“You have to know how to look even if you don't know what you're looking for.”
Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003) Chilean author
“You have to know how to look even if you don't know what you're looking for.”
Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003) Chilean author
Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher
Source: The Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First Three Chapters of the Chuang-Tzu
Context: How do I know that enjoying life is not a delusion? How do I know that in hating death we are not like people who got lost in early childhood and do not know the way home? Lady Li was the child of a border guard in Ai. When first captured by the state of Jin, she wept so much her clothes were soaked. But after she entered the palace, shared the king's bed, and dined on the finest meats, she regretted her tears. How do I know that the dead do not regret their previous longing for life? One who dreams of drinking wine may in the morning weep; one who dreams weeping may in the morning go out to hunt. During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense! You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream. Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night.
“Everyone hates clowns," Otis said. "Even other clowns hate clowns.”
Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena
Source: The Mark of Athena
“I do not expect to get what I want, so I don't. And I don't even try.”
Emily Giffin Something Borrowed
Source: Something Borrowed
“If there's a trick to doing a job you hate… Mrs. Clark says it's to find a job you hate even more.”
Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted
Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 20, Cassandra, Another story by Mrs. Clarke
“But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.”
A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author
Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer
Source: Sweethearts
“You simply cannot tell other people they are stupid, even if they really are stupid.”
Temple Grandin (1947) USA-american doctor of animal science, author, and autism activist
Source: The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's
Glenn Greenwald (1967) American journalist, lawyer and writer
Source: A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency
John Boyne book The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket
Source: The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket
Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis
Source: Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis
Sherry Argov (1977) American writer
Source: Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl-A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship
“I hated him. I hated them all. They made me hate myself even more than I already did.”
Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer
Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
Ilchi Lee (1950) South Korean businessman
Source: Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back Into the Rhythm of a Happy, Healthy Life
Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian
Source: He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
Sarah Dunant book The Birth of Venus
Source: The Birth of Venus
“Water is powerful. It can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron.”
Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha
Source: Memoirs of a Geisha
Washington Irving book Tales of a Traveller
Tales of a Traveler (1824), Preface, p. 7.
Source: Tales of a Traveller
E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…
Source: Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver
Gena Showalter (1975) American writer
Source: Intertwined
Judith McNaught (1944) American writer
Source: Something Wonderful
“I cross the place where my heart used to be and hope to be even deader than I am now.”
Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer
Source: Death Bringer
“There is beauty in everything, even in silence and darkness.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
“Maybe this are my glory days, and I'm not even realizing it…”
Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Variant: Maybe these are my glory days, and I'm not ever realizing it because they involve a ball.
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Peter C. Newman (1929) Canadian journalist
Source: Here Be Dragons: Telling Tales Of People, Passion and Power
“Here's what breaks us: Even though we know better, we still want everything to be all right.”
David Levithan book Love Is the Higher Law
Source: Love Is the Higher Law
Marcus Sedgwick (1968) British writer and illustrator
Source: Revolver
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
Robert Walton in "Letter 2"
Source: Frankenstein (1818)
Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host
Source: The 7: Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life
“Even stone can be worn down with enough rain.”
Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha
Source: Memoirs of a Geisha
“There's nothing wrong with you.. not even the darkest corner of that beautiful soul. ~ Hunter”
Vicki Pettersson (1972) American author
Source: City of Souls
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
Source: Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
Andy Stanley (1958) American Christian minister
Source: Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You
Werner Herzog (1942) German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and opera director
Herzog on Herzog (2002), On Klaus Kinski
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom
“Never be afraid of doing the thing you know in your heart is right, even if others don't agree.”
Elizabeth Berg (1948) American novelist
Source: Dream When You're Feeling Blue
“Finding is losing something else.
I think about, perhaps even mourn,
what I lost to find this”
Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer
Source: Loading Mercury With a Pitchfork
Peter de Vries (1910–1993) American editor and novelist
Source: The Blood of the Lamb
Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian
Source: It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy
Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American writer and scientist
Presumably a paraphrase of "A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct" or of "Hunting for sport is an improvement ..." above.
Unlikely to be by Leopold, who knew that ethics involves not only doing the right thing, but also determining the right thing in the face of competing desirable criteria.
Misattributed
Dean Koontz book Seize the Night
Source: Seize the Night
“This is an evening of wonders, indeed!”
Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice