Quotes about doing
page 84

“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”

William H. Gass (1924–2017) Fiction writer, critic, philosophy professor

Source: A Temple of Texts

“Music is like you touch the pulse of the world. Music is always happening, and sometimes you get to touch it for a while, and when you do you know that everything's connetcted to everything else.”

Kim Edwards book The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Source: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

World, Music

“Why are people so cruel? What did I ever do to them?”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

People

“Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure and the memory so possessed him that for the moment there was nothing to do but to pretend.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

Pain, Pleasure, Memory

“What one has, one ought to use; and whatever he does, he should do with all his might.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

“Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”

Patrick Lencioni (1965) American writer

Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Motivational, For Team, Success, Life

“Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?”

James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time

Source: The Fire Next Time

Housing

“This is your one chance. Tell me where the key is."
"Okay."
Serpine raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"No, only joking. Do your worst.”

Derek Landy Skulduggery Pleasant

Source: Skulduggery Pleasant

Chance

“Tyler lies back and asks, "If Marilyn Monroe were alive right now, what would she be doing?"

I say, goodnight.

The headliner hangs down in shreds from the ceiling and Tyler says, "Clawing at the lid of her coffin.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“Oh, I never kid about Artemis. I promised her I’d sit here and do nothing, so here I am doing nothing. Much like a really tall, bored guard dog. Personally, I’d rather be throwing myself onto an electric fence- be about the same, I think. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Dogs, Thinking, Personality

“What do you mean fainted?
Took a dive, kissed the pavement. Swooned like a southern belle after her first kiss. Had a dreadful case of the vapors.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

Kiss

“There is no such thing as a lousy job - only lousy men who don't care to do it.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Men

“What do you do when you finally hear everything you've always thought said aloud?”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.”

Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian

Love, God

“I do believe in shooting the messenger.
You know why? Because it sends a message.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: The Awakening / The Struggle

“I do know that when I am 60, I should be attempting to achieve different personal goals than those which had priority at age 20.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Age, Personality

“She looked at me, like she was drinking in the fact that I was still here. And I realized I was doing the same thing. The world was collapsing, and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

World, Drink

“All is going well, very well, I couldn’t ask for anything better—
So why do I hate my life?”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Life, Hate

“If you're crazy, there's two things you can do to make yourself feel better: One is to get yourself cured. The other is to make everyone you have to deal with crazy.”

Alan Dean Foster (1946) American fiction writer

Feeling

“I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered, what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?”

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

Baby

“I've wished for things and never really had the chance… It's time to stop dreaming and do something about it. You've got to know what you want, then… go.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Six Rules of Maybe

Dreams, Chance, Time

“There's only one thing more important… and that is, after you've done what you set out to do, to feel that it's been worth doing.”

James Hilton Random Harvest

Source: Random Harvest

Feeling

“Do you really have the ability to control all types of undead?" Magnus asked.
"Can you really make a hundred shoes in a single night?" I asked.
Magnus smiled. "Wrong kind of fairie.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bloody Bones

Source: Bloody Bones

Smile, Shoe, Night

“Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.”

Emma Goldman book Anarchism and Other Essays

Source: Anarchism and Other Essays

“There’s no accountability anymore, Pierce, no one holds anyone accountable for what they do. It’s always someone else’s fault. Usually people just blame the victim.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Abandon

People

“I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.”

Nikki Giovanni (1943) American writer and academic

Life, Imagination, Failure, Forgiveness

“I really do think that if for one week in the United States we saw the true face of war, we saw people's limbs sheared off, we saw kids blown apart, for one week, war would be eradicated. Instead, what we see in the U. S. media is the video war game.”

Amy Goodman (1957) American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author

War, People, Game, Thinking

“It is easy to love and there are so many ways to do it.”

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

Source: Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love"--The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin

Love, Way

“You must do right before you feel good.”

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

Feeling

“You're only good if you can do bad and decide not to.”

Richard Ford book Canada

Source: Canada

“Everything I did, I did because I thought it was the correct thing to do… I am not a hero, it is true… But I am not a bad person, either.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Personality

“As a girl, I used to believe that I could see and taste the air. I was TOLD that was impossible and forgot how to do so.”

