Quotes about doing
page 56

“Do you know what the definition of insane is? Yes. It’s the inability to relate to another human being. It’s the inability to love.”

Richard Yates book Revolutionary Road

Source: Revolutionary Road

Love

“Ah men,
why do you want
all this attention?
I can write poems for myself, make
love to a doorknob if absolutely
necessary. What do you have to offer me
I can't find otherwise
except humiliation? Which I no longer
need.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Love, Men, Making love

“Do not dash if you only have the strength to walk, and do not waste your time pushing on the walls that will not give. More importantly, don't shove where a pat would be sufficient.”

Brandon Sanderson Elantris

Source: Elantris

Time

“But right now I’m here with you. And I want to know where you are, what you need, and what you want to do.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“Excuse me, Captain. Are you two going to weep salty tears of admiration over a helmet all night, or do we have matters to discuss?”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Lost Colony

Tear, Night

“Since the moment I laid eyes on Jericho Barrons, I wanted him. I wanted him to do things to me that pink and clueless MacKayla Lane was shocked and appalled and… okay, yeah, well, utterly fascinated to find herself thinking about.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Thinking

“You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother, we still have to find this part of ourselves inside”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Parting

“The truth was, I wasn't sure. But I wanted to keep believing people could change, and it was certainly easier to do so when you were in the midst of it.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

People, Truth, Change

“People do not love those whose eyes show that they are somewhere else”

Peter Carey (1943) Australian novelist

Source: Collected Stories

Love, People

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Bean Trees

Animal Dreams.
Animal Dreams (1990)
Variant: The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
Source: The Bean Trees

Life, Hope

“Do it first and feel about it afterwards.' - Dagny Taggart”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Feeling

“Let us proceed under the assumption that the fairy folk do exist, and that I am not a gibbering moron.”

Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl

Source: Artemis Fowl

“… So please, be tolerant of those who describe a sporting moment as their best ever. We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium.”

Nick Hornby Fever Pitch

Source: Fever Pitch

Life, Sadness, Imagination, Sport

“Eve was still frowning at the pasta like she suspected it was going to do something
clever, like try to escape from the pot.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: The Dead Girls' Dance

“Why do I write? I write because I have to, because it is all I know, because it is my truth, because I am compelled, because I am driven to make the world
acknowledge that women like me exist, and we possess a dangerous wisdom.”

Patrick Califia-Rice (1954) American writer

Variant: Why do I write? I write because I have to, because it is all I know, because it is my truth, because I am compelled, because I am driven to make the world acknowledge that women like me exist, and we possess a dangerous wisdom.

Wisdom, Women, Truth, World

“What does he do, Clarice? What is the first and principal thing he does, what need does he serve by killing? He covets. How do we begin to covet? We begin by coveting what we see every day.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

Source: The Silence of the Lambs

“Do you give up?" Shezmu bellowed.
"No!" I yelled. "No, we don't give up. We will name you. Just… Gosh, you're quite well muscled, arn't you? Do you work out?”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“I don’t know how you do it. You aren’t even blond. I mean, maybe a little, but mostly you’re a brunette. I just don’t see guys going for that.”

“Yeah, well, some people are into kinky stuff, I guess.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Heat

People, Guy

“Why not? Do you like him?” Magnus’s eyes gleamed. “He seems to like you. I saw him going for your hand out there like a squirrel diving for a peanut.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Variant: Magnus's eyes gleamed. "He seems to like you. I saw him going for your hand out there like a squirrel diving for a peanut.
Source: City of Glass

“If you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Variant: Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward.
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Life

“Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

Age, Way

“Christ, don't you ever knock?
It's Lassiter. L-A-S-S-I-T-E-R. How is it possible you're still getting me confused with someone else? Do I need a nametag?”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Avenged

Christ

“They're fake bullets, so why do I feel like Im bleeding out?”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

Feeling

“The best any human can do is to pick a delusion that
helps him get through the day”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Source: God's Debris: A Thought Experiment

Help

“… there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Life, World

“Lord Peter Wimsey: I have the most ill-regulated memory. It does those things which it ought not to do and leaves undone the things it ought to have done. But it has not yet gone on strike altogether.”

