Quotes about doing
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“You seem to be clean," Terminus decided. "Do you have anything to declare?"
"Yes," Percy said. "I declare this is stupid.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Stupidity

“He came into the world like a delivery that no one knew what to do with, and nobody wanted to sign for.”

Obert Skye book Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

Source: Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

World

“Don't you think it would be wonderful to get rid of everything and everybody and just go someplace where you don't know a soul? Sometimes I feel like doing that. I really really want to do it sometimes.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Feeling, Soul, Thinking

“People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become, and they pay for it, very simply, by the lives they lead.”

James Baldwin book No Name in the Street

No Name in the Street (1972)

People

“Percy grunted. ‘Probably something to do with that creep Octavian. Maybe he was so bad at telling the future that he broke Apollo’s powers.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Future

“Sometimes good people have to do terrible things.”

Orson Scott Card Treasure Box

Source: Treasure Box

People

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Love, Life, Dreams, Country

“The man may not be dead, but he was certainly stiff. And this hadto do with rigor mortis.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Night Pleasures

Source: Night Pleasures

Dead

“Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is. Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose”

George Lucas (1944) American film producer

Fear, Jealousy, Training

“And I do not want anymore to be useful, to be docile, to lead / children out of the fields into the text / of civility, to teach them that they are (they are not) better than the grass.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

Children, Grass

“Jedi Masters do not crack up- they just get eccentric.- Luke Skywalker”

Troy Denning book Star by Star

Source: Star by Star

“This is what you do. You make a future for yourself out of the raw material at hand.”

Michael Cunningham book A Home at the End of the World

Source: A Home at the End of the World

Future

“Why do people always assume that volume will succeed when logic won’t? - Damon”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Nightfall

People

“History is hereditary only in this way: we, all of us, inherit everything, and then we choose what to cherish, what to disavow, and what do do next, which is why it's worth trying to know where things come from.”

Jill Lepore (1966) American historian

Way, History

“Getting what you want is just as difficult as not getting what you want. Because then you have to figure out what to do with it instead of figuring out what to do without it.”

David Levithan The Realm of Possibility

Source: The Realm of Possibility

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”

Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Ancient Rome

Source: The Emperor's Handbook

Soul, Sun

“Because the moment you stop doing the very things that got you to the top of the mountain is the very moment you begin the slid down to the valley.”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

Mountain

“I do wish you wouldn't argue with me when I'm knitting.”

Gerald Durrell book My Family and Other Animals

Source: My Family and Other Animals

“I'd do it all over again.”

Jodi Picoult book House Rules

House Rules

“Do I really have to find a word for it? Can't it just be what it is?”

David Levithan Boy Meets Boy

Source: Boy Meets Boy

“The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover.”

Al Franken (1951) American comedian and politician

Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them (2003)

Money

“What I need is someone who will make me do what I can.”

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

“Those who betray me only do so once. ~Malkom Slaine (Demon From the Dark)”

Kresley Cole American writer

“My doubts stand in a circle around every word, I see them before I see the word, but what then! I do not see the word at all, I invent it.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Source: Diaries, 1910 1923

“Do you think if people knew how crazy you really were, no one would ever talk to you?”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

People, Thinking

“Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Children

“Last night somebody broke into my apartment and replaced everything with exact duplicates… When I pointed it out to my roommate, he said, "Do I know you?”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Night

“And unless I'm remembering it wrong, mermaids don't sing and sirens don't swim."
"Ariel sang in 'The Little Mermaid'," Corey said.
Sam came over to join us. "Do I even want to know why you remember her name?”

Kelley Armstrong (1968) Canadian writer

Source: The Calling

Singing

“So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.”

A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh

Source: Winnie-the-Pooh

Books

“The worst thing you can do if you miss or need someone is let them know it.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Missing You

“Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Source: god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Parting

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

11 April 1942.
Disputed, Hitler's Table Talks (1941-1944) (published 1953)

History

“Sasuke: Snakes can sense things through temperature, and they can also do it with their sense of smell by passing the smell in the mouth."

Itachi: You've learnt a lot… Dr. Snakes”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Sense

“And I envied her that she had chosen her work herself and was doing what she wanted to do. I don't suppose I had any idea what I 'wanted' and so I was chosen, not choosing. There's glory and honor in being chosen. But not much room for free will.”

Elizabeth Wein book Code Name Verity

Source: Code Name Verity

Idea, Envy

“You are
What you do
When it counts"
- The Masao”

John Steakley book Armor

Source: Armor

“That is the problem with governments these days. They want to do things all the time; they are always very busy thinking of what things they can do next. That is not what people want. People want to be left alone to look after their cattle.”