Silver RavenWolf (1956) American New Age, Magic and Witchcraft author and lecturer

Source: A Witch's Notebook: Lessons in Witchcraft

Girl

“Minister: Welcome, brother! Do you reject Satan and all his works?
Bunny Breckinridge: Sure.”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

“Does anything on you work properly?" Asked ter Borcht.
"Well, I do have a highly developed sense of irony." Replied Iggy.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Sense

“Most people think everybody feels about them much more violently than they actually do; they think other people's opinions of them swing through great arcs of approval or disapproval.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

People, Feeling, Thinking

“I can't stand just sitting here not doing anything. You can't solve a problem by remote control.”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: Every Fifteen Minutes

Problem

“Why do you insist on talking about what does not exist?”

Gabriel García Márquez book Love in the Time of Cholera

Source: Love in the Time of Cholera

“Amazing what the British do with language; the nuances of politeness. The world's great diplomats, surely.”

Anne Rice book The Queen of the Damned

Source: The Queen of the Damned

World

“Yes, I know," "And I love to hear you say it, Louis. I need to hear you say it. I don't think anyone will ever say it quite like you do. Come on, say it again. I'm a perfect devil. Tell me how bad I am. It makes me feel so good!”

Anne Rice book The Queen of the Damned

Source: The Queen of the Damned

Love, Feeling, Thinking, Perfection

“I can already feel myself getting fed up with boys and I haven't had anything to do with them yet" - Georgia Nicolson”

Louise Rennison book Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Source: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Feeling, Boy

“Why do you insist upon destroying yourself?”

Charles Bukowski book Hollywood

Source: Hollywood

“You can do anything, but not everything.”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

Success, Motivational, Attitude, Happy

“The first and final thing you have to do in this world is to last it and not be smashed by it.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

World

“I am. I am, I exist, I think, therefore I am; I am because I think, why do I think? I don't want to think any more, I am because I think that I don't want to be, I think that I… because… ugh!”

Jean Paul Sartre book Nausea

Source: Nausea

Thinking

“A hundred people is rather a large handful for the four of us to take on," Malcolm pointed out. "Do you have any ideas about how we're going to handle that task?"
"Simple," Halt told him. "We'll surround them.”

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

Source: Halt's Peril

People, Idea

“Anxiety, the next gumption trap, is sort of the opposite of ego. You're so sure you'll do everything wrong you're afraid to do anything at all. Often this, rather than "laziness," is the real reason you find it hard to get started. This gumption trap of anxiety, which results from over-motivation, can lead to all kinds of errors of excessive fussiness. You fix things that don't need fixing, and chase after imaginary ailments. You jump to wild conclusions and build all kinds of errors into the machine because of your own nervousness. These errors, when made, tend to confirm your original underestimation of yourself. This leads to more errors, which lead to more underestimation, in a self-stoking cycle. The best way to break this cycle, I think, is to work out your anxieties on paper. Read every book and magazine you can on the subject. Your anxiety makes this easy and the more you read the more you calm down.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 26
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Books, Way, Error, Motivation

“I loved him in a way you can really on do the first time around. It's the kind of love that doesn't know better and doesn't want to - it's dizzy and foolish and fierce.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: We'll Always Have Summer

Love, Way, Time

“You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

Life, Chance

“This is how we court girls in America. We grab them and kiss them. And if they don't like it, we do it again, harder and longer, until they surrender. It saves us hours of witty repartee.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: A Wallflower Christmas

Girl, Kiss

“Where exactly do you put your hands on somebody who hurts everywhere?”

Charles D'Ambrosio (1958) American short story writer, essayist

Source: The Dead Fish Museum: Stories

Hurt

“I’m not sure what I’ll do, but— well, I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: The Ice Palace and Other Stories

People

“… Next time you're faced with a choice, do the right thing. It hurts everyone less in the long run.”

Wendelin Van Draanen Flipped

Source: Flipped

Time, Hurt

“Those of us who do not live forever do not like change perhaps as much as those of you who do.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Change

“Yes, I do enjoy walking at night. The world’s more to my liking then, not so loud, not so fast, not so crowded, and a good deal more mysterious.”

Cornelia Funke (1958) author

World, Night

“So much there is to see, but our morning eyes describe a different world than do our afternoon eyes, and surely our wearied evening eyes can report only a weary evening world.”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

World

“The past reflects eternally between two mirrors -the bright mirror of words and deeds, and the dark one, full of things we didn't do or say.”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Past

“Bruno: Why do you wear pajamas all day?
Shmuel: The soldiers. They took all our clothes away.
Bruno: My dad's a soldier, but not the sort that takes people's clothes away.”

