Quotes about doing
page 69

“Do not complain of life's unfairness. It is never fair - at best it is impartial.”

Source: Lion of Macedon

“Everyone has sorrow. Everyone has obligations. Everyone keeps going. You lean on the people who love you. You do the best you can, and you keep going.”

Jennifer Weiner (1970) American writer

Love, People

“We are students of words: we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation -rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Source: Essays Including Essays, First & Second Series, English Traits, Nature & Considerations by the Way

School, Memory

“Don’t simply settle for what your parents had. You can go further than that. You can do more, have more, be more.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

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

Parent

“Everything we do we choose. So what is there to regret? You are the person you chose to be.”

Paul Arden (1940–2008) writer

Source: Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

Personality

“We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

God, Books

“I'm going to end up like one of those old weirdos who lives in a network of tunnels burrowed through trash - yet I do not fear this.”

Will Self (1961) English writer and journalist

Fear

“You don't need water to feel like you're drowning, do you?”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

Feeling, Water

“… and there was nothing to do except to wait and to hurt.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Waiting, Hurt

“Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make sense any more.”

Coleman Barks (1937) American poet

World, Soul, Idea, Sense

“Do you think people have noticed that I'm around?”
“I notice when you're not. Does that count?”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Saving Francesca

People, Thinking

“There is the old catch-22 line that a mentally unstable person can't know, as per their illness, that they are unstable. But that was wrong. You can and do have the insight to see your own crazy.”

Harlan Coben Hold Tight

Source: Hold Tight

Personality

“No. No games. He wanted her and didn't care who knew it. He definitely and absolutely wanted her, longed for her, wanted to do more things than there were names for with her.”

Douglas Adams book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Source: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Game

“In real life I do violence, but for psychic stuff I do other things better.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Skin Trade

Source: Skin Trade

Life

“The moment someone keeps an eye on what we do, we involuntarily make allowances for that eye, and nothing we do is truthful. Having a public, keeping a public in mind, means living in lies…”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Truth

“What senses do we lack that we cannot see or hear another world all around us?”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

World, Sense

“I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.”

Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) American writer

Way

“Some things, when they change, never do return to the way they once were. Butterflies for instance, and women who've been in love with the wrong man too often.”

Alice Hoffman book Practical Magic

Source: Practical Magic

Love, Women, Way, Change

“Why do you think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time and effort.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Men, God, People, Thinking

“I have nightmares about hell, where all I do is add up numbers and try to have conversations with people like you.”

Jim Butcher book Vignette

Source: Vignette

People, Hell

“i've always wanted, basically, to do research in the form of a spectacle.”

Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic

“Sheriff Mossberg was one of those people who never stop speaking until
they are finished, so by this time he was saying: “Do you understand
these rights?”
“No, sir! Mi ne komprenas Dumbtalk!”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Shadow Souls

People, Understanding, Time

“What do you want to kiss me for? I'm filthy.'- Liesel
So am I.'- Rudy”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

Kiss

“Do not let what you think they think of you make you stop and question everything you are.”

Carrie Fisher book The Princess Diarist

Source: The Princess Diarist

Question, Thinking

“Thousands of people have talent. I might as well congratulate you for having eyes in your head. The one and only thing that counts is: Do you have staying power?”

Noel Coward (1899–1973) English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer

People

“I really do literally put myself into a character's shoes.”

Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) British writer

Shoe

“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”

Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author

Motivational, Powerful, Graduation

“Makes sense to me. Sometimes starting over is exactly what a person needs. And I think it's admirable. A lot of people don't have the courage it takes to do something like that.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

People, Courage, Thinking, Sense

“If you leave here, War can find you again. What are you going to do if that happens? (Tory)
Leave bloodstains on his best shirt. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: One Silent Night

War

“We feel unhappy and confused with our life when we don't do the focus or calling that God has on our life.”

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

Life, God, Feeling

“Being vegetarian here also means that we do not consume dairy and egg products, because they are products of the meat industry. If we stop consuming, they will stop producing. Only collective awakening can create enough determination for action.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom

“My snobbery made me do it.”

