Quotes about doing
page 92

“Fortunate is the one who knows the name of their heart. They are the ones whose hearts are never truly lost. They can always call their heart back home.
Do you remember the name of your heart, Simon Lewis?”
“I think so,” Simon whispered.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Bitter of Tongue

Home, Thinking, Heart

“Many writers do little else but sit in small rooms recalling the real world.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

World

“Inside and out, Westley's world was ripping apart and he could do nothing but crack along with it.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

World

“Raven! What are you doing up so late? You have school tomorrow!"…"But I thought it was just the one time?”

Ellen Schreiber book Vampire Kisses

Source: Vampire Kisses

School, Time

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you.”

Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker

Wise, Life, Pain, Pleasure

“Neglecting to broaden their view has kept some people doing one thing all their lives.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

People

“I'd do almost anything for you. I think I'd kill for you. But I'm not going to comfort you while you cry in my arms over another man. - Gage Travis”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Thinking, Cry

“The angel brought you back."
"Because you asked him to. You could have anything alse in the world, and you asked for me."
"But I dont want anything else in the world. I love you. I would do it again. I would ask for you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Love, World, Angels

“I wonder if what makes a family a family isn't doing everything right all the time but, instead, giving a second chance to the people you love who do things wrong.”

Jodi Picoult book Lone Wolf

Source: Lone Wolf

Love, People, Family, Chance

“Do we have free will, or do the mass media and our culture control us, our desires and actions, from the moment we’re born?”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Writing is like breathing, it's possible to learn to do it well, but the point is to do it no matter what.”

Julia Cameron (1948) American writer

Source: The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life

Learning

“Why do I act like this, agreeing when I really disagree, letting people force me to do things I don't want to do?”

Haruki Murakami book The Strange Library

Source: The Strange Library

People

“Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity”

James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time

Source: The Fire Next Time

“They will come back, come back again,
As long as the red earth rolls.
He never wasted a leaf or a tree.
Do you think he would squander souls?”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Soul, Thinking, Tree

“Sometimes a thing that's hard is hard because you're doing it wrong. (Point Omega)”

Don DeLillo (1936) American novelist, playwright and essayist

“If you can do it then why do it?”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

“It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Source: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I

Smile, Beauty

“However, because they have no actual interests of their own (or if they do, they squelch them in order to fit in) and merely pursue those that they think will look best on their college apps, they're zombies.”

Meg Cabot book Airhead

Source: Airhead

Thinking

“Because the rhythm of conversation makes no allowance for dead periods, because the presence of others calls for continuous responses, we are left to regret the inanity of what we say, and the missed opportunity of what we do not.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: How Proust Can Change Your Life

Dead

“I think where I am not, therefore I am where I do not think. I am not whenever I am the plaything of my thought; I think of what I am where I do not think to think.”

Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist

Thinking

“Doing nothing is opting for the sweetness of stillness… Instead of fighting with that which you cannot control, you might as well just see it through…”

Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967–2020) American author and journalist

Source: Radical Sanity: Commonsense Advice for Uncommon Women

Fight

“I do this to feign confidence, because the more I fake it, the more it's supposed to feel true.”

Jenny Han book To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Feeling, Confidence

“I was hoping they'd put up flyers like they do for lost cats," he said. "Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Hope, Boy, Cats

“Some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you..”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Sadness, Soul, Cry

“If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don't want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it, too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Variant: I don't want to be somebody's crush. if somebody likes me, i want them to like the real me, not what they think i am. And i don't want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so i can feel it too. - Sam
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Feeling, Thinking

“Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) Abolitionist, author

Sense

“I avoid that bleak first hour of the working day during which my still sluggish senses and body make every chore a penance. I find that in arriving later, the work which I do perform is of a much higher quality.”

John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces

Source: A Confederacy of Dunces

Sense

“Once lay down the rule that the job comes first and you throw that job open to every individual, man or woman, fat or thin, tall or short, ugly or beautiful, who is able to do that job better than the rest of the world.”

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) English crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian writer

Source: Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society

World, Beauty

“Your mother and I do not approve of drinking. Have you not heard of the Eighteenth Amendment?”

“Prohibition? I drink to its health whenever I can.”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

Health, Drink

“No man can take your freedom from you. They can limit your mobility, but that's about all they can do”

Danielle Steel (1947) American author of romance novels

Freedom

“The worst thing a girl can do is trail after a boy when a love affair is dead.”

Sophie Kinsella book Twenties Girl

Source: Twenties Girl

Love, Girl, Boy, Dead

“Give me a few minutes.”
“You have time.” He sat in the grass.
“Are you just going to sit there and watch me?”
“Yes. Watching pretty peasant girls is what we poor little rich boys do best.”
“Peasant?”
He shrugged. “You started the name calling.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: On the Edge

Girl, Boy, Grass, Time

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you
want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

Courageous, Moving On, Fear, Home

“If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.”

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

People, Thinking

“But I do think that when people say 'a learning curve,' they make a mistake. Learning to me always seems to go in a straight, ignorant line and then, every so often, takes a jump straight upward.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Enchanted Glass

Source: Enchanted Glass

People, Thinking, Learning

“Boo: "Go talk to her."

Callum: "About what?"

Boo: "Anything."

Callum: "You want me to walk up to her and say, 'Are you a ghost?'"

Boo: "I do that."

Callum: "I love it when you get it wrong.”

Maureen Johnson (1973) writer from the USA

Source: The Name of the Star

Love

“I knew you loved me and that you'd do anything for me. And that was one of the reasons it hurt so much when you ended it, Dawson. Because I knew even then how rare that kind of love is. Only the luckiest people get to experience it at all.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

Source: The Best of Me

Love, People, Hurt

“So," says Lev, as casually as he can, "you wanna dance?" "Do you believe in the end of the world?" she responds. Lev shrugs. "I don't know. Why?" "Because the day after that is when I'll dance with you.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: UnWholly

World, Dance

“We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.”

Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) Scottish author

Source: Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct (1859), Ch. XI : Self-Culture — Facilities and Difficulties.
Source: The Lives Of George And Robert Stephenson
Context: We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

Success

“Whos love do you cherrish more? Hers or theirs? when you deside that, it's all downhill from there.”

Jerry Spinelli book Stargirl

Source: Stargirl

Love

“But I'm really enjoying my retirement. I get to sleep in every day. I do crossword puzzles and eat cake.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Mortal Coil

Sleep

“Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have. We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy – if not less of it – doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do.”

Terry McMillan (1951) American author

Source: Disappearing Acts

“In the short term, it would make me happy to go play outside. In the long term, it would make me happier to do well at school and become successful. But in the VERY long term, I know which will make better memories.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Source: It's a Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection

School, Memory, Success, Happiness

“There's only so much room in one heart. You can fill it up with love or you can fill it with resentment. But every bit of resentment you hold takes space away from the love. And the resentment don't do no good noway, but look what love can do.”

Sheri Reynolds book The Rapture of Canaan

Source: The Rapture of Canaan

Love, Heart

“I do not pick the wrong guys. They pick me.”

Candace Bushnell book Sex and the City

Source: Sex and the City

Guy

“God creates, I do not create. I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it – from what I see, from what the dancers can do, from what others do…”

George Balanchine (1904–1983) Georgian choreographer, dancer and ballet master (1904-1983)

God

“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”

Ray Bradbury book Dandelion Wine

Source: Dandelion Wine

Flowers, Bee

“There will always be those who want to tell you who you are based on your name or the blood in your veins. Do not let other people decide who you are. Decide for yourself.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Tessa Gray, to Clary Fray, pg. 716
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Context: I feel a kinship with you, too, you who have lost both brother and father. I know you have been judged and spoken of as the daughter of Valentine Morgenstern, and now the sister of Jonathan. There will always be those who want to tell you who you are based on your name or the blood in your veins. Do not let people decide who you are. Decide for yourself. That freedom is not a gift; it is a birthright. I hope that you and Jace will use it.

People

“Love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Variant: that love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything.
Source: City of Fallen Angels

Love, World

“I wish I had more friends, but people are such jerks. If you can just get most people to leave you alone, you're doing good. If you can find even one person you really like, you're lucky. And if that person can also stand you, you're really lucky.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Source: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

People, Jerk, Personality

“I get accused all the time of having a big
mouth. But if you ask me, guys gossip way more than girls do.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Queen of Babble in the Big City

Way, Guy, Girl, Time

“How do you tell if something's alive? You check for breathing.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

“And very amusing it is to watch,” said Jem. “Did you know you twitch your nose when you sleep, like a rabbit?”
“I do not,” she said, with a whispered laugh.- In my dreams”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Chapter 17. deleted scene- Clockwork Prince

Dreams, Sleep

“It is the good children, Madame, who make the most terrible revolutionaries. They say nothing, they do not hide under the table, they eat only one sweet at a time, but later on, they make Society pay dearly for it!”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Jessica, Act 3, sc. 1
Dirty Hands (1948)

Children, Time

“I keep what's mine, and I do not share.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Seven Years to Sin

“But then she was not awkward, she was slow-flowing, graceful, seductive - a seductiveness that had nothing to do with breast and hips and legs, but was an invitation to forget the world in the recesses of the body”

Bernhard Schlink book The Reader

Source: The Reader

World, Forgetting

“I do not have many things that are meaningful to me. Except my doubts and my fears. And my art.”

Chaim Potok book My Name Is Asher Lev

Source: My Name Is Asher Lev

Fear, Art

“Sure, in a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders… are lower than garbage. However… those who do not care for and support their fellows… are even lower than that!" - Obito Uchiha”

Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto

Source: Naruto, Vol. 27: Departure

World, Support

“I prayed the monsters would give up. Or that perhaps Philip of Macedonia would climb back to the terrace (do crocodiles climb?) and renew the fight.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Fight

“Theof what they will do to you is every bit as sickening in a dream as when it is really going to happen.”

Elizabeth Wein book Code Name Verity

Source: Code Name Verity

Dreams

“Don't say 'what,' say 'pardon,' darling, and do as your mother tells you.”

Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones's Diary

Source: Bridget Jones's Diary

“Keys," she repeated, and slowly stepped back. "What do you mean, keys?"

"Car keys. As in, give them up. Now." Shane had that look -- hard, and no bullshit. "We don't have time for your drama, Monica. Nobody does.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Last Breath

Cars, Time

“How do people stay in love, anyway? Is it a choice? Or is it like those plants we studied in biology that mutate into something new and totally different but are still part of the same plant family?”

Libba Bray Going Bovine

Source: Going Bovine

Love, People, Family, Study

“But it isn't easy,' said Pooh. 'Because Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you.”

A.A. Milne book The House at Pooh Corner

Source: The House at Pooh Corner

“You'd be surprised what people will do for money that they wouldn't do for
love.

Myrnin.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bite Club

Love, Money, People

“Anyone who can't learn from other people's mistakes simply can't learn, and that; s all there is to it. There is value in the wrong way of doing things. The knowledge gained from errors contributes to our knowledge base.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

People, Way, Error, Knowledge

“Ain't nothin' to it, but to do it.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

“But women do not say 'We', except at some congress of feminists or similar formal demonstration; men say 'women', and women use the same word in referring to themselves.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

Source: The Second Sex

Women, Men

“Always do what you're afraid to do.
…
I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick.
I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Variant: I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick. I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak -Cady Sinclair
Source: We Were Liars

Thinking, Strong