Quotes about everything
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“By trying to understand everything, everything makes me dream”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

“And how can you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her. Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you, Oskar. It's always necessary.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Oskar's grandmother
"My Feelings" (p. 314)
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
Context: I said, I want to tell you something She said, you can tell me tomorrow I had never told her how much I loved her. She was my sister. We slept in the same bed. There was never a right time to say it. It was always unnecessary. I thought about waking her. But it was unnecessary. There would be other nights. And how can you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her. Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you, Oskar. It's always necessary. I love you. Grandma.

Love

“Progress consists, not in the increase of truth, but in freeing it from its wrappings. The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn't gold.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

Tolstoy's Diaries (1985) edited and translated by R. F. Christian. London: Athlone Press, Vol 2, p. 512
Context: People usually think that progress consists in the increase of knowledge, in the improvement of life, but that isn't so. Progress consists only in the greater clarification of answers to the basic questions of life. The truth is always accessible to a man. It can't be otherwise, because a man's soul is a divine spark, the truth itself. It's only a matter of removing from this divine spark (the truth) everything that obscures it. Progress consists, not in the increase of truth, but in freeing it from its wrappings. The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn't gold.

Truth

“But love, like the sun that it is, sets afire and melts everything. what greed and privilege to build up over whole centuries the indignation of a pious spirit, with its natural following of oppressed souls, will cast down with a single shove.”

José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader

Love, Soul, Nature, Sun

“The dead know everything but they don't give a damn.”

Joanne Harris book Runemarks

Source: Runemarks

Dead

“It's about taking everything you thought was true and throwing it out the window. It's about embracing life's unpredictability, letting go of boundaries, and starting over”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

Source: Pretty Little Liars #4: Unbelievable

Life

“But if one had everything one could ever need or want, what was left to dream of?”

Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist

Source: Then Comes Seduction

Dreams

“There's no such thing as winning or losing. There isand there is; there isand. There are absolutes. Everything in between is still leftt to fight for.”

Derek Landy Skulduggery Pleasant

Source: Skulduggery Pleasant

Fight

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”

Lucille Ball (1911–1989) American actress and businesswoman

Variant: Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. Your really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.

Love, World, Wise, Deep

“For years we have been taught not to like things. Finally somebody said it was OK to like things. This was a great relief. It was getting hard to go around not liking everything.”

David Byrne (1952) Scottish alternative rock musician and promoter of world music

“It was just a normal day, a day like any other. But most of all it was a day in which everything was exactly the way it should be.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Choice

Source: The Choice

Way

“Don’t bother trying to explain your emotions. Live everything as intensely as you can and keep whatever you felt as a gift from God. The best way to destroy the bridge between the visible and invisible is by trying to explain your emotions.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

God, Way

“Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work- It demands everything from you- especially the truth. Only then does it yield results.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Love, Truth, Game

“When anything can happen, everything matters.”

Ian McEwan book Saturday

Source: Saturday

“Your principle should be to see everything and say nothing. The world changes so rapidly that if you want to get on you cannot afford to align yourself with any person or point of view.”

Khushwant Singh (1915–2014) Indian novelist and journalist

World, Change, Personality

“With me, everything turns into mathematics.”

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist

Mais apud me omnia fiunt Mathematicè in Natura More closely translated as: but in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically. Note: "Mais" is French for "but" and the "but in my opinion" comes from the context of the original conversation. apud me omnia fiunt Mathematicè in Natura is in latin. Sometimes the Latin version is incorrectly quoted as Omnia apud me mathematica fiunt. Sources: Correspondence with Mersenne http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3aDescartes_-_%C5%92uvres,_%C3%A9d._Adam_et_Tannery,_III.djvu/48 note for line 7 (1640), page 36, Die Wiener Zeit http://books.google.com/books?id=9Xh3fVZLCycC&pg=PA532&lpg=PA532&dq=%22Omnia+apud+me+mathematica+fiunt%22+original+zitat&source=bl&ots=CgQOrveRiM&sig=WFHwIK20r5vRZ66FwCaxo857LCU&hl=de&sa=X&ei=_Wf2UcHlJYbfsgaf1IHABg#v=onepage&q=%22Omnia%20apud%20me%20mathematica%20fiunt%22%20original%20zitat&f=false page 532 (2008); StackExchange Math Q/A Where did Descartes write... http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/454599/where-did-descartes-write-with-me-everything-turns-into-mathematics?noredirect=1#comment978229_454599

