Quotes about doing
page 79

“I should be doing my homework now. But the way I look at it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life.

- Such as?

- Procrastination and rationalization.”

Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes

Source: Calvin and Hobbes

Life, Way, Learning

“There was a yell, but Magnus had already risen and closed the door before he could see Alec fall down the steps, as that was the sort of thing a man had to do in private.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Course of True Love [and First Dates]

“None of us alone can save the nation or the world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so. (p. 109)”

Cornel West book Race Matters

Source: Race Matters

World

“Do you think I'm pretty?
I think you're beautiful
Beautiful?
You are so beautiful, it hurts sometimes.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

Beauty, Beauty, Thinking, Hurt

“The power of doing any thing with quickness is always much prized by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance. - Mr Darcy”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

“Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I have never been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall. And, without love, I am sure I should be a fool to change such a situation as mine.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Love, Fools, Way, Nature

“I do not have any home. So why should I be homesick?”

Carson McCullers book The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Source: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Home

“Are cats strange animals or do they so resemble us that we find them curious as we do monkeys?”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

For Mother, Cats, Animals

“If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it, write it in the sand near the water's edge.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Variant: If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it...

Water

“I love the stars.
Because they can't say anything.
I love the stars.
Because they do not judge anyone.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Love, Star

“Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Learning, Time

“My body is a temple not just any boy gets to worship at. I won't do any more than I want to do.”

Jenny Han book P.S. I Still Love You

Source: P.S. I Still Love You

Boy

“He shrugged. "The same as any other. It's a way to make people feel better about themselves. Everyone likes feeling special. Being part of an elite group is a way to do that."
"But you weren't part of it?"
"No need. I already know I'm special.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

People, Way, Feeling, Parting

“You fuss too much over making the "right" choice Gaius. All we need do is make a good choice, see it through, and accept the consequences.”

Graham McNeill (1971) writer

Source: Fulgrim

“It's only now that I realize that behaviour always has a context and precedents, it's what you do rather than what you are, although we often never recognise that context or understand what these precedents are.”

Irvine Welsh book Marabou Stork Nightmares

Source: Marabou Stork Nightmares

Understanding

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that something is more important than fear; The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.”

Meg Cabot The Princess Diaries

Source: The Princess Diaries

Fear, Courage

“Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments. Though we fall short, our labour is not lost if this day surpasses the preceding one.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

Page 23.
Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life (1551)

Way, Despair

“Sometimes there are good reasons to do bad things.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Blacklisted

“I don't think we get a choice in who we fall for," Ian whispers. "I think we just do.”

Jodi Picoult book Keeping Faith

Source: Keeping Faith

Thinking

“He should accept me as I am!” says the woman who is too nice.
Accept you? Oh no, sister. Slap yourself. He should want you
madly. Acceptance has nothing to do with it. He accepts a
doormat. But he desires his dreamgirl.”

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

Sister

“If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“Do you train for passing tests or do you train for creative inquiry?”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Training

“Animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater peace than people do.”

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

Wise, People, Peace, Animals

“They spent their time doing nothing… they let intimacy fuse them.”

Jean Genet book Our Lady of the Flowers

Source: Our Lady of the Flowers

Time

“As for the end of the universe…I say let it come as it will, in ice, fire, or darkness. What did the universe ever do for me that I should mind its welfare?”

Stephen King The Dark Tower

Source: The Dark Tower

Universe

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

People, Change

“If I could do it all again, I'd be a plumber.”

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

“What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises—no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

Love, Making love, Mood, Fight

“tommorow is our permanent address
and there they'll scarcely find us(if they do,
we'll move away still further:into now”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Source: 1 x 1 (1944), XXXIX
Source: Selected Poems

“The great question in life is the suffering we cause, and the most ingenious metaphysics do not justify the man who has broken the heart that loved him.”

Benjamin Constant Adolphe

Source: Adolphe

Love, Life, Question, Suffering

“The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint

Variant: The important thing is not to think much, but to love much.

Love, Thinking

“So why are we practicing this, anyway?" Percy asked. "Do you guys spend a lot of time laying siege to fortified cities?”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Guy, Time

“People do not lack strength, they lack will.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Deep, People

“To do what you imply would require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, not systems.”

Rafael Sabatini book Scaramouche

Source: Scaramouche

Change

“If you think that moral reasoning is something we do to figure out the truth, you’ll be constantly frustrated by how foolish, biased, and illogical people become when they disagree with you.”

Jonathan Haidt (1963) American psychologist

Source: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012)

People, Truth, Thinking

“How wonderful to know someone who was bad and dishonorable and a cheat and a liar, when all the world was filled with people who would not lie to save their souls and who would rather starve than do a dishonorable deed!”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

People, Lie, World, Soul

“You do not interrupt a man when he is explaining his master plan after having been soundly defeated. Don't you watch any James Bond Movies?”

