Quotes about doing
page 55

“You have to let yourself be fully present in every moment. Just be awake for it, do you know what I mean? Go all in and wring every last drop out of the experience.”

Jenny Han book P.S. I Still Love You

Source: P.S. I Still Love You

“Do something. If it doesn't work, do something else. No idea is too crazy.”

Jim Hightower (1943) Texas author and liberal political activist

Idea

“The Silent brothers are doing nude cartwheels in the hallways”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“Wise words are like arrows flung at your forehead. What do you do? Why, you duck of course.”

Steven Erikson book House of Chains

Source: House of Chains (2002)

“Do something that scares you everyday.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Saving Francesca

“sometimes you don't need a goal in life, you don't need to know the big picture. you just need to know what you're going to do next!”

Sophie Kinsella book The Undomestic Goddess

Source: The Undomestic Goddess

Life

“You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”

Kate DiCamillo book Because of Winn-Dixie

Source: Because of Winn-Dixie

People

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

Anna Sewell book Black Beauty

Source: Black Beauty

Feeling, Suffering, Animals

“Then he asks if he can kiss me. It is a question I don’t usually like. Just do it, I always think.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Source: Something Borrowed

Question, Kiss, Thinking

“Ghosts are memories, and we carry them because those we love do not leave the world”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Love, World, Memory

“It's hard to love a woman and do anything.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Love

“I traded lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck, and I never even realized I was doing it.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Dreams

“I do not need to love you to prove that I love myself!!”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Love

“You got to tell me the brave captain
Why are the wicked so strong?
How do the angels get to sleep
When the devil leaves the porch light on?”

Tom Waits (1949) American singer-songwriter and actor

Angels, Sleep, Light, Strong

“Put your foot upon the neck of the fear of criticism by reaching a decision not to worry about what other people think, do, or say.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

People, Fear, Thinking, Decision

“I am not an expert at praying, as you know. But can you please help me? I am in desperate need of help. I don't know what to do. I need an answer. Please tell me what to do…”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Help

“Everyone is so bloody keen on me thinking all of a sudden. It's not what I do.”

Louise Rennison (1951–2016) British writer

Source: Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?

Thinking

“Do you know what I think about crying? I think some people have to learn to do it. But once you learn, once you know how to really cry, there's nothing quite like it. I feel sorry for those who don't know the trick. It's like whistling or singing.”

Anne Rice book Memnoch the Devil

Source: Memnoch the Devil

People, Feeling, Thinking, Learning

“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.”

James A. Michener book Chesapeake

Chesapeake (1978)

Hope

“It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Variant: It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Happy, Attitude, Thinking, Happiness

“I don't do alcohol. Or other people's boyfriends. And don't you forget it.”

Meg Cabot book Airhead

Source: Airhead

People, Alcohol, Forgetting

“Why are people born? Why do they die? Why do they want to spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Source: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

People, Time

“Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.”

Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor

“There are so many little dyings
How do we know which one of them
is death?”

Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972) American writer and poet

Death

“Oh, Bear!” said Christopher Robin. “How I do love you!” “So do I,” said Pooh.”

A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author

Source: Winnie the Pooh

Love

“I have never yet figured out what to do about good advice that you get, and that you know right away would help you, but that you cannot follow.”

Holly Lisle (1960) American writer

Source: The Silver Door

Help

“Do you know how pale & wanton thrillful
comes death on a strange hour
unannounced, unplanned for
like a scaring over-friendly guest you've
brought to bed
Death makes angels of us all
& gives us wings
where we had shoulders
smooth as raven's
claws”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Death, Angels

“The guy stroked his goatee. "What do you call twenty guys watching the world series?"
"The New York Yankees," Butch replied.”

Jessica Bird book Dark Lover

Source: Dark Lover

World, Guy

“it is nice that nobody writes as they talk and that the printed language is different from the spoken otherwise you could not lose yourself in books and of course you do you completely do.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

Books

“Because learning does not consist only of knowing what we must or we can do, but also of knowing what we could do and perhaps should not do.”

Umberto Eco book The Name of the Rose

Source: The Name of the Rose (1980)

Learning

“Keep walking. Hot night right now, right here. All you have is what you are. All you want is much too much. All you get is so much less. All you feel is nothing. All you see is darkness. All you know is senseless and all you can do about it is ride.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Source: Eye Scream

Feeling, Night

“I know he was desperate. That makes people do all kinds of crazy things.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

People

“Pray, pray be composed, and do not betray what you feel to every body present”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Feeling

“Don't you dare take the lazy way. It's too easy to excuse yourself because of your ancestry. Don't let me catch you doing it! Now -- look close at me so you will remember. Whatever you do, it will be you who do.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Way

“Never assume. Never make plans. Keep doing the press-ups and deep knee bends: you'll need all your strength and flexibility when your life suddenly implodes. Maybe it won't — some people do lead enchanted lives — but odds are that it will. Some time.”

