Quotes about finger
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“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

“whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.”

David Sedaris (1956) American author

Hope, Feeling, Learning, Reading

“As infants, our first victory comes in grasping some bit of the world, usually our mother's fingers. Later we discover that the world, and the things of the world, are grasping us, and have been all along.”

Stephen King book Just After Sunset

Source: Just After Sunset

World, Victory

“She thought: at this moment, the glass stem between his fingers feels just like the one between mine. We have this much in common.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

Feeling

“God, how we get our fingers in each other's clay. That's friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of each other.”

Ray Bradbury book Something Wicked This Way Comes

Source: Something Wicked This Way Comes

God, Friendship

“I’ll take your bet,” he said grimly. “I’m going to win it. And in three months, I’m going to put this back on your finger, and take you to bed, and do things to you that are outlawed in the civilized world.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Devil in Winter

World

“It's so quiet and peaceful out here I'm getting bored with breathing. Maybe we'll get lucky and the world will go to Hell again. Fingers crossed.”

Richard Kadrey (1957) San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer

Source: Aloha from Hell

World, Peace, Hell

“You're up to something," I said.
He turned, eyes wide, long fingers pressed to his heart. "Moi?"
"Yeah, you”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bloody Bones

Source: Bloody Bones

Heart

“But she stepped forward and placed a finger to his lips and there it was before him. The greatest prayer to the gods he could muster with a heart so broken.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Quintana of Charyn

God, Heart

“A gentle breeze catches in the branches then and I hear it, soft and low, a murmured prayer--Gem-ma, Gem-ma--and then the leaves bend down and trail delicate fingers across my cold cheeks.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

“How long have you been drawing me?”
He sighted. A moment later his hand came to rest in her hair. His fingers twined in the strands. “My whole life.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Life, Drawing

“Holy crap,” I said. While staring off at Rose and Dimitri, a brilliant flash had caught my eye—a flash on Rose’s finger.
“What’s that?” I exclaimed. “Did you rob Lissa’s crown jewels?”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: The Ruby Circle

“I felt like I'd been swimming so hard, and the water growing warmer and warmer the closer I got to the top. I wasn't there yet, but now I could see the surface, rippling just beyond my fingers.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Source: Dreamland (2000)

Water

“As one, they leap, laughing, and that is where we leave them - mouths open, arms spread wide, fingers splayed to take in the whole world, bodies flying high in defiance of gravity, as if they will never fall.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Source: Beauty Queens

World, Flying

“His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind.”

Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. IV : The Party; Gilbert Markham about Frederick Lawrence

Heart

“What on earth can you do on this earth but catch at whatever comes near you, with both your fingers, until your fingers are broken?”

Tennessee Williams Orpheus Descending

Source: Orpheus Descending

“The principle that the end justifies the means is and remains the only rule of political ethics; anything else is just a vague chatter and melts away between one’s fingers.”

Arthur Koestler book Darkness at Noon

Source: Darkness at Noon

“But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.”

James Joyce book Dubliners

"Araby"
Dubliners (1914)

“Sometimes I imagined stitching all of our little touches together. How many hundreds of thousands of fingers brushing against each other does it take to make love? Why does anyone ever make love?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
Context: I put my hand on him. Touching him has always been important to me, it was something I lived for. I never could explain why. Little, nothing touches, my fingers against his shoulder, the outsides of our thighs touching as we squeeled together on the bus. I couldnt explain it, but I needed it. Sometimes I imagined stiching all of our little touches together. How many hundreds of thousands of fingers brushing against each other does it take to make love?

Love, Making love, Imagination

“If you think you can grasp me, think again:
my story flows in more than one direction
a delta springing from the riverbed
with its five fingers spread”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

Source: Time's Power

Spring, Thinking

“Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Learning

“Us," Peter corrects. "I did it for us." He links our fingers together. "It's you and me, kid.”

