Quotes about face
page 9

“In the faces of men and women I see God.”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

Song of Myself, 48
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“I'll give you a hint. Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Variant: Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.
Source: Atlas Shrugged

Thinking

“the courage it took to get out of bed each morning to face the same things over and over was enormous.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Variant: the courage it took to get out of bed each
morning
to face the same things
over and over
was
enormous.
Source: You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense

Courageous, Courage

“Hard weather, says the old man. So let it be. Wrap me in the weathers of the earth, I will be hard and hard. My face will wash rain like the stones.”

Cormac McCarthy book Suttree

Source: Suttree

Weather

“They knew that love snatched in the face of danger and death was doubly sweet for the strange excitement that went with it.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Love, Death

“It is true that we are weak and sick and ugly and quarrelsome but if that is all we ever were, we would millenniums ago have disappeared from the face of the earth.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

On Intent
Writers at Work (1977)

“[W]hen you find yourself face to face with one [Bondsmage], you bow and scrape and mind your 'sirs' and 'madams.'"

…

'Nice bird, asshole,' said Locke.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Bird

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“By now it was clear that Howl was in a mood to produce green slime any second. Sophie hurriedly put her sewing away. "I'll make some hot buttered toast," she said. "Is that all you can do in the face of tragedy??" Howl asked. "Make toast!”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

Mood

“You can always tell employees of the government by the total vacancy which occupies the space where most other people have faces.”

John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces

Source: A Confederacy of Dunces (1980, posthumous), Ch. 9, p. 226

People

“I shook so that it was some time before I realized that he was shaking too, and for the same reason. I don't know how long we sat there on the dusty floor, crying in each others arms with the longing of twenty years spilling down our faces.”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Time, Cry

“Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark.”

Elizabeth Gilbert (1969) American writer

Faith, Speed

“I saw Jonathan after he faced the fear demon, you know. It showed itself to him as you. That told me all I needed to know. The greatest fear in Jonathan’s life is the love he feels for his sister.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Love, Life, Fear, Feeling

“When I turn around, he cups my face in his hands and he kisses me so deeply that I don't know who is breathing for who, but his mouth and tongue taste like warm honey. I don't know how long it lasts, but when I let go of him, I miss it already.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

Kiss

“He buried his face in my throat. “Love you.” Tears stung my eyes. He said the words so rarely. “Tell me again,” I begged, holding on to him. His mouth found mine. “I love you . . .”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Captivated by You

Love, Tear

“Life is a million different dots making one gigantic picture. And maybe the big picture is nice, maybe it's amazing, but if you're standing with your face pressed up against a bunch of black dots, it's really hard to tell.”

Rebecca Stead book Liar & Spy

Source: Liar & Spy

Life

“Sometimes I looked at her sleeping face, the living flesh of it, and was overwhelmed by how precarious it was to love a living thing. She could die simply from lack of water. It hardly seemed safer than falling in love with a plant.”

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

Source: The First Bad Man

Love, Sleep, Water

“I will always be the virgin-prostitute, the perverse angel, the two-faced sinister and saintly woman.”

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

Source: Henry & June

Angels

“You convinced yourselves we're just a bunch of regular lads who got a bad break in life. Anything else would have cracked your dream open and made you face reality. Illusion is easy. Illusion is the loser's way out. Your way.”

Peter F. Hamilton book The Reality Dysfunction

Source: The Reality Dysfunction

Life, Dreams, Way, Reality

“Eric turned to me, kissed me on the lips very lightly, and looked at my face for a long moment. “He’ll spare you,” Eric said, and I understood he wasn’t really talking to me but to himself. “You’re too unique to waste.”
And then he opened the door.”

Charlaine Harris book From Dead to Worse

Source: From Dead to Worse

Kiss

“Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle: she died young.”

John Webster The Duchess of Malfi

Act IV, scene ii.
Duchess of Malfi (1623)
Source: The Duchess of Malfi

“But just because you bury something, that doesn't mean it stops existing. Those feelings, they'd been there all along. All that time. I had to just face it.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: We'll Always Have Summer

Feeling, Time

“Smile. It gives your face something to do.”

Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American writer

Source: E is for Evidence

Smile

“Your face is my heart Sassenach, and the love of you is my soul”

Diana Gabaldon book Drums of Autumn

Variant: Your face is my heart
Source: Drums of Autumn

Love, Soul, Heart

“You're fun to look at," decided Galinda.

Boq's face fell. "Fun?" he said.

I'd give a lot to achieve fun," Elphaba said. "The best I usually hope for is stirring, and when people say that they're usually referring to digestion-”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

People, Hope

“Girls were born knowing how destructive the truth could be. They learned to hold it in, tamp it down, like gunpowder in an old fashioned gun. Then it exploded in your face on a November day in the rain.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

Source: Paint it Black

Truth, Girl, Fashion, Learning

“It is a terrible thing to be so open: it is as if my heart put on a face and walked into the world.”

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

Source: Drei Frauen: Ein Gedicht für drei Stimmen

World, Heart

“Once the others were below, Hazel and Leo faced each other awkwardly. They were alone except for Coach Hedge, who was back on the quarterdeck singing thetheme song. The coach had changed the words to:, and Leo really didn’t want to know why.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Change, Singing

“It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on, coughing and searching, and finding.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

“There’s no conscious thing on the face of the world that doesn’t know dread more intimately than its own heartbeat.”

Clive Barker (1952) author, film director and visual artist

Source: Books of Blood: Volume Two

World

“A woman shaking in fear from demons in her mind, and the old man who loves her more deeply than life itself, crying softly in the corner, his face in his hands.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Love, Life, Fear, Cry

“History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Pain, History, Courage

“If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples. I'll love your face no matter what it looks like. Because it's yours.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

Love

“Jace looked as if she had slapped him. "Why are you determined not to believe us?"
"Because she loves you," said Valentine.
Clary felt the blood drain out of her face.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Love

“Nico studied his face – his sea-green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson seemed like a regular guy now, not a mythical figure. Not someone to idolize or crush on.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Guy, Study, Sea

“He lunged again. This time I stood my ground and he checked his leap at the last second…. and toppled sideways. I didn't hide my laugh that time. His face twisted fast, grabbed my pajama leg and wrenched, and down I went.
"Bully”

Kelley Armstrong The Reckoning

Source: The Reckoning

Time

“Something brushed his leg, and he gazed down into the face of Pippi Tucker. The theme from Jaws raced through his head.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Match Me If You Can

“You set us up!”
“No! I swear—” Her face fell. “Mel. Mel must’ve told him.”
“Right,” I grumbled. “Blame Mel.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person's face as you pass them on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street, and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you.”

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

Personality

“It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly”

Isaac Asimov book Foundation

Variant: It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
Source: Foundation

Depressing, Life

“The good face pain. But the great — they embrace it.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986)
Source: Shards of Honour

Pain

“Destiny's what you make of it. You have to face whatever life throws at you.”

Darren Shan book Hell's Heroes

Source: Hell's Heroes

Life

“A sad smile crossed her face, and I knew right then what she was trying to tell me. Her eyes never left mine as she finally said the words that numbed my soul.
I'm dying, Landon.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

Sadness, Smile, Soul

“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

Woody Allen book Mere Anarchy

"My Speech to the Graduates"
Side Effects (1980)
Variant: Mankind is facing a crossroad - one road leads to despair and utter hopelessness and the other to total extinction - I sincerely hope you graduates choose the right road
Source: Mere Anarchy

Wisdom, History, Time, Despair

“What it sees there isn't so much a face as the expression of a predicament.”

Christopher Isherwood book A Single Man

Source: A Single Man

“I love you' I thought. But I didn't say it. It was not that I feared she would laugh in my face… My fear was a greater one--that she won't say it back.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Variant: I love you, I thought. But I didn’t say it. It was not that I feared she would laugh in my face. She was far too kind for that. My fear was a greater one— that she won’t say it back.
Source: Beastly

Love, Fear

“If you could just see your face,” she told me. “You look like a cat in a bathtub.”

