Quotes about doing
page 82

“The truth of the matter is, you die, all you do is die, and yet you live, yes you live, and that's no Harvard lie.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

“If you want to kill me, despise me, hate me, and live in an unsightly way… Run, and cling to life, and then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Life, Hate, Way

“I wasn't sure exactly how prostitutes determined price, but if men bought hookers by the pound, these two would be doing okay.”

Janet Evanovich book One for the Money

Source: One for the Money

Men

“Do not threaten the supreme gigantic overlords. We do as we please.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Grip of the Shadow Plague

“When kids look up to great scientists the way they do to great musicians and actors, civilization will jump to the next level”

Brian Greene (1963) American physicist

Way

“Staying alive is nice, but you can’t do that forever. It’s how you live the life you have while you have it.”

Frank E. Peretti book Monster

Source: Monster

Life

“Empty pockets never held anyone back…it's only empty heads and empty hearts that do it.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

"Enthusiasm makes the difference" (2003), p. 58

Heart

“Mother used to say it meant Christopher was a nice name because it was a story about being kind and helpful, but I do not want my name to mean a story about being kind and helpful. I want my name to mean me.”

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

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

Help

“What a tragic realm this is, he reflected. Those down here are prisoners, and the ultimate tragedy is that they don't know it; they think they are free because they have never been free, and do not understand what it means.”

Philip K. Dick The Divine Invasion

Source: The Divine Invasion

Understanding, Thinking

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Life, World, Literature, Sense

“I will write things, he was thinking. I will write something meaningful and wonderful someday. I can do that. And I'll dedicate it to you because you're the first person who ever made me think I could.”

Anne Rice The Wolf Gift

Source: The Wolf Gift

Thinking, Personality

“My advice to you is this. Do not attempt to stand alone…. The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.”

Carson McCullers book The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Source: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

“Trust others to do the right thing. If you can't do that, trust yourself to survive what happens.”

Susan Mallery (1950) American author

“No amount of prayer or meditation can do what helping others can do.”

Meher Baba (1894–1969) Indian mystic

Help

“Peace and harmony do not require perfection. Thank goodness for that—because life so often seems to be an itch here, a glitch there, a mess waiting to happen. Harmony is flexible. It bends with imperfection. So should you.”

Jerry Spinelli (1941) American children's writer

Source: Today I Will: A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself

Life, Peace, Waiting, Perfection

“Damn, Atlantean, what did you do? (Julian)
I apparently made a new friend. (Acheron)
I made a friend like that once. The bastard almost gutted me. (Julian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.”

Harper Lee (1926–2016) American author

Truth, Thinking

“That's how life feels to me. Everyone is doing it; everyone knows how. To live and be who they are and find a place, find a moment. I'm still waiting.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: How to Save a Life

Life, Feeling, Waiting

“Like a fellow running from or toward a gun ain't got time to worry whether the word for what he is doing is courage or cowardice.”

William Faulkner book Light in August

Source: Light in August

Courage, Time

“I don't think I can do it alone," I said. I had a feeling thewasn't really meant to be cast alone: as if truth didn't mean anything without someone to share it with.”

Naomi Novik book Uprooted

Source: Uprooted

Truth, Feeling, Thinking

“There are as many worlds as there are kinds of days, and as an opal changes its colors and its fire to match the nature of a day, so do I.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

World, Color, Nature, Change

“I dearly love a laugh… I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Love, Hope

“Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching — even when doing the wrong thing is legal.”

Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American writer and scientist

Presumably a paraphrase of "A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct" or of "Hunting for sport is an improvement ..." above.
Unlikely to be by Leopold, who knew that ethics involves not only doing the right thing, but also determining the right thing in the face of competing desirable criteria.
Misattributed

Behavior

“If you want your prayers answered, get up off your knees and do something about them.”

Wally Lamb book She's Come Undone

Source: She's Come Undone

“Because when you love something, you want to do it all the time, even if no one is paying you for it. At least that's how I felt about drawing.”

Meg Cabot book All American Girl

Source: All-American Girl

Love, Time, Drawing

“I see thee better in the dark
I do not need a light.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Light

“Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”

Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer

Trademarked closing lines in The Writer's Almanac http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ <br class="br">Source: Good Poems

Goodbye

“I should talk to him
I know I should talk to him.
But I do not talk to him.
I watch after him from afar
and love him.”

David Levithan The Realm of Possibility

Source: The Realm of Possibility

Love

“Do you work for the government, any government?”
"I pay taxes, which means I work for the government, part of the time. Yes.”

Roger Zelazny (1937–1995) American speculative fiction writer

Source: My Name is Legion

Time, Parting

“I caught Bast’s arm when she was a few steps from the bank.
“Stay away from the water.”
She frowned. “Carter, I’m a cat. I’m not going for a swim. But if you want to summon a river goddess, you really need to do it at the riverbank.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Cats, Water

“It was madness. Sheer lunacy. A spectacularly foolish and baseless faith, against enormous odds, that a world you do not control will not take from you the one thing you cannot bear to lose. Faith that the world will not destroy you.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

World, Faith, Madness

“One expects decent people to stand up for the good of all. Decent people shut their doors and hide behind them as decent people do. Massacres could never happen if it weren't for decent people.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

People

“Sighs and silences and avoided conversations are just as important as the things you do talk about.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

Silence

“We can't change what we've done, but we can always change what we're going to do.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Time Untime

Change

“How, unless you drink as I do, could you hope to understand the beauty of an old Indian woman playing dominoes with a chicken?”