Mathematics

“We take everything for granted, but when I'm with Angeline, I see the world through new eyes. She makes my world better. It's why she's so great.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

World

“He took my hand, made me stand on the branch and asked, "What can you see from here?"
"Nothing" I said,
"Know what I can see? From this distance everything is so bloody perfect".”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

Perfection

“Everything gets better in the end. If it's not better, it's not quite the end.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

“I soon discovered that if you keep your mouth shut, people are apt to believe you know everything, and they begin to feel freer and freer to tell you anything, anxious to show that they know something, too.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

People, Feeling

“I think that my job is to observe people and the world, and not to judge them. I always hope to position myself away from so-called conclusions. I would like to leave everything wide open to all the possibilities in the world.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

People, World, Hope, Thinking

“Let things be, let yourself be, let everything be and accept it as it is. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

James Frey book A Million Little Pieces

Source: A Million Little Pieces

“Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything.”

Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Book II, Ch. 17.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)

“It was not enough.
It was too much.
It was everything.”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Lucky in Love

“Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.”

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

“You can't prepare for everything life's going to throw at you. And you can't avoid danger. It's there. The world is a dangerous place, and if you sit around wringing your hands about it, you'll out on all the adventure.”

Jeannette Walls book Half Broke Horses

Source: Half Broke Horses

Life, World

“A photo says, you were happy, and I wanted to catch that. A photo says, you were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Happiness, Photo

“For you, a thousand times over." Then I turned and ran. It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything alright. It didn't make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. But I'll take it. With open arms.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

Smile, Time

“The yard was full of tomato plants about to ripen, and mint, mint, everything smelling of mint, and one fine old tree that I loved to sit under on those cool perfect starry California October nights unmatched anywhere in the world.”

Jack Kerouac book The Dharma Bums

Source: The Dharma Bums

Love, World, Tree, Perfection

“How do you tell an adult that maybe everything wrong in the world stems from the fact that she's stopped believing the impossible can happen?”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

World

“I was on HPD--Heathcliff Protection Duty--in Wuthering Heights for two years, and believe me, the ProCaths tried everything. I personally saved him from assassination eight times.”

Jasper Fforde book Lost in a Good Book

Source: Lost in a Good Book

Time, Personality

“I do all this alone, everything I achieve, I achieve alone, because it's my head I'm locked into, and I share this space with nobody but myself.”

Alex Garland book The Coma

Source: The Coma

“They’re not dead,” I told the goat. “They both have pulses.” “Oh.” The goat sighed. “Well, give them a few more hours and they’ll probably be dead.” “What is wrong with you?” “Everything,” said the goat.”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

Dead

“If you're going into a very dark place, then you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?”

Stephen King book Full Dark, No Stars

Source: Full Dark, No Stars

God, Light

“Everything comes in circles. […] The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all been done before, and will be again.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Valley of Fear

Source: The Valley of Fear

“When you have a kid, you sign on for the whole package: good, bad, everything in between. you can't just dip in and out, picking and choosing the parts you want and quitting when it's not perfect.”

Sarah Dessen book The Moon and More

Source: The Moon and More

Parting, Perfection

“He hadn't told me everything, but I'd left him for dead. I guess we were just about even.”

Lilith Saintcrow book Strange Angels

Source: Strange Angels

Dead

“Because when I look at you, I forget everything. I lose all track of what I’m saying or doing. I can see only your eyes.”

Jennifer Ashley (1974) American author

Source: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

Forgetting

“Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life and it’d lose even its imperfection.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Life

“You couldnt erase everything that caused you pain with recollection. Every memory was valuable; even the bad ones”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Pain, Memory

“And he respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anyone who can spell Tuesday, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”

A.A. Milne book The House at Pooh Corner

Source: The House at Pooh Corner (1928), Chapter Five - Rabbit, speaking of Christopher Robin.