Robin McKinley (1952) American fantasy writer

Life, People, Time

“Nothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs. This is the principle behind lotteries, dating, and religion.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

The Dilbert Principle (1995)

Religion

“I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Star

“There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.”

Alan Moore book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

Time, Past, Future

“I had to do something," she said. "I couldn't just sit and wait for life to happen to me any longer.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: To Sir Phillip, With Love

Life, Waiting

“I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

“What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.”

Jason Fried software entrepreneur

Source: Rework

Thinking

“One should not seek those who do not wish to be found.”

Melissa de la Cruz book Masquerade

Source: Masquerade

“He promised her that he would give her everything, everything she wanted, as men in love always do. And she trusted him despite herself, as women in love always do.”

Philippa Gregory book The White Queen

Source: The White Queen

Love, Women, Men

“I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Men, Evil, Time, Fight

“But there was nothing left to do but continue”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Source: The Giver

love, Romantic, Valentine's Day

“You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.”

Cormac McCarthy (1933) American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter

Source: Blood Meridian (1985), Chapter II
Source: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
Context: A man’ s at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.

God, Evil

“The sun has already set on the days we made those choices. We must concentrate on what we can do tomorrow; we can't relive yesterday.”

Terry Goodkind (1948) American novelist

Sun

“Then why haven’t you killed yourself? (Astrid)
Why should I? The only enjoyment I have in my life is knowing I piss off everyone around me. If I were dead, it would make them all happy. God forbid I should ever do that. (Zarek)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Life, God, Dead, Happiness

“I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen,
And accrue what I hear into myself… and let sound contribute toward me.”

Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Thinking, Time

“Can you trust me, he said. Not will you. Can you.
Can I trust him?
What do I have to lose?”

Robin McKinley book Sunshine

Source: Sunshine

“Because I show you my pain, I do not of necessity love you.”

Anne Rice (1941) American writer

Love, Pain

“Writing is hard…. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.”

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

Thinking

“Never mind that,” said Will. “I’m boasting of my investigative skills, and I would prefer to do it without interruption. Where was I?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“The only thing a person can ever really do is keep moving forward. Take that big leap forward without hesitation, without once looking back. Simply forget the past and forge toward the future.”

Alyson Nöel (1965) writer

Source: The Immortals Boxed Set

Missing You, Moving On, Past, Future

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.
An all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless.
We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Personality

“… There was nothing one could do when love came. It was fast, and it was strong, and if it were not good, then surely God would not have allowed it such power.”

Luis Alberto Urrea (1955) Mexican-American poet

Source: The Hummingbird's Daughter

Love, God, Strong

“Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.”

Michael Crichton book State of Fear

Source: State of Fear

“That's what I do. Watch movies and read. Sometimes I even pretend to write, but I'm not fooling anyone. Oh, and I go to the mailbox.”

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

Source: The History of Love

Fools, Reading

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

This appears as an anonymous proverb in Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine Vol. XIII, (January - June 1883) edited by T. De Witt Talmage, and apparently only in recent years has it become attributed to Addison.
Disputed

Cute, Life, Smile, Flowers

“Anything there is that I can do for you, I will do for you; anything there is that I cannot do, I will learn to do.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Learning

“Just because you feel fear doesn't mean you can't do it. Do it afraid”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Fear, Feeling

“Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

“I can’t believe I’m mated to someone who’s allergic to me. (Ravyn)
You? I’m the one who should be having a hissy. How do I introduce you to people? Hi, this is my…what? Significant other? Mate? Pet? (Susan)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dark Side of the Moon

People

“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.”

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

Life, Cheating

“I suppose you could pass for a starlet. You do have that femme fatale air about you. Like you crush boys’ dreams in your spare time.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: Just One Wish

Dreams, Boy, Time

“Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to get attention we do, except walk?”

Alice Walker book The Color Purple

Source: The Color Purple (1982)

Love, Flowers, Tree, Singing

“Those who say they would rather fight to the death than be raped are fools. I would rather be raped a thousand times. You do what you have to.”

Alice Sebold (1963) American writer

Death, Fools, Time, Fight

“In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do.”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)

Letter to A. Bronson (30 July 1838); a similar idea was later more famously expressed by Abraham Lincoln, "With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right".

Men

“Sometimes, he thought, all you could do was wait.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Kings of Clonmel

Waiting

“Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

As quoted in the essay "To Albert Einstein's Seventieth Birthday" by Arnold Sommerfeld, Albert Einstein : Philosopher-Scientist http://www.worldcat.org/title/albert-einstein-philosopher-scientist/oclc/311439 (1949) edited by Paul A. Schilpp (p. 102). The essay, originally published as "Zum Siebzigsten Geburtstag Albert Einsteins" in Deutsche Beiträge (Eine Zweimonatsschrift) http://www.worldcat.org/title/deutsche-beitrage-eine-zweimonatsschrift/oclc/183334232 Vol. III, No 2, 1949, was translated specifically for the book by Schilpp. <br class="br">1940s <br class="br">Variant: Since others have explained my theory, I can no longer understand it myself.