Dorothy L. Sayers book Gaudy Night

Gaudy Night (1936)

Memory

“Dmitri was at a total loss. It was a common reaction for people when I agreed to do something reasonable.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

People, Loss

“Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Der Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will. Einstein paraphrasing Schopenhauer. Reportedly from On The Freedom Of The Will (1839), as translated in The Philosophy of American History: The Historical Field Theory (1945) by Morris Zucker, p. 531 Variant translations: Man can do what he wants but he cannot want what he wants. As quoted in The Motivated Brain: A Neurophysiological Analysis of Human Behavior (1991) by Pavel Vasilʹevich Simonov, p. 198 We can do what we wish, but we can only wish what we must. As quoted by Einstein in "What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck" The Saturday Evening Post (26 October 1929) p. 17. A scan of the article is available online here http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/what_life_means_to_einstein.pdf (see p. 114). Attributed Source: Essays and Aphorisms

“Words cannot always do the work we need them to. Music is there for when words fail us.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Music

“I guess I don't really understand you yet,' I said. 'I'm not all that smart. It takes me a while to understand things. But if I do have time, I will come to understand you -- better than anyone else in the world ever can.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

World, Understanding, Time

“Regret for the things we have done will be tempered by time. It is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”

Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) American journalist

Time

“And do you know Monsieur Marius? I believe I was a little in love with you.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Love

“One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

Robert Frost Birches

General sources
Source: "Birches" (1920)
Context: I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

“When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do towards other humans.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Men, Feeling

“You know, it's not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

World

“If I thought that what I'm doing when I write is expressing myself, I'd junk the typewriter. Writing is a much more complicated activity that that.”

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

“Do I look like a Jonas Brother? Then why is everyone waiting for me to lose it?”

Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer

Waiting

“What are you doing here anyway?"
"'Here' as in your bedroom or 'here' as in the great spiritual question of our purpose here on this planet?"
-Clary & Jace, pg.306-”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Question

“Well, I'm supposed to be crazy, right? And there isn't much I wouldn't do for you. The stupider the better."
- Adrian Ivashkov”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Stupidity

“What kind of dog is that?" I would always give the same answer: "She's a brown dog." Similarly, when the question is raised, "What kind of God do you believe in?" my answer is easy: "I believe in a magnificent God.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

God, Dogs, Question

“We think we know what we are doing. We have always thought so.”

Michael Crichton Prey

Source: Prey

Thinking

“You're a stubborn, ill-trained horse." she said
The horse snorted and walked towards the North Road of his own volition.
"Hey!" Karigan pulled back on the reins. "Whoa. Who do you think is in charge here?”

Kristen Britain Green Rider series

Source: Green Rider

Thinking, Horse, Training

“Life doesn't do anything to you. It only reveals your spirit.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Life

“You stole my bouquet? From the kistune?"
"I was very careful-"
"Do you realize what you've done?" Stefan shook Damon.
"Ow. That hurts! Do you want to break my neck.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Shadow Souls

Hurt

“Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Variant: Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned

Beauty, Intelligence

“It's true: lives do drift apart for no obvious reason. We're all busy people, we can't spend our time simply trying to stay in touch. The test of a friendship is if it can weather these inevitable gaps.”

William Boyd book Any Human Heart

Source: Any Human Heart

Friendship, People, Business, Time

“And indeed there will be time to wonder, 'Do I dare?', and 'Do I dare?”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Time

“Don't do anything that goes against your conscience, even if your country says so.”

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

Albert Einstein, as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (1949) edited by Paul A. Schilpp
1940s
Variant: Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

Country

“Prayer is like water - something you can't imagine has the strength or power to do any good, and yet give it time and it can change the lay of the land.”

Jodi Picoult book Sing You Home

Source: Sing You Home

Imagination, Water, Change, Time

“Do not ask who I am and do not ask me to remain the same. More than one person, doubtless like me, writes in order to have no face.”

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher

Personality

“Do you want to know something about tyrants? When faced with death, they weep and they beg just like the rest of us.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Quintana of Charyn

Death

“I determine to render more and better service, each day, than I am being paid to render. Those that reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what is required of them.”

Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World

Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World

“all I wanted to do was sneak out into the night and disappear somewhere, and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Source: On the Road

Night, Country

“The most I would do was use the shadow tool in Photoshop to bring out the muscular rips in my stomach, which were honestly there. Beneath the fat.”

Augusten Burroughs Possible Side Effects

Source: Possible Side Effects

“Do the truth quietly without display.”