Jenny Han book P.S. I Still Love You

Source: P.S. I Still Love You

“I jammed my hand in my jacket pocket, bracing myself for the next hit, and feel something. Something grainy and small, sticking to the tips of my fingers: the sand from Commons Park.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Source: Dreamland (2000)

Feeling

“She (Annabeth) put her hand on my spine, and my skin tingled. I (Percy) moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded me to my mortal life. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Life

“I don't remember everything," he said.
"Not yet. But I remember you."
He brought her hand up, touched the gold ring on her right index finger, the Fair Folk metal warm to the touch.
"Clary," he said.
"You're Clary. You're my best friend.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

“I was enjoying myself now. I had taken two finger bowls of champagne and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

Change

“This must be what an addict feels like, I think,
trying to fight the pull of one last, quick read. My fingers itch toward the binding, and finally, with a sigh of regret, I just grab the book and open it, hungrily reading the story.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

Books, Feeling, Thinking, Reading

“I would hold the rosy, slender fingers of the dawn for you.”

Ezra Pound (1885–1972) American Imagist poet and critic

“How guilt refined the methods of self-torture, threading the beads of detail into an eternal loop, a rosary to be fingered for a lifetime.”

Ian McEwan book Atonement

Source: Atonement

“There are six reasons anyone does anything: Love. Faith. Greed. Boredom. Fear…" he said, ticking them off on his fingers; but he lingered on the last, drawing a deep breath before he said, "Revenge.”

Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Love, Fear, Faith, Revenge

“Do you want to hold it?' she asked, dangling the padded envelope in front of Hale with two fingers.

'No.'

'Do you want to touch it and kiss it and wear it around your neck?'

'Don't be silly,' he told her. 'Everyone knows green isn't my color.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

Color, Kiss

“What about a Princess Bride?"
"Where are we gonna find a six-fingered man on such short notice?”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

Princess

“He caught her by the wrist, brought her hand to his bare chest. Splayed her fingers over his heart. It beat against her palm, like a fist punching its way through his sternum. 'Break my heart,' he said. 'Break it in pieces. I give you permission.”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

Way, Heart

“Remember this? You gave it to me for ensuring your trigger finger got reattached to your hand. You said it would remind me of that spark of decency inside me. I'm trying to do something decent now, Captain.”

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

Source: The Arctic Incident

“God went out of me
as if the sea dried up like sandpaper, as if the sun
became a latrine.
God went out of my fingers.
They became stone.
My body became a side of mutton
and despair roamed the slaughterhouse.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

Source: The Awful Rowing Toward God

God, Sun, Sea, Despair

“Tell them there are no holes for your fingers in the masks of men. Tell them how could you ever even hope to love what you can't grab onto.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

Source: Girl With Curious Hair

Love, Men, Hope

“Five syllables," Apollo said, counting them on his fingers. "That would be real bad.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

“The way her fingers flutter through the space around her. Each a thing he hopes never to forget.”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

Hope, Way, Forgetting

“I can see hope inside it."

Rachel ran her fingers over the ceramic designs.

"So fragile.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Hope

“The objective level is not words, and cannot be reached by words alone. We must point our finger and be silent, or we will never reach this level.”

Alfred Korzybski book Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics

Source: Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics

“Men are easy,' he said, fingers tapping on his mahogany desk. 'A man's plumbing is like his mind: simple, very few surprises. You ladies, on the other hand… well, God put a lot of thought into making you.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

Men, God

“No wonder he was so good with horses, I thought blearily, feeling his fingers rubbing gently behind my ears, listening to the soothing, incomprehensible speech. If I were a horse, I’d let him ride me anywhere.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

Feeling, Horse

“Some say that we shall never know, and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a summer's day, and some say, to the contrary, that the very sparrows do not lose a feather that has not been brushed away by the finger of God.”

Thornton Wilder book The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Source: The Bridge of San Luis Rey

God, Boy, Summer

“I look down at our linked fingers as I loosen my grasp, but he regains his grip on me. “No, don’t let go of me,” he says.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“They had never been closer in their month of love, nor communicated more profoundly one with another, than when she brushed silent lips against his coat's shoulder or when he touched the end of her fingers, gently, as though she were asleep.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

Love, Communication

“No way they could threaten him, not even with Amelie; he'd already given Amelie the finger on the way out of Morganville and he clearly wasn’t worried about her coming after him— or, if so, what would happen when she did.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Way

“It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.”

