Quotes about doing
page 95

“And what is wrong with playing with words? Words love to be played with, just like children or kittens do!”

Source: My Name Is Mina

“I don't think anyone ever remembers what they were really like as kids. Adults think they do, but they don't. Photos and videos don't capture the real you, or bring back to life the person you used to be. You have to return to the past to do that.”

Darren Shan book Sons of Destiny

Source: Sons of Destiny

Life, Photo, Thinking, Past

“With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Stupidity

“We don't have to do this. Just say the word and I can have a jet here in an hour. We can go anywhere”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”

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

From a review of the revised edition of “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White published in Esquire, November 1959.

Happiness

“It's hard to explain and best thing to do is not be false.”

Jack Kerouac book Big Sur

Source: Big Sur

Falseness

“The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

“Nothing but writing rests me; only then do I seem completely myself!”

Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856–1923) American writer

“There are your fog people & your sun people, he said. I said I wasn't sure which kind I was. He nodded. Fog'll do that to you, he said.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Source: Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

People, Sun

“Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it. Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others. Don't assume that it's too late to get involved.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Forgiveness, Learning, Past

“Why do I feel like I can't trust you anymore?'

I wanted him to lash out. I wanted him to fight, to protest, to argue- to do anything but look deeper into my eyes and say, 'because the Gallagher Academy doesn't admit fools”

Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Fools, Feeling, Fight

“And even though people try to pretend that pain doesn't do anything to them, none of us can really handle it. Everything bad we do in our life is because of pain of some kind.”

James Frey book The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Source: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Life, Pain, People

“But there are forces that don't let you turn back and undo things, because to do so would be to deny what is already in motion, to unwrite and erase passages, to shorten the arc of a story you don't own.”

Salvador Plascencia The People of Paper

Source: The People of Paper

“She forces me to endure this ridiculous therapy, when the so-called counselors are little better than misguided do-gooders with degrees.

-Artemis Fowl”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

“No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Soul

“Life could do nothing for her, beyond giving time for a better preparation for death.”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Life, Death, Time

“Do go on,' he said. 'There's nothing I enjoy more than listening to a highly trained intelligence leapfrogging common sense and coming to the wrong conclusions. It gives me renewed faith in parliamentary democracy.”

Tom Sharpe (1928–2013) English satirical novelist

Source: Wilt On High

Faith, Democracy, Intelligence, Sense

“I do have some leftover chicken and pasta. (Grace)
And wine?… That’s acceptable (Julian)
Look, buster, I’m not your cooking wench. Mess with me and I’ll feed you Alpo. (Grace)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Fantasy Lover

Source: Fantasy Lover

Wine, Cooking

“What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Education

“When the Dead do walk, seek water’s run,
For this the Dead will always shun.
Swift river’s best or broadest lake
To ward the Dead and haven make.
If water fails thee, fire’s thy friend;
If neither guards, it will be thy end.”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

Source: Old Kingdom series (The Abhorsen Trilogy), Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (2001), pp. 359-360.

Water, Dead

“She can't let him go not telling him what she was about to do.

Kingsley… I can't do this. I'm coming with you.”

Melissa de la Cruz book The Van Alen Legacy

Source: The Van Alen Legacy

“I am always glad when any of my books can be put into an inexpensive edition, because I like to think that any people who might wish to read them can do so. Surely books ought to be within reach of everybody.”

Pearl S. Buck book The Good Earth

Source: The Good Earth

People, Books, Thinking, Reading

“Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said.
Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

Truth, Hurt

“Will interrupted. "Henry," he said, "you're on fire. You do know that, don't you?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“there is nothing bad to fear; once you have crossed that threshold, all is well. Another world, and you do not have to speak”

Franz Kafka Letter to His Father

Source: Letter to His Father

World, Fear

“Life in District 12 isn’t really so different from life in the arena. At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Katniss, p. 118
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire (2009)

Life, Courage, Dead

“Young people don't always do what they're told, but if they can pull it off and do something wonderful, sometimes they escape punishment.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

People

“Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

People, Way

“Books, for me, are a home. Books don’t make a home – they are one, in the sense that just as you do with a door, you open a book, and you go inside. Inside there is a different kind of time and a different kind of space.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Books, Home, Sense, Time

“It is not only by one's impulses that one achieves greatness, but also by patiently filing away the steel wall that separates what one feels from what one is capable of doing.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Feeling

“You hold onto what you have; you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.”

