Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire
"Brother Zachariah said pretty much the same thing. Maybe with less sarcasm."
Clary Fray and Jace Herondale, pg. 100-101
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Quotes about doing page 87
“Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”
Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice
Source: Assassin's Apprentice
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Seduce Me at Sunrise
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher
Letter 74 (76) to Albert Burgh (1675) http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1711&chapter=144250&layout=html&Itemid=27 <br class="br">Context: You seem to wish to employ reason, and ask me, "How I know that my philosophy is the best among all that have ever been taught in the world, or are being taught, or ever will be taught?" a question which I might with much greater right ask you; for I do not presume that I have found the best philosophy, I know that I understand the true philosophy. If you ask in what way I know it, I answer: In the same way as you know that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles: that this is sufficient, will be denied by no one whose brain is sound, and who does not go dreaming of evil spirits inspiring us with false ideas like the true. For the truth is the index of itself and of what is false.<br>But you, who presume that you have at last found the best religion, or rather the best men, on whom you have pinned your credulity, you, "who know that they are the best among all who have taught, do now teach, or shall in future teach other religions. Have you examined all religions, ancient as well as modern, taught here and in India and everywhere throughout the world? And, if you, have duly examined them, how do you know that you have chosen the best" since you can give no reason for the faith that is in you? But you will say, that you acquiesce in the inward testimony of the Spirit of God, while the rest of mankind are ensnared and deceived by the prince of evil spirits. But all those outside the pale of the Romish Church can with equal right proclaim of their own creed what you proclaim of yours.<br>As to what you add of the common consent of myriads of men and the uninterrupted ecclesiastical succession, this is the very catch-word of the Pharisees. They with no less confidence than the devotees of Rome bring forward their myriad witnesses, who as pertinaciously as the Roman witnesses repeat what they have heard, as though it were their personal experience. Further, they carry back their line to Adam. They boast with equal arrogance, that their Church has continued to this day unmoved and unimpaired in spite of the hatred of Christians and heathen. They more than any other sect are supported by antiquity. They exclaim with one voice, that they have received their traditions from God himself, and that they alone preserve the word of God, both written and unwritten. That all heresies have issued from them, and that they have remained constant through thousands of years under no constraint of temporal dominion, but by the sole efficacy of their superstition, no one can deny. The miracles they tell of would tire a thousand tongues. But their chief boast is that they count a far greater number of martyrs than any other nation, a number which is daily increased by those who suffer with singular constancy for the faith they profess; nor is their boasting false. I myself knew among others of a certain Judah called the faithful, who in the midst of the flames, when he was already thought to be dead, lifted his voice to sing the hymn beginning, "To thee, o God, I offer up my soul", and so singing perished.
“Great wits are sure to madness near alli'd;
And thin partitions do their bounds divide”
John Dryden Absalom and Achitophel
Pt. I, lines 159–172.
Source: Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Context: A daring pilot in extremity;
Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went high
He sought the storms; but for a calm unfit,
Would steer too nigh the sands, to boast his wit.
Great wits are sure to madness near alli'd;
And thin partitions do their bounds divide:
Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest,
Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?
Punish a body which he could not please;
Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease?
And all to leave, what with his toil he won
To that unfeather'd, two-legg'd thing, a son:
Got, while his soul did huddled notions try;
And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.
“Do you work at the grocery store? Then why are you checking me out?”
Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer
Source: Best Friends for Never
“Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.”
Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist
“it's much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.”
Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina
Source: Anna Karenina
“But I don't want your throne."
"Then what do you want?"
"You.”
Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist
Source: The Crimson Crown
Kresley Cole American writer
Source: Dark Desires After Dusk
“They attacked you? (Danger)
No, I beat my own self up. What do you think? (Keller)”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist
Source: Sins of the Night
Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle
"I know that--"
"But you don't," Deanna said, gently cutting her off. "Or if you do, you don't want to see it that way. Your vision, as they say, has become clouded."
Deanna and Theresa Osbourne, Chapter 10, p. 196
Source: 1990s, Message in a Bottle (1998)
Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist
Source: The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom
“If I do not speak in a language that can be understood there is little chance for a dialogue.”
