Quotes about everything
page 24

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Lonely on the Mountain (1980); later quoted in A Trail of Memories : The Quotations Of Louis L'Amour (1988) by Angelique L'Amour

Time, Life

“if there is any secret to this life i live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. and there is nothing more to it than that.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Life, Secret, Singing

“Think of yourselves as a hand. Each of you is a finger, and without the others you're useless. Alone, a finger can't grasp, or control, or form a fist. You are nothing on your own, and everything together.”

Karen Traviss British science fiction author

Thinking

“I know that homes burn and that you should think what to save before they start to. Not because, in the heat of it, everything looks as valuable as everything else. But, because nothing looks worth the bother, not even your life.”

Amy Hempel (1951) Short story writer

Source: The Collected Stories

Life, Home, Thinking

“Just because you fail once doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything.”

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

Heartbreaking, Inspirational, Courageous, Life

“It was her religion to make the best of everything.”

Lyndall Gordon (1941) South African writer and academic

Source: Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft

Religion

“I don't necessarily agree with everything that I say.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

“Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules on sex as on everything else; they do not accept the monkey customs of their lessers.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Friday

Source: Friday (1983), Ch. XXI, p. 214

Sex

“Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Light

“Nothing truly real is forgotten eternally, because everything real comes from eternity and goes to eternity.”

Paul Tillich (1886–1965) German-American theologian and philosopher

Source: The Eternal Now

“There is no greater indication of youth, perhaps, than the desire for everything to be as it should.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

Youth

“… there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”

Eleanor H. Porter book Pollyanna

Source: Pollyanna

“Can it be that I have not lived as one ought?" suddenly came into his head. "But how not so, when I've done everything as it should be done?”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

Source: The Death of Ivan Ilych

“… I remember the first moment I looked at you walking toward me and realized that somehow the rest of the world seemed to vanish when I was with you. That you were the center of everything I did and felt and thought.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

World

“Faith is not believing in my own unshakable belief. Faith is believing an unshakable God when everything in me trembles and quakes.”

Beth Moore (1957) American evangelist

Source: Praying God's Word: Breaking Free From Spiritual Strongholds

God, Faith

“Try it. You don't have to do it ever again if you don't want to. But try it once. Try everything once.”

Melvin Burgess (1954) British children's writer

“Adrian, we hashed this out! Everything's gone perfectly until now. Why would you even think about deviating from the plan?'

'Um, because that's how we roll?”

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

Thinking

“If you ask me what I want, I'll tell you. I want everything.”

Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet

“I’m just saying that I think I chose the way I did in part because of you. Since I’ve
met you, everything I’ve done has been in part because of you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Way, Thinking, Parting

“everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

Waiting, Motivational, Deep, Success

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Variant: You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.
Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

People, Motivational

“Delete nothing. Move nothing. Change nothing. Learn everything.”

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

Learning, Change

“Welcome everything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.”

André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist

“Self-esteem isn't everything; it's just that there's nothing without it.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

“Having a friend made everything else suck less.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“it sounded stupid, but of course everything does when you're just getting the bare bones facts, only the basics…”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Stupidity

“I knew I liked her then, really liked her, this girl with an explanation for everything.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Girl

“Catherine […] enjoyed her usual happiness with Henry Tilney, listening with sparkling eyes to everything he said; and, in finding him irresistible, becoming so herself.”

Jane Austen book Northanger Abbey

Source: Northanger Abbey

Happiness

“Everything in life has some good in it. And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more--it's sad, but that's the truth.”

Banana Yoshimoto book The Lake

Source: The Lake

Life, Truth, Sadness

“There is a kind of poetry, bad and good, in everything, everywhere we look.”

Ali Smith Hotel World

Source: Hotel World

“I hate everything you say, but not enough to kill you for it.”

Borís Pasternak book Doctor Zhivago

Source: Doctor Zhivago

Hate

“It wasn't good, he wasn't good, he did not have good intentions. I stood there, and he stood there. He breathed out the bitter air that makes women doubt everything, and I breathed it in, as I had always done.”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You

Women

“Sooner or later everything you thought you'd left behind comes around again. For good or ill, it comes around again.”

Stephen King Insomnia

Source: Insomnia

“Everything I've ever done that's valuable is something I was afraid to try.”

Amy Chua book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Source: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

“With you, my life felt indeed like a fantastic adventure - despite our ordinary circumstances, your love imbued everything we did with secret riches.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride

Source: The Longest Ride

Love, Life, Secret

“There. I've said everything I wanted to say without actually having to use the words "please stay”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“We haven’t lost everything, if we haven’t lost our hope.”

