Quotes about doing
page 77

“You have to look at what you have right in front of you, at what it could be, and stop measuring it against what you've lost. I know this to be wise and true, just as I know that pretty much no one can do it.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

This Is Where I Leave You (2009), 2014-January-15 http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/This_Is_Where_I_Leave_You.html?id=3jVps2Z9LQcC, <br class="br">Source: This is Where I Leave You

“What do you know?”
“Almost everything. That almost part can be a real kick in the teeth sometimes.”
“What do you want, then?”
“What I can’t have.” Wit turned to him, eyes solemn. “Same as everyone else, Kaladin Stormblessed.”

Brandon Sanderson book Words of Radiance

Source: Words of Radiance

Parting

“People can only be found in what they do.”

Timothy Findley book The Wars

Source: The Wars

People

“I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again / I am to see to it that I do not lose you”

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

Waiting

“There are times in this life when a person must do or say things he doesn't want to. Human beings and chains, it is the oldest acquaintanceship in the world.”

Nadeem Aslam book Maps for Lost Lovers

Source: Maps for Lost Lovers

Life, World, Time, Personality

“They do sometimes go crazy, these people, because the world is telling them not to want the things they want. It can seem saner to give up-But then one goes insane from giving up.”

E. Lockhart book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Source: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

People, World

“I'm the kind of person who has to totally commit to whatever I do.”

Haruki Murakami book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Personality

“I have something that I call my Golden Rule. It goes something like this: "Do unto others twenty-five percent better than you expect them to do unto you."”

Linus Pauling (1901–1994) American scientist

… The twenty-five percent is for error.
Pauling's reply to an audience question about his ethical system, following his lecture circa 1961 at Monterey Peninsula College, in Monterey, California.
1990s

Error

“Sleep is not on good terms with broken hearts. It will have nothing to do with them.”

Christopher Pike (1954) American author Kevin Christopher McFadden

Sleep, Heart

“… we must be a beacon of hope, because if you tell people there's nothing they can do, they will do worse than nothing.”

Margaret Atwood book The Year of the Flood

Source: The Year of the Flood

People, Hope

“I wasn’t going anywhere and neither was the rest of the world. We were all just hanging around waiting to die and meanwhile doing little things to fill the space. Some of use weren’t even doing little things. We were vegetables.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

World, Waiting

“As for her charmspeak, she’d gotten so powerful it made Leo nervous. If she told him to eat his vegetables, he might actually do it.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

“You don't need to change one hair. One freckle. One little toe. And if its me thats made you feel you should do this.. then there's something wrong with me. -Luke Brandon”

Sophie Kinsella book Mini Shopaholic

Source: Mini Shopaholic

Feeling, Change

“It's good to let God pick a man for you. We don't do so well when we pick them ourselves. They end up lipsticks in a drawer, all those wrong colors you thought looked so good in the package.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Queen of Everything

God, Color

“Arguments from authority carry little weight – authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.”

Carl Sagan book The Demon-Haunted World

Source: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Way, Science, Past, Future

“What can I do to help thee?" he asked.
"Believe there is a tomorrow.”

James Clavell book Shōgun

Source: Shōgun

Help

“Love has nothing to do with what you're looking at and everything to do with who's looking.”

Jodi Picoult book Small Great Things

Source: Small Great Things

Love

“If Marilyn Monroe was alive right now, what would she be doing?'

Clawing at the roof of her coffin.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“Please, trust me, I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Variant: I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.
Source: The Book Thief

“Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing.”

Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich

Source: Think and Grow Rich

Happiness

“Just like any woman,… we weave our stories out of our bodies. Some of us through our children, or our art; some do it just by living. It's all the same.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Children, Art

“Besides, if you're going to die horribly, you might as well do it with style.”

Jonathan Stroud book The Ring of Solomon

Source: The Ring of Solomon

“This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Source: On the Road: the Original Scroll

Thinking

“Jo's ambition was to do something very splendid; what it was she had no idea, as yet, but left it for time to tell her…”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Idea, Time

“Grief makes you feel alone, but you're not. I know you don't believe in-in religion-the same way I do, but you can believe you're surrounded by people who love you, can't you?”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Love, People, Religion, Way

“This is what historians usually do, quibble about cause and effect when the point is, there are times when the world is in flux and the right voice in the right place can move the world. Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin, for instance. Bismark. Lenin.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Pain, World, Time

“In my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything. Every so often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday, I got a call from a woman in Madagascar. She said”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Light, Housing

“Typical" Kisten said, his eyes dramatically sad. "Try to do something nice for a person, cheer her up, and what do I get? Abused and robbed.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Every Which Way But Dead

Sadness, Personality

“Dimitri: "Do not do that again."Rose: "Don't kiss me back then."- Dimitri Belikov & Rose Hathaway (Frostbite)”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

Kiss

“Alec said you do that," said Jace. "Deflect questions about yourself with jokes.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Question

“If you do not know what you feel, then it is difficult to choose love; it is better to fall. Then you do not have to be responsible for your actions.”

Bell Hooks book All About Love: New Visions

Source: All About Love: New Visions

Love, Feeling

“These girls want nothing to do with last season's clothes.”

Lisi Harrison book The Clique

Source: The Clique

Girl, Clothes, Season

“I was brought up to believe that the only thing worth doing was to add to the sum of accurate information in the world.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

Attributed in Psychology (1990) by Carole Wade and Carol Tavris, p. 372
1990s

World

“Freedom is sloppy. But since tyranny's the only guaranteed byproduct of those who insist on a perfect world, freedom will have to do.”

Bill Willingham (1956) American comics writer and artist

Source: Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland

World, Freedom, Perfection

“In the words of a very famous dead person, 'A nation that does not know its history is doomed to do poorly on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.”