Patricia Briggs book Iron Kissed

Source: Iron Kissed

Cats

“And I wonder how Gage knew this is what my soul has craved. He turns me to face him, his eyes searching. It occurs to me that no one in my life has ever concerned himself so thoroughly with my happiness.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Life, Soul, Search, Happiness

“The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi

Problem, Loyalty

“Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.”

Dave Barry (1947) American writer

Tree

“Death isn't enough. It doesn't remove the stain. But a slap, a whiplash, square on the face, does. Because a man's face is as sacred as his mother or his wife.”

Mario Vargas Llosa book The War of the End of the World

Source: The War of the End of the World

Death

“Damn it," I said. "I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to kill Littleton."

He smiled at me, his teeth very white in the darkness of his face. "Eat him," he said.”

Patricia Briggs book Blood Bound

Source: Blood Bound

Smile, Idea

“When the enemy has no face, society will invent one.”

Susan Faludi (1959) American feminist

“We lost the crickets," she said. "Even you can't make that sound tough."

…"I am Butler," he said with a straight-face. "Everything I say sounds tough. Now, get out of the lake, fairy.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Last Guardian

“No ale for the girl, Birgit," Aidan said to the woman. "Do we not have milk?"

Regin's face heated. And all the worse, because she would dearly love some milk.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Love, Girl

“As amusing as it was to see him lovestruck, we had to stay on track. I snapped my fingers in front of Marcus's face. "Focus," I said.”

Richelle Mead book Silver Shadows

Source: Silver Shadows

“For a second I thought I might actually be alive,” I said, looking at Nick’s unshaven face. “Now I know— I’ve gone to Hell and you’re my nursemaid.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bites

Hell

“Push something in someone’s face, and they will shove it away reflexively. Threaten to snatch it away from them, and sometimes they become convinced that it is what they want.”

Frances Hardinge (1973) British children's writer

Source: Fly Trap

“I believe it, Chronicler found himself thinking. Before it was just a story, but now I can believe it. This is the face of a man who has killed an angel.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Angels, Thinking

“We have to get the Diamond. And Cesare’s head.”
They looked at me.
“Why the head?” Doolittle asked.
“Because it’s easy to carry and I can torture it for a long time.” And I didn’t just say it out loud, did I? I checked their faces. Yep, I did.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

Time

“It would be fun,” Skulduggery nodded. ”I like kicking Wreath in the face. I haven't had a chance to do it nearly as much as I'd like.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

Chance

“…. and when Tatiana lifted her glistening eyes to him, Alexander was looking down at her with his I’ll-get-on-the-bus-for-you-anytime face.”

Paullina Simons book The Summer Garden

Source: The Summer Garden

“I close my eyes, thinking that there is nothing like an embrace after an absence, nothing like fitting my face into the curve of his shoulder and filling my lungs with the scent of him.”

Jodi Picoult book Keeping Faith

Variant: simply-quotes Follow

I close my eyes, thinking that there is nothing like an embrace after an absence, nothing like fitting my face into the curve of his shoulder and filling my lungs with the scent of him.
Source: Keeping Faith

Thinking

“What's wrong with my proposition?" Poirot rose. "If you will forgive me for being personal-I do not like your face, M. Ratchett.”

Agatha Christie book Murder on the Orient Express

Source: Murder on the Orient Express

Forgiveness, Personality

“We’re a different sort of thief here, Lamora. Deception and misdirection are our tools. We don’t believe in hard work when a false face and a good line of bullshit can do so much more.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Falseness

“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. Power is what all messiahs really seek: not the chance to serve. This is true even of the pious brethren who carry the gospel to foreign parts.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

369
Popular version of the first sentence: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false-front for the urge to rule it."
1940s–present, Minority Report : H.L. Mencken's Notebooks (1956)
Source: Minority Report

Chance, Parting, Falseness

“I swear, I almost died back there on that ship, you know."
He let her hand go, but he was staring at her, almost as if he meant to memorize her face. " I know," he said. "everytime you almost die, I almost die myself.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

“I also remembered that you were beautiful."
"Memory does play tricks on us."
"No. Your face is the same, but I don't remember what beautiful means anymore.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Beauty, Memory

“There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Beauty, Falseness

“But the face on the pillow, rosy in the firelight, is certainly that of Clarice Starling, and she sleeps deeply, sweetly, in the silence of the lambs.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

Source: The Silence of the Lambs

Sleep, Silence

“The only way that we can protect each other is if we are together. If we face things together. If we trust each other.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Way

“Yes, you know enough of my frankness to believe me capable of that. After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all your relations.”
-Elizabeth Bennet”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

“Will raised both eyebrows. 'Well, you learn a new thing everyday,' he said reflectively.

'In your case, that's no exaggeration,' Halt said, completely straight-faced.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

Learning

“He was gazing at her, the way one did when one felt one was unobserved. He had that look on his face, the look he usually got only when he was playing the violin, as if he were completely caught up and entranced.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Way

“A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of the land.”

Aldo Leopold book A Sand County Almanac

“November: Axe-in-Hand”, p. 68.
Source: A Sand County Almanac, 1949, "November: Axe-in-Hand," "November: A Mighty Fortress," and "December: Pines above the Snow"
Context: I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist, and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping, or while deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land.

“Achilles' eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know is in dark or disguise, told myself. I would know it even in madness.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

Madness

“It is myself I have never met whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind”

Sarah Kane book 4.48 Psychosis

Variant: It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind.
Source: 4.48 Psychosis

Past

“Aline: "He's cute, for a Downworlder"
Sebastian: "You'll have to forgive her; she has the face of an angel and the manners of a Moloch demon”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Angels, Forgiveness

“You’re different,” he said, touching my face.
Of course I was. The man I loved had killed for me. A lot of things became inconsequential after a sacrifice like that.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

Love

“I swear if that's a pair of demon horns digging into my belly and stabbing me right now, Ash, I'm going to beat you after it's born."

'Cause face it, horns on the head didn't come from my side of the family or genetic code.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Retribution

Family

“Clary?” Jace tilted his head to the side, studying her face. “You do—you still love me, don’t you?”

“I love Jace Lightwood,” she said. “I don’t know who you are.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Love, Study

“After all, Fnick is Superman," said Iggy.
"Shut up, Jeff," I said, but I was smiling. I lifted Iggy's fingers to my face so that he knew.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: School's Out—Forever

Smile

“The desire to never leave your side, the desire to never see you again. The desire to see your face asleep on the pillow beside my face and to see your eyes open in the morning when I lie next to you—just watching you, waiting for you to wake up.”

John Irving book Until I Find You

Source: Until I Find You

Lie, Waiting

“What's going on?" he asked, looking from face to face. "I was having a good dream."
"I need you," said Lisa.
"I hear that from women a lot.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Women, Dreams

“Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such projections are often wrong. And who really can forget the past? What else is there to know?”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Past, Future, Forgetting

“I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me.”

Pat Conroy (1945–2016) American novelist

Future

“It's strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought forth fresh and new, just by something you've seen, or something you've heard, or the sight of an old familiar face.”

Wilson Rawls book Where the Red Fern Grows

Source: Where the Red Fern Grows

Lie, Memory

“Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!”

David Bowie (1947–2016) British musician, actor, record producer and arranger

Love

“They courted the face on the screen, the face of translucence, the face of wax on which men found it possible to imprint the image of their fantasy.”

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

Men

“You're lips are bloody.' He seized my face in both hands and kissed me. It's hard not to respond when a master of the art of kissing is laying one on you.”

Charlaine Harris book Living Dead in Dallas

Source: Living Dead in Dallas

Art, Kiss

“Her hair is smoldering. Her face was smudged with soot. She had a cut on her arms, her dress was torn, and she was missing a boot. Beautiful.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Beauty

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Context: We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late."

Life, History, Time

“It was hard to live normally when you were constantly pretending you didn't see what was going on in front of your face.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“I'm scared," Nico mumbled. He was fiddling with something—a little metal toy soldier of some kind.
"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse