Quotes about doing
page 80

“How do you explain to yourself the casual manner in which you threw your life away?”

James Lee Burke (1936) Novelist, short story writer

Source: Swan Peak

Life

“Participating in Society in not a thing one can do naturally; one has to rehearse for it.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White

Nature

“Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.”

Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006) American playwright

Graduation

“Let’s admit, without apology, what we do to each other.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

“God is God. He knows what he is doing. When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

God, Heart

“He could do only one thing at a time. If he held her, he couldn't kiss her. If he kissed her, he couldn't see her. If he saw her, he couldn't feel her.”

Arundhati Roy book The God of Small Things

Source: The God of Small Things

Feeling, Kiss, Time

“Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

I'm Telling You for the Last Time (1998)

Problem, Thinking

“Do as you like with me. I'm your parcel. I have only our address on me. Open me, or readdress me.”

Ted Hughes Birthday Letters

Source: Birthday Letters

“I used to do drugs, but don't tell anyone because it'll ruin my image.”

Courtney Love (1964) American punk singer-songwriter, musician, actress, and artist

“I do not expect to get what I want, so I don't. And I don't even try.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Source: Something Borrowed

“But I'm not here just to make records and money. I'm here to say something and to touch other people, sometimes in a cry of desperation: "Do you know this feeling?”

Keith Richards book Life

Source: Life

Money, People, Feeling, Cry

“If there's a trick to doing a job you hate… Mrs. Clark says it's to find a job you hate even more.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 20, Cassandra, Another story by Mrs. Clarke

Hate

“A man's presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you. By contrast, a woman's presence… defines what can and cannot be done to her.”

John Berger book Ways of Seeing

Source: Ways of Seeing (1972)
Context: According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome, the social presence of a woman is different in kind from that of a man... A man's presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you... By contrast, a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her. (p. 45-46)

“This city is dying of rabies. Is the best I can do to wipe random flecks of foam from its lips?”

Alan Moore book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

“I don't do drugs. I'm drugs.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

In an interview conducted by Paloma Chamorro in Madrid (Spain), 1982; as cited in Salvador Dalí: a la conquista de lo irracional, Javier Pérez Andújar (2003) p. 245
Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1981 - 1989
Variant: I don't do drugs. I'm drugs.

“It's almost impossible to read a fine thing without wanting to do a fine thing.”

John Steinbeck book The Pastures of Heaven

Source: The Pastures of Heaven

Reading

“Why do people spend their time being sad when they could be happy?”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

People, Sadness, Time, Happiness

“She taught me I should never do anything in private I did not want talked about in public, and cautioned me not to talk in my sleep.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Sleep

“Which path do you intend to take, Nell?' said the Constable, sounding very interested. 'Conformity or rebellion?'
Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.”

Neal Stephenson (1959) American science fiction writer

Source: The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

People, Way

“And he left. I watched him walk out – he didn’t say good-bye, he didn’t even look back. It scared me, how easy it was for him to do that.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: Sweethearts

“Snake people do not drink milk," Kekrops said. "We are lactose intolerant reptiles."
"Me too!" Frank said. "I mean… lactose intolerant. Not a reptile. Though I can be a reptile sometimes-”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

People, Drink

“P. S. Do no violence. Kill no one.”

Luis Alberto Urrea (1955) Mexican-American poet

The Hummingbird's Daughter

“I’m going. But before I do, let me congratulate all of you on your stupidity. (Fury)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dead After Dark

Stupidity

“It’s tempting to wish for the perfect boss, the perfect parent, or the perfect outfit. But maybe the best any of us can do is not to quit, play the hand we’ve been dealt, and accessorize what we’ve got.”

Candace Bushnell book Sex and the City

Source: Sex and the City

Parent, Perfection

“To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination.”

Bell Hooks (1952) American author, feminist, and social activist

Source: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

Way, Communication

“You can’t concentrate on doing anything if you are thinking, “What’s gonna happen if it doesn’t go right?”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Thinking

“How do I know I can trust you?'

'You can't,' he said bluntly. 'You've got to take it on faith that the enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Faith

“Honestly, Clary, if you don't start utilizing a bit of your natural feminine superiority I just don't know what I'll do with you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Nature

“No, I slept as I always do when I am bored and have not the courage to amuse myself, or when I am hungry and have not the desire to eat.--The Count of Monte Cristo”

Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist

Courage

“I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open. I was able to do anything and there were no walls to hem you in and there was no human condition that you were stopped from examining.”

Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) American science fiction writer

Science

“Alexander smoked and watched her from his tree stump bench. What are you doing? she would ask him.