Alexander McCall Smith The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Source: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

People, Business, Problem, Thinking

“You do the easy thing, the appealing thing, the peaceful thing, mostly it turns sour in the end. But if you take the hard path - ah, that's how you reap the sweet rewards. Duty. Sacrifice. They mean something.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Peace

“What do you do when you know you are breaking someone's heart, but to do anything else would break your own?”

Laurell K. Hamilton book A Lick of Frost

Source: A Lick of Frost

Heart

“It may look impossible, but God can do the impossible. Just because you don’t see anything happening doesn’t mean God is not working”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

God

“This is what we do, my mother's life said. We find ourselves in the sacrifices we make.”

Cammie McGovern

Source: Neighborhood Watch

Life

“I looked into her eyes. "Mom, who do you pray to?"

I just pray, Daniel. That's all.”

James Patterson book The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

Source: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

Moms

“You do not think much of me, do you, Cogburn?
I don't think about you at all when your mouth is closed.”

Charles Portis book True Grit

Source: True Grit (1968), Chapter 6, p. 151 : exchange between 'LaBoeuf' and 'Rooster Cogburn'

Thinking

“In order that people may be happy in their work,
these three things are needed:
they must be fit for it;
they must not do too much of it;
and they must have a sense of success in it.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

People, Sense, Success, Happiness

“I wonder what Piglet is doing," thought Pooh.
"I wish I were there to be doing it, too.”

A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh

Source: Winnie-the-Pooh

“If you don't know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

Light, Reading

“We don't even love each other.
I do a bit, you know.
You do what a bit?
You know. Like you… whatever… love you a bit.
I think I kind of love you too.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Love, Thinking

“Stories make sense when so much around us is senseless, and perhaps what makes them most comforting is that while life goes on and pain goes on, stories do us the favor of ending.”

John Hodgman (1971) American humorist

Life, Pain, Sense

“Why do you think there's only a single stairway to heaven, but an entire highway to hell? Because it's a lot easier to slide down then climb up, and it takes a whole lot less energy to boot.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Inferno

Hell, Thinking

“Don't feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Feeling

“Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do… Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose… it's like your broken.”

Brian Selznick book The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Source: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

People, Sadness

“If a man isn't being nice when you're out, all you have to do is remain polite and then go home early.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl—A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship

Home

“I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.”

Catherine Ryan Hyde (1955) American writer

Source: Pay It Forward

People, Way, Change

“Don't open that door," she said. "The hallway is full of difficult dreams." And I asked her: "How do you know?" And she told me: "Because I was there a moment ago and I had to come back when I discovered I was sleeping on my heart.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Olhos de Cão Azul

Source: Ojos de perro azul

Dreams, Sleep, Heart

“There are things you don't want to know you can do”

Robin McKinley book Sunshine

Source: Sunshine

“I know, but I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”

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

“And truly it is a very natural and ordinary thing to desire to acquire, and always, when men do it who can, they will be praised or not blamed; but when they cannot, and wish to do it anyway, here lies the error and the blame.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince

Men, Error, Nature

“You can laugh or you can cry. It is up to you which one you do.”

Rachael Ray (1968) American businessman

Cry

“What do we call visible light? We call it color. But the electromagnetic spectrum runs to zero in one direction and infinity in the other, so really, children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

Children, Color, Mathematics, Light

“And
always embrace things, people earth
sky stars, as I do, freely and with
the appropriate sense of space.”

Frank O'Hara (1926–1966) American poet, art critic and writer

A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island (l. 64-67) (1958).

People, Star, Sense

“Just as when we come into the world, when we die we are afraid of the unknown. But the fear is something from within us that has nothing to do with reality. Dying is like being born: just a change”

Isabel Allende book The House of the Spirits

Variant: Just as when we come into the world, when we die we are afraid of the unknown. But the fear is something from within us that has nothing to do with reality. Dying is like being born: just a change.
Source: The House of the Spirits

World, Fear, Reality, Change

“There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying.
Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do.”

Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club

Source: The Joy Luck Club

Life, Fate, Hope

“In our early youth we sit before the life that lies ahead of us like children sitting before the curtain in a theatre, in happy and tense anticipation of whatever is going to appear. Luckily we do not know what really will appear.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Life, Children, Youth, Appearance

“I do plan on saying one or two things to him when we're allowed an hour for goodbyes. To let him know how essential he's been to me all these years. How better my life has been for knowing him.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Life

“I do suspect that he is not really necessary to my happiness.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Happiness

“Men aren't stupid, and you don't need a complicated set of rules to find a good one who loves you. Here's the only rule you need: if a man loves you, he will do anything he can to keep you around. Anything.”

