Quotes about doing
page 18

“Having made the decision, do not revise it unless some new fact comes to your knowledge. Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: The Conquest of Happiness

Knowledge, Decision, Indecision

“No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Back To Work, Life, Chance

“It's not lying when you do it to officers!”

Terry Pratchett book Monstrous Regiment

Source: Monstrous Regiment

Lying

“I love making, I love doing. I love being to the full, I love everything which is not sitting and watching and copying and dead at heart.”

John Fowles book The Collector

Source: The Collector

Love, Heart, Dead

“Kids don’t do what their parents say-they do what they see their parents do. So who was to blame here?”

Harlan Coben Hold Tight

Source: Hold Tight

Parent

“Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

War, Fear, Victory

“Thou shalt be free
As mountain winds: but then exactly do
All points of my command.”

William Shakespeare The Tempest

Source: The Tempest

Mountain

“The things men did or felt they had to do.”

Erich Maria Remarque book All Quiet on the Western Front

Source: All Quiet on the Western Front

Men

“I do things like get in a taxi and say, "The library, and step on it.”

David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest

Source: Infinite Jest

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

Blaise Pascal Pensées

Source: Pensées

Men, Evil

“I don't regret it, you know. I would do it all again. Children are our hope for the future."
THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THE FUTURE, said Death.
"What does it contain, then?"
ME.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

Death, Children, Hope, Future

“Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable.”

Roald Dahl book Matilda

Source: Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable...

“Reality is harsh. It can be cruel and ugly. Yet no matter how much we grieve over our environment and circumstances nothing will change. What is important is not to be defeated, to forge ahead bravely. If we do this, a path will open before us.”

Daisaku Ikeda (1928) Japanese writer

Reality, Change

“Life has more imagination than we do.”

Francois Truffaut (1932–1984) film director

Life, Imagination

“That's the difference between governments and individuals. Governments don't care, individuals do.”

Mark Twain book A Tramp Abroad

Source: A Tramp Abroad

“There comes a point when you either embrace who and what you are, or condemn yourself to be miserable all your days. Other people will try to make you miserable; don't help them by doing the job yourself.”

Laurell K. Hamilton (1963) Novelist

People, Help

“God, Who is everywhere, never leaves us. Yet He seems sometimes to be present, sometimes to be absent. If we do not know Him well, we do not realize that He may be more present to us when He is absent than when He is present.”

Thomas Merton book No Man Is an Island

Source: No Man Is an Island

God

“Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.”

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love

Time Enough for Love (1973)
Variant: Progress doesn't come from early risers — progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.

Men, Way

“If I say you're a goatherd's son, you say, 'Yes, Lord Ralon.'"
Alanna gasped with fury. "I'd as soon kiss a pig! Is that what you've been doing-kissing pigs? Or being kissed?”

Tamora Pierce book Alanna: The First Adventure

Source: Alanna: The First Adventure

Kiss

“If anyone were to ask me what I want out of life I would say- the opportunity for doing something useful, for in no other way, I am convinced, can true happiness be attained.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Life, Way, Happiness

“Of course I'm an egoist. Where do you get if you aren't?”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punish'd and cured is that the lunacy is so
ordinary that the whippers are in love too.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Source: As You Like It

Love, Housing, Madness

“Seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love, baby - love. That's the secret.”

Louis Armstrong (1901–1971) American jazz trumpeter, composer and singer

Spoken intro to "What a Wonderful World" (1970 version)
Context: Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.
Context: Some of you young folks been saying to me, "Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either." Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.

Love, Secret, World, Chance

“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Courageous, Powerful, Appearance, Time

“We must hurry!’ said Mr. Wonka. ‘We have so much time and so little to do! No! Wait! Strike that! Reverse it!”

Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Variant: We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it.
Source: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Time, Waiting

“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.”

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing

World

“I wanted to do things to Richard that would make the sun grow cold with horror.”

Thomas Ligotti (1953) American horror author

Source: My Work is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror

Sun

“From what we are, spirit; from what we do, matter. Matter and spirit are one.”

Philip Pullman book The Subtle Knife

Source: The Subtle Knife

“Very few people do this any more. It's too risky. First of all, it's a hell of a responsibility to be yourself. It's much easier to be somebody else or nobody at all.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

People, Hell

“Ask yourself these three questions, Tatiana Metanova, and you will know who you are. Ask: What do believe in? What do you hope for? What do you love?”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Variant: Ask yourself three questions and you will know who you are. Ask 'What do you believe in? What do you hope for? But most important - ask what do you love?
Source: The Bronze Horseman (2001)

Love, Hope, Question

“Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Source: The Color of Magic

Wealth

“I can't sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can't help it.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat

Source: Three Men in a Boat

Nature, Help

“The brave may not live forever – But the cautious do not live at all”

Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist

Source: Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You at Business School

Graduation

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human condition.”

