want you to ever forget that.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Love, World, Forgetting

“‎"Does all the beauty of the world stop when you die?"

"No," said the Old Oak; "it will last much longer - longer than I can even think of."

"Well, then," said the little May-fly, "we have the same time to live; only we reckon differently.”

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet

Source: The Complete Fairy Tales

World, Beauty, Thinking, Time

“The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction.”

Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Age

“When he went back to the fire he knelt and smoothed her hair as she slept and he said if he were God he would have made the world just so and no different.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

God, World

“The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it according to his inner self. The words go to the ear, but the true message travels straight to the spirit.”

Juliet Marillier book Son of the Shadows

Source: Son of the Shadows

Fear, Travel

“People make their own reality. That was what Praxis had taught him years ago. A hundred people can witness the exact same event, and give two hundred and three different accountings of it.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Styxx

People, Reality

“The children of God have more in common then they have differences.”

Henry B. Eyring (1933) American Mormon leader

God, Children

“Maybe you expected marriage to be perfect - I guess that's where you and I are different. See, I thought it would be all about making mistakes, but doing it with someone who's there to remind you what you learned along the way.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

Marriage, Way, Learning, Perfection

“It's always been hard for me to tell the difference between denial and what used to be known as hope.”

Michael Chabon book Wonder Boys

Source: Wonder Boys

Hope

“The world is what YOU think of it, so think of it DIFFERENTLY and your life will change.”

Paul Arden (1940–2008) writer

Source: Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

Life, World, Thinking, Change

“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.”

Marian Wright Edelman (1939) American children's rights activist

Thinking, Time, Faith

“I looked into his eyes, and I realized he was the same man I'd seen in my dreams. His face might be totally different, but the same soul was in there, the same intelligence and all the sadness.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Sadness, Dreams, Soul, Intelligence

“If someone's different from you and it scares you or makes you mad, that's God telling you to take a closer look. If you're scared or mad, that's about you, not about the person who scares you or angers you.”

Chris Crutcher book Deadline

Source: Deadline

God, Personality, Madness, Anger

“We all posses different gifts and abilities. How we use those gifts determines who we are.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

“Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

“That's why I want you there, he said. You're unpredictable, and that can be the difference between success and failure. Most people make decisions in anger, fear, love, or obligation. You make decisions to irritate people.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: For a Few Demons More

Love, People, Fear, Failure

“We all have our sorrows, and although the exact delinaments, weight and dimensions of grief are different for everyone, the color of grief is common to us all.
I know, he said, because he was human, and therefore, in a way, he did.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Color, Way

“Our creed [atheism] is indeed a queer creed. You others, Christians (and similar people), consider our ethics much inferior, indeed abominable. There is that little difference. We adhere to ours in practice, you don't.”

Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) Austrian physicist

Source: A Life of Erwin Schrödinger

People

“winners don't do different things, they do things differently”

Shiv Khera (1961) Indian politician

Variant: Winner dont do different but they do differently
Source: You Can Win: A Step by Step Tool for Top Achievers

“Being unheard is the ground floor of giving up, and giving up is the ground floor of doing yourself in. It’s not so much, what’s the point? It’s more like, what’s the difference?”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

“I finally know the difference between pleasing and loving, obeying and respecting. It has taken me so many years to be okay with being different, and with being this alive, this intense. (xxvi)”

Eve Ensler (1953) American playwright, performer, feminist, activist and artist

Source: I am an Emotional Creature

Love

“In everyone there sleeps
A sense of life lived according to love.
To some it means the difference they could make
By loving others, but across most it sweeps,
As all they might have done had they been loved.
That nothing cures.”

Philip Larkin (1922–1985) English poet, novelist, jazz critic and librarian

Love, Life, Sense, Sleep

“Gone had come to mean something different, in a way that is hadn’t used to. Something permanent.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: It's Not Summer Without You

Way

“Wanting and needing are two different things.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Dreams

“We boil at different degrees.”

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

Eloquence
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870)

“Love dies in many different ways, and it's natural for the grass to seem greener on the other side. But it's not a competition; there's plenty of pain to go around.”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

Love, Pain, Way, Nature

“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Death, Time

“Just as I suspected, my room does look different, post-eclipse. It looks smalled, like it can't contain me anymore.
After all, I've got a whole new world to see.”

Wendy Mass book Every Soul a Star

Source: Every Soul a Star

World

“Be not intimidated… nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

1760s, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)
Context: Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom, whatever can be warranted by the laws of your country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.

Suffering

“There is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others.”

Michel De Montaigne book Essays

Book II (1580), Ch. 1
Essais (1595), Book II

“Your whole life you are really writing one book, which is an attempt to grasp the consciousness of your time and place– a single book written from different stages of your ability.”