Help

“If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Heart

“Darkness… When everything that you know and love… is taken from you so harshly… all you can think about is anger, hatred, and even revenge… and no one can save you.”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Love, Revenge, Thinking, Anger

“Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything.”

Steve Martin (1945) American actor, comedian, musician, author, playwright, and producer

Boy

“The insatiable thirst for everything which lies beyond, & which life reveals is the most living proof of our immortality.”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

Life

“Every day, God gives us the sun — and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Variant: Everyday God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

God, Change, Sun

“When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching -- they are your family.”

Jim Butcher (1971) American author

People, Family, Hell, Family

“Everything that happens to you matters to me.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“In a perfect world everything would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

People, World, Problem, Thinking

“But Mary-Lynnette was thinking. Of course she'd like to find somebody who would accept her completely, who would share everything with her.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Night World, No. 1

Thinking

“Everything will be alright in the end so if it is not alright it is not the end.”

Deborah Moggach (1948) English writer

Source: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

“How had this happened? Everyone in the world knew more than us, about everything, and this I hated then found hugely comforting.”

Dave Eggers (1970) memoirist, novelist, short story writer, editor, publisher

Source: You Shall Know Our Velocity!

Hate, World

“I want to explain everything to him, show him that it’s really not as screwed up as it all sounds, but then I remember that it is.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: How to Talk to a Widower

“Julian: “Wikipedia knows about everything. It might be run by warlocks.”
Emma: “You think that’s what they do all day in the Spiral Labyrinth? Run Wikipedia?”
Julian: “I admit it seems like a letdown.”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

Thinking

“The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

Age, History, Change

“Love demands everything, they say, but my love demands only this: that no matter what happens or how long it takes, you`ll keep faith in me, you`ll remember who we are, and you`ll never feel despair.”

Ann Brashares book My Name is Memory

Source: My Name Is Memory

Love, Faith, Feeling, Despair

“Everything else has vanished, so you take them now. Maybe if you're the one keeping them, I'll be the one feeling better.”

Daniel Handler book Why We Broke Up

Source: Why We Broke Up

Feeling

“Now I'm a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything.”

Arthur C. Clarke book 2001: A Space Odyssey

Source: 2001: A Space Odyssey

“Everything means something.”

Philip Pullman book Lyra's Oxford

Source: Lyra's Oxford

“When you think that you lost everything you find out you can always lose a little more.”

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

Thinking

“Everything seems simpler from a distance.”

Gail Tsukiyama (1957) American writer

Source: The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

“It was a bit warm. Still. If one could look this fabulous, one had an obligation to. One should wear everything, or one should wear nothing at all.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Runaway Queen

“To tell you the truth, I've just been avoiding everything.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Truth

“Once you've decided that something's absolutely true, you've closed your mind on it, and a closed mind doesn't go anywhere. Question everything. That's what education's all about.”

David Eddings book Belgarath the Sorcerer

Source: Belgarath the Sorcerer

Education, Question

“Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.”

Gretel Ehrlich (1946) American writer

Nature, Beauty, Peaceful

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. You've got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Way, Sense, Learning, Heart

“What are you thinking?"
"Just how different everything down there is now, you know, now that I can see."
"Everything down there is exactly the same," he said. "You're the one that's different.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Thinking

“What did it matter to me? Did I think that by making you rational about one thing, I could make you rational about everything? Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted to save you from your fears”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

Fear, Thinking

“…it is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary.”

Franz Kafka book The Trial

'A melancholy conclusion,' said K. 'It turns lying into a universal principle.In the Cathedral
Source: The Trial (1920), Chapter 9

“Everything distracted me, but most of all myself.”

Patti Smith Just Kids

Source: Just Kids

“Let this be my final lesson. Everyone and everything has a time to die.”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

Variant: For everyone and everything, there is a time to die.
Source: Old Kingdom series (The Abhorsen Trilogy), Abhorsen (2003), p. 343.
Source: Sabriel
Context: For everyone and everything, there is a time to die. Some do not know it, or would delay it, but its truth cannot be denied. Not when you look into the stars of the Ninth Gate.

Time