John Lithgow (1945) American character actor, musician, and author

Drama: An Actor's Education

“Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1820s, Signs of the Times (1829)

Business

“Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.”

Toni Morrison book The Bluest Eye

Source: The Bluest Eye

Beauty

“I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Attributed to William Blake by Michael J. Gelb in Creativity on Demand: How to Ignite and Sustain the Fire of Genius https://books.google.nl/books?id=lCsNBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Creativity+on+Demand:+How+to+Ignite+and+Sustain+the+Fire+of+Genius%22&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjolMyvm6TLAhVDLQ8KHechDoIQ6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20myself%20do%20nothing.%20The%20Holy%20Spirit%20accomplishes%20all%20through%20me%22&f=false (2014), but cannot be retrieved in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, xxii. <br class="br">Attributed

“You have a valid complaint, and I do recognize it… but you are reading into things a little bit. Just the same, I will do my best to make horrible things happen to a bunch of white people before something else so graphic hits a minority character.”

Robert Kirkman (1978) American comic book writer

People, Reading

“if you think they didn't go crazy
in tiny rooms just like you're doing now without women without food without hope then you're not ready.”

Charles Bukowski book Love Is a Dog from Hell

Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell

Women, Food, Hope, Thinking

“Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

quote of 1953; as cited in Smithsonian magazine.
Variants:
Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy — the joy of being Salvador Dalí — and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?
Every morning when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being Salvador Dalí.
Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1951 - 1960

Pleasure

“I do think that men can forget a lost love quickly. I know that women would find it much harder.”

Jane Austen book Persuasion

Source: Persuasion

Love, Women, Men, Thinking

“Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Truth, World, Singing, Painting

“That's all I can do. I'll keep at it and hope it gets better.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

Hope

“If a man has to say trust me it's a sure sign you cannot. Trust him, that is. Trust is a thing you do without words.”

Juliet Marillier book Wildwood Dancing

Variant: If a man has to say trust me, Gogu conveyed, it's a sure sign you cannot. Trust him, that is. Trust is a thing you know without words.
Source: Wildwood Dancing

“I really, really wanted to lose awareness of the here and now. The best way for me to do that was bury myself in a book.”

Charlaine Harris Grave Sight

Source: Grave Sight

Books, Way

“We do not influence the course of events by persuading people that we are right when we make what they regard as radical proposals. Rather, we exert influence by keeping options available when something has to be done at a time of crisis.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

People, Time

“We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing - an actor, a writer - I am a person who does things - I write, I act - and I never know what I'm going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.”

Stephen Fry (1957) English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist

Thinking, Personality

“You see… it's really quite strenuous doing nothing all day, so once a week we take a holiday and go nowhere, which was just where we were going when you came along. Would you care to join us?”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

Holiday

“There can be as many wrong reasons to do the right thing as there are stars in the sky. There might even be more than one legitimate right reason. But there is never a right reason to do the wrong thing. Not ever.”

Donita K. Paul (1950) American writer

Source: DragonKnight

Star

“… sometimes when we are beating ourselves up, we need to stop and say to that harassing voice inside, "Man, I'm doing the very best I can right now."”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Rising Strong

“Do you know people who insist they like 'all kinds of music'? That actually means they likeof music.”

Chuck Klosterman book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Source: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

People, Music

“If you're going to binge, literature is definitely the way to do it.”

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

Way, Literature

“In the economy of Heaven, God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough, or a prophet if a priest can do the job.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

God

“Maybe the best thing to do with favorite books is to leave them be: to achieve such exalted position means that they entered your life at exactly the right time, in precisely the right place, and those conditions can never be recreated.”

Nick Hornby (1957) English novelist

Life, Books, Time

“Perfection' is man's ultimate illusion. It simply doesn't exist in the universe…. If you are a perfectionist, you are guaranteed to be a loser in whatever you do.”