John Boyne (1971) Irish novelist, author of children's and youth fiction

Source: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

People, Clothes

“The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.”

John Stuart Mill book On Liberty

Source: On Liberty

Way, Effort, Freedom

“When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important: A stodgy parent is not fun at all! What a child wants - and DESERVES - is a parent who is SPARKY!”

Roald Dahl book Danny, the Champion of the World

Danny, the Champion of the World (1975)
Context: A Message to Children Who Have Read This Book - When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important: a stodgy parent is no fun at all. What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is SPARKY.

Children, Parent

“I make mistakes. That's what I do. I
speak without thinking, I act without
knowing. I drink so much that I can
barely walk… I'm a fantastic lover
though, and an amazing friend. God
knows I mean well.”

Candace Bushnell (1958) American author

God, Lovers, Drink, Thinking

“No, my son, do not aspire for wealth and labor not only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love, and most important to acquire peace of mind and serenity.”

Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World

Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World

Love, Peace, Wealth, Happiness

“Did you run any of this by Curran?”
“I told him I was about to do something idiotic and dangerous, and he told me to go ahead and let him know if he could help in any way.”
“I don’t understand your relationship.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Binds

Way, Understanding, Help

“Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

Source: Letter to My Daughter

Way, Thinking, Effort, Change

“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”

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

Powerful, Time

“Let me love you, but don't love me back. Do love me and let me hate you for a while. Let me feel like I have some control, because I know I never do.”

Ann Brashares (1967) American children's writer

Love, Hate, Feeling

“Men go where they will, they do as they must; it is not a woman's part to bid them to stay, nor yet to reproach them for being what they are-or for not coming back.”

Diana Gabaldon book The Fiery Cross

Source: The Fiery Cross

Men, Parting

“Why are we smiling when we loathe each other?’ ‘Why do we sell happiness to the readers of this magazine when we are profoundly unhappy ourselves, the slaves of fame?”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

Smile, Happiness

“I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything - which as you know, always leads to something - cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

Idea, Business

“Why do I feel like something's missing in my life without them and they don't feel the same about me?”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Saving Francesca

Life, Feeling

“If you act like you can do something, then it will work.”

Walter Isaacson book Steve Jobs

Source: Steve Jobs

“I will add that I do not believe his admiration of my person, dazzling through I am, to be sincere. He told me I was a beautiful, sparkling lady.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Midnight Heir

Beauty, Personality, Sincerity

“The best thing you can do for the poor is.. not be one of them”

Andrew Matthews (1948) British writer

Source: Being Happy!

“The man that I named The Giver passed along to the boy knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth. Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing.”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Source: The Giver

Love, Pain, Truth, Books

“Fang: When do I get out of here?
Max: They say a week.
Fang: So, like, tomorrow?
Max: That's what I'm thinking.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: School's Out—Forever

Thinking

“If you believe that your thoughts originate inside your brain, do you also believe that television shows are made inside your television set?”

Warren Ellis (1968) English comics and fiction writer

“Do I have to talk to insane people?"
"You're a librarian now. I'm afraid it's mandatory.”

Jasper Fforde book The Woman Who Died a Lot

Source: The Woman Who Died a Lot

People

“Do the best you can, and don't take life too serious.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Life

“You are attempting to be logical, I suspect, and logic has little to do with government, and nothing at all to do with military administration.”

Robin McKinley book The Blue Sword

Source: The Blue Sword

“Ummm…” She licked her lips. “Define fun.”
“Quit doing that, jailbait. It’s distracting.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: The Dead Girls' Dance

“For a moment the garden, the noise, the stentch of blood and demon, vanished away, and he was alone in a soundless place with only Tessa. He wanted to run to her, wrap her in his arms. Protect her.

But it was Jem's place to do those things, not his.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“I saw Herschel and he saw me and we stood next to each other because that is what friends do in the presence of evil or love.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Love, Evil

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.”

T.S. Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Source: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
Context: I grow old … I grow old...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Thinking, Singing

“Don't know how I kept going. You just do. You have to, so you do.”

Elizabeth Wein book Code Name Verity

Source: Code Name Verity