Malcolm Lowry book Under the Volcano

Source: Under the Volcano

Beauty, Hope, Drink, Understanding

“I do love you. I think you know that, but just in case… I love you.”

Eileen Wilks (1952) fiction writer

Source: On the Prowl

Love, Thinking

“We all have choices. (Astrid)
No we don’t, princess. Only people with money and influence have choices. For the rest of us, basic necessity dictates what we have to do to survive. (Zarek)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Money, People, Princess

“I imagine Johnny Mathis hates Bin Laden as much as I do, but could Johnny agree Bin Laden had a better speechwriter than Bush? "Axis of Evil"? Come on. "A swimmer in the ocean does not fear the rain" is much more powerful propaganda. Poetic, even.”

John Waters (1946) American filmmaker, actor, comedian and writer

Source: Role Models

Hate, Fear, Imagination, Evil

“If I can't have too many truffles, I'll do without truffles”

Colette (1873–1954) 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi

As quoted in Close to Colette by Maurice Goudeket
Attributed

“I wouldn't be able to do anything with my vampire horde except make it run around in a herd, but it would be a very impressive herd.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

“He caught me to him and cupped my cheek in one hand. “I want to keep feeling the way I feel when I’m with you. Just tell me what I have to do.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Way, Feeling

“She would like to hear that now, even if it was a lie. Because some lies are beautiful. Stories do not tell you that.”

Anne Ursu (1900) American writer

Source: Breadcrumbs

Lie, Beauty

“We do not have an ideal world, such as we would like, where morality is easy because cognition is easy. Where one can do right with no effort because he can detect the obvious.”

Philip K. Dick book The Man in the High Castle

Source: The Man in the High Castle (1962)

World, Effort

“Sunday school: A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

Children, School, Parent, Evil

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part One, Chapter III

“People do strange things sometimes, when they feel hopeless.”

Danielle Steel (1947) American author of romance novels

People, Feeling

“Watch, listen, and learn. You can't know it all yourself—anyone who thinks that they do is destined for mediocrity.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Trump: The Way to the Top: The Best Business Advice I Ever Received (2004), p. 20
2000s

Thinking, Learning

“Sometimes when we forget to do things for others, it's because we're too wrapped up in our own problems.”

Lauren Myracle book Let It Snow

Source: Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

Problem, Forgetting

“Nothing, no one, is too small to matter. What you do is going to make a difference.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Source: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

“I would really like to know", he said with genuine curiosity. "The next time I kill someone, I'd like to do it in a way that doesn't freak you out.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Way, Time

“It took a lot of women like that, a lot of women who said "I'm not going to do what you expect me to do, because you have no idea what I'm capable of. I'm going to get dirty and use tools and live the way I want" to move the world forward.”

Maureen Johnson (1973) writer from the USA

Source: The Last Little Blue Envelope

Women, World, Way, Idea

“Why do you do these things to yourself? Not just what you did to the window, but the way you talked to Clary. What are you punishing yourself for? You can't help how you feel.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Way, Feeling, Help

“How can I find the words? Poets have taken them all and left me with nothing to say or do"
"Except to teach me for the first time what they meant.”

Dorothy L. Sayers book Busman's Honeymoon

Source: Busman's Honeymoon

Time

“If you're for the right thing, you do it without thinking.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Thinking

“Wet towel under the door,' said Barry. 'It's what you do when you're smoking weed in a hotel and you don't want everyone calling security. You're always supposed to have a towel. I read about it in a guide for hitchhiking through the galaxy.”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

Source: Bite Me

Reading

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Love, Life

“Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like your good deeds.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Heart, Gratitude, Happiness

“Do you often sleep tied to the bed?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Variant: He waved a hand at the ropes. “Do you often sleep tied to the bed?
Source: Clockwork Angel

Sleep

“My advice is, do not try to inhabit another's soul. You have your own.”

Jim Harrison (1937–2016) American novelist, poet, essayist

Source: Songs of Unreason

Soul

“We Woosters do not lightly forget. At least, we do - some things - appointments, and people's birthdays, and letters to post, and all that - but not an absolutely bally insult like the above.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Inimitable Jeeves

Source: The Inimitable Jeeves

People, Birthday, Forgetting

“He shook his head and squeezed my hand tight. "You are my courage, as I am your conscience," he whispered, "You are my heart-- I am your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?" --Jamie”

Diana Gabaldon book Drums of Autumn

Variant: You are my courage, as I am your conscience," he whispered. "You are my heart---and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?
Source: Drums of Autumn

Courage, Heart