Quotes about exception
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“Gifts of the heart can't be claimed by anyone except the giver.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Wedding

Source: The Wedding

Heart

“Death is the Santa Claus of the adult world. Except Santa Claus in reverse. The guy who takes all the presents away.”

Maria Dahvana Headley (1977) American writer

Source: Magonia

Death, World, Guy

“Everybody has to die, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

Statement to the Associated Press, five days before his death. (13 May 1981)

“Is willing to accept that she creates her own reality except for some of the parts where she can't help but wonder what the hell she was thinking”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Hell, Thinking, Reality, Help

“True friends share everything, except the past before they met.”

Mary Renault book Fire from Heaven

Source: Fire from Heaven

Past

“Who imprisoned me here? Who keeps me here? Who can release me? Who's controlling and constraining my life except… me?”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Life

“As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

Quoted in The Observer (7 February 1982)
1980s

Age, Perfection

“She knew that she could not have reached this white serenity except as the sum of all the colors, of all the violence she had known.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

Color

“Nothing binds you except your thoughts; nothing limits you except your fear; and nothing controls you except your beliefs.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Fear

“Nothing can prevent your picture from coming into concrete form except the same power which gave it birth – yourself.”

Rhonda Byrne book The Secret

Source: The Secret

Birth

“There is no beauty or romance or mystery in the sea except for the men that sail abroad upon it, and those who stay at home and dream of them.”

Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) Irish writer and dramatist

Men, Beauty, Dreams, Home

“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint

God

“I’m blushing at my own stupid, nonsensical, meaningless thought process, which, by the way, nobody knows about except me.”

Sophie Kinsella book I've Got Your Number

Source: I've Got Your Number

Stupidity, Way

“I am a believer in free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Castle in the Air

Source: Castle Series, Castle in the Air (1990), p. 31.
Context: "Maybe," he said, "you should be more careful about whom you let your dog bite."
"Not I!" said Jamal. "I am a believer of free will. If my dog chooses to hate the whole human race except myself, it must be free to do so."

Hate, Dogs

“What is human behavior, except trying to prove that we're not animals?”

Douglas Coupland Microserfs

Source: Microserfs

Behavior, Animals

“Nature cannot be commanded except by being obeyed.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

Nature

“Nothing is changed, except
there was a moment when

the wolf, the mongering wolf
who stands outside the self

lay lightly down, and slept.”

Maxine Kumin (1925–2014) American poet and author

Wolf, Change

“Akri infallible. Well, except for a couple of things, and we don’t talk about those ‘cause it makes akri cranky. I like that word ‘infallible.’ It just like me. Infallible. (Simi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

“I was right when I said I’d never look back. It hurts too much, it drags at your heart till you can’t ever do anything else except look back.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Heart, Hurt

“I love you, you see… and I fear I have no way to say or show it that isn't terrible, except coming here. I would kill everyone in the world for you, if you wanted……. Or not obviously”

Holly Black book The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Source: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Love, World, Fear, Way

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in the House of Commons (11 November 1947), published in 206–07 The Official Report, House of Commons (5th Series), 11 November 1947, vol. 444, cc. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1947/nov/11/parliament-bill#column_206 <br class="br">Post-war years (1945–1955) <br class="br">Variant: Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried. <br class="br">Context: Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Democracy

“God never witholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful -- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Love, Wisdom, God, Time

“My sister, with her ratty red-highlighted hair and her linen pajamas and her combat boots—how could she possibly worry about being possessed by a goddess? What goddess would want her, except the goddess of chewing gum?”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Sister

“It's just hard to see a friend hurt this much. Especially when you can't do anything except 'be there.' I just want to make him stop hurting, but I can't. So I just follow him around whenever he wants to show me his world.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

World, Hurt

“Modern man thinks he loses something - time - when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains, except kill it.”

Erich Fromm book The Art of Loving

Source: The Art of Loving

Thinking, Time

“There is no remedy for death--or birth--except to hug the spaces in between. Live loud. Live wide. Live tall.”

Jim Crace book Being Dead

Source: Being Dead

Death, Birth

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

People, Law, Nature

“Most of us tend to belittle all suffering except our own," said Mary. "I think it's fear. We don't want to come too near in case we're sucked in and have to share it.”

Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984) English fiction writer

Source: The Scent of Water

Fear, Thinking, Suffering

“I had some ambition. I meant everything to be different with me. I thought I had more strength and mastery. But the most terrible obstacles are such as nobody can see except oneself.”

George Eliot book Middlemarch

Source: Middlemarch

“There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog”

Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989) Austrian zoologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973.

Faith, Dogs

“I can smell you,” he groaned against her ear as he ran his fangs up her throat. “The most beautiful thing in the world—except for your taste.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: The King

World, Beauty

“And when you'd finished running you'd be thousands of miles away from people who love you and your problem would still be there except you'd have nobody to help you.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Love, People, Problem, Help

“I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the half-way, the almost, the just-about, the in-between.”

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

People, Way

“There is always something particularly delightful about exceptions to a rule.”

Elizabeth Goudge book The Little White Horse

Source: The Little White Horse

“The boy smiled -- mostly at Amy.
"Sorry, her heart belongs to Ian Kabra," Dan said, except that something in her expression made him realize her heart didn't belong at all to Ian
right now.”

Peter Lerangis book The Viper's Nest

Source: The Viper's Nest

Smile, Boy, Heart

“It's actually a rather romantic and dramatic story --- one I would eagerly tell you, except for the fact that I recently forgot it, based on it being far too long and having not enough decapitations.”

Brandon Sanderson book Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

“I've developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by far, than I learned anything useful from, except, of course, that some very tedious gentlemen have written books.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

Source: Gilead

Wisdom, Books, Learning, Time

“There is really nothing more to say — except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.”

Toni Morrison book The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye (1969)

“Sonny, don't you tell me what's worthwhile--true love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops. Everybody knows that.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Love, World

“We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long.”

Stephen King book The Green Mile

Variant: We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long.
Source: The Green Mile (1996)

Death, God

“I wouldn't be able to do anything with my vampire horde except make it run around in a herd, but it would be a very impressive herd.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

“How can I find the words? Poets have taken them all and left me with nothing to say or do"
"Except to teach me for the first time what they meant.”

Dorothy L. Sayers book Busman's Honeymoon

Source: Busman's Honeymoon

Time

“People don't remember me. Really. It's not a paranoid thing; I just have this habit of slipping through memories. It doesn't bother me all that much, except I guess that's a lie; it does. For some reason, I test very high on forgettability.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

People, Lie, Memory

“No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.”

George Eliot book Daniel Deronda

Source: Daniel Deronda

Love, Effort, Evil

“Flattery will get you everywhere," Sam says, "Except, apparently, off a roof.”

Holly Black book White Cat

Source: White Cat

“There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.”

George Eliot book The Mill on the Floss

The Mill on the Floss (1860)

Fear, Music, Feeling

“It's funny how you can forget everything except people loving you. Maybe that's why humans find it so hard getting over love affairs. It's not the pain they're getting over, it's the love.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

Love, Pain, People, Forgetting

“The unfortunate thing about working for yourself is that you have the worst boss in the world. I work every day of the year except at Christmas, when I work a half day.”

David Eddings (1931–2009) American novelist

World, Christmas

“We’re not searching for anything except people. We don’t need other worlds. We need mirrors.”

Stanisław Lem book Solaris

Source: Solaris

People, World, Search

“There is no rest for the humble except in despising the great, whose only thought of the people is inspired by self-interest or sadism.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

People

“So I have. Let me hold the baby, Scarlett. Oh, I know how to hold babies. I have many strange accomplishments. Well, he certainly looks like Frank. All except the whiskers, but give him time.”

“I hope not. It’s a girl.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist

Source: Gone With the Wind

Hope, Girl, Time, Baby

“Accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.”

David Guterson book Snow Falling on Cedars

Source: Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), Ch. 32, last page.

Universe, Heart

“Charity even for one person does not make sense except in terms of an effort to love all Creation in response to the Creator's love for it.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

Love, Sense, Effort, Personality

“Myrnin: "There is no drama so great as that of a teenage girl."
Claire: "Except yours.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Girl

“Girls can be so petty and jealous. I swear they're worse than guys sometimes. Except they're all quiet about it. They sugarcoat it or else they talk behind each other's backs. It's seriously twisted.”