Understanding

“I wanted to do everything once and for all and be through with it.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

“I do my job like I breathe — so if I can’t breathe I’m in trouble.”

Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer

“How do our lives ravel out
into the no-wind, no-sound,
the weary gestures wearily recapitulant:
echoes of old compulsions with no-hand on no-string:
in sunset we fall into furious attitudes,
dead gestures of dolls.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

Source: As I Lay Dying

Dead

“The true measurement of a person’s worth isn’t what they say they believe in, but what they do in defense of those beliefs,” he said. “If you’re not acting on your beliefs, then they probably aren’t real.”

Glenn Greenwald (1967) American journalist, lawyer and writer

Source: No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State

Personality

“Do all lovers feel helpless and valiant in the presence of the beloved? Helpless because the need to roll over like a pet dog is never far away. Valiant because you know you would slay a dragon with a pocket knife if you had to.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Passion

Source: The Passion (1987)

Dogs, Feeling, Lovers

“Ray, what you got to do is go climb a mountain…”

Jack Kerouac book The Dharma Bums

Source: The Dharma Bums

Mountain

“Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were heading for shore.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Personality

“No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you're screwed because it's all fixed and rigged. There is a club and you ain't in it.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“Like all of my fictions, Sinner is a mirror. Look into it and you will find yourself. What you do with what you see is your choice.”

Ted Dekker (1962) American writer

“Ben locked his eyes on mine for a long moment. Then, “How?” “How do you think?” I smiled, then slapped him full across the face”

Kathy Reichs book Seizure

Source: Seizure

Smile, Thinking

“Also … the plan sounded exactly like the sneaky, twisted, ridiculously annoying and noble sort of thing Leo Valdez would do.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

“When you say something really unkind, when you do something in retaliation your anger increases. You make the other person suffer, and he will try hard to say or to do something back to get relief from his suffering. That is how conflict escalates.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames

Suffering, Personality, Anger

“I hate being told what to do! Especially by myself!”

Lynn Flewelling (1958) American writer

Hate

“I will kill him.”

“Erra’s eyebrows rose. “You’d have to go through me first.”

I shrugged. “I have to do something for a warm-up.”

She laughed softly. “That’s the spirit. I do think you might be my favorite niece.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Thinking

“It wasn’t sexy," he said.
“It was a little sexy,” Simon said.
He felt much better, having fed, and couldn’t help but poke at Alec a bit.
“It wasn’t,” said Alec.
“I had some feelings,” said Simon.”
"Do feel free to agonize about it on your own time.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Feeling, Time, Help

“Do you want me to call you Celery Stick instead of Cupcake or Honey-Pie? It just doesn’t inspire the same warm and fuzzy feelings.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Feeling

“Great loves have legs and wings. They are substantial. They do not dissapate so easily… Great loves have staying power. Or so I told myself.”

Erica Jong (1942) Novelist, poet, memoirist, critic

Source: Sappho's Leap

Love

“July 24, 6:03 A. M.
The laundry was warm and the rafters were firm, and Michael Holzapfel jumped from the chair as if it were a cliff…
Michael Holzapfel knew what he was doing.
He killed himself for wanting to live.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

“Why do you even put up with me?'
'I'm not putting up with you,' he said, softly. 'I'm loving you.”

Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist

Source: Charmed Thirds

Love

“As I have not worried to be born, I do not worry to die.”

Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director

Como no me he preocupado de nacer, no me preocupo de morir.
Quoted in "Diálogos de un caricaturista salvaje," interview with Luis Bagaría, El Sol, Madrid (1936-06-10)

“do you fix a wheel that isn't broken, or do you wait until the cart collapses?”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Waiting

“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and its fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Romantic poet

Source: Ode: Intimations Of Immortality From Recollections Of Early Childhood

Lie, Fear, Flowers, Tear

“That is our Fairy Tail!! We don't live like we have already died, like you do!! We live with our lives on the lines, you bastard!! If you don't have the courage to change things then you might as well just die!!!”

Hiro Mashima (1977) Japanese manga artist

Courage, Change

“Listen,' he said. 'It's important. We are all. Free. To do. Whatever. We want. To do.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

“There is no light for those who do not know darkness.”

Takehiko Inoue (1967) Japanese artist

Source: Takehiko Inoue Quotes https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/147221.Takehiko_Inoue

Light

“The sad truth is that certain types of things can't go backward. Once they start going forward, no matter what you do, they can't go back the way they were. If even one little thing goes awry, then that's how it will stay forever.”

Haruki Murakami book South of the Border, West of the Sun

Variant: Hajime," she began, "the sad truth is that some things can't go backwards. Once they start going forward, no matter what you do, they can't go back to the way they were. If one little thing goes awry, then that's how it will stay forever.
Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun

Truth, Sadness, Way

“Do you have a death wish?" he asked. Will grinned at him.
I'm just relying on your judgment," he replied. "I can't keep track of everything in my head.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Battle for Skandia

Death