Quotes about doing
page 63

“Shh,” he whispered. “You asked me if I loved you. I do. I love you more than life itself. Nothing matters in this world but that you live. Can you do that for me? Can you live?”

Elizabeth Hoyt (1970) American writer

Source: To Desire a Devil

Love, Life, World

“This does not matter. This is not anything yet. It all depends on what you do with it, afterward.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Dependency

“Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market alow you to put there.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960) Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader and risk analyst

Source: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Books, Reading

“Being young is an 18 year prison sentence for a crime your parents committed. But you do get time off for good behavior.”

Orson Scott Card book Empire

Source: Empire

Behavior, Parent, Time

“When I believe in my ability to do something, there is no such word as no.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

People, Dreams, Time

“Why do we argue? Life's so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud, suspended in endless nothing.”

Alan Moore book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

Life, Success

“Look at Picasso. O’Neill. Tennessee Williams. Capote. Were these shiny happy people spreading sunshine? No. Only the greatest of personal demons can force you to do powerful work.”

Marisha Pessl (1977) American writer

Source: Night Film

People, Personality, Happiness

“I don't care what you do. As long as you know you belong to me.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

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

As cited in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations (2007), Ed. Goodwin, Black Dog Publishing, p. 168, ISBN 1579127215
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“He's going to hurt you," Al said, looking at Pierce. "I can take care of you, teach you to survive. Be there for you, even if you do hate me."
I shivered. "I don't want him," I said, and Al turned away, seeming smaller somehow.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Black Magic Sanction

Hate, Hurt

“I want us to be doing things, prolonging life's duties as much as we can. I want death to find me planting my cabbages, neither worrying about it nor the unfinished gardening.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

Life, Death

“Admire as much as you can. Most people do not admire enough.”

Vincent Van Gogh book The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

1870s
Variant: Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.
Source: The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

People

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

from Dale Carnegie’s Scrapbook, ed. Dorothy Carnegie, as cited in Words of Wisdom https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0671695878, William Safire & Leonard Safir, Simon and Schuster (reprint, 1990), p. 87

Life, Chance

“You can't always get the perfect moment. Sometimes, you just have to do the best you can under the circumstances.”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Perfection

“Not everybody believes in ghosts, but I do. Do you know what they are, Trisha?

She had shaken her head slowly.

Men and women who can't get over their past… That's what ghosts are.”

Stephen King book Needful Things

Source: Needful Things

Women, Men, Past

“There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and woman to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers & Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Men, Dogs, Way, Nature

“Geniuses and prophets do not usually excel in professional learning, and their originality, if any, is often due precisely to the fact that they do not.”

Joseph Alois Schumpeter book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Source: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Learning

“I guess there isn’t a rule book for what might be unacceptable to do to another human being.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Books

“So we do nothing?” Claire asked.
“We do the best nothing you’ve ever seen.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Variant: Claire: So we do nothing?
Michael: We do the best nothing you've ever seen.
Source: The Dead Girls' Dance

“I know it's important to do more than just complain when there's something you don't like. You need to try to do something about it, or you're nothing but a whiner.”

Jean Ferris (1939–2015) American children's writer

Source: Twice Upon a Marigold

“when I am feeling
low
all i have to do is
watch my cats
and my
courage
returns”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Feeling, Cats, Courage

“You never know just what you can do until you try.”

Joseph Delaney (1945) British writer

Source: Revenge of the Witch

“Calvin: If you do the job badly enough, sometimes you don't get asked to do it again.
p55”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat
Source: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”

Douglas Adams book Last Chance to See

Source: Last Chance to See

Learning, Funny

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

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

Time

“Why do magazines do this to women? It's
all about creating insecurity. Trying to make women feel like they're not good enough. And when women don't feel like they're good enough, guess what? Men win. That's how they keep us down.”

Candace Bushnell book Summer and the City

Source: Summer and the City

Women, Men, Feeling

“Do you ever make silly mistakes? It is one of my very few creative activities.”

Len Deighton (1929) English writer

“Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?”

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union

Learning

“If it would benefit you, I would kill every wolf here. But there are things that you need to do -- and interfering with that is not protecting, not in my book. The best way for me to protect you is to encourage you to be able to protect yourself.”

Patricia Briggs book Hunting Ground

Source: Hunting Ground

Books, Way, Wolf

“I'm human. That's how humans spend their time, doing shitty things.”

Nick Hornby book How to Be Good

Source: How to Be Good

Time

“No one is anyone, one single immortal man is all men. Like Cornelius Agrippa, I am god, I am hero, I am philosopher, I am demon and I am world, which is a tedious way of saying that I do not exist.”

Jorge Luis Borges book The Immortal

"The Immortal" (1949)

Men, God, World, Way

“Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?”

Jim Bouton (1939–2019) American baseball player, writer

Men, Football

“There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.”

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

Beauty, Falseness

“I said, "I do not fear those pants with nobody inside them." I said, and said, and said those words. I said them but I lied them.”

Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches and Other Stories

Source: The Sneetches and Other Stories

Fear

“There is the sudden. There is the eventual.
And in between, there is the living.

