Quotes about direction
page 5

“Directing teenage actors is like juggling jars of nitro-glycerine: exhilarating and dangerous.”

Source: 11/22/63

“Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.”

Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) writer and economist

"Gertrude the Governess", Nonsense Novels (1911)

Horse

“A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.”

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis

World

“Magnus gazed dreamily in his direction. "You should leave him here. I could hang hats on him and things.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Variant: Nice, bah. He's gorgeous." Magnus gazed dreamily in his direction. "You should leave him here. I could hang hats on him and things.
Source: City of Glass

“Fate is a quantity very much like TV: an unstoppable narrative, written, produced and directed by somebody else.”

Zadie Smith (1975) British writer

Fate

“Every moment is a moment of decision, and every moment turns us inexorably in the direction of the rest of our lives.”

Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist

Source: Simply Perfect

Decision

“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Bee

“We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Happiness, Exercises

“A single action can cause a life to veer off in a direction it was never meant to go.”

Anita Shreve (1946–2018) American writer

Life

“Direction, not intention determines your destination.”

Andy Stanley (1958) American Christian minister

The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
Variant: Direction—not intention—determines our destination.

“I think if you study--if you learn too much of what others have done, you may tend to take the same direction as everybody else.”

Jim Henson (1936–1990) American puppeteer

Source: It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider

Thinking, Study, Learning

“The kids kept walking, moving through the Henley's halls like a tide, but when Kat turned to leave, she walked in the opposite directions. She wasn't an ordinary kid, after all.
Katarina Bishop followed no one.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

“If we don't change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we are going.”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

Change

“He can occasionally see to an enemy," she conceded. "If he manages to get his sword pointed in the right direction and the enemy does him the favor of falling upon it in precisely the right way.”

Lynn Kurland (2000) American writer

Source: Star of the Morning

Way

“Well, you have to find that rare someone for whom you’re not putting on a show. Someone who shines a spotlight in your direction—not because you’re who they need you to be, or who they want you to be…just because you’re you.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Off the Page

“A genius is simply one who has taken full possession of his own mind and directed it toward objectives of his own choosing, without permitting outside influences to discourage or mislead him.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

“It doesn't matter what people tell you. It doesn't matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.”

Alice Hoffman book Practical Magic

Source: Practical Magic

People, Home

“Only literature can grant you access to a spirit from beyond the grave—a more direct, more complete, deeper access than you’d have in conversation with a friend.”

Michel Houellebecq (1956) writer

Source: Submission

Literature

“Coach said. "the quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor".”

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

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

Life, Wise

“We have
Not one
In common
No two
Are shaped alike
The third
Because of that eye we lack
In the fourth
Direction there is hope
The fifth Is at the heart
-Orihime Inoue”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: Bleach―ブリーチ― 27 [Burīchi 27]

Hope, Heart

“We took the elevator back down from the first observation level of the Eiffel Tower and started walking in he direction of the Taj Mahal”

D.J. MacHale The Soldiers of Halla

Source: The Soldiers of Halla

“If Black Stache laughed, you laughed. If he snarled, you snarled. If he breathed in your direction, you ran for cover.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“All night, I talked to other people. I didn't look in his direction, but I always knew where he was. I was painfully aware of him. When he was nearby, my body hummed. When he was away, there was this dull ache. With him near, I felt everything.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: We'll Always Have Summer

People, Night

“the Devil's hand directs our every move - / the things we loathed become the things we love”

Charles Baudelaire book Les Fleurs du mal

Source: Les Fleurs du Mal

Love

“What do we call visible light? We call it color. But the electromagnetic spectrum runs to zero in one direction and infinity in the other, so really, children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

Children, Color, Mathematics, Light

“It seemed like this day could go in so many directions, like a spiderweb shooting out toward endless possibilities.”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go…”

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

Variant: You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Shoe, Inspirational

“For all the compasses in the world, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure.”

Tom Stoppard book Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Source: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

World, Time

“A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Variant: I wished I was on the same bus as her. A pain stabbed my heart as it did everytime I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world of ours.
Source: On the Road

Love, Pain, World, Girl

“Lost in the solitude of his immense power, he began to lose direction.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Solitude

“The world is wider in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain and Lazarus.”

Annie Dillard book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Source: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

World

“What's in store for me in the direction I don't take?”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

“Calvin: History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction. That's why events are always reinterpreted when values change. We need new versions of history to allow for our current prejudices.
p152”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Source: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat

Life, History, Change

“It is a defect of God's humour that he directs our hearts everywhere but to those who have a right to them.”