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

Life, Books, Time

“Hoo! You're like a giant mood ring! I wonder if I can make different colors show up depending on where i touch you
- Nell Harris”

Katie MacAlister (1964) Author

Color, Mood, Dependency

“I imagine you come across a number of people who are disconcerted by the difference between what you do feel and what they fancy you ought to feel. It is fatal to pay the smallest attention to them.”

Dorothy L. Sayers book Gaudy Night

Source: Gaudy Night

People, Feeling, Imagination

“Alone-sex didn't count. It's like the difference between thinking to yourself or having a good conversation with someone----the pleasure is in the exchange."

-Liberty Jones”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Pleasure, Sex, Thinking

“Books--oh! no. I am sure we never read the same, or not with the same
feelings."

"I am sorry you think so; but if that be the case, there can at least be
no want of subject. We may compare our different opinions.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Books, Feeling, Thinking, Reading

“But to admire a strong person
and to live under that strong person’s thumb are
two different things.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Strong, Personality

“I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the gift wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would know when to stop unwrapping.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Christmas

“… It's hard to make changes. Things get so comfortable and you don't want to move. Maybe it would do you good to be a little uncomfortable for a while, and do something different…”

Danielle Steel book Legacy

Source: Legacy

Change

“There are things we want, and things we may have…. Sanity lies in knowing the difference.”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Death's Mistress

“They yell at me because I can’t see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs. Nobody can make it stop.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

Foreword to Radio Replies Vol. 1, (1938) page ix
Variant: There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.

Hate, People

“There's a difference between the fact that the universe is inherently unfair on a cosmic level, and the fact that life is unfair because people are actively making it so.”

John Scalzi (1969) American science fiction writer

Life, People, Universe

“How different this moment feels, for so many reasons. I tell myself that no two loves are identical - but that I don't have to compare anymore.”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Source: Love the One You're With

Love, Feeling

“I just wish that God or my parents or Sam or my sister or someone would just tell me what's wrong with me. Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense. To make this all go away.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

God, Way, Parent, Sense

“For lovers, touch is metamorphosis. All the parts of their bodies seem to change, and they seem to become something different and better.”

John Cheever (1912–1982) American novelist and short story writer

Lovers, Change, Parting

“The world is divided by two different tribes. The people who are assholes and the people who are not.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

People, World

“It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Catherine Earnshaw (Ch. IX).
Wuthering Heights (1847)
Context: I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.

Love, Soul

“Of course, having information to use is one thing. Knowing what it means and how to use it is a different
story.”

Jeff Lindsay book Dearly Devoted Dexter

Source: Dearly Devoted Dexter

“I spent uncounted hours sitting at the bow looking at the water and the sky, studying each wave, different from the last, seeing how it caught the light, the air, the wind; watching patterns, the sweep of it all, and letting it take me.
The sea.”

Gary Paulsen (1939) American writer and musher

Source: Caught by the Sea

Study, Light, Water, Sea

“Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.”

Arthur C. Clarke book 2010: Odyssey Two

Source: 2010: Odyssey Two

“… for music alone can abolish differences
of language or culture between two people and invoke something indestructible within them.”

Irène Némirovsky (1903–1942) French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz

Source: Suite Française

People, Music

“The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

“Sometimes I felt like I was waiting for my life to begin and more than anything, in that moment, I wanted to force some kind of beginning. I wanted things to be different than usual. I wanted to bend reality.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

Life, Reality, Waiting

“And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.”

Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness

Source: Heart of Darkness

Wisdom, Truth, Time, Sincerity

“It sounds so far away and different. I like different places. I like any places that isn't here.”

Edna Ferber (1885–1968) Novelist, playwright

Source: Gigolo

“I know I'm not going to be able to change the world, but I think it's important to try to make a difference”

Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride

Source: The Longest Ride

World, Thinking, Change

“A moment might be a thousand different things.”

Kim Edwards book The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Source: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

“It is not given to us to know what difference we can make, and perhaps we can make no difference at all. But that is no reason not to make the attempt," said Saliman quietly. "The Light shines more brightly in the darkness.”

Alison Croggon book The Crow

Source: The Crow

Light

“I reserve the right to love many different people at once, and to change my prince often.”

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

Love, People, Change

“Now, I had been frightened on several different occasions in my life. The most frightening of these involved an elevator and a mime.”

Brandon Sanderson Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Life

“And I could see his internal struggle become an all out war. "It wouldn't have made a difference. Not with Adrian involved," he said….. "I meant it. I won't be that guy Rose. I won't be that man that takes someone else's girlfriend.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

War, Guy

“But I know the difference. Everyone else is a ghost. I exist here alone, stranded by choice. Deserted.”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

“Knowing it and seeing it are two different things.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

“We're the ones who will fill in the blank places. Maybe we can make it different.”

Lois Lowry Gathering Blue

Source: Gathering Blue

“A slow smile had curved St. Vincent's lips. 'Wives are a different case altogether. They require a great deal of effort but the rewards are substantial. I highly recommend wives. Especially one's own.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Mine Till Midnight

Smile, Effort

“It makes a big difference in your life when you stay positive.”

