Quotes about down
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“Just as Christian came up to the Cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, fell from off his back, and began to tumble down the hill, and so it continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. There it fell in, and I saw it no more!”

John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer and preacher

“Heaven opened and the water hammered down, reviving the reluctant old well, greenmossing the pigless pigsty, carpet bombing still, tea-colored puddles the way memory bombs still, tea-colored minds.”

Arundhati Roy book The God of Small Things

Source: The God of Small Things

Color, Way, Water, Memory

“Just go on dancing with me like this forever and I'll never tire. We'll scrape our shoe on the stars and hang upside down from the moon.”

Stephen King book The Long Walk

Source: The Long Walk

Shoe, Star, Dance

“Adults had the notion that juveniles needed to suffer. Only when they had suffered enough to wipe out most of their naturally joyous spirits and innocence were they staid enough to be considered mature. An adult was essentially a broken-down child.”

Piers Anthony book Centaur Aisle

Source: Centaur Aisle

Nature, Suffering

“Well, what? Sophie-"
"I hit her on the head with a mirror," Sophie said hopelessly. "One of those silver-backed ones, so it was quite heavy. She went down just like a stone, miss. So I… I tied her to the bed and I came looking for you.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

“Sydney sighed and stood up, smoothing her rumpled clothes with dismay. 'I need a coffee shop or something.'
'I think I saw one in a cave down the road,' I said.
That almost got a smile from her.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Smile, Coffee, Thinking, Clothes

“I don’t give a damn if they throw me down into the deepest, slimiest pit for eternity. I belong here and no one is going to make me leave. No one! (Selena)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Seize the Night

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,' I said. 'By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

People, World, Thinking

“Throwing down your staff may sound like a sign of surrender, but in Egyptian magic, it's bad news. It usually means, 'Hey, I'm going to summon a big nasty thing to kill you while I stand safely inside my circle and laugh'.”

Rick Riordan book The Throne of Fire

Source: The Throne of Fire

“I pressed down the mental accelerator. The old lemon throbbed fiercely. I got an idea.”

P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author

Idea

“When the time came to leap in faith, whether you had your eyes open or closed or screamed all the way down or not made no practical difference.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book The warrior's Apprentice

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)

Faith, Way, Time

“But there was only one kiss that made me feel something stir deep inside. Only one that made me want more. But my head wound started bleeding and he made me lie down.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Lie, Feeling, Kiss

“When you lose your face…, it is like dropping your necklace down a well. The only way you can get it back is to fall in after it.”

Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club

Source: The Joy Luck Club

Way

“You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Fear, Waiting

“I hate myself for loving you and the weakness that it showed. You were just a painted face on a trip down to suicide road.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Love, Hate, Suicide, Painting

“One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go." He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid—Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes—duct tape”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

World

“To dwell on the things that depress or anger us does not help in overcoming them. One must knock them down alone.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Help, Anger

“I went to college. Got a master’s degree. Went to Quantico for training. Been chasing down bad guys.”
She gave her grandmother a wry look. “You know, the usual girly stuff.”

Kerrelyn Sparks (1955) American writer

Source: The Vampire and the Virgin

Guy, Training

“If you get stuck to the committed path then…
this wall has to be..
KNOCKED DOWN!!”

Yoshiki Nakamura (1969) Artist

Source: Skip Beat!, Vol. 02

“Mr. Shepherd, ye cannot stop a bad thought from coming into your head. But ye need not pull up a chair and bide it sit down." - Mrs. Brown”

Barbara Kingsolver book The Lacuna

Source: The Lacuna

“… he said, with sort of a little derisive smile, "How can you walk down the street with all this stuff going on inside you?" I said, "I don't know how you can walk down the street with nothing going on inside you.”

Nelson Algren (1909–1981) American novelist, short story writer

Smile

“I'm very down to Earth, I'm just not from this Earth.”

Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer

Variant: I’m very much down to earth, just not this earth.

“It's a wicked life, but what the hell, the stars ain't falling down.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Source: Lyrics: 1962-2001

Life, Star, Hell

“Baby," she says in a harsh whisper, "in this world, lots of people will try to grind you down. They need you to be small so they can be big. You let them think whatever they want, but you make sure you get yours. You get yours.”

Holly Black book Red Glove

Source: Red Glove

People, World, Thinking, Baby

“You can only push the truth down for so long, and then it bubbles back up.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Truth

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Men

“At first, being with Sebastian was like being in the middle of the best dream I'd ever had - but now it mostly feels exhausting. I'm up one minute and down the next; questioning what I say and do. Even questioning my sanity.”

Candace Bushnell book The Carrie Diaries

Source: The Carrie Diaries

Dreams, Feeling, Question

“Death should be a celebration. Like a birthday. I want to go up like a rocket when my time comes, and fall down in a cloud of stars, and hear everyone go: ahh!”