Poppy Z. Brite (1967) Novelist, short story writer, food writer

Source: Wormwood: A Collection of Short Stories

“I'm not really qualified to install a security system," said Dimitri.
"Really? There's something you can't do?" Adrian's voice was so soft that I could barely hear him, and he was sitting right next to me.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

“I wonder: If you think of someone you love, do you become a little more like them? I would like to think so.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

Source: My Life on the Road

Love, Thinking

“In spite of the seven thousand books of expert advice, the right way to disciplne a child is still a mystery to most fathers and… mothers Only your grandmother and Genghis Khan know how to do it.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

Books, Way

“I do like Christmas on the whole…. In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year.”

E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist

Peace, Way, Christmas

“He is trying to recapture his innocence, yet all he succeeds in doing (by writing) is to inoculate the world with a virus of his disillusionment.”

Henry Miller book Sexus

Context: A man writes to throw off the poison which he has accumulated because of his false way of life. He is trying to recapture his innocence, yet all he succeeds in doing is to inoculate the world with a virus of his disillusionment. No man would set a word down on paper if he had the courage to live out what he believed in....

The Rosy Crucifixion I : Sexus (1949), Chapter 1. (New York: Grove Press, c1965, p. 17-18)

World

“I think you have a case of either 'testitis' or 'I Didn't Do My Homework Syndrome'. It's common in the Spring.”

Ellen Schreiber (1967) American writer

Source: Vampireville

Spring, Thinking

“Do you always try to kill people when they blow their nose?”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

People

“When do these three days expire?"
"That's what pisses me off. I don't know. He was annoyingly vague."
"The nerve. Threatening you and not being precise about it.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Dreamfever

“I always want to know the things one shouldn't do."
"So as to do them?" asked her aunt.
"So as to choose." said Isabel”

Henry James book The Portrait of a Lady

Source: The Portrait of a Lady

“But how do you ever know that you know a person?”

Anita Shreve book The Pilot's Wife

Source: The Pilot's Wife

Personality

“We are citizens of the world. The tragedy of our times is that we do not know this.”

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)

World, Time

“Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. It wasn't meant to be, and we have no right to do it. A woman gains status when she refuses to see anything killed to be put on her back. Then she's truly beautiful.”

Doris Day (1922–2019) American actress, singer, and animal rights activist

Beauty, Animals

“He [Brian Fraser] told me that a man must be responsible for any see he sows, for it's his duty to take care of a woman and protect her. And if I wasna prepared to do that, then I'd no right to burden a woman with the consequences of my own actions.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

“He wanted to run to her, wrap her in his arms. Protect her. But it was Jem’s place to do those things, not his. Not his.” -Will Herondale”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before.”

Clifton Fadiman (1904–1999) American editor

Source: "Any Number Can Play," 1957

Books, Reading

“It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Love, Making love, Drink

“But I discovered that people like me -- they do, you know, if you like them -- and then it was all right.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

People

“James - "Are you paying attention or just trying to make me look like an idoit?"
Elizabeth - "Oh, I'm definately paying attention. If you look like an idiot it has nothing to do with me.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: How to Marry a Marquis

“He flushed, the colour dark against his pale skin. 'I mean. Tessa Gray, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?' Jem…”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

“I will not waste my life! I will finish my course and finish it well. I will display the Gospel of the grace of God in all I do. I will run my race to the end.” - Paul”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Source: Don't Waste Your Life

Life, God

“Thought's a luxury. Do you think the peasant sits and thinks of God and Democracy when he gets inside his mud hut at night?”

Graham Greene book The Quiet American

Source: The Quiet American

God, Democracy, Thinking, Night

“Heaven and hell seem out of proportion to me: the actions of men do not deserve so much.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

El infierno y el paraíso me parecen desproporcionados. Los actos de los hombres no merecen tanto.
As quoted in Borges Verbal (1999) edited by Pilar Bravo and Mario Paoletti, p. 156

Men, Hell

“I love you, Clary wanted to say. And, I would do it again. I would always ask for you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Love

“Because others have let us down, it is now our duty to face the hard truths and do the right thing--no matter the personal cost.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

Truth, Personality

“Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Life

“I don't care if they eat me alive, I've got better things to do than survive.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

“You throw a stone into a deep pond. Splash. The sound is big, and it reverberates throughout the surrounding area. What comes out of the pond after that? All we can do is stare at the pond, holding our breath.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

“I closed my eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m tired. My knee is hurting again and I’m trying to teleport myself upstairs.”
“Um, Kate, you can’t do that.”
“I know. But I’m trying very hard. Let me know if I start fading?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

Hurt

“Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Life

“Remember: The best deceivers do everything they can to cloak their roguish qualities. They cultivate an air of honesty in one area to disguise their dishonesty in others. Honesty is merely another decoy in their arsenal of weapons.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

“Power can do everything but the most important thing: it cannot control love.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Source: Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

Love

“Do you know what happened to the last person who took that tone with me? (Xypher)
Let me guess…Disembowelment. Probably painful. Definitely slow. (Simone)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Chaser

Pain, Personality

“It's so trendy, almost bleeding to death. All the cool girls are doing it.”