We do not start as dust. We do not end as dust. WE make more than dust.

That's all we ask of you. Make more than dust.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

“Love doesn't mean doing extraordinary or heroic things. It means knowing how to do ordinary things with tenderness.”

Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian

Google this: Jean Vanier and what it means to be human http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/google-this-jean-vanier-a_b_7484702.html Huffington Post, 02/06/2015 <br class="br">From interviews and talks <br class="br">Source: Community And Growth

Love

“If you don't take the time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

Michael J. Fox (1961) Canadian-American actor

Time

“In an incredulous tone, he said, "You don't know the meaning of virtue!"
"Of course I do-it means your thong must be white." (Sabine)”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Kiss of a Demon King

“A woman could do that to you - reach that place in your soul where the best and worst of you was kept. And once she was there, she owned that place and never left.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Dream Lake

Soul

“You don't understand,' she said, and there was a puzzling trace of resentment in her voice. 'Children never do. The love a parent has for a child, there's nothing else like it. No other love so consuming.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Love, Children, Understanding, Parent

“Do not cry for me, Azrael. Do not waste your tears. You made your decision. And this is mine. Sacrifice seems to be my destiny. A funny thing for a selfish man, isn't it? They always called me weak back then…”

Melissa de la Cruz book The Van Alen Legacy

Source: The Van Alen Legacy

Decision, Tear, Cry, Selfishness

“Sydney Katherine Sage,” he said, his green eyes full of love and earnestness. “Would you do a brooding, deadbeat Moroi the honor of being his wife?”

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

Love

“You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know”

Ernest Hemingway book A Moveable Feast

Source: A Moveable Feast

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for… but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love

Source: Time Enough for Love

Parting

“I need a boy who thinks with his big head, not his little one. Since they do not exist, I have fashioned my own.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

Boy, Fashion, Thinking

“I had someone at the Houston police station shoot me with heroin so I could do a story about it. The experience was a special kind of hell. I came out understanding full well how one could be addicted to 'smack,' and quickly.”

Dan Rather (1931) Journalist, Anchor

Hell, Understanding

“The man watched him. Real life is pretty bad?

What do you think?

Well, I think we're still here. A lot of bad things have happened but we're still here.

Yeah.

You don't think that's so great.

It's okay.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

Life, Thinking

“Personally, I could do without prophecies or quests for awhile.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Personality

“That which is hard to do is best done bitterly.”

John Hodgman More Information Than You Require

Source: More Information Than You Require

“What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Source: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Silence

“There are of course many problems connected with life, of which some of the most popular are 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 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Life, People, Problem, Time

“Why, if its going to be allright, do we see it getting worse every day?”

Jeanne DuPrau The City of Ember

Source: The City of Ember

“Cats can do whatever they want, whenever they want, without regard to what anyone says or does. Rather like Princesses.”

Terry Brooks A Princess of Landover

Source: A Princess of Landover

Cats, Princess

“You don't smoke do you?"
"No, why?"
"They're afraid of fire."
"Great, we're going to be eaten alive because neither of us smokes."
I almost laughed. He sounded so thoroughly disgusted…”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Guilty Pleasures

Source: Guilty Pleasures

“It’s against the rules of humanity to believe there is nothing we can do.”

Melina Marchetta Finnikin of the Rock

Source: Finnikin of the Rock

“I wish I could care what you do or where you go but I can't… My dear, I don't give a damn.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

“How do you politely explain to someone that you had believed for years he was a moron as well as a Fool?
Fitz in Assassin's Apprentice”

Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice

Source: Assassin's Apprentice

Fools

“Who cares? If he is good to you? None of us ever find enough kindness in the world, do we?”

Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch

Source: The Goldfinch

World

“The hour grows late."

"Late? So? Do you have to be on Ash Campus early tomorrow? At the University of Nothing Matters?”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Endless Knight

Universe

“We can do this the easy way,' Oblivious snarled. 'Or the hard way.'
'What's the easy way?'
'You leave immediately.'
'And what's the hard way?'
'We make you leave.'
Skulduggery's head tilted. 'What was the easy way again?”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

Way

“A writer can do nothing for men more necessary, satisfying, than just simply to reveal to them the infinite possibility of their own souls.”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

Men, Soul

“Why don't I just pretend I'm on camera, Plutarch?" I say.
"Yes! Perfect. One is always much braver with an audience," he says. "Look at the courage Peeta just displayed!"
It's all I can do not to slap him.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Courage, Perfection

“The key to happiness, she said, is tolerance of those who do not do as you do.' `What if those who do not do as you do are gunning you down?' I said…. Alaska frowned. `Guns are intolerant. Guns are a failure of communication.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Stone Gods

Source: The Stone Gods

Communication, Failure, Happiness

“"You disappear so completely into your head sometimes. I wish I could follow you."
You do. You live in my head all the time.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Jace and Clary, pg. 354
Variant: You disappear so completely into your head sometimes," he said. "I wish I could follow you.
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Time

“Running with a drowsy child of Hades was more like doing a 3 -legged race with a life size rag doll.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Life

“Some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. Some things are so sad that only your soul can do the crying for them.”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Pain, Truth, Sadness, Feeling

“Admitting that you do not know something is the first step to learning.”