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

Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding

Life, Attitude, Life, Positive

“A lot can change between planning something and actually doing it. But maybe all that really matters is that anything is different at all.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Change

“Every relationship is an education. Each new person we welcome into our hearts is a chance to evolve into something radically different than we used to be. But what happens when those people disappear from our lives?”

Brian K. Vaughan (1976) American screenwriter, comic book creator

Source: Saga #30

People, Education, Chance, Heart

“I'm not a vagrant. I'm a hobo. Big difference.”

Lee Child book Killing Floor

Source: Killing Floor

“I need a watchman to tell me this is what a man says but this is what he means, to draw a line down the middle and say here is this justice and there is that justice and make me understand the difference.”

Harper Lee book Go Set a Watchman

Source: Go Set a Watchman

Justice, Understanding, Drawing

“Treat them all the same by treating them differently.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“You must walk to the beat of a different drummer. The same beat that the wealthy hear. If the beat sounds normal, evacuate the dance floor immediately! The goal is to not be normal, because as my radio listeners know, normal is broke.”

Dave Ramsey (1960) American financial advisor

Source: The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Dance

“We've come from the same history - 2000 years of persecution - we've just expressed our sufferings differently. Blacks developed the blues. Jews complained, we just never thought of putting it to music.”

Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian

Music, History, Suffering

“Never judge anyone by another's opinions. We all have different sides that we show to different people.”

Jacqueline Susann book Valley of the Dolls

Source: Valley of the Dolls

People

“When you're on your own, you look for signs. Sometimes you make them up, sometimes they're actually there, but most of the time you can't tell the difference from the two.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Time

“It's different being afraid when there's the hope it will amount to something.”

Justin Cronin The Passage

Source: The Passage

Hope

“The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Source: Pygmalion & My Fair Lady

Girl, Flowers

“To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

“There are no differences but differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference.”

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

“I have to say, your technique is really different. Curran hammered at the spell until it broke. You just talk. Help me out here, what’s the strategy? Are you hoping the ward will get tired and kill itself so it won’t have to listen to you anymore?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

Hope, Help

“I leave the world in terrible turmoil. I come back, same turmoil. Nothing at all different. Well, outfits are a little different…”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Source: Astonishing X-Men, Volume 1: Gifted

World

“Marriage… is the union of two people of different sexes with a view to the mutual possession of each other's sexual attributes for the duration of their lives.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Marriage, People, Sex

“Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.”

David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest

Variant: That everyone is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else. That this isn't necessarily perverse.
Source: Infinite Jest (1996)

Secret, Way

“What goes around may come around, but it never ends up exactly the same place, you ever notice? Like a record on a turntable, all it takes is one groove's difference and the universe can be on into a whole 'nother song.”

Thomas Pynchon book Inherent Vice

Source: Inherent Vice

Universe

“Sometimes I think the difference between what we want and what we're afraid of is about the width of an eyelash.”

Jay McInerney (1955) American writer

Thinking

“The difference between the love of a man and the love of a woman is that a man will always give reasons for loving, but a woman gives no reasons for loving.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter

Source: Life Is Worth Living

Love

“Annabeth’s hand slipped into mine. Under different circumstances I would’ve been embarrassed, but here in the dark I was glad to know where she was. It was about the only thing I was sure of.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds”

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

World, Fear, Sense, Change

“How is Ty? There is nothing wrong with Ty, but he is different, and the Clave hates all that is different. They will try to punish him, for being who he is. They would punish a star for burning.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Bitter of Tongue

Hate, Star

“There are times in
life when the question of knowing if one can think differently
than one thinks, and perceive differently than one sees, is
absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting
at all.”

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher

Source: The History of Sexuality, Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure

Life, Question, Thinking, Time

“its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented.”

Chris Van Allsburg (1949) US children's writer and illustrator

“Because the difference between seeing and not seeing can be the difference between living and dying.”

Stephen King book The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

Source: The Drawing of the Three

“It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.”

Tom Brokaw (1940) Television journalist

Business

“Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it's good.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Evil

“Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity.”

Herman Melville book Billy Budd, Sailor

Source: Billy Budd, the Sailor (1891), Ch. 21
Source: Billy Budd, Sailor
Context: Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity. In pronounced cases there is no question about them. But in some supposed cases, in various degrees supposedly less pronounced, to draw the exact line of demarcation few will undertake tho' for a fee some professional experts will. There is nothing nameable but that some men will undertake to do it for pay.

Color, Drawing

“He looked different in sleep, beautiful but cold as moonlight. I found myself wishing he would wake so that I might watch the life return.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

Life, Beauty, Sleep

Quotes about difference page 18

Quotes about difference
page 18