Katie MacAlister (1964) Author

Source: Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang

“Do you know that I have undergone three quarters of this labour entirely for the sake of the fourth quarter?”

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English novelist and poet

Source: Tess of the D'Urbervilles

“What does a bigot do when he meets someone who challenges his opinions? He doesn’t give. He stays rigid. Doesn’t even try to listen, just lashes out.”

Harper Lee book Go Set a Watchman

Source: Go Set a Watchman

“Where the hell do you get your nerve?
From a Cracker Jack box.”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Wicked Pleasure

Hell, Box

“Someday you'll find someone special again. People who've been in love once usually do. It's in their nature.”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Love, People, Nature

“I'm not giving you any options here. We're doing this, Eva. Enjoy your last remaining hours as a single woman.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

“I changed it. I had to. Do you know why?" She studied him, her eyes grave. "Because that was then and this is now. Because the past is gone, even though it defines the present.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Source: Doctor Sleep

Study, Change, Past

“You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”

Darren Shan book Birth of a Killer

Source: Birth of a Killer

World, Loneliness

“If you're doing your best, you won't have time to worry about failure.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Failure, Time

“Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.”

Sandra Day O'Connor (1930) Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Problem, Learning, Time, Personality

“Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead.”

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

Wise, Life, Kiss, Waiting

“Why do I do anything?' she says. 'I'm educated enough to talk myself out of any plan. To deconstruct any fantasy. Explain away any goal. I'm so smart I can negate any dream.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Choke

Source: Choke

Education, Dreams

“Welcome to Morganville. You'll never want to leave. And even if you do… well, you can't. Sorry about that.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

“The truth I do not dare to know I muffle with a jest.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Truth

“You do not need to work to become spiritual. Youspiritual; you need only to remember that fact. Spirit is within you. God is within you. (67)”

Julia Cameron (1948) American writer

Source: God is No Laughing Matter

God

“And what about magic?”
“What about it?”
“Will you teach me?”
“You don’t even know if you’re capable of doing magic.”
“How do I find out? Is there a test or something?”
“Yes, we cut off your head. If it grows back, you can do magic.”

Derek Landy Skulduggery Pleasant

Source: Skulduggery Pleasant

“Run a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.”

Junot Díaz book Drown

Source: Drown

Boy

“I done learned my mistake and learned to do what's right by it. You still trying to get something for nothing. Life don't owe you nothing. You owe it to yourself.
- Troy”

August Wilson Fences

Source: Fences

Life, Learning

“Do you want to understand how to swim, or do you want to jump in and start swimming? Only people who are afraid of the water want to understand it. Other people jump in and get wet.”

Michael Crichton book Sphere

Source: Sphere

People, Understanding, Water

“Better be without sense than misapply it as you do.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Sense

“Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change, you love them as they are.”

Isabel Allende (1942) Chilean writer

Love, Children, Way, Tree

“if they were meant to be together they would find a way to do it.”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Way

“What do you want, Acheron? (Artemis)
You know what I want. After all I’m the top of the Food Chain and you…you’re the Food. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Food

“What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?” cried Daisy, “and the day after that, and the next thirty years?”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

“Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Learning, Reading

“… I do not tell you often enough, dear Mother, how very grateful I am that I am yours. It is a rare parent
who would offer a child such latitude and understanding. It is an even rarer one who calls a daughter
friend. I do love you, dear Mama.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: To Sir Phillip, With Love

Love, Understanding, Parent, Daughters

“I do not believe that the desires of young boys cause catastrophic events. The actions of humans do.”

Melina Marchetta Finnikin of the Rock

Source: Finnikin of the Rock

Boy

“You may not control life's circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.”

Atul Gawande book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Source: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Life

“Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

"Critical Eye" column, Yahoo! Internet Life (September 1998), p. 66

“Livin' is like pourin' water out of a tumbler into a dang Coca-Cola bottle. If'n you skeered you can't do it, you cain't. If'n you say to yourself, "By dang, I can do it!" then, by dang, you won't slosh a drop.”

Olive Ann Burns book Cold Sassy Tree

Source: Cold Sassy Tree

Water

“Alone at last. Oh, the pleasure of the pain. (Zarek)
You really do suffer from insanity, don’t you? (Thanatos)
Hardly. I have to say I enjoy every minute of it. (Zarek)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Pain, Pleasure, Suffering

“Things do not happen, we must make them happen”

Margaret George book The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Source: The Memoirs of Cleopatra

“If I hate the sins, I love the sinner, and would do much for his salvation.”

Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XVII : Further Warnings; Helen to Mrs. Maxwell

Love, Hate

“As with stomachs, we should pity minds that do not eat.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Deep

“Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way.”