David D. Burns (1942) American psychiatrist

Universe, Perfection

“Most people do not see the world as it is. They see it as they are”

Margaret Landon (1903–1993) writer, missionary

People, World

“Son of Poseidon? East asked. I nodded. Took a dip in the Styx? Hudson asked. Yep. They made digusted sounds. Well that's perfect East said. Now how do we kille him?”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Perfection

“Suppose our failures occur, not in spite of what we are doing, but precisely because of it.”

Dallas Willard (1935–2013) American philosopher

Source: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

Failure

“Immodest creature, you do not want a woman who will accept your faults, you want the one who pretends you are faultless – one who will caress the hand that strikes her and kiss the lips that lie to her.”

George Sand (1804–1876) French novelist and memoirist; pseudonym of Lucile Aurore Dupin

Mais, fat impudent, tu ne veux pas qu'on te pardonne, tu veux qu'on croie ou qu'on prétende n'avoir rien à te pardonner. Tu veux qu'on baise la main qui frappe et la bouche qui ment.
Source: Letter (17 June 1837) in The Intimate Journal of George Sand (1929) translated and edited by Marie Jenney Howe; also quoted in The Quotable Woman, 1800-1975 (1978) by Elaine Partnow

Lie, Kiss

“It is a do-it-yourself era: health care, real estate, police investigation. Go online and f*ing figure it out for yourself because everyone’s overworked and understaffed.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Health

“Of course I can do this. I'm pregnant, not brain-damaged. My condition doesn't change my personality.”

Christine Feehan American writer

Source: Ruthless Game

Change, Personality

“It is necessary to meditate early, and often, on the art of dying to succeed later in doing it properly just once.”

Umberto Eco book The Island of the Day Before

Source: The Island of the Day Before

Art

“Sometimes, when you're so sad you don't know what to do, it helps to be angry.”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkheart

Sadness, Help

“As soon as one promises not to do something, it becomes the one thing above all others that one most wishes to do.”

Georgette Heyer book Venetia

Source: Venetia

“If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

Lying, Sleep, Loss

“If you only do what is easy, you will always remain weak.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Source: Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

“You forgot the ‘my precious,’” Anna said dryly. “If you want to act like a freaking nutcase, you have to do it right.”

Patricia Briggs book Fair Game

Source: Fair Game

“The father’s job is to teach his children how to be warriors, to give them the confidence to get on the horse to ride into battle when it’s necessary to do so. If you don’t get that from your father, you have to teach yourself.”

Cheryl Strayed book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Source: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Children, Confidence, Horse

“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes—and six months later you have to start all over again.”

Joan Rivers (1933–2014) American comedian, actress, and television host

As quoted in Women Talk, edited by Michèle Brown & Ann OʼConnor (1984)

Hate

“Be careful what you're doing, because no one is ever who you want them to be.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

“Do you remember how you felt at seventeen? I do and I don't (…) Imagine you came from outer space and someone showed you a butterfly and a caterpillar. Would you ever put the two of them together? That's me and my memories.”

Douglas Coupland The Gum Thief

Source: The Gum Thief

Imagination, Memory

“I've got to stop being such a snob about leather-bound books, he reminded himself. E-books do have their moments.”

Dan Brown book Inferno

Source: Inferno

Books

“Alek said, "Do you think I'm being a fool?"

"I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

War, Fools, Thinking

“You hardly know me. Why do you want me to come with you?"

"Who knows? Perhaps you remind me just a bit of—"

"Someone you used to know?" Alec interjected skeptically.

"Someone I used to.”

Lynn Flewelling Luck in the Shadows

Source: Luck in the Shadows

“I think I've been rather reasonable about this whole situation."
"How do you figure?"
"They are still breathing, aren't they?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

Thinking

“Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

“You are beautiful,” he whispered to me. “If you say so.” “Do ye not believe me? Have I ever lied to you?” “That’s not what I mean. I mean—if you say it, then it’s true. You make it true.”