Cecelia Ahern book PS, I Love You

Variant: We haven't lost everything, if we haven't lost our hope.
Source: PS, I Love You

Hope

“Not everything in life can be interpreted metaphorically; that's because things fall out on the way.”

Edward Gorey (1925–2000) American writer, artist, and illustrator

Life, Way

“Everything's much too big here,' thought Moominmamma. 'Or perhaps I'm too small.”

Tove Jansson book Moominpappa at Sea

Source: Moominpappa at Sea

“Death is forever. Death is nothing. But to save a life, that’s everything.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

Life, Death

“According to Plato, we don't learn anything. Our soul has lived so many lives that we know everything. Teachers and education can only remind us of what we already know.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Diary

Source: Diary

Education, Soul, Learning, Teachers

“Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

Source: On the Move

Music, Change

“….. It means everything. It means I love you. It means I want you. It means I want you to be okay. It means everything.”

Diana Peterfreund (1979) American writer

Source: Rampant

Love

“Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 184; this also has been quoted as "What happens once will never happen again. But what happens twice will surely happen a third time."

Time

“Perhaps to be able to learn things quickly isn't everything. To be kind is worth a great deal to other people… Lots of clever people have done harm and have been wicked.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess

Source: A Little Princess

People, Learning

“Maybe sometimes you just feel like everything can be taken from you all at once.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Story of Us

Feeling

“i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes”

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

65 - This poem was used by Eric Whitacre for an a capella SATB chorus titled "i thank you God".
XAIPE (1950)

God, Dreams, Nature, Tree

“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed, is you.”

Eric Roth (1945) American screenwriter

Source: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Screenplay

Feeling, Home, Change

“It's love, not the Battle of Thermopylae. You don't have to treat everything like it's a last stand.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Love

“This was a big storm and he might as well enjoy it. It was ruining everything, but you might as well enjoy it”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

“You say you need help. Help for what? You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.”

Carlos Castaneda book Journey to Ixtlan

Variant: You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.
Source: Journey to Ixtlan

Life, Help

“What are you? (Nick)
Completely perplexed. You remember everything that happened. (Acheron)
Yeah. Duh. Not like you’re going to forget the killer zombie stalkers and psyched-out kitchen staff. What kind of freak show is this? (Nick)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

Forgetting

“We are all unkind from time to time. We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Variant: We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.
Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Change, Time, Parting

“Don’t we forgive everything of a lover? We forgive selfishness, desire, guile. As long as we are the motive for it.”

Michael Ondaatje book The English Patient

Source: The English Patient

Lovers, Motivation, Forgiveness, Selfishness

“But the Silent Brothers have tried everything to separate Jace from the heavenly fire, and they can't do it. It's in his soul. So what's their plan, hitting Sebastian over the head with Jace until he passes out?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

"Brother Zachariah said pretty much the same thing. Maybe with less sarcasm."
Clary Fray and Jace Herondale, pg. 100-101
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)

Soul

“If you begin to give away parts of yourself, eventually you'll give it all. And once you've lost yourself, haven't you lost everything?”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: For the Roses

Parting

“Everything, absolutely everything on this earth makes sense, and even the smallest things are worthy of our consideration.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: The Witch Of Portobello

Sense

“It was too late - everything was too late. For years now he had dreamed the world away, basing his decisions upon emotions unstable as water.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Beautiful and Damned

Source: The Beautiful and Damned

World, Dreams, Decision, Water

“Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.”

Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist

“I still believed he'd love me again somehow, love me that intense, thick way he did, the way that made everything good.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Love, Way

“What if everything you believe is wrong and you could still be loved and still be forgiven?”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Saving Raphael Santiago

Love

“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Feeling

“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Happiness

“He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.”

Zadie Smith On Beauty

Source: On Beauty

Love

“Slow down. Stop trying to do everything now, now, now. Hold up the people behind you for all you care, feel them kicking at your heels but maintain your pace. Don't let anybody dictate your speed.”

Cecelia Ahern book Thanks for the Memories

Source: Thanks for the Memories

People, Feeling, Speed

“Everything Dies. That is the law of life-the bitter unchangeable law”

David Clement-Davies book Fell

Source: Fell

Life, Law

“That was the summer when everything we would become was hovering just over our heads.”