Joanne Harris (1964) British author

Death, Star, Birthday, Time

“He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

Dreams, Idea, Waiting

“Henry," said Charlotte, who appeared to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Variant: Henry," said Charlotte, who seemed to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.
Source: Clockwork Angel

Appearance

“The man glanced down and made a face. "I see that many pigeons have pooped upon these stairs," he remarked. "I shall remain standing, if that's not too rude.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

“I'd shut the whole world down just to tell you”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

World

“Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”

Sean Covey (1964) author; business executive

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide

Thinking, Tear

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

Kubla Khan (1797 or 1798)
Source: The Complete Poems

Pleasure, Sea

“We bear the consequences for what we have done to ourselves, and for the sin that rules this world. Jesus forgave the thief, but he didn't take him down off the cross.”

Francine Rivers book A Voice in the Wind

Source: A Voice in the Wind

World

“… and down they forgot as up they grew.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

“If there's anything I look down on, it's a man in a blue outfit.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

“Zaphod marched quickly down the passageway, nervous as hell, but trying to hide it by striding purposefully.”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hell

“Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies.”

Candace Bushnell book Sex and the City

Source: Sex and the City

People

“His little whistle sound like it lost way down a jar, and the jar in the bottom of the creek. P. 64”

Alice Walker book The Color Purple

Source: The Color Purple

Way

“What was the point of being able to forgive, when deep down, you both had to admit you'd never forget?”

Jodi Picoult book The Tenth Circle

Source: The Tenth Circle

Forgiveness, Forgetting

“Who snitched?"
"We have people monitoring police radio frequencies. They gave Jim a heads-up in case our security had to storm PAD offices and bust you out of there. I found out when I saw Jim walking down the hallway snickering to himself.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

People

“He thought about all the holes in him, the blank places, the voids where others felt things. When it came down to it, he was really just a screen, more empty than solid, his emotions blowing through him, only angry catching and holding.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Awakened

“You meet a new person, you go with him and suddenly you get a whole new city… you go down new streets, you see houses you never saw before, pass places you didn't even know were there. Everything changes.”

Samuel R. Delany book Dhalgren

Source: Dhalgren

Change, Housing, Personality

“Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

As quoted in Marilyn Monroe : In Her Own Words (1983), edited by Roger Taylor
Variant: Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.

Soul, Kiss

“Technology to wipe out truth is now available. Not everybody can afford it but it's available. When the cost comes down, look out!”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Truth

“I told you, computers are like women. If you shout at them or ask them to do too many things at once, they shut down and you won't even get a sniff" pg. 4”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead

Women

“Have you ever felt the longing for someone you could admire? For something, not to look down at, but up to?”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

“I did learn something about insanity while I was down there. People go crazy, not because they are crazy, but because it's the best available option at the time.”

Gabrielle Zevin (1977) American writer

Source: All These Things I've Done

People, Learning, Time

“When they passed the centaur king's cell, Volos pointed at Regin and slid his forefinger across his throat.

She replied, "Hey, didn't I see you in a donkey show down in Tijuana? No? You've got a twin then--”

Kresley Cole American writer

Variant: When they passed the centaur king’s cell, Volós pointed at Regin and slid his forefinger across his throat.

She replied, “Hey, didn’t I see you in a donkey show down in Tijuana? No? You’ve got a twin then—
Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

“When you make a solemn promise to a friend, it ain't right to go back on it. No. Never let your friend down, never break a trust, and when you give your word, never go back on it.

-Sheriff Andy Taylor”

Lauren Myracle (1969) American children's writer

Source: Bliss

“Where I come from, family's defined as those who don't screw you over a paycheck. Blood makes no difference. If you can trust them with your life and know that they'll be there come whatever hell rains down, then they're your family.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Shadows

Life, Family, Hell

“Good-bye -- if you hear of my being stood up against a stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease or falling down the cellar stairs.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

Life, Age, Disease, Way

“Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)

Strong

“Alec flopped down on the opposite side of the fire and glared at them both. "And where have Jace and Clary gone?"
"Ah," said Simon delicately. "Who can say…"
"Straight people," Alec declared. "Why can't they control themselves?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

People

“That was the problem with having walls so hard and high and unscalable…. When they came down, they crumbled completely, shattering into nothingness.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Witchlight

Problem

“The time has come, everybody lie down so you won't get hurt when the sun bursts.”

Neal Cassady (1926–1968) American cultural figure of 1950s and 1960s

Source: First Third & Other Writings - Revised & Expanded Edition Together With A New Prologue

Lie, Time, Sun, Hurt

“I lifted onto my toes, put my hands aroung his neck, and pulled him down. When our lips met, that first jolt… It was everything I hadn't felt with Simon, everything I wanted to feel.
His hands went around my waist, pulling me closer”

Kelley Armstrong The Reckoning

Source: The Reckoning

Feeling

“When it comes down to it, even on the natural plane, it is much happier and more enlivening to love than to be loved.”