Diana Gabaldon book The Fiery Cross

Source: The Fiery Cross

Beauty

“A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”

Robert B. Cialdini (1945) American social psychologist

Source: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

People, Behavior, Success

“Want more credit for all you do and who you are? Be the one who gives credit to others.”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

“If you run into a psychic wall face-first, do you wind up with psychic bruises?
-Clary, pg.239”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Benjamin Graham book The Intelligent Investor

Source: The Intelligent Investor

Past

“What can I say about life? Do I praise it for letting you live, or damn it for allowing the rest?”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

Source: White Oleander

Life

“Is Loor a man's name or a woman's name?" Aja, TRB.
It is the name of a female warrior." Loor, TRB.
What did she do that was so heroic?" Aja, TRB
She killed her enemies and ate them." Loor, TRB.”

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

“And the greatest tragedy of our age is we don't listen to our consciences. We don't say what we think. We feel one thing and do another.”

Vasily Grossman book Life and Fate

Source: Life and Fate

Age, Feeling, Thinking

“Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

People

“Do a little bit of good wherever you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Variant: Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

World

“Why do only the awful things become fads? I thought. Eye-rolling and Barbie and bread pudding. Why never chocolate cheesecake or thinking for yourself?”

Connie Willis Bellwether

Source: Bellwether (1996), Chapter 3 “Tributaries”, Section 3 (p. 119)

Thinking

“A Christian community should do as Jesus did: propose and not impose. Its attraction must lie in the radiance cast by the love of brothers.”

Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian

Source: Community And Growth

Love, Lie, Communication

“I am a runner. That's what I do. That's who I am. Running is all I know, or want, or care about.”

Wendelin Van Draanen (1965) American writer

Source: The Running Dream

“People like to say being gay isn't like skin color, isn't anything physical. They tell us we always have the option of hiding.
But if that's true, why do they always find us?”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

People, Color

“Why do people who are good at families have to be smug and assume it is the only way to live. … Why can’t they be blamed for being bad at promiscuity?”

Hanif Kureishi (1954) English playwright, screenwriter, novelist

People, Family, Way

“Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they're doing it because they care about the team.”

Patrick Lencioni (1965) American writer

Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

“Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

Time

“Gambling is not a vice, it is an expression of our humanness. We gamble. Some do it at the gaming table, some do not. You play, you win, you play, you lose, you play.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Passion

Source: The Passion (1987), p.73

Game

“This life is a test-it is only a test.
If it had been an actual life, you would have received further
instructions on where to go and what to do.
Remember, this life is only a test.”

Jack Kornfield (1945) American writer

Source: A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

Life

“Do you ever do that thing where you lie in bed and you can't sleep so you end up writing out recent conversation you've had? So they look like a play?'

Well you should. It's fun. I keep them. Look through them, sometimes.”

Nick Hornby book How to Be Good

Source: How to Be Good

Lie, Sleep

“I would catch sight of some flawless man off in the distance, but as soon as he moved closer I immediately saw he wouldn’t do at all.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Variant: The same thing happened over and over: I would catch sight of some flawless man in the distance, but as soon as he moved closer I immediately saw he wouldn’t do at all.
Source: The Bell Jar

“men do not suspect faults which they do not commit”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

Men

“There are worse things than finding your wife and child dead. You can watch the world do it. You can watch your wife get old and bored. You can watch your kids discover everything in the world you've tried to save them from. Drugs, divorce, conformity, disease. All the nice clean books, music, television. Distraction. These people with dead children, you want to tell them, go ahead. Blame yourself. There are worse things you can do to the people you love than kill them. The regular way is just to watch the world do it. Just read the newspaper.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3

Love, Children, People, Books

“A computer does not smell… if a book is new, it smells great. If a book is old, it smells even better… And it stays with you forever. But the computer doesn’t do that for you. I’m sorry.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Books

“It's an odd feeling-farewell-there is some envy in it. Men go off to be tested for courage and if we're tested at all, it's for patience, for doing without, for how well we can endure loneliness.”

Karen Blixen (1885–1962) Danish writer

Men, Feeling, Courage, Envy

“You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

As quoted in International Encyclopedia of Prose and Poetical Quotations (1951) by William S. Walsh
Attributed from posthumous publications
Variant: You can't learn in school what the world is going to do next year.

Quotes about doing page 69

Quotes about doing
page 69