Quotes about doing
page 88

“[O]ne person's 'barbarian' is another person's 'just doing what everybody else is doing.”

Susan Sontag Regarding the Pain of Others

Source: Regarding the Pain of Others

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Way

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Life, Way, Imagination

“Mom's eyes blazed. "Are you sleeping with her?"

Oh, god. Did we have to do this here? Now? "Well, actually," I smirked, "we don't get a lot of sleep.”

Julie Anne Peters book Keeping You a Secret

Source: Keeping You a Secret

God, Moms, Sleep

“Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“I hope that one day you will have the experience of doing something you do not understand for someone you love.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Love, Hope, Understanding

“Chong said, 'Do yourself a favor, Morg. Next time you're staring at a girl's boobs, look up. You'll be shocked to learn it, but there's going to be a face up there. Nose, mouth, eyes. And behind the eyes is an actual person.”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

Source: Rot & Ruin

Girl, Learning, Time, Personality

“I will take a serious approach to a subject usually treated lightly, which is a nerdy thing to do.”

Benjamin Nugent (1950) American writer

Source: American Nerd: The Story of My People

“One of the ironies of courage, and the reason why we prize it so highly, is that we find it easier to be brave for someone else than we do for ourselves alone.”

Gregory David Roberts (1952) Australian writer and bank robber

Courage

“Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying, 'You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It's saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future.”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

Forgiveness, Past, Future

“the beauty of doing nothing”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Variant: The sweetness of doing nothing.
Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Beauty

“Most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

World, Thinking

“I do not think there is a woman in whom the roots of passion shoot deeper than in me.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Thinking, Passion

“I see that there will be no end to imperfection, or to doing things the wrong way. Even if you grow up, no matter how hard you scrub, whatever you do, there will always be some other stain or spot on your face or stupid act, somebody frowning.”

Margaret Atwood book Cat's Eye

Source: Cat's Eye

Stupidity, Way

“Do you know what they call people who hoard books? Smart.”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman

People, Books

“How do you make a girl know she's beautiful? What is the system for that, what do you show her, how do you give her a new set of eyes and turn her face back to the mirror?”

Michelle Tea (1971) American writer

Beauty, Girl

“When the girl sitting at the next table looked away from a moment, Dirk leaned over and took her coffee. He knew that he was perfectly safe doing this because she would simply not be able to believe that this had happened.”

Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Girl, Coffee

“Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you.”

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American writer and editor

Declaration at his 85th birthday party (6 January 1963), as quoted in The Best of Ralph McGill : Selected Columns (1980) by Ralph McGill, edited by Michael Strickland, Harry Davis, and Jeff Strickland, p. 82
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
As quoted without source in The School Musician Director and Teacher Vol. 43 (1971) by the American School Band Directors' Association

Life, Time

“Men are like that sometimes - if they meet someone and fall in love, it's real, no matter how fast it happened. But if someone falls for a woman they happen to care about, all they do is question the man's intentions.”

Nicholas Sparks book Nights in Rodanthe

Source: Nights in Rodanthe

Love, Men, Question

“If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper (2004)

Sister

“Love isn't how you feel. It's what you do.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Wind in the Door

Source: A Wind in the Door

Love, Feeling

“The key to friendship with God, he said, is not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward what you do.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

God, Friendship, Change

“But sometimes you lose. Nothing you can do but admit it.
-Eli”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“He caught me to him, his arms banded tight around me. His face pressed into my throat. "Where do we go from here?"
I held him. "Wherever this takes us. Together.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Reflected in You

“Do not be satisfied with God's calling or His gifts in your life. Be satisfied with Jesus Christ Himself.”