Julia Child (1921–2004) American chef

“Better be," Eve said. She mock-bit at his finger. "I could totally date somebody else, you know."
"And I could rent out your room."
"And I could put your game console on eBay."
"Hey," Shane protested. "Now you're just being mean.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Lord of Misrule

Game

“Not responding is a response--we are equally responsible for what we don't do. In the case of animal slaughter, to throw your hands in the air is to wrap your fingers around a knife handle.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Eating Animals

Source: Eating Animals

Animals

“I’ve got a fortune in gold. Ah, was that a flicker in your eye? Do you like me better now that you know I’m rich?” He curled his finger under her chin. “Because I’m all right with that.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dark Desires After Dusk

“My mother moves so fast I do not even see it coming. But she slaps my face hard enough to make my head snap backward. She leaves a print that stains me long after it’s faded. Just so you know: shame is five-fingered.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

“Madness, mayhem, erotic vandalism, devastation of innumerable souls - while we scream and perish, History licks a finger and turns the page.”

Thomas Ligotti (1953) American horror author

Soul, History, Madness

“There is something truer and more real, than what we can see with the eyes, and touch with the finger.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne book Rappaccini's Daughter

Source: Rappaccini's Daughter

“You have not been sticking your dirty fingers in my sauce,’’ Eve said, and pointed her wooden spoon
at him.
He quickly took the finger out of his mouth. ‘‘First off, they’re not dirty. I licked them first.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Feast of Fools

“One day, tens of millions of years from now, someone will find me rusted into the mud of a world they have never seen, and when they crumble me between their fingers, it will be you they find.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

World

“That's a lovely piece," Kat said, pointing at a Louise XV armoire near the fireplace.
The man raised his eyebrows. "Did you come to steal it?"
"Darn it," Kat said with a snap of her fingers."I knew I should have brought my big purse.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

Love

“Apollo?” I guessed…
He put a finger to his lips. “I’m incognito. Call me Fred.”
A god named Fred?”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

God

“The peace sign is with two fingers not one.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Sanctuary

Peace

“Why does anyone commit murder?' he asked in a low voice.
'I-'I blinked.'How should I know?'
'Three reasons,' Christopher said. He held up one finger. 'Love.' Another finger. 'Revenge.' And finally, a third finger. 'Profit…”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Runaway

Love, Revenge

“He crouched at the car window and looked in. 'What a lovely family you have. What a charming family. They're all lovely. Except for that one.' His finger jabbed the glass. 'That one's a bit ugly.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

Love, Family, Cars

“Desires should never be justified,' Tehol said, wagging a finger. 'All you end up doing is illuminating the hidden reasons by virtue of their obvious absence.”

Steven Erikson (1959) Canadian fantasy author

“Gideon touched her cheek, lightly, with the tips of his fingers. “Did you know your name means ‘wisdom’? It was very well-given.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Wisdom

“Hmm…” Jason snapped his fingers. “I can call a friend for a ride.”
Percy raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? Me too. Let's see whose friend gets here first.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

“She still felt his gaze on her like the brush of a finger across the back of her neck, making her shiver.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

“Goodness," Tessa said to the back of his head. "If you keep seeing Six-Fingered Nigel like this, he'll expect you to declare your intentions.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“The hand of Providence creeps among the stars, giving Slothrop the finger.”

Thomas Pynchon book Gravity's Rainbow

Source: Gravity's Rainbow

Star

“Sometimes you build up these walls, you build and you build and you build up these walls and you think they’re so strong, but then someone can come along and tip them over with only his fingers, or the weight of his breath.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: Wild Roses

Thinking, Strong

“I thought my fireplace dead
and stirred the ashes.
I burned my fingers.”

Antonio Machado (1875–1939) Spanish poet

Source: Border of a Dream: Selected Poems

Dead

“Then all this became history.
Your hand found mine.
Life rushed to my fingers like a blood clot.
Oh, my carpenter,
the fingers are rebuilt.
They dance with yours.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

Life, History, Dance

“His fingers never ceased to amaze me. They could break a man's neck, bandage a wound, and slide sensually across bare skin.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

“I try to fill the emptiness deep inside me with Cheetos, but I am still depressed. Only now my fingers are stained orange. I am blue. And I am orange.”