Melody Carlson (1956) American writer

Source: The Jerk Magnet

Guy, Girl

“If you’re really hard up, I can introduce you to my grandmother. She’s a fan.” Adam blinked. “She doesn’t typically sleep with pretty young things, but she would make an exception in your case. You might even learn a trick or two.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Sleep, Learning

“Take it from me, there's nothing like a job well done. Except the quiet enveloping darkness at the bottom of a bottle of Jim Beam after a job done any way at all.”

Hunter S. Thompson book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Source: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Way

“Nobody expects you to exhibit godlike strength, excepting maybe yourself.”

Juliet Marillier book Son of the Shadows

Source: Son of the Shadows

“Of course they didn't give us this much, Sage. But I had to make sure I nailed my first assignment. Takes a lot of tries before you hit perfection." He paused to reconsider that. "Well, except for my parents. They got it on the first try.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Parent, Perfection

“Except, now that I don’t have a car, I can’t really make good on my birthday promise.”

Sydney thought about it for several moments. “Well. I’ve got a car.”

An hour later, I vowed I’d never make fun of that Mazda again.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

Cars, Birthday

“People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Source: A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition

People, Spring, Happiness

“All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”

Samuel Butler book The Way of All Flesh

Source: The Way of All Flesh (1903), Ch. 19

Life, Business, Animals

“A man who drinks too much on occasion is still the same man as he was sober. An alcoholic, a real alcoholic, is not the same man at all. You can't predict anything about him for sure except that he will be someone you never met before.”

Raymond Chandler book The Long Goodbye

Source: The Long Goodbye

Alcohol, Drink

“Life is short. Short, and not about anything except what you can touch and what touches you.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Life

“Everyone has light around them, except for you. You have shadows.”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

Light

“I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.”

Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist

Thinking

“Dad,” I said quietly, “I’ve always made it a rule in my life not to pick fights with children, cute animals, or ignorant old men. I will, however, make an exception for you if you ever touch or insult my wife again.”

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

Life, Men, Children, Animals

“What good was owning the world when he’d have no choice except to defend himself against every person in it? Personally, he’d rather be a beggar with one true friend than a prince surrounded by two-faced assassins.’ (Aiden)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Upon the Midnight Clear

World, Personality

“The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking… the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. (1945)”

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

Way, Problem, Thinking, Change

“But listen to me when I say this. You are an exceptional, talented, and brilliant young woman. Do not ever let anyone make you feel invisible. Do not let anyone - not even a teacher who constantly sends you for coffee - push you around.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Feeling, Coffee, Teachers

“The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself.”

Jane Addams (1860–1935) pioneer settlement social worker

“Maybe you're graduating from fireballs to lightning bolts," Adrian suggested. "I bet it'd be a lot like throwing ninja stars. Except, well, you could incinerate people.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

People, Star

“You're so easy to tease. And yes, your friend is just fine. Well, except that he keeps putting all my things away and trying to clean up. Now I can't find anything. He's compulsive.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

“George goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat

Source: Three Men in a Boat

Sleep

“It was the old New York way of taking life "without effusion of blood": the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes," except the behaviour of those who gave rise to them.”

Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence

Source: The Age of Innocence (1920), Ch. 33

Life, People, Disease, Way

“She liked to imagine that when she passed, the world looked after her, but she also knew how anonymous she was. Except when she was at work, no one knew where she was at any time of day and no one waited for her. It was immaculate anonymity.”

Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones

Source: The Lovely Bones

World, Imagination, Time, Waiting

“There are no evil thoughts except one; the refusal to think.”

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

Variant: There are no evil thoughts, Mr. Rearden," Francisco said softly, "except one: the refusal to think.
Source: Atlas Shrugged: Wer Ist John Galt?

Thinking, Evil

“Ishmael gave himself to the writing of it, and as he did so he understood this, too: that accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.”

David Guterson book Snow Falling on Cedars

Source: Snow Falling on Cedars

Universe, Heart