Bell Hooks (1952) American author, feminist, and social activist
Niccolo Machiavelli book Discourses on Livy
Book 1, Ch. 3 (as translated by LJ Walker and B Crick)
Discourses on Livy (1517)
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Ich glaube an Spinozas Gott, der sich in der gesetzlichen Harmonie des Seienden offenbart, nicht an einen Gott, der sich mit Schicksalen und Handlungen der Menschen abgibt. <br class="br">24 April 1929 in response to the telegrammed question of New York's Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein: "Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer paid 50 words." Einstein replied in only 27 (German) words. The New York Times 25 April 1929 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B1EFC3E54167A93C7AB178FD85F4D8285F9 <br class="br">Similarly, in a letter to Maurice Solovine, he wrote: "I can understand your aversion to the use of the term 'religion' to describe an emotional and psychological attitude which shows itself most clearly in Spinoza... I have not found a better expression than 'religious' for the trust in the rational nature of reality that is, at least to a certain extent, accessible to human reason." <br class="br">As quoted in Einstein : Science and Religion http://www.einsteinandreligion.com/spinoza.html by Arnold V. Lesikar <br class="br">1920s
“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind”
Caroline Myss (1952) author from the United States
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Breaks
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Source: The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child (1877)
Context: Only a few years ago there was a great awakening of the human mind. Men began to inquire by what right a crowned robber made them work for him? The man who asked this question was called a traitor. Others asked by what right does a robed hypocrite rule my thought? Such men were called infidels. The priest said, and the king said, where is this spirit of investigation to stop? They said then and they say now, that it is dangerous for man to be free. I deny it. Out on the intellectual sea there is room enough for every sail. In the intellectual air there is space enough for every wing.
The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
“Nowhere is it written that you can’t do it.”
Elena Ferrante book My Brilliant Friend
Source: My Brilliant Friend
“Don't stop doing what you love.
Don't let your future be ruined by a bunch of loony sand monkeys.”
Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist
Source: Second Helpings
“Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions, and the mean ones truths?”
Edith Wharton book The House of Mirth
Source: The House of Mirth
“Damn, I miss the internet. You could always find people doing stupid stuff on the internet.”
Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer
Source: Calamity
“Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to, but at least I have hope.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
“It doesn’t seem right? Another part of him wondered, Since when do I worry about what’s right?”
Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus
Source: The Blood of Olympus
Rob Thurman (1950) American writer
Source: Nightlife
“It's strange, but when it comes right down to it I never do fall apart--even when I'm sure I will.”
Judy Blume (1938) American children's writer
Source: Forever . . .
“You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.”
John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent
Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), unplaced by chapter
Victoria Moran (1950) American writer
Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit
“And no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can’t stop
yourself from dreaming.”
Jenny Han (1980) American writer
Source: It's Not Summer Without You
“When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville.”
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer
“[T]hou canst not think worse of me than I do of myself.”
Robert Burton book The Anatomy of Melancholy
Source: The Anatomy of Melancholy
“Being afraid you'll look like a coward is the worst reason for doing anything.”
John Irving book The Cider House Rules
Source: The Cider House Rules
“I do not teach anyone I only provide the environment in which they can learn”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Variant: I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
“My personal motto is: WWWWD?: What Would Wonder Woman Do?”
Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer
Source: Beauty Queens
Christopher Hitchens book The Missionary Position
Source: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
“The thing about real life is, when you do something stupid, it normally costs you.”
Darren Shan book Cirque du Freak
Source: A Living Nightmare
“The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life”
Pelagea Vlasova in Scene 10
The Mother (1930)
Variant: Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.
Source: Jewish Wife and Other Short Plays: Includes: In Search of Justice; Informer; Elephant Calf; Measures Taken; Exception and the Rule; Salzburg Dance of Death
“The universe doesn't decide what's right or not right. You do.”
Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer
Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
“Sometimes people do you a favour when they drop out of your life.”
Alan Cumming (1965) Scottish actor
Source: Not My Father's Son
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature
Source: The Aleph and Other Stories
Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer
Source: Sweethearts