Francine Pascal Fearless

Source: Fearless

Death, Girl

“Sexy means loving someone you do not know.”

Jhumpa Lahiri book Interpreter of Maladies

Source: Interpreter of Maladies

Love

“Men cannot grieve as dogs do. But they grieve for many years.”

Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice

Source: Assassin's Apprentice

Men, Dogs

“People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil. I don't know why. No, I do indeed know why. Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult.”

Anne Rice book Interview with the Vampire

Interview With The Vampire (1976)
Source: Interview with the Vampire

God, People, Evil

“So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me… everyday.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Heart Touching

“Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Personality

“Yes,' growled Fell, 'for animals do not know what they do, but man has knowledge of his cruelty.”

David Clement-Davies book Fell

Source: Fell

Knowledge, Animals

“The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace,
The prurient ape's defiling touch:
And do you like the human race?
No, not much.”

Aldous Huxley book Ape and Essence

Source: Ape and Essence

Kiss

“Ironic, isn't it, what religion does to people?"
"I guess it's more ironic what people do to religion.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Dream a Little Dream

People, Religion

“I'm a spy, Cam. I was born to do this- to be this. It's in my blood. And I will do it until the day I die. It's who I am… The thing is I don't think you realise is… it's who you are too.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

Thinking

“That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Time

“Everything man does today to be efficient, to fill the hour? It does not satisfy. It only makes him hungry to do more. Man wants to own his existence. But no one owns time. When you are measuring life, you are not living it.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

Life, Time

“I am as I am. The world is as it is. Whether I am content with that has very little to do with it.”

William Nicholson (1948) British screenwriter, playwright and novelist

World

“And sometimes you do everything right and something bad just happens. It's as simple, and as scary, as that.”

Anna Quindlen (1952) journalist, Novelist

“You make do with what you have. As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have.”

Haruki Murakami book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Age, Learning, Happiness

“It is dusty on the edges.
It is slightly rotten.
I guard it without thinking.
I focus on it once a year
when I shake it out in the wind.
I do not ache.
I would not trade.”

Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) American writer

Thinking

“Wow,” said Adrian. He sat down on the bed and tested its bounciness, giving it a nod of approval. “This is amazing. What do you think, buttercup?”

“I have no words,” I said honestly.

He patted the spot beside him. “Want to try it out?”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Thinking

“Waddya want me to do? through my sling shot at him?”

Shirley Hughes (1927) English children's writer and illustrator

“Fear is a part of life. It's a warning mechanism. That's all. It tells you when there's danger around. Its job is to help you survive. Not cripple you into being unable to do it.”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: Dead Beat

Life, Fear, Help, Parting

“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Learning

“Live all you can — it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?”

Henry James book The Ambassadors

Source: The Ambassadors (1903), book V, ch. II.
Context: Live all you can — it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?.. What one loses one loses; make no mistake about that... The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.. Live!

Life

“When I'm with him, I can feel myself getting better. It's like he's picking up broken pieces of me and putting me back together, and I don't even know he's doing it. We never talk about it. We don't go to therapy. He just loves me and that's enough.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Love, Feeling

“If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it.”

Peter Singer (1946) Australian philosopher

“You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Leadership, People

“Some people don't know what to do with an act of kindness.”

Jodi Picoult Salem Falls

Source: Salem Falls

People

“Please do not strain yourself, Miss Doyle. I won't have my girls going cross-eyed in the name of art.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Art, Girl

“Sometimes, the hardest thing was doing
nothing.”

Scott Westerfeld book Extras

Source: Extras

“I know the place.
It is true.
Everything we do
Corrects the space
Between death and me
And you.”

Harold Pinter (1930–2008) playwright from England

Death

“You did what you did out of love. I can't be mad at you over that. It was stupid, but that's how love is. Do you have any idea what I'd do for you? To keep you safe?”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Source: Spirit Bound

Love, Stupidity, Idea, Madness

“why do you condemn a man whom you have never met, whom no one knows and about whom even you yourself know nothing?”

Gaston Leroux book The Phantom of the Opera

Source: The Phantom of the Opera

“He broke the kiss and leaned against her, breathing hard. "Good morning to you, too. Man, I just can't stay mad when you do that.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Midnight Alley

Kiss, Madness

“Fear can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy… fear makes you always, always hold something back.”

Philip K. Dick book VALIS

Source: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (1974), Chapter 21 (p. 171)
Source: VALIS
Context: "Fear,” Jason said, “can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you're afraid you don’t commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back.”'

Hate, Fear, Jealousy