Tom Stoppard Arcadia

Lady Croom, Act II
Source: Arcadia (1993)

God, Heart

“The outward manifestations of an inner combustion are never very directed.”

Nick Hornby book A Long Way Down

Source: A Long Way Down

“Hannah was about to burst with excitement, which would have been disgusting because she would have sprayed blood, guts and glitter in every direction.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: Twisted

“What is so marvelous about living today is that it is possible to extend, like a flower, spreading petals in all directions.”

Carolyn Kizer (1925–2014) American poet

Flowers

“10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and the remaining 80 percent can be moved in either direction.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”

Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker

Motivational

“Have you ever been going somewhere with a crowd and you're certain it's the wrong road and you tell them, but they won't listen, so you just have to plod along in what you know is the wrong direction till somebody more important gets the same idea?”

James Hilton Random Harvest

Source: Random Harvest

Idea

“We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

Water

“… racist thought and action says far more about the person they come from than the person they are directed at.”

Chris Crutcher book Whale Talk

Source: Whale Talk

Personality

“The wisest men follow their own direction.”

Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright

Men, Wise

“Raindrops blossom brilliantly in the rainbow, and change to flowers in the sod, but snow comes in full flower direct from the dark, frozen sky.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

Source: The Mountains of California

Flowers, Change

“When our beliefs are based on our own direct experience of reality and not on notions offered by others, no one can remove these beliefs from us.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Living Buddha, Living Christ

Reality

“It’s the same thing. Passion is passion. It’s the excitement between the tedious spaces, and it doesn’t matter where it’s directed.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Passion

“Becoming vegan is the most important and direct change we can immediately make to save the planet and its species.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

Change

“Compassion directed toward oneself is true humility.”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist

“Indeed, the direction of the future is only there in order to elude us.”

Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure

Source: Literature and Evil

Future

“Oh, Jake,' Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together.'
Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.
'Yes,' I said. 'Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

Ernest Hemingway book The Sun Also Rises

Book 3, Ch. 19 (the last lines of the novel)
Source: The Sun Also Rises (1926)

Cars, Thinking, Time

“…the love we most cherish will, of necessity, bring us pain. Because that love is like the setting of a body with broken bones. But I want to stage the setting. I want to direct all scenes.”

Rebecca Wells book Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Source: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Love, Pain

“Before we met, I was as lost as a person could be and yet you saw something in me that somehow gave me direction again.”

Nicholas Sparks book Nights in Rodanthe

Source: Nights in Rodanthe

Personality, Wedding, For Her, For Him

“Gavroche had fallen only to rise again; he sat up, a long stream of blood rolled down his face, he raised both arms in air, looked in the direction whence the shot came, and began to sing.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Singing

“The ability to hurt someone is usually in direct proportion to how much that person cares about you.”

Susan Mallery (1950) American author

Source: Almost Perfect

Hurt, Personality

“Anger is the most impotent of passions. It effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed.”

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American writer and editor

Passion, Hurt, Anger

“I was running from one problem or place to another, with no time left to study, or sleep, or just breathe. I felt pulled in all directions, fighting to keep all these obligations circling in the air above me. It was only a matter of time before something fell.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Source: Dreamland (2000)

Problem, Sleep, Study, Time

“When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Love, God, Personality

“Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.”

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881–1955) French philosopher and Jesuit priest

Love

“When you reach for the stars, you are reaching for the farthest thing out there. When you reach deep into yourself, it is the same thing, but in the opposite direction. If you reach in both directions, you will have spanned the universe.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Star, Universe

“Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the tempo fly
And there's no exit in any direction
'Cept the one that you can't see with your eyes”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Dreams, Thinking, Time, Flying

“Stories are people. I'm a story, you're a story… your father is a story. Our stories go in every direction, but sometimes, if we're lucky, our stories join into one, and for awhile, we're less alone.”

Jess Walter (1965) American writer

People

“Then Jesus changed the situation. When he paid for our sins on the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct access to God was once again available.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

God, Change

“We don’t drift in good directions. We discipline and prioritize ourselves there.”

Andy Stanley (1958) American Christian minister

Source: The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

“Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you -- either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation.”

John Wayne (1907–1979) American film actor

Wealth

“We must travel in the direction of our fear.”

John Berryman (1914–1972) American poet

Fear, Travel

“I hung up.
It was a step in the right direction, but it didn't go far enough. I ought to have locked the door and hid under the desk.”