Dave Barry (1947) American writer

Source: Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States

History, Personality, Dead

“Why do you tell me you love me only when you're drunk or dreaming? she asked. I have awful timing, said Simon”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Love, Dreams, Time

“What do we leave behind when we cross each frontier? Each moment seems split in two: melancholy for what was left behind and the excitement of entering a new land.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

“When she played her music even the night demons stopped their work & it took them some time to remember what it was they were doing & the best of them had no stomach for it for a long time after that.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Source: Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

Music, Time, Night

“Other dads actually sat at the dinner table. Mine left me a fifty and a reminder to do my goddamn katas.”

Lilith Saintcrow book Strange Angels

Source: Strange Angels

“Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man seven different ways with her bare hands, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl.”

Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Way, Girl, Boy, Idea

“Don't think too much. That makes you believe you have more choices than you do. Then you mind becomes confused.”

Amy Tan The Hundred Secret Senses

Source: The Hundred Secret Senses

Thinking

“I cannot imagine a sorrier pursuit than struggling for years to write a book that attempts to appeal to people who do not read in the first place.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

Source: The Writing Life

People, Books, Imagination, Reading

“People love to admit they have bad handwriting or that they can't do math. And they will readily admit to being awkward: 'I'm such a klutz!' But they will never admit to having a poor sense of humor or being a bad driver.”

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

Love, People, Sense

“I met an old lady once, almost a hundred years old, and she told me, there are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? And Who's in charge?”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Question, History, Love

“A motto of the human race: Let me do as I like, and give me approval as well.”

Idries Shah book Reflections

Source: Reflections

“When you do nothing you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Hope, Hope, Feeling, Sense

“How vast was a human being's capacity for suffering. The only thing you could do was stand in awe of it. It wasn't a question of survival at all. It was the fullness of it, how much could you hold, how much could you care.”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

Source: White Oleander

Question, Suffering

“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

Cal Newport (1982) American computer scientist

Source: So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Passion

“The right understanding of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other.”

Franz Kafka book The Trial

Source: The Trial (1920)

Understanding

“People are more than one thing. Warlocks, no less. I would not even hesitate to say that Malcolm once did much good, before he did evil. It is one of the great lessons of growing up, learning that people can do both.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

People, Learning, Evil

“Good-humoured, unaffected girls, will not do for a man who has been used to sensible women. They are two distinct orders of being.”

Jane Austen book Mansfield Park

Source: Mansfield Park

Women, Girl

“I want people to be blown away when I do what they don’t expect.”

Drew Barrymore (1975) American actress, director and producer

People

“I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Time, Reading

“It is not always what we do, Sa'han, but who we love that makes us who we are. Quen”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: The Hollows Insider

Love

“Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head (not, how can I always do this right thing myself, but) how can I provide for this right thing to be always done?”

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing

Source: Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not

Question

“It's like you're a character in this book that everyone around you is writing, and suddenly you have to say, 'I'm sorry, but this role isn't right for me'. And you have to start writing your own life and doing your own thing.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: How They Met, and Other Stories

Life, Books

“Oh no. Hell no. I'm not asking Ma for one of her bras. That's just… wrong."… "Your woman. You do it."…" You go. We'll pay for your therapy later.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: No Place to Run

Hell

“Do your thing, Ms. Lane. you might be criminally young, but the night is not.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

Night

“I'm not broken, I'm ruined. Do you understand the difference? With broken maybe you can fix things. Ruined? All you can do is wait to bury me.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Awakened

Understanding, Waiting

“Yo, Dekko, who do I gotta blow around here to get a shower?”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

“I certainly do not exist from nine to six, when I am at the office.”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

“Stay focus on what God has assigned me to do. Keep my mind on what I am doing/”

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

God

“Life Plan:
I asked her what she planned to do with her life & she said she was way beyond that point already. I'm just happy I remember to be there when it happens, she said.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Life, Way, Happiness

“Compliment but do not covet.”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

“Everybody's got something. In the end, what choice does one really have but to understand that truth, to really take it in, and then shop for groceries, get a haircut, do one's work; get on with the business of one's life.

That's the hope, anyway.”

David Rakoff (1964–2012) writer

Source: Half Empty

Life, Truth, Hope, Understanding

“Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”

Alexander Pope An Essay on Man

Source: An Essay on Man

“The only reason people do not know much is because they do not care to know. They are incurious. Incuriousity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is.”

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

Source: The Fry Chronicles

People

“the masses are everywhere
they know how to do things:
they have sane and deadly angers
for sane and deadly
things.”

Charles Bukowski book Love Is a Dog from Hell

Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell

Anger

“Oh, here’s a clever one. Do you remember this question from the first test? It reads, ‘What’s wrong with this statement?’ And do you know what Constance wrote in reply? She wrote, ‘What’s wrong with you?”

Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society

Source: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Question, Reading

“These people who can see right through you never quite do you justice, because they never give you credit for the effort you're making to be better than you actually are, which is difficult and well meant and deserving of some little notice.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

Source: Gilead

People, Justice, Effort

“How old do you have to get before wisdom descends like a plastic bag over your head and you learn to keep your big mouth shut? Maybe never. Maybe you get more frivolous with age.”

Margaret Atwood book The Robber Bride

Source: The Robber Bride

Wisdom, Age, Learning

“She had fallen in love so many times that she began to suspect she was not falling in love at all, but doing something much more ordinary.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Variant: She had been in love so many times that she began to suspect she was not falling in love, but rather doing something much more ordinary
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Love, Time

“But how do we even get to the land of the dead?” I asked. “I mean…without dying.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Dead

“It's amazing how right you can be about a person you don't know; it's only the people you do know who confuse you.”

Elaine Dundy (1921–2008) American journalist, actress

Source: The Dud Avocado

People, Personality