Karen Salmansohn American writer

“Finally getting control of myself, I kissed her again, then brought my hand to her face, gently running my fingers over her cheek. I marveled at the softness of her skin, the gentleness I saw in her eyes. Even now she was perfect.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

Kiss, Perfection

“Doroga thumped a finger against his skull. Head got nothing to do with the heart. Your heart wants what it wants. Head got to learn that it can only kill the heart or else get out of the way”

Jim Butcher book Academ's Fury

Source: Academ's Fury

Way, Learning, Heart

“Artemis Fowl grinned right back at him and pointed his index finger to the sky… from the tip of this finger sprang a small blue spark that exploded like a tiny firework.
“I know magic can be stolen,” said Artemis. “Because I stole some myself.”

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

“If man be sensible and one fine morning, while he is lying in bed,
counts at the tips of his fingers how many things in this life truly will
give him enjoyment, invariably he will find food is the first one.”

Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese writer

Life, Food, Lying

“You sound as if you don't mind what happens to it," said Tessa. "Won't you miss it here? This place has been your home."
His fingers stroked her wrist lightly, making her shiver.
"You are home for me now.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Home

“You’re that lady,” Leo said. “The one who was named after Caribbean music.”
Her eyes glinted murderously. “Caribbean music.”
“Yeah. Reggae?” Leo shook his head. “Merengue? Hold on, I’ll get it.”
He snapped his fingers. “Calypso!”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Music

“And so, pointing fingers become pointing guns, because nobody listens to fingers.”

Jeff Shaara Gods and Generals

Source: Gods and Generals

“Now don’t you be covering for him, Ash. (She wagged her finger at Nick.) Are you driving? (Cherise)
No, Mom. I’m sitting. (Nick)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Night Embrace

Source: Night Embrace

Moms

“She extended a hand that I didn't know how to take, so I broke its fingers with my silence.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Silence

“I swear on the Angel.” He ducked his head down, kissed her cheek. “The hell with that.
I swear on us.”
Clary wound her fingers into the sleeve of his T-shirt. “Why us?”
“Because there isn’t anything I believe in more.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Angels, Hell, Kiss

“To me, tragedy is if I'll cut my finger, that's tragedy…Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.”

Mel Brooks (1926) American director, writer, actor, and producer

The 2,000 Year Old Man (and sequels)
Variant: Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.

“You can wet the rim of a glass and run your finger around the rim and it will make a sound. This is what I feel like: this sound of glass. I feel like the word shatter. I want to be with someone.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Feeling

“His voice is low and soft, a piece of silk you might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it between your fingers.”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

Feeling

“Their fingers seemed to fit together in just the right way- effortlessly clasped, like perfect complements.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Way, Perfection

“Onscreen, Foaly rubbed his eyelids with his index fingers.
"Yeah, yeah. Here we go. Captain Short goes rogue once more. Hands up who's surprised. Anyone?”

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

Source: The Last Guardian

“What's wrong, little sis? You look upset."
She could barely catch her breath. "Cracked… my… nail polish slapping your… worthless face. See?" She showed him her finger - just one of them.
"Cute" He snorted.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

“She held up her calloused, grimy fingers. Leo couldn't help thinking there was nothing hotter than a girl who didn't mind getting her hands dirty. But of course, that was just a general comment. Didn't apply to Calypso. Obviously.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Girl, Thinking, Help

“He pinched the name tag and ran his fingers under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."
"Charon."
"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon."
"Mr. Charon."
"Well done.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Reading

“You can prick your finger… Just don't finger your prick.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Class Clown (1972)
Context: And the other two-way word is "prick". It's okay if it happens to your finger; yes, you can prick your finger, but don't finger your prick!

“Not enough," he said, letting her hair slip through his fingers. "If I kiss you all day, everyday, for the rest of my life, it won't be enough.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Life, Kiss

“But hands are sacred things. Touch is personal, fingers of love, feelers of blind eyes, tongues of those who cannot talk…”

Keri Hulme book The Bone People

Source: The Bone People

Love, Personality

“Magnus snapped his fingers again, menacingly. "Get up."
"Or you'll be the next one to go up in smoke," said Simon with relish.
"There's no need to clarify my finger snap. The implication was clear in the snap itself."”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Magnus and Simon, pg. 137
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

“My chest feels full of glitter and helium, the way it used to when I was little and riding my father's shoulders at twilight, when I knew that if I held up my hands and spread my fingers like a net, I could catch the coming stars.”