Quotes about doing
page 86

“I never meant it," he was saying.
"Never meant it to happen. Can't stand it,
seeing her suffer. Must do something, do something… What do I do? What can I do…?”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ghost Town

Suffering

“You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do.”

Hilary Mantel book Wolf Hall

Source: Wolf Hall

Men, World, Learning

“CLEMENTINE: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon.
JOEL: I know.
CLEMENTINE: What do we do?
JOEL: Enjoy it.”

Charlie Kaufman (1958) American screenwriter

Source: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: The Shooting Script

“You're always in the kitchen," Alianora said when she poked her head through the door a moment later. "Or the library. Don't you ever do anything but cook and read?”

Patricia C. Wrede Dealing with Dragons

Source: Dealing with Dragons

Reading, Cooking

“Here's to the few who forgive what you do, and the fewer who don't even care”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

Forgiveness

“Why do men think you can pick love up and re-light it like a candle? Women know when love is over.”

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) Welsh poet and writer

Love, Women, Men, Thinking

“That was courage, Keller thought. Not doing something without being afraid, but doing something even though you were afraid.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Witchlight

Courage

“He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love for him. There were times when it became nothing but pure idiot mystery…”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

Source: Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories

Love, Nature, Time

“It is odd how, when you have a secret belief of your own which you do not wish to acknowledge, the voicing of it by someone else will rouse you to a fury of denial.”

Agatha Christie book The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Source: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Secret

“My smile faded, and I suddenly felt confused. My heart leapt in my chest. "Why would you do that for me?"

"What wouldn't I do for you?”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Shadow Heir

Smile, Heart

“Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Source: Studies in Nature and Literature

World, Star

“I’ll take your bet,” he said grimly. “I’m going to win it. And in three months, I’m going to put this back on your finger, and take you to bed, and do things to you that are outlawed in the civilized world.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Devil in Winter

World

“Do you find coming to terms with the mindless tedium of it all presents an interesting challenge?”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“If I didn't care for fun and such,
I'd probably amount to much.
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

16 August 1925
Source: Enough Rope (1926)

Way

“How do I defeat Apophis?”
“I’m so glad you asked!” Thoth beamed at me with his multicolored eyes. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you.”
I glanced at Walt. “Do you want to kill him, or should I?”

Rick Riordan book The Serpent's Shadow

Source: The Serpent's Shadow

“Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.”

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) Welsh poet and writer

Men, Night

“How do you not know where the heart is? Especially considering how many of them you've broken?”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

Heart

“Do you know what most people have from their grandmother? A tea set. Or a quilt.” Curran smiled. “If your family had a quilt, it would be made out of chimera skin and stuffed with feathers from dead angels.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

People, Family, Smile, Angels

“Besides, it's the first gift that's always the hardest to pay back. I wouldn't even have been here to do it if you hadn't helped me then.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Help

“But he does insist on a conversation. Goddamn it! Why can't people just do what I want them to do and be gone? It's a worldwide conspiracy to make me be polite when I don't want to be.”

Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967–2020) American author and journalist

People

“Getting fired,’ Tyler says, ‘is the best thing that could happen to any of us. That way, we’d quit treading water and do something with our lives.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Way, Water

“… I do have to wonder what sort of childhood the Grimm brothers endured. They are not a merry bunch of storytellers, what with their children roasted by witches, maidens poisoned by old crones, and whatnot.”

Libba Bray book Rebel Angels

Source: Rebel Angels

Children, Childhood

“But all the time-no matter what she was doing-there was music.”

Carson McCullers (1917–1967) American writer

Music, Time

“You could run to the farthest corners of the earth. There's no place you could go where I wouldn't love you. Nothing you could do to stop me.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Love in the Afternoon

Love

“What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?”

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist

Girl, Help

“Bless people when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by helping to stamp out the false ego.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

People, Thinking, Help, Falseness

“Do you mind if I don't smoke?”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

“I was being paid to do what I loved, and there's no gig on earth better than that; it's like a license to steal.”

Stephen King book Bag of Bones

Source: Bag of Bones

Love

“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

New York Times (2 June 1969)

World

“Because the world isn’t divided into the special and the ordinary. Everyone has the potential to be extraordinary. As long as you have a soul and free will, you can be anything, do anything, choose anything”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Variant: Because the world isn’t divided into the special and the ordinary. Everyone has the potential to be extraordinary. As long as you have a soul and free will, you can be anything, do anything, choose anything.
Source: City of Heavenly Fire

World, Soul

“He died that day because his body had served its purpose. His soul had done what it came to do, learned what it came to learn, and then was free to leave.”

Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain

Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain

Soul, Learning

“Some people have no idea what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.”

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

People, Idea

“You snuck up on me,” she said. “I guess I’m not much of a Shadowhunter, huh?”
Simon shrugged. “Well, in your defense, I do move with a silent, pantherlike grace.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“I don't know if it's better to be close with your daughter or make sure that she has a better life than you do.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Life, Daughters

“Keep me preoccupied
Keep me busy, busy, busy
So I won't have to think
I don't want to think
Because it only brings me pain
I just keep running away from
My problems
Keep me busy
Give me a million things to do
So I can keep running away from myself.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Pain, Business, Problem, Thinking

“The Korean man nodded, the way you do when you’re a foreigner and understand that someone has finished a sentence.”

David Sedaris book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Source: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Way, Understanding

“So softly Lizzy has to lean over to hear me, I say, 'I can't face the world until I know why I'm here.'
You're kidding me.'
I shake my head vehemently. 'No. I need to figure out my purpose. Until I do, what's the use of getting up?”

Wendy Mass Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Source: Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

World

“What's doing?”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Black Dagger Brotherhood: Boxed Set #1-6

“If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

Personality

“All that happens means something; nothing you do is ever insignificant.”

Aldous Huxley book Crome Yellow

Source: Crome Yellow

“Someone had to do something sometime. Every victim was a culprit, every culprit a victim, and somebody had to stand up sometime to try to break the lousy chain of inherited habit that was imperiling them all.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch-22

“You don't have to destroy me. Do you?…”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

The Complete Short Stories

“I don't profess to be profound; but I do lay claim to common sense.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Sense

“Always do what you are afraid to do.”

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

Peaceful

“For you was I born, for you do I have life, for you will I die, for you am I now dying.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Of Love and Other Demons

Source: Of Love and Other Demons

Life

“We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

“It seems to me that if you wish to apply laws to us, it were only reasonable to consult us on them, and from what you have read to me about Parliament, I do not think any dragons are invited to go there”

Naomi Novik book His Majesty's Dragon

Source: His Majesty's Dragon

Law, Thinking, Reading

“I am a writer. Imagining what someone would say or do comes to me as naturally as breathing.”

Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking

Source: The Year of Magical Thinking

Imagination, Nature

“In all the institutions I try to be present and accountable for all I do and leave undone. I know that eventually I shall have to be present and accountable n the presence of God. I do not wish to be found wanting.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

Source: Letter to My Daughter

God

“Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”

Jonathan Swift The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces

Source: The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces

World

“The only permanent solution to your problems is to go inside and let go of the part of you that seems to have so many problems with reality. Once you do that, you'll be clear enough to deal with what's left.”

Michael Singer (1945) American landscape architect

Source: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Problem, Reality, Parting

“I could do with a bit more excess. From now on I'm going to be immoderate--and volatile--I shall enjoy loud music and lurid poetry. I shall be rampant.”

Joanne Harris book Chocolat

Source: Chocolat

Music

“Doing what you're supposed to do is always boring. I can't imagine anything worse than being required to have fun.”

Scott Westerfeld book Uglies

Source: Uglies

Imagination

“Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Literature, Question

“How much do you love me?' Midori asked.

'Enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter,' I said.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Love, World

“I suppose that's one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

Life

“I close my eyes and ride the mindless bliss. It's all I can do. Be. Feel. Live.
I'magain.
I always will be with this man.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Feeling

“How the hell do you think I feel?" I don't want to end up inside a woman!" He paused. "Well, at least not that way”

Karen Chance book Touch the Dark

Source: Touch the Dark

Way, Feeling, Hell, Thinking

“He was making a brave attempt, but Jason could see the sadness lingering in his eyes. Something had happened to him… something to do with Calypso.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Sadness

“The best way to write a novel is to do it behind your own back.”

China Miéville (1972) English writer

Way

“You know what? You didn't do anything wrong. I did. It's this dumb thing I do. I look into things and see more than I'm supposed to.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

“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

“Stories do not end.”

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

“How do you say yoo-hoo in Arabic?"
"I believe that yoo-hoo could be part of a universal language," Dan said. "Like ow. Or- you're stepping on my foot."
"That's universal?"
"No, you're stepping on my foot. Ow."
Amy moved.”

Jude Watson book Beyond the Grave

Source: Beyond the Grave

Universe, Parting

“I am no poet. I do not love words for the sake of words. I love words for what they can accomplish. Similarly, I am no arithmetician. Numbers that speak only of numbers are of little interest to me.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Love

“I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't do anything but think about him. At night I dream of him, all day I wait to see him, and when I do see him my heart turns over and I think I will faint with desire.”

