Quotes about doing page 85
“Doing the right thing because you love someone sucks sometimes.”
Cassandra Clare book City of Glass
Source: City of Glass
“Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.”
John Updike (1932–2009) American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic
“Your talk," I said, "is surely the handiwork of wisdom because not one word of it do I understand.”
Flann O'Brien book The Third Policeman
Source: The Third Policeman (1967)
E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…
Source: The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1960s, I've Been to the Mountaintop (1968)
Context: I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the day of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?".
Steve Martin (1945) American actor, comedian, musician, author, playwright, and producer
Source: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
“Of course it doesn't make sense." Lady Wendall said. "The rules of society rarely do.”
Patricia C. Wrede (1953) author
Source: Magician's Ward
Yann Martel book Life of Pi
Variant: Things didn't turn out the way they're supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.
Source: Life of Pi
“I don't know what it is I'm doing. But it's not that. Despite all evidence to the contrary.”
Edward Gorey (1925–2000) American writer, artist, and illustrator
Source: Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Slays
“I've learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children”
Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
“Saving the world is only a hobby. Most of the time I do nothing.”
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
Source: Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast
“A common defect of modern art study is that too many students do not know why they draw.”
Robert Henri (1865–1929) American painter
“What do I believe that I deserve in this life?”
Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love
Source: Eat, Pray, Love
John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Pt. 3
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)
Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Source: V for Vendetta
“I am hard to disgust, but a pretentious poet can do it”
Marianne Moore (1887–1972) American poet and writer
Source: Complete Poems
“Do I love you because you're beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?”
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella
“The centerhold.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we are the center.”
Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart
Source: The Fiery Heart
Melvin Burgess (1954) British children's writer
“I've learned that everyone can do their part to repair the world”
Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer
Source: 13 Gifts
“Families break up when they get hints you don't intend and miss hints that you do.”
Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet
As quoted in Bartlett's Book of Love Quotations (1994) <!-- cited either to "Comment" or as a comment, this may have been attributed to Frost at least as early as 1962-->
General sources
Context: The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended — and not to take a hint when a hint isn't intended.
“What do you love doing so much that the words failure and success essentially become irrelevant?”
Elizabeth Gilbert Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Source: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
“I don't do what I'm told, but I might do what you want if you ask me nicely.”
Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes
Source: City of Ashes
“You've been doing something bad since the moment you met me, lass.”
Karen Marie Moning (1964) author
Source: The Dark Highlander
Joshua David Stone (1953–2005) American writer
Source: A Beginner's Guide to the Path of Ascension (The Ascension Series)
“You can change only what people know, not what they do.”
Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer
Source: God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
“Those who can't do, teach. And those who can't teach, teach gym.”
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
Source: Annie Hall: Screenplay
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
“Welcome everything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.”
André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 132
Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine: "I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death, or blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him I would be a liar."
Context: About God, I cannot accept any concept based on the authority of the Church. As long as I can remember, I have resented mass indoctrination. I do not believe in the fear of life, in the fear of death, in blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him, I would be a liar. I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws.
“Warning: If you are insufferable, do not walk here. We shall eat you down to the marrow.”
Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty
Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty
Frank O'Hara book Meditations in an Emergency (book)
Source: Mayakovsky, st. 4, from Meditations in an Emergency (1957).
Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People
Part 1 : Fundamental Techniques in Handling People, p. 36.
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)
Context: Benjamin Franklin, tactless in his youth, became so diplomatic, so adroit at handling people that he was made American Ambassador to France. The secret of his success? "I will speak ill of no man," he said, "... and speak all the good I know of everybody." Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. "A great man shows his greatness," says Carlyle, "by the way he treats little men."
“You know more than you think you do.”
Benjamin Spock (1903–1998) American pediatrician and author of Baby and Child Care
First sentence. This is printed beneath the heading "Trust Yourself" , and thus is often quoted as "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. "
Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care (1945)
Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments
Jace and Alec, pg. 73-74
The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)
“I do not love men: I love what devours them.”
André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist
Source: Prometheus Illbound
“Just don't die for me, you won't be doing me any favour!”
Suzanne Collins (1962) American television writer and novelist
“We do not pass through the same door twice
Or return to the door through which we did not pass”
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author
“Let no one persuade you by word or deed to do or say whatever is not best for you.”
Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
As quoted in Divine Harmony: The Life and Teachings of Pythagoras by John Strohmeier and Peter Westbrook. (1999)
The Golden Verses
Context: Many words befall men, mean and noble alike; do not be astonished by them, nor allow yourself to be constrained.
If a lie is told, bear with it gently.
But whatever I tell you, let it be done completely.
Let no one persuade you by word or deed to do or say whatever is not best for you.