Dorothy Day (1897–1980) Social activist

Love, Nature

“We sat in the car
& the night dropped
down until the
only sounds were
the crickets &
the dance of our voices

& for a moment
the world became
small enough to
roll back & forth
between us.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Source: Hearing Voices - Volume 5: Collected Stories and Drawings

World, Cars, Dance, Night

“A Boat

O beautiful
was the werewolf
in his evil forest.
We took him
to the carnival
and he started
crying
when he saw
the Ferris wheel.
Electric
green and red tears
flowed down
his furry cheeks.
He looked
like a boat
out on the dark
water.”

Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer

Beauty, Tear, Water, Evil

“The blankets had fallen off and I stared down at her white back, the shoulder blades sticking out as if they wanted to grow into wings, poke through that skin. Little blades. She was helpless.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.”

Amy Tan (1952) American novelist

Pain, Way, Water

“It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

God

“I needed her to stop. Needed not to hear the pain in her voice--to see the way she was twisting the pocketbook strap. If she kept talking, she might break down and tell me everything.”

Wally Lamb book I Know This Much Is True

Source: I Know This Much Is True

Pain, Way

“The backside of a mountain is a fight against human nature. You have to care as much about yourself on the way down as you did on the way up.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Way, Mountain, Nature, Fight

“I never wear flats. My shoes are so high that sometimes when I step out of them, people look around in confusion and ask, "Where'd she go?" and I have to say, "I'm down here.”

Marian Keyes (1963) Irish writer

People, Shoe

“Other men look up and down, left and right; but men like us are different. We are visionaries.”

Eoin Colfer book Airman

Source: Airman

Men

“I knew he would never leave me, never let me down-because the man had never abandoned anything in his long life. If I hadn’t taken the gold rope of our bond, I knew Adam would have sat on me and hog-tied me with it. I liked that. A lot.”

Patricia Briggs book Silver Borne

Source: Silver Borne

Life

“It is clear that the books owned the shop rather than the other way about. Everywhere they had run wild and taken possession of their habitat, breeding and multiplying, and clearly lacking any strong hand to keep them down.”

Agatha Christie book The Clocks

Source: The Clocks

Books, Way, Strong

“Suppose I lay down on the pavement and you run over me a few times with my own car… just for old times.”

Janet Evanovich book One for the Money

Source: One for the Money

Cars, Time

“I want to tell him that deep down each time Hannah looked at him she was grateful it was him because Jude did something that the others didn't. He came back for her.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

Time

“There was a yell, but Magnus had already risen and closed the door before he could see Alec fall down the steps, as that was the sort of thing a man had to do in private.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Course of True Love [and First Dates]

“Buttercup's mother hesitated, then put her stew spoon down. (This was after stew, but so is everything. When the first man first clambered from the slime and made his first home on land, what he had for supper that first night was stew.)”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Home, Night

“When I say,, I don't mean,. I don't mean,. I don't mean,.
I want us to go back down to that root.
I want you to be the one who loves me.
I want to be the one who loves you.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

Love

“The news just came in from the County of Keck
That a very small bug by the name of Van Vleck
Is yawning so wide you can look down his neck.
This may not seem very important, I know, but it
Is, so I'm bothering telling you so.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

“We may get knocked down on the outside, but the key to living in victory is to learn how to get up on the inside.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

Learning, Victory

“Isabelle!" he called again. "Let down your raven hair!'
"Oh my God," Clary muttered. "There was something in that blood Raphael gave you, wasn't there? I'm going to kill him.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

God

“Gavroche had fallen only to rise again; he sat up, a long stream of blood rolled down his face, he raised both arms in air, looked in the direction whence the shot came, and began to sing.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Singing

“He sat up, going still. “Am I wearing a wife-beater, Lizvetta?” He gaped down. “Oh, come on!”

Lothaire”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Lothaire

“With enough determination, any bloody idiot can get up this hill,” Hall observed. “The trick is to get back down alive.”

Jon Krakauer book Into Thin Air

Source: Into Thin Air

“I know this woman.”
“Who the hell is she?”
He stared both his brothers down. “She’s mine.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: No Place to Run

Hell

“If I had a view like this to look down on every day, I would have the energy and inspiration to conquer the world. The trouble is, when you most need such a view, no one gives it to you.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

World

“It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Different Seasons (1982), Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Variant: Either get busy living or get busy dying
Source: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

Business, Motivational

“Show no fear to your enemies. Only contempt. Never let anyone look down on you. You're just as good as any of them. I don't care who they are. Better in fact. In our world, Dagans are royalty and you, my son, are a prince.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Shadows

World, Fear