Terry Goodkind (1948) American novelist

Learning

“To simply think about the people, as the dominators do, without any self-giving in that thought, to fail to think with the people, is a sure way to cease being revolutionary leaders.”

Paulo Freire book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

People, Way, Thinking

“If you are sending someone some Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“He looked up at me with angelic eyes. "Doing what?"
"You know what. You're luring me in. You know I can't resist-”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Angels

“Do you think it's possible to finally decide that you really, truly love someone but not end up marrying him?”

Robin Jones Gunn (1955) American writer

Source: As You Wish

Love, Thinking

“You are all that exists on the earth and under the sky that I do love.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Variant: And I love you," Kieran said. "You are all that exists on the earth and under the sky that I do love.
Source: Lady Midnight

Love

“How do you always manage to decide?"
"How can you let others decide for you?”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

“I really do love my sister. Especially when she's nice.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Love, Sister

“There are a thousand ways to hurt someone you love that have nothing to do with physical violence.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Cerulean Sins

Source: Cerulean Sins

Love, Way, Hurt

“Have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same time - beautiful?”

E.M. Forster book A Room with a View

Variant: No, he is not tactful, yet have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet, at the same time, beautiful?
Source: A Room with a View

People, Beauty, Time

“I read,' I say. 'I study and read. I bet I've read everything you've read. Don't think I haven't. I consume libraries. I wear out spines and ROM drives. 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

Thinking, Study, Reading

“People weighed down with troubles do not look back; they know only too well that misfortune stalks them.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

People

“Why spend the afternoon making a meal that will be gone in an hour," she'd ask us, "when in the same amount of time, I can do a painting that will last forever?”

Jeannette Walls book The Glass Castle

Source: The Glass Castle

Time, Painting

“Listen to me, he said, when your dreams are of some world that never was or some world that never will be, and you're happy again, then you'll have given up. Do you understand? And you can't give up, I won't let you.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

World, Dreams, Understanding, Happiness

“Good people are good people; religion has nothing to do with it.”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

People, Religion

“They were all brilliant. They wrote books and painted pictures, and if they ever stopped talking, which I was sure they would never do, they planned to change the world.”

Gloria Whelan book Listening for Lions

Source: Listening for Lions

Books, World, Change, Painting

“The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.”

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist

Quoted in "Table Talk" http://books.google.com/books?id=LIxUAAAAcAAJ&q=%22greatest+pleasure+I+know+is+to+do+a+good+action+by+stealth+and+to+have+it+found+out+by+accident%22&pg=PA14#v=onepage in The Athenaeum magazine (4 January 1834).

Pleasure

“Sometimes you must let go of your pride and do what is asked of us.

Anakin Skywalker, Episode 2: Attack of the Clones”

George Lucas (1944) American film producer

“I was exhausted. Fighting to save the universe will do that.”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Universe, Fight

“If fate is a millstone, we are the grist. There is nothing we can do. So I wish for strength. If I cannot protect them from the wheel, then give me a strong blade, and enough strength, to shatter fate”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Fate, Strong

“Cool,” I said. “You can IM with the Council from campus. Maybe you can command people to do your homework.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

People

“I've always thought tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 15 (p. 235)
Source: Shards of Honour

“Do you know what the difference is between Friendship and Love? Friendship is the photograph, Love is the oil painting.”

Frank Delaney (1942–2017) Irish writer and journalist

Source: The Matchmaker of Kenmare

Love, Friendship, Painting

“Anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.”

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

The Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2009, "Hollywood's Favorite Cowboy" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529703577274572.html by John Jurgensen  <br class="br">Variant: I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing. <br class="br">Context: I'm not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.

Life, Suicide

“If you don't know everything, you must go on with what you do know.”

Robert Jordan A Crown of Swords

Rand al'Thor
Source: A Crown of Swords (15 May 1996)

“People think boundaries and borders build nations. Nonsense-words do. Beliefs, declarations, constitutions-words. Stories. Myths. Lies. Promises. History”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

People, History, Thinking

“When you are committed to doing what’s right, you are sowing seeds for God’s blessings. You will never go wrong by taking the high road and doing more that is required.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

God

“you will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf
know you could tumble at any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

--The Art of Disappearing”

Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) American writer

Source: Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets

Art, Feeling, Time

“Clary?” Jace tilted his head to the side, studying her face. “You do—you still love me, don’t you?”

“I love Jace Lightwood,” she said. “I don’t know who you are.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Love, Study

“What shall we do, all of us? All of us oassionate girls who fear crushing the boys we love with our mouths like caverns of teeth, our mushrooming brains, our watermelon hearts?”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Variant: What shall we do? All of us passionate girls who fear crushing the boys we love with our mouths like caverns of teeth, our mushrooming brains, and watermelon hearts?
Source: Blood Roses

Love, Fear, Girl, Boy

“All I could do is lie there and think about how much her voice changed when she asked me if she was pretty, and how much she changed when I answered.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Lie, Thinking, Change