Brother Yun (1958) Chinese christian house church leader

Source: The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun

Life, God, Christ

“Do we have a flamethrower?” Curran asked.
“No.”
“We should get a flamethrower.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Shifts

“I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Books, Reading

“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State

As quoted in The Washington Post (23 December 1973); he later joked further on this remark, on 10 March 1975 saying to Turkish Foreign Minister Melih Esenbel in Ankara, Turkey: Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." … But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that. As quoted in "Sunshine Week Document Friday! Kissinger Says, “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer. But since the FOIA, I’m afraid to say things like that.” in Unredacted : The National Security Archive, unedited and uncensored http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/document-friday-kissinger-says-the-illegal-we-do-immediately-the-unconstitutional-takes-a-little-longer-but-since-the-foia-im-afraid-to-say-things-like-that/ Included in Cable P860114-1573_MC_b http://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/P860114-1573_MC_b.html#efmCS3CUB Wikileaks 1970s

“I don’t know about birds
nor do I know the history of fire.
But I believe that my solitude should have wings”

Alejandra Pizarnik (1936–1972) Argentinian poet

History, Bird, Solitude

“Anyone who's just driven 90 yards against huge men trying to kill them has earned the right to do Jazz hands.”

Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…

Men

“The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.”

Kiran Desai book The Inheritance of Loss

Source: The Inheritance of Loss

Change, Past

“My attraction had been immediate and profound. And it had nothing to do with the way he looked. My attraction was to what resided between his lines.”

Augusten Burroughs book You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas

Source: You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas

Way

“Kate," Lucern interrupted.
"What?" she asked warily.
"I do not need blood." He tugged her off balance and into his lap. "All I need is you.”

Lynsay Sands Canadian writer

Source: Single White Vampire

“Well, I don't want you to die," Tessa said. "I don't know why I feel it so strongly -- I've just met you -- but I don't want you to die."

"And I trust you," he said. "I don't know why -- I've just met you -- but I do.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Feeling

“A man’s memory might have only a hundred clear days in it and he has lived thousands. Can’t do much about that. We have our store of days and we spend them like forgetful drunkards.”

Sebastian Barry (1955) Irish author

Source: Days Without End: A Novel

Memory, Forgetting

“The German people in its whole character is not warlike, but rather soldierly, that is, while they do not want war, they are not frightened by the thoughts of it.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Source: The speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939

War, People

“But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don’t think it’s in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63 (2011), Chapter Final Notes, page 1030,(First Scribner hardcover edition November 2011)
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20210722191755/https://libquotes.com/stephen-king/quote/lbj3k9y Archived] from [https://libquotes.com/stephen-king/quote/lbj3k9y the original

Love, Star, Thinking, Heart

“He leaned closer to me and then seemed shocked as he realized what he was doing.

"Why would you do that? Why would you do that for me?”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

“Do not despair, my friend. Today is theirs, but the future is ours”

Rodman Philbrick book The Last Book in the Universe

Source: The Last Book in the Universe

Future, Despair

“There is nothing that you can do to me that my own craziness doesn't do to me smarter and faster and better.”

Joanne Greenberg book I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Source: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

“Just speak very loudly and quickly, and state your position with utter conviction, as the French do, and you'll have a marvelous time!”

Julia Child My Life in France

Source: My Life in France

Time

“It is not, what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell me I ought to do.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

Source: Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)

Justice

“I can never think of you as a friend. You can do without a friend.”

Graham Greene book The End of the Affair

Source: The End of the Affair

Hurtful, Thinking

“So many things you promise yourself you won't get used to, and then you do.”

Kamila Shamsie book Burnt Shadows

Source: Burnt Shadows

“You always have a choice. Don't ever imagine you don't. Whatever you do, it's a decision and you have to accept responsibility for it. That's when honor becomes more than empty words.”

Lynn Flewelling Stalking Darkness

Source: Stalking Darkness

Imagination, Decision

“We are a race of artists. What are we doing about it?”

Shirley Graham Du Bois (1896–1977) American composer and writer

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

This is attributed to Truman in some sources, but a similar saying is recorded as early as 1909 https://books.google.com/books?id=bidJAAAAIAAJ&dq=how%20much%20%22care%20who%20gets%20the%20credit%22&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q=how%20much%20%22care%20who%20gets%20the%20credit%22&f=false. Misattributed

For Team

“Complex things are easy to do. Simplicity's the real challenge.”

Robert James Waller The Bridges of Madison County

Source: The Bridges of Madison County