Junot Díaz book This Is How You Lose Her

Source: This Is How You Lose Her

Summer

“The story of her life. God gave you everything just to take it away. Just so you knew exactly what you were missing.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

Source: Paint it Black

Life, God

“And why is it, thought Lara, that my fate is to see everything and take it all so much to heart?”

Borís Pasternak (1890–1960) Russian writer

Fate, Heart

“A big enough artist, I say, can eat anything, must eat everything and then alchemize it. Only the feeble writer is afraid of expansion.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

“You only want everything you don't have"
Matt from The vampire diaries”

L.J. Smith book The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle

Source: The Struggle

“Teachers were both blamed for everything that went wrong with kids and turned to for their every salvation. This dual role of scapegoat and savior was downright messianic but even Jesus was probably paid better.”

Lionel Shriver book We Need to Talk About Kevin

Source: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Teachers

“The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure…. you are above everything distressing.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

“I know hate is a strong word and everything, but its okay: we're teenagers.”

Cecily von Ziegesar book You Know You Love Me

Source: You Know You Love Me

Hate, Strong

“Everything in the world needs kindness, child. [Ryssa]”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

World

“She was sad about what happened to Kostos. And someplace under that, she was sad that people like Bee and Kostos, who had lost everything, were still open to love, and she, who'd lost nothing, was not.”

Ann Brashares The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Source: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Love, People, Sadness, Bee

“Remember: He WANTS your fellowship, and He has done everything possible to make it a reality. He has forgiven your sins, at the cost of His own dear Son. He has given you His Word, and the priceless privilege of prayer and worship.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Source: Hope for Each Day: Words of Wisdom and Faith

Reality

“He was wearing a look that she found odd and compelling - that amusement that didn’t seem to pass beyond the surface of his features, as he found everything in the world both infinitely funny and infinitely tragic all at the same time.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

World, Time

“Morfran thrust his axe straight up. He pretty much seemed to have one sign for everything: poke a hole in the sky.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

“… the worst aspect of our time is prejudice… In almost everything I've written, there is a thread of this - man's seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.”

Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter

Ellen Cameron May, "Serling in Creative Mainstream" (profile/interview), Los Angeles Times (June 25, 1967), page C22-23.
Other
Context: I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I've written there is a thread of this: man's seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.

Time

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Life, Way, Imagination

“It's not easy being so frightened of everything. And when I think of how much I've improved in the last year, I wonder when I'll ever get finished with making changes and be really grown up.”

Paula Danziger book There's a Bat in Bunk Five

Source: There's a Bat in Bunk Five

Thinking, Change

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.”

Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971) Japanese Buddhist missionary

“We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.”

William Golding book Lord of the Flies

Source: Lord of the Flies

“Imagine how they would have mocked you if you proclaimed, 'Not only is the world a sphere, but there is an invisible, mystical force that holds everything to its surface'!”

Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol

Source: The Lost Symbol

World, Imagination

“The men who cannot laugh at themselves frighten me even more than those who laugh at everything.”

Anne Perry (1938) English author

Source: The Whitechapel Conspiracy

Men

“Everything about Christianity is contained in the pathetic image of 'the flock.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Source: Hitch-22: A Memoir

“Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.”

David Foster Wallace book Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Source: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Bee, Time

“It is not that the girl is unfit for everything, it is that she is not of this world.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Of Love and Other Demons

Source: Of Love and Other Demons

World, Girl

“Mathematics catalogues everything that is not self-contradictory; within that vast inventory, physics is an island of structures rich enough to contain their own beholders.”

Greg Egan book Oceanic

Source: Oceanic

Mathematics

“When smart people are nice, it's always terrifying, because I know they're taking in everything and thinking all kinds of smart and potentially judgmental things.”

Mindy Kaling book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Source: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

People, Thinking

“I'm trying to make some sense out of the phrase "Everything happens for a reason," and I think I've figured out what the reason is - to pissed me off.”

Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie

Variant: I’m trying to make some sense out of the phrase “Everything happens for a reason,” and I think I’ve ﬁgured out what the reason is—to piss me off.
Source: Love, Rosie

Thinking, Sense

“You are a fever I am learning to live with, and everything is happening
at the wrong end of a very long tunnel.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Learning

“Governments and entire planets are important, Threepio. But when you sift everything down, they're all just made of people.”

Timothy Zahn Heir to the Empire

Source: Heir to the Empire

People

“I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization.”

Howard Dean (1948) American political activist

Maggie Haberman, "Dean's Howling For Shot To Lead DNC Into Future Battle To Head Democrats", New York Daily News, January 30, 2005. Retrieved from Proquest May 12, 2016.

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