Nothing, he would reply. Nothing but growing my pain into madness.”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Source: The Bronze Horseman

Pain, Tree, Madness

“You're not so bad. You'll get there. You should have seen Alec do flips at first. I think he kicked himself in the head once.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Thinking

“You want me to do what? What part of stupid crawled up your sphincter and died?” – Caleb”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Stupidity, Parting

“He was the one she was doing all this for, but sometimes she missed him so much it felt like she swallowed broken glass.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“It's funny how you can think you know someone pretty well, and then something happens or they do something that makes you understand that you didn't really know them at all.”

Wendelin Van Draanen (1965) American writer

Source: Sammy Keyes And the Dead Giveaway

Understanding, Thinking

“It's his mother's birthday? But he didn't tell me. I don't have a card. I don't have a gift. How could he do this to me?

Men are crap.”

Sophie Kinsella book I've Got Your Number

Source: I've Got Your Number

Men, Birthday

“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

Source: My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year

God

“A vocation is not something you slap on, like a coat of paint, and change whenever you want. A vocation is built into you. You have no choice. If you try to do something else, you fail.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Demon King

Change, Painting

“Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

TIME magazine Vol. 149, No. 2 (13 January 1997) http://web.archive.org/web/20000619135050/http://www.time.com/time/gates/gates7.html <br class="br">1990s

Religion, Time

“In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.”

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881–1955) French philosopher and Jesuit priest

People, Question

“Bending his head over hers, Leo murmured, "When I give you away at the altar, Bea, I want you to remember something. I'm not really giving you away. I'm merely allowing him the chance to love you as much as the rest of us do.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Love in the Afternoon

Love, Chance

“As far as I'm concerned the only thing to do is sit in a room and get drunk”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

“Go,” Marasi said. “Do what you do best, Waxillium Ladrian.”
“Which is what? Break things?”
“Break things,” Marasi said, “with style.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Bands of Mourning

“If our lives are truly "hid with Christ in God," the astounding thing is that this hiddenness is revealed in all that we do and say and write. What we are is going to be visible in our art, no matter how secular (on the surface) the subject may be.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

God, Art, Christ

“You may plainly perceive the traitor through his mask; he is well-known everywhere in his true colors; his rolling eyes and his honeyed tones impose only on those who do not know him.”

Molière The Misanthrope

Source: The Misanthrope

Color

“The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Friendship, Love, Friendship, Wealth

“We all make mistakes, but intelligence enables us to do it on purpose.”

Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer

Intelligence

“Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught,”

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

In debate http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1952/nov/04/debate-on-the-address in the House of Commons, 4 Nov 1952 <br class="br">Post-war years (1945–1955) <br class="br">Variant: Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. <br class="br">Context: Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught, but I shall not attempt to foreshadow the proposals which will be brought before the House tomorrow. Today it will be sufficient and appropriate to deal with the obvious difficulties and confusion of the situation as we found it on taking office.

Learning, Personality

“What do you mean, Araluen? Death?"
Halt made a careless gesture. "The usual, I suppose: the sudden cessation of life. The end of it all. Departure for a happier place. Or oblivion, depending upon your personal beliefs.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Battle for Skandia

Life, Death, Departure, Dependency

“I live because I do not exist.”

Dave Eggers book What Is the What

What Is the What

“My hate is general, I detest all men;
Some because they are wicked and do evil,
Others because they tolerate the wicked,
Refusing them the active vigorous scorn
Which vice should stimulate in virtuous minds.”

Molière The Misanthrope

Source: The Misanthrope

Men, Hate, Evil

“And then, if you make it to bedtime, you feel the joy of cheating death out of one more day," she said. "Do you see?”

Suzanne Collins book Gregor the Overlander

Source: Gregor the Overlander

Death, Feeling, Joy, Cheating

“Look, I'll fight, too. What do you think it is? Bear, coyote…?"
"My brother."
"Your…" Dismay pooled in Mark. She'd just stepped over the line of acceptable craziness. "Oh.”

L.J. Smith book Daughters of Darkness

Source: Daughters of Darkness

Thinking, Fight

“This is all. It's been very rare to have known you, very strange and wonderful. But this wouldn't do - and wouldn't last.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Beautiful and Damned

Source: The Beautiful and Damned

“Jump off. You are a protected individual. Do not fear.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

Fear

“If only it were that easy. You forget: I have an addictive personality. I'm addicted to you. Somehow I think you could do all sorts of bad things to me, and I'd still come back to you.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Thinking, Personality, Forgetting

“We must use time creatively - and forever realize that the time is always hope to do great things.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Hope, Time

“It's just hard to see a friend hurt this much. Especially when you can't do anything except 'be there.' I just want to make him stop hurting, but I can't. So I just follow him around whenever he wants to show me his world.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

World, Hurt

“All god wants us to do is do what he asks us to do.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

God

“Modern man thinks he loses something - time - when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains, except kill it.”