Graham Greene book Ways of Escape

New York Times (January 8, 1981)
Source: Ways of Escape

Fear, Painting, Madness

“Tears do not burn except in solitude.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist

Source: On the Heights of Despair (1934)

Solitude, Tear

“Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Source: At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends

Learning

“One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Family, Cute, Hate, Family

“But in his experience it was only a matter of time before the normal balance of the universe restored itself and started doing the usual terrible things to him.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Source: The Color of Magic

Universe, Time

“I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a fantastic job.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

People

“It's a big deal when you finally get the chance to do the one thing you want to do -need to do- more than anything. It can kind of scare the crap out of you.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

Chance

“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.”

Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker

Powerful, Decision, Change, Motivational

“Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They do not die of hard work.”

David Ogilvy (1911–1999) Advertising executive

Men, Disease

“Avoid roasted cabbage, do not eat earwax, and look on the bright side of life!”

Christopher Paolini book Eldest

Source: Eldest

Life

“Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday can prevent you from living purely today.”

James Allen (1864–1912) British philosophical writer

Source: Byways of Blessedness

Thinking

“How do you make your pictures?
— I don’t know, it’s not important.”

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) French photographer

“This is [her] soul group.’
What do you mean?’
It’s a group of souls with whom she resonates closely.”

James Redfield book The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision

Source: The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision

Soul

“Do not start. Do not blush. Let us admit in the privacy of our own society that these things sometimes happen. Sometimes women do like women.”

Virginia Woolf book A Room of One's Own

Source: A Room of One's Own

Women

“don't treat me like a child."
He smiled. "Of course I do, but you seem to have this ridiculous notion that being treated like a child means to be treated with less respect than an adult.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: The Faceless Ones

Smile

“do what only a true artist can do… pounce upon the forgotten butterfly of revelation”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

Source: Pale Fire

“And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

People, Forgetting

The quote is mistakenly attributed to the author

“You see, but you do not observe.”

Joe Navarro (1953) Author, professional speaker, ex-FBI agent and supervisor

What Every Body is Saying: An FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People
Original: This quote comes from the book "A Scandal in Bohemia" from Arthur Conan Doyle

“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Peaceful, Peace

“POLONIUS: What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET: Words, words, words.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

Reading

“Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!"

Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Source: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking Glass

“It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it's the parts that I do understand.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Understanding, Parting

“Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intelligor illis.

(In this place I am a barbarian, because men do not understand me.)”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

Men, Understanding

“Valkyrie smiled patiently. "I like how you do your make-up. Do you use a brush, or just dip your head in the bucket?”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Smile

“We do not condemn it because it is a crime, but it is a crime because we condemn it.”

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) French sociologist (1858-1917)

“Go slowly, so that you do not bite your tail by accident.”

Christopher Paolini book Inheritance

Source: Inheritance

“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse… and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

Family, Family

“Sometimes, they say, the moon is so busy with the new souls of the world that it disappears from the sky. That is why we have moonless nights. But in the end, the moon always returns, as do we all.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

World, Soul, Business, Night

“Adiyogi’s legacy offers you the licence to believe in the god of your choice, or not to believe at all. And if you do not find a god to your taste, it allows you the freedom to create one. That is how the Indian subcontinent arrived at an exuberant 330 million gods and goddesses at last count! To see the divine in a tree, rock or elephant is not considered absurd because every speck of creation is seen as a portal to the ultimate reality. These”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Adiyogi: The Source of Yoga

God, Reality, Tree, Freedom

“Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!”

Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

“She'd thought love had something to do with happiness, but it turned out they were not even vaguely related. Love was closer to a need, no different from the need to eat, to breathe.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Source: NOS4A2

Love, Happiness

“It occurred to me that I was unhappy. And it didn’t feel so very terrible. No urgency, nothing. I could slip out of my life on a slow wave like this—it didn’t matter. I don’t have to be happy. All I have to do is hold on to something and wait.”

Helen Oyeyemi (1984) British author

Source: Mr. Fox

Life, Feeling, Waiting, Happiness

“We all do, kid. People have destructive impulses. Some of us want to see the world in ruins just for the fun of it… even if we're ruined along with it.”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

People, World

“Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis.”

Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker

Source: Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World

Motivation

“What do you think? I'm not a starfish or a pepper tree. I'm a living, breathing human being. Of course I've been in love.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Love, Thinking, Tree

“Forgive the past. It is over. Learn from it and let go. People are constantly changing and growing. Do not cling to a limited, disconnected, negative image of a person in the past. See that person now. Your relationship is always alive and changing.”

Brian L. Weiss

Source: Messages from the Masters: Tapping into the Power of Love

People, Forgiveness, Learning, Change

“Painting is stronger than me, it makes me do it's bidding.”

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer

Painting

“Events in life mean nothing if you do not reflect on them in a deep way, and ideas from books are pointless if they have no application to life as you live it.”

Robert Greene The 33 Strategies of War

Source: The 33 Strategies of War

Life, Books, Way, Idea

“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.”

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright and actor

Love, Money

“Do all kids have to worry about their parents’ mental health? The way society is set up, parents are supposed to be the grown-up ones and look after the kids, but a lot of times it’s the other way around.”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Health, Way, Parent, Time

“We're always disappointed when we find out someone else has human limits, the same as we do. It's stupid for us to feel that way, and we really ought to know better, but that doesn't seem to slow us down.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

Stupidity, Disappointment, Way, Feeling

“When it was her own doing, she was always tempted to skip a day, or just glance down, then get back to the ground. Kel had to force herself to keep her vow.”

Tamora Pierce Squire

Source: Squire

“People don't get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don't stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.”

Stephen King book Carrie

Source: Carrie

People, Thinking

“We are all affected by our pasts, but it is within our power not to let what we have done to dictate what we will do.”

Kristin Cast book Tempted

Source: Tempted

Past

“To create, I destroyed myself; I made myself external to such a degree within myself that within myself I do not exist except in an external fashion. I am the living setting in which several actors make entrances, putting on several different plays.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Source: The Book of Disquiet

Fashion

“I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.”

Louise L. Hay (1926–2017) American writer

Variant: I am in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing.

Time

“Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That's the game in science.”

Michael Crichton book Jurassic Park

Source: Jurassic Park

Game, Science

“… you must always be yourself, and do things at your own pace. Someday, you'll catch up.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

“What do you think dignity's all about?'

The directness of the inquiry did, I admit, take me rather by surprise. 'It's rather a hard thing to explain in a few words, sir,' I said. 'But I suspect it comes down to not removing one's clothing in public.”

Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day

Source: The Remains of the Day

Thinking, Clothes

“The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

Source: My Heart's in the Highlands (1939)

Happy, Happiness

“The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else's life.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

In response to Joe Walsh on The Howard Stern Show (1987).

Life

“Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

“Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.”

Corrie ten Boom book The Hiding Place

Source: The Hiding Place

God, Memory, Past, Future

“Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit.”

M. Scott Peck (1936–2005) American psychiatrist

Source: The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth

Problem

“It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to Infidelity.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Claimed by atheist Franklin Steiner, on p. 144 of one of his books to have appeared in Manford's Magazine but he never gives a year of publication.
Misattributed

Religion

“One sticks to an opinion because he prides himself on having come to it on his own, and another because he has taken great pains to learn it and is proud to have grasped it: and so both do so out of vanity.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Pain, Learning

“It doesn’t matter what you say you believe - it only matters what you do.”

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

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

“I can hurt myself more than anyone else can," she told her sister. "I can do it with my eyes closed.”

Alice Hoffman The Story Sisters

Source: The Story Sisters

Sister, Hurt

“It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone.”

Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) American businessman and philanthropist

People, Help

“Being open to correction means making ourselves vulnerable, and many people are not willing to do that.”

Myles Munroe (1954–2014) Bahamian Evangelical Christian minister

Source: Waiting and Dating

People

“We do not talk - we bludgeon one another with facts and theories gleaned from cursory readings of newspapers, magazines and digests.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

1945 Source: [Kaufman, Charlie, Inspirational Writing Advice From Charlie Kaufman - On Writing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRfXcWT_oFs, YouTube, BAFTA Guru, 2017-01-06, 2020-03-09] (at 7:08 of 41:08)

Reading

“You can only anticipate what someone is going to do if you know exactly what that someone has just done.' --Skulduggery”

Derek Landy Skulduggery Pleasant

Source: Skulduggery Pleasant