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

Reflections for Ragamuffins: Daily Devotions from the Writings of Brennan Manning https://books.google.com/books?id=Gxv208Eit_4C&pg=PT322 (1998), p. 22 1990s

Truth

“Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after us. He jumped on the centaur's back.
'Dude!' the centaur groaned, almost buckling under Tyson's weight. 'Do the words "low-carb diet" mean anything to you?”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

“I understood what he was doing, that he had spent four years fulfilling the absurd and tedious duty of graduating from college and now he was emancipated from that world of abstraction, false security, parents, and material excess.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

World, Parent, Falseness

“Good-bye Clarice. Will you let me know if ever the lambs stop screaming?" "Yes." Pembry was taking her arm. It was go or fight him. "Yes," she said. "I'll tell you." "Do you promise?""Yes.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

Source: The Silence of the Lambs

Fight

“Don't want that, do they?” She throws back her head and shouts, “Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Country

“I dread no more the first white in my hair,
Or even age itself, the easy shoe,
The cane, the wrinkled hands, the special chair:
Time, doing this to me, may alter too
My anguish, into something I can bear”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Age, Shoe, Time

“That's all I want- to do no harm.”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Just because someone does not love you as you want, it does not mean that you do not love with all his being.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Love

“Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you're really doing it to them.”

Gillian Flynn book Sharp Objects

Source: Sharp Objects

People

“Oddly, the most freeing thing we can ever do is to abdicate the throne of our own miniature kingdoms.”

Beth Moore (1957) American evangelist

“People can do great things. However, there are some things they just CAN'T do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort.”

Brandon Sanderson Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

People, Effort

“One day you will wake up & there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Good Morning, Cute, Time

“Why… do you find this… distracting?”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Variant: Do you find this... distracting?
Source: Mockingjay

“With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist

Courageous, Courage

“The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second rate technology, led them into it in the first place, and continues to do so today.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

As quoted in The Guardian (1995), and in "Biting back at Microsoft" (5 June 2001) http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2001/jun/05/guardianletters3

Idea, Appearance

“I'd do a lot of things to protect you.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?”

L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

People, Thinking

“Dreams should make you think, ‘If I had the guts to do it and I didn’t care what anybody thought, this I what I’d really do’.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: The Time of My Life

Dreams, Thinking

“I really did not feel okay about any of this, and there was really nothing I could do about any of it.”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You

Feeling

“If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday you can do the things you want do when you want to do them.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Source: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential

“I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Thinking

“The pain of not knowing what to do was exceeded only by that of knowing what I had done.”

Erich Segal book Love Story

Source: Love Story

Pain

“Shri Ramakrishna use to say, "As Long as I Live, so long do I learn". That man or that society which has nothing to learn is already in the jaws of death.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Death, Learning

“Every ruler should strive for his people to love him. But if they cannot love you, then make them fear you. Love is better, but fear will do the job.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Narcissus in Chains

Source: Narcissus in Chains

Love, People, Fear

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,'Aubrey. I will avenge this scar and every scar you have put into my heart.
-Risika(In The Forest Of The Night)”

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (1984) Novelist

Heart, Night

“Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Eating Animals

Source: Eating Animals

Change

“When you fight a war against a tyrant, who do you kill? You kill the victims of the tyrant.”

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) author and historian

War, Fight

“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

Albert Pike (1809–1891) Confederate States Army general and Freemason

"1860. In Lodge of Sorrow at Washington: March 30.", p. 11 
In sentiment this is similar to the expression made much earlier by Giordano Bruno in On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584) : "What you receive from others is a testimony to their virtue; but all that you do for others is the sign and clear indication of your own."
Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren
Variant: What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

World

“A writer needs four things to achieve greatness, Pasquale: desire, disappointment, and the sea.”
“That’s only three.”
Alvis finished his wine. “You have to do disappointment twice.”

Jess Walter book Beautiful Ruins

Source: Beautiful Ruins

Disappointment, Wine, Sea

“The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

“How do you eat your roots?”

Kamila Shamsie (1973) Pakistani writer

Source: Kartography

“To be creative you actually have to do something.”

Ken Robinson (1950) UK writer

Source: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

“Every once in a while you just have to decide to do something very crazy and very right--just to dare yourself to live. I don't mean doing something stupid and destructive--just something fun and good and beautiful.”

Regina Doman (1970) American writer

Source: The Shadow of the Bear

Stupidity, Beauty

“How do you accidentally kill a lord in his own manor?'

with a knife to the chest… well a pair of knives actually, one can never be too careful”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Variant: How do you 'accidentally' kill a noble man in his own mansion?"
"With a knife in the chest. Or, rather, a pair of knives in the chest...
Source: The Final Empire