Raymond Chandler book The Little Sister

Source: The Little Sister (1949), chapter 1

“Most people call it The Book of the Dead,” he told me. “Rich Egyptians were always buried with a copy, so they could have directions through the Duat to the Land of the Dead. It’s like an Idiot’s Guide to the Afterlife.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

People, Books, Dead

“I see the whole episode in my memory as if it were a very crisply photographed black and white movie. Directed by Bergman perhaps. We are playing ourselves in the movie version. If only we could escape from always having to play ourselves!”

Erica Jong book Fear of Flying

Source: Fear of Flying

Memory

“Every word first looks around in every direction before letting itself be written down by me.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

“Dark matter has a gravitation effect on other objects. You can't see it, you can't feel it, but you can watch something being pulled in its direction.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Feeling

“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

People, Behavior

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Peace, Beauty, Flowers, Beauty

“You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.”

Cheryl Strayed book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Love, Forgiveness, Learning

“Men of learning are those who have read the contents of books. Thinkers, geniuses, and those who have enlightened the world and furthered the race of men, are those who have made direct use of the book of the world.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

"Thinking for Oneself" http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/essays/chapter8.html <br class="br">Essays

Men, Books, World, Learning

“What other people label or might try to call failure, I have learned is just God's way of pointing you in a new direction.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Oprah's commencement speech at Howard University (12 May 2007) http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0024-winfrey.htm

God, People, Way, Failure

“Despite his crimped shirts and flowing mane (or perhaps because of them) I had seen no evidence as yet that Nathaniel even knew what a girl was. If he'd ever met one, chances are they'd both have run screaming in opposite directions.”

Jonathan Stroud book The Golem's Eye

Source: The Golem's Eye

Girl, Chance

“Our lives may be separate, but they run in the same direction, like parallel lines.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“I ran away one day. He was running in the same direction.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

“Ragamuffins are simple, direct and honest. Their speech is unaffected. They are slow to claim, "God told me…" As they make their way through the world, they bear wordless, prophetic witness.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

God, World, Way

“Your decisions will determine direction. Your direction will determine destination. Let”

Lysa TerKeurst

The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands

Decision

“It's just so out of control. Life, I mean. The way it flies off in all these different directions without your permission.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: How to Save a Life

Life, Way

“But then, his revenge had been more direct. He’d hunted down the ones who’d killed his sister and nephew – those who’d survived his mother’s attack – and he’d made them wish they’d never been born with nerve endings.' (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

Revenge, Sister

“People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.”

Paulo Coelho book The Winner Stands Alone

Source: The Winner Stands Alone

Happiness, People, Effort

“It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells… to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin.”

Dave Barry (1947) American writer

Guy

“The universe is a trillion, trillion threads moving in seemingly unrelated directions. Yet when you look at them together, they create a remarkable tapestry.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Universe

“I felt myself trapped in line for a ride I was not nearly ready for, looking back but moving forward in the only direction I could go.”

Elizabeth Berg (1948) American novelist

Source: The Year of Pleasures

“… go in the direction your head is pointed in.”

Jung Chang (1952) writer from China

Source: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

“President Wilson says a leader must treat public opinion the way a sailor deals with the wind, using it to blow the ship in one direction or another, but never trying to go directly against it.”

Ken Follett book Fall of Giants

Source: Fall of Giants

Way

“They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

“There's a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. I hate the idea of trends. I hate imitation; I have a reverence for individuality.”

Clint Eastwood (1930) actor and director from the United States

Source: Wild Open Spaces: Why We Love Westerns

Hate, Soul, Lying, Idea

“We grow in direct proportion to the amount of chaos we can sustain and dissipate”

Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) physical chemist

Source: Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature

“Nature is the direct expression of the divine imagination.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Imagination, Nature

“If you think you can grasp me, think again:
my story flows in more than one direction
a delta springing from the riverbed
with its five fingers spread”

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

Source: Time's Power

Spring, Thinking

“I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”

Graham Chapman (1941–1989) English comedian, writer and actor

Source: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book): Mønti Pythøn Ik Den Hølie Gräilen

Food, Animals

“I could never leave,' Pine Sap said.
'Why?' she asked.
Pine Sap shrugged, and gestured in the direction of the village. 'Because I think people must be the same everywhere. Only these people are my bones.”

Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Tiger Lily

People, Thinking

“This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Variant: And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.
Source: East of Eden (1952)
Context: And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.
Context: Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in art, in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.
And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning blows of conditioning, the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, drugged. It is a sad suicidal course our species seems to have taken.
And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.

World, Freedom, Fight