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

Way

“Do Mom and Dad know you’re dating a homicidal lunatic? (Madaug)
No, and if you tell them, I’ll superglue your fingertips to your keyboard. (Eric)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

Moms

“Life is a storm. One minute you will bathe under the sun and the next you will be shattered upon the rocks. That's when you shout, "Do your worst, for I will do mine!" and you will be remembered forever.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Life, Sun

“I was right when I said I’d never look back. It hurts too much, it drags at your heart till you can’t ever do anything else except look back.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Heart, Hurt

“All I could say was, "I don't know what to do." I remember her taking me by the shoulders and looking me in the eye with a calm smile and saying simply, "Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Truth, Smile

“Over and over I feel as if my characters know who they are, and what happens to them, and where they have been and where they will go, and what they are capable of doing, but they need me to write it down for them because their handwriting is so bad.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Feeling

“Hasn't it ever occurred to you that in your promiscuous pursuit of women you are merely trying to assuage your subconscious fears of sexual impotence?"
"Yes, sir, it has."
"Then why do you do it?"
"To assuage my fears of sexual impotence.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch 22

Women, Fear

“Calvin: I'm a genius. I can't believe how smart I am.
… I've got more brains than I know what to do with.
Hobbes: So I've noticed.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Source: Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons

“Rapists do not deserve to live.”

Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist

Indiscreet

“You're a leader. It's your job to keep your passion hot. Do whatever you have to do, read whatever you have to read, go wherever you have to go to stay fired up. And don't apologize to anybody.”

Bill Hybels (1951) American writer

Source: Courageous Leadership

Passion, Reading

“In so doing, the idea forces itself upon him that religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis, and he is optimistic enough to suppose that mankind will surmount this neurotic phase, just as so many children grow out of their similar neurosis.”

Sigmund Freud book The Future of an Illusion

Source: 1920s, The Future of an Illusion (1927), Ch. 10

Children, Religion, Idea, Childhood

“Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Deep, Stupidity

“And finally, in our time a beard is the one thing that a woman cannot do better than a man, or if she can her success is assured only in a circus.”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Time, Success

“It's the movies that have been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Feeling

“For the best part of 40 years she had genuinely believed that not doing things would somehow prevent regret, when, of course, the exact opposite was true.”

Nick Hornby book Juliet, Naked

Source: Juliet, Naked

Parting

“I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real
adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.”

James Joyce book Dubliners

Source: Dubliners

People, Home

“Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an author because I want to ask questions. If I had answers, I'd be a politician.”

Eugéne Ionesco (1909–1994) Romanian playwright

As quoted in The Writer's Quotation Book : A Literary Companion (1980) by James Charlton, p. 44

People, Question

“Haymich finally drops the good-natured act. "you know who else, Katniss. You know who stepped up first."
Of course I do.
Gale.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Nature

“During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream.”

Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher

Source: The Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First Three Chapters of the Chuang-Tzu
Context: How do I know that enjoying life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death we are not like people who got lost in early childhood and do not know the way home? Lady Li was the child of a border guard in Ai. When first captured by the state of Jin, she wept so much her clothes were soaked. But after she entered the palace, shared the king's bed, and dined on the finest meats, she regretted her tears. How do I know that the dead do not regret their previous longing for life? One who dreams of drinking wine may in the morning weep; one who dreams weeping may in the morning go out to hunt. During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense! You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream. Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night.

Dreams

“Do not give way to useless alarm; though it is right to be prepared for the worst, there is no occasion to look on it as certain.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Way

“Yeah, you were doing a real bang-up job of it. I particularly liked the way you were bruising his fists with your face. A few minutes more and I’m sure your heart would have been on the attack… after it was ripped from your chest. (Kat)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Way, Heart

“Sabine gave a Scoff. " I could be virtuous, if I wanted to be."
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.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Kiss of a Demon King

“I'm going to tell you a secret. Our lives are shaped by the future, not by the past. Once you decide how you want your life to be, all you need to do is live into that future.”

Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer

Source: Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

Life, Secret, Past, Future

“Léonie, you will do well to consider. You are not the first woman in my life."

She smiled through her tears. "Monseigneur, I would so much rather be the last woman than the first,” she said.”

Georgette Heyer book These Old Shades

Source: These Old Shades

Life, Smile, Tear

“How do you make yourself not like someone?”

Louise Rennison book Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Source: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

“Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

“The thing about fate, Magnus: even if we can't change the big picture, our choices can alter the details. That's how we rebel against destiny, how we make our mark. What will you choose to do?”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

Fate, Change

“I will leave you with one last piece of advice, which is: If you’ve got it, flaunt it. And if you don’t got it? Flaunt it. ’Cause what are we even doing here if we’re not flaunting it?”

Mindy Kaling book Why Not Me?

Source: Why Not Me?

“They adore you beacause they think you offer up your friendship and ask for nothing in return. But that's not true-' He took a deep breath. 'You do ask for something. You ask that we never expect you to need us.”

Kamila Shamsie (1973) Pakistani writer

Source: Kartography

Friendship, Thinking

“I took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question: "Do you like me?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Variant: We stopped laughing, I took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question: "Do you like me?
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

World, Question

Quotes about doing page 79

Quotes about doing
page 79