Erich Fromm book The Art of Loving

Source: The Art of Loving

Thinking, Time

“My last sunrise. That morning, I was not yet a vampire. And I saw my last sunrise. I remember it completely; yet I do not think I remember any other sunrise before it.”

Anne Rice book Interview with the Vampire

Source: Interview with the Vampire

Thinking

“I'm not sure that insecurity is a good enough excuse for that sort of behavior. We're all insecure, and I really think he's old enough to have discovered the reasons behind his insecurity, and do something about them."

… Lucy”

Jane Green (1968) British writer

Behavior, Thinking

“She let him know how much she liked what he was doing by scoring his back with her nails and crying out with pleasure.
"Oh, God."
"Nay, lass. Connor.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: The Wedding

God, Pleasure, Cry

“It's one of the advantages of being a woman. I get to do all sorts of unfair things, and you have to accept them because you're too polite not to.
--Polgara”

David Eddings (1931–2009) American novelist

Source: The Seeress of Kell

“I mean that gods do not limit men. Men limit men.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume

Men, God

“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar (1963), Ch. 1, Opening line

Summer

“Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p.xiv

Life, Feeling, Sense

“Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't "try" to do things. You simply "must" do things.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Thinking

“You ever laughed so hard
nobody in the world could hurt you for a minute,
no matter what they tried to do to you?”

Virginia Euwer Wolff book Make Lemonade

Source: Make Lemonade

World, Hurt

“I looked at Rachel. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? I mean…. you talked to Chiron, right?"
She managed a faint smile. "You're worried aboutdoing something stupid?”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Stupidity, Smile

“Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation ready.
Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”

Dashiell Hammett book The Maltese Falcon

Source: The Maltese Falcon

Learning

“I believe that you've created a metaphorical universe in which you can express your darkest fears. In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves, and sometimes we do such a good job, we lose track of reality.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

Fear, Reality, Universe

“Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?”

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

Doin' It Again, Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics (1990)
Context: Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people, or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The Pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos, Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime, and firefighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?

Freedom, Fight

“I've lost track of where friendship ends and falling begins.
(this is the foolish refrain of the hopelessly devoted.)
there are times I want to kiss you midsentence.
undo the not-doing with one gesture.”

David Levithan The Realm of Possibility

Source: The Realm of Possibility

Friendship, Kiss, Time

“An alcoholic is someone you don't like, who drinks as much as you do.”

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) Welsh poet and writer

Alcohol, Drink, Funny

“Scientific principles and laws do not lie on the surface of nature. They are hidden, and must be wrested from nature by an active and elaborate technique of inquiry.”

John Dewey book Reconstruction in Philosophy

Source: Reconstruction in Philosophy

Lie, Law, Nature

“The value of the work we do is the value we give to it.”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

“When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

Fear

“Jenny looked up quickly. "Do you believe in good and evil?"
"Oh, yes. Very strongly. And I believe that evil sometimes has to be fought—personally. Hand to hand. If you care enough to do it.”

L.J. Smith The Forbidden Game

Source: The Forbidden Game

Evil, Personality

“Idiot. Which road do you take when you're running from something weaker than yourself? Or maybe you're the one looking for an excuse to back out.”

Nobuhiro Watsuki (1970) Japanese manga artist

“She didn't want to have anything to do with the party. She was tired of feeling like she didn't fit in, but she didn't want to go home, either, because she was a tired of being lonely and she was a little drunk.”

Candace Bushnell (1958) American author

Feeling, Home

“And since I’m going to be in the neighborhood, you thought I might do as an escort? To an orgy?”

Charlaine Harris book Living Dead in Dallas

Source: Living Dead in Dallas

“deeds cannot dream what dreams can do”

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

Dreams

“No mother is ever, completely, a child's idea of what a mother should be, and I suppose it works the other way around as well. But despite everything, we didn't do too badly by one another, we did as well as most.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Way, Idea

“He was in my hair, my eyes, my fingers, my heart. I day-dreamed about what he was doing, thinking, seeing, smelling, feeling. I could not eat for thoughts of him.”

Lisa See book Peony in Love

Source: Peony in Love

Dreams, Feeling, Thinking, Heart

“Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we believe we can do.”

Lloyd Alexander book The Book of Three

Author's Note
Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book I: The Book of Three (1964)
Context: Most of us are called on to perform tasks far beyond what we believe we can do. Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart.

“I’m sorry that your mystical, godlike powers do not instantly work as you would like them to.”

Brandon Sanderson book Words of Radiance

Source: Words of Radiance