Kim Gruenenfelder (1967) American writer

Source: A Total Waste of Makeup

Love, Men, Stupidity

“Don't ever write anything you don't like yourself and if you do like it, don't take anyone's advice about changing it. They just don't know.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

Change

“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”

John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) British economist

Men

“We frequently pass so near to happiness without seeing, without regarding it, or if we do see and regard it, yet without recognizing it.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: Often we pass beside happiness without seeing it, without looking at it, or even if we have seen and looked at it, without recognizing it.
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Happiness

“She was too tired to feel anything more, she wanted a book to do to her what books did: take away the world, slide it aside for a little bit, and let her please, please just be somewhere and somebody else”

Lev Grossman book The Magician's Land

Source: The Magician's Land

Books, World, Feeling

“People don't need wings to survive"
"Mockingjays do.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

People

“Do you ever think of anything
but sex?”
“Yes, I do. Sometimes I think of waking up next to you. Or making you laugh.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Mourns

Sex, Thinking

“What did I do?" he said. "Cake! It's cake! Delicious cake!”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Last Breath

“You can't always pickyou fight, oryou fight… or even… you fight. But do the picking… whenever you can.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Warrior Heir

Fight

“Pride is holding your head up when everyone around you has theirs bowed. Courage is what makes you do it.”

Bryce Courtenay The Power of One

Variant: Pride is holding your head up high when everyone around you has theirs bowed. Courage is what makes you do it.
Source: The Power of One

Courageous, Courage

“You've got nothing to worry about. The righteous do not always right, but their souls remain pure. -Lassiter the Angel”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Enshrined

Angels, Soul

“If you want that good feeling that comes from doing things for other folks then you have to pay for it in abuse and misunderstanding.”

Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) American folklorist, novelist, short story writer

Feeling

“For most of us, I think it's easier to admit doing wrong than being stupid.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

Stupidity, Thinking

“Quiet heroism or youthful idealism, or both? What do we know? That life without heroism and idealism is not worth living - or that either can be fatal?”

Erich Segal book The Class

Source: The Class

Life, Youth

“And she keeps saying, how can you do this to me?

And i want to scream, what do you mean, how can I do this to you? Aren't we confusing our pronouns here? The question, really, is How could I do this to myself?”

Elizabeth Wurtzel book Prozac Nation

Source: Prozac Nation

Question

“The 1st day, I stood in the kitchen leaning against the counter watching Annie feed the cats, and I knew I wanted to do that forever.”

Nancy Garden book Annie on My Mind

Source: Annie on My Mind

Cats

“What’s your name?”
“What do you want it to be?”
“Are you a vampire?”
“Not the last time I checked.”

Kresley Cole book The Warlord Wants Forever

Source: The Warlord Wants Forever

Time

“I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.”

Wallace Stevens book Harmonium

"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
Harmonium (1923)

Beauty

“When someone tells me "no," it doesn't mean I can't do it, it simply means I can't do it with them.”

Karen E. Quinones Miller (1958) American writer

“Maybe I should add some graffiti to spice it up. For a good time call the Consort. Beast Lord eats your food and turns into a lion in his sleep. Mahon has hemorrhoids. Boudas do it better. Warning, paranoid attack jaguar on the prowl…”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

Food, Sleep, Time

“Do you live each day as if it's your first or your last? Either way you should probably have a diaper on.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding

Way

“Did I love what I was doing, or did I love myself in doing it?”

C. Terry Warner American writer

Source: Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves

Love

“Actually, I jade very quickly. Once is usually enough. Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

“Why do people give each other flowers? To celebrate various important occasions, they’re killing living creatures? Why restrict it to plants? 'Sweetheart, let’s make up. Have this deceased squirrel.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

People, Flowers

“I do not know why the dead do not come back to life. Perhaps death is so wonderful, in ways we cannot comprehend, that they prefer it over and above their friends and loved ones, although I am inclined to doubt that be the case.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume

Love, Life, Death, Way

“Maybe that's all demons ever are. People like us, doing things without even knowing what we're doing.”

Orson Scott Card book Pathfinder

Source: Pathfinder

People

“Don’t try to understand! It’s enough if you do not misunderstand.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

Understanding

“I do so wish my breasts would stop staring at your eyes.”

Kresley Cole book No Rest for the Wicked

Source: No Rest for the Wicked

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) Welsh poet and writer

" Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=92" (1952) <br class="br">Source: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Age, Light, Rage, Night