Philippa Gregory book The Other Boleyn Girl

Source: The Other Boleyn Girl

Dreams, Thinking, Sleep, Waiting

“Men do not know what they do not know, and women should not tell them.”

Amy Bloom (1953) Fiction writer, screenwriter, social worker, psychotherapist

Women, Men

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”

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

Inspirational, Motivational, Wise, Deep

“V chuckled. "I had to do something to shut you up. Every damn time I've run into you since I grew it, you ask me if I've French-kissed a tailpipe."

(Rhage)”

Jessica Bird book Lover Eternal

Source: Lover Eternal

Kiss, Time

“No-one is exempt from speaking nonsense – the only misfortune is to do it solemnly.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

“For too many centuries women have been being muses to artists. I wanted to be the muse, I wanted to be the wife of the artist, but I was really trying to avoid the final issue — that I had to do the job myself.”

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

Women

“I missed him. Love, I realized, was something your spine memorized. There was nothing you could do about that.”

Lorrie Moore (1957) American writer

Source: Anagrams

Love

“I love the life you've always made so sweet for me and I'd regret it if I had to die.'
'Do you mean to say that if I left you---'
'I'd die, yes.'
'Then you love me?”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Love, Life

“A good boss asks what part she could have played in the problem. And then she asks herself what she can do better next time.”

Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer

Source: Boys "R" Us

Problem, Time, Parting

“I did it to get what I want. Maybe I should regret that, but I can’t. Sometimes you do the bad thing and hope for the good result.”

Holly Black book Black Heart

Source: Black Heart

Hope

“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Fear, Heart

“Go to faeries for gossip about vampires, to werewolves for gossip about faeries, and do not gossip about werewolves, because they try to bite your face off: that was Magnus's motto.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Saving Raphael Santiago

“Demonic activity levels? Do they have a device that measures whether the demons inside the house are doing power yoga?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Simon to Clary, pg. 340
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)

Housing

“I do not need the written code of a spiritual belief to act like a decent human being.”

Jim Butcher book Changes

Source: Changes

“The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution. They are not among the powers specially enumerated.”

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

Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Bill for Establishing a National Bank., 1791. http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/jefferson/natbank.html ME 3:146 <br class="br">Posthumous publications, On financial matters

“There wasn't a second that passed when you weren't on my mind. You own me, Eva. Wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, I belong to you.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

“Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

1770s
Source: Letter to Abigail Adams (27 April 1777), published as Letter CXI in Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife (1841) edited by Charles Francis Adams, p. 218

Pain, Hope, Freedom

“The decent, strong person had to do decent, strong things like love unlovable people and keep peace even when it wasn't easy.”

Mary Connealy (1956) Author

Source: Doctor in Petticoats (Center Point Christian Romance

Love, People, Peace, Strong

“I don't understand what's going on, but i'll just pretend that I do.”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Understanding

“I'm sorry you don't get it, Mom. Sometimes I don't get why I do the things I do. I just know I wake up every morning and wish I was dead.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

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

Moms, Dead

“I don't know what to do,' she finished. 'I feel like I'm the one who has to keep everyone together.”

Sara Shepard book Flawless

Source: Flawless

Feeling

“It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous.
Resign yourself to be the fool you are…
… We must always take risks. That is our destiny…”

T.S. Eliot The Cocktail Party

Source: The Cocktail Party

Fools

“Never do anything that you don’t want to have to explain to 9-1-1 personnel.”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: The Sweetest Thing

“They are all I have left—the stars and the memory of the many times I wished upon them. But with all those wishes, I asked for only one thing.

To see him again.

But I will not see him again. I do not see him now.”

Christopher Pike (1954) American author Kevin Christopher McFadden

Source: The Starlight Crystal

Star, Memory, Time

“Of course, the guests were also staring because they know of my relationship with Camille, and are wondering what we might be doing here in the library… alone." He wiggled his eyebrows at Tessa.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

“A woman can't do anything about her appearance. Either she's pretty or she isn't. But her character is quite another matter.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: The Prize

Appearance

“Enough or not… it will have to do”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“I'm just saying -- you can't prevent other people from disappointing you. It's bound to happen at some point. We're all only human. What you can do is decide how you're going to deal with it.”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

People, Disappointment

“That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 30 (pp. 192-193)
Source: The Handmaid's Tale
Context: I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before. You do that first, in your head, and then you make it real.

“We are all unkind from time to time. We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Variant: We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.
Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Change, Time, Parting