Quotes about fire
page 5

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“When the fire goes out, you'll start feeling the cold. You'll wake up whether you want to or not.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: After the Quake

Claire Messud photo
Candace Bushnell photo

“In life, there are only four kinds of girls:
The girl who played with fire.
The girl who opened Pandora's Box.
The girl who gave Adam the apple.
And the girl whose best friend stole her boyfriend.”

Variant: In life, there are only four kinds of girls:
The girl who played with fire.
The girl who opened Pandora's Box.
The girl who gave Adam the apple.
And the girl whose best friend stole her boyfriend.
Source: The Carrie Diaries

Zadie Smith photo
Frederick Douglass photo

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1850s, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852)
Context: At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

Richelle Mead photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Jim Butcher photo
Cornel West photo

“I must feel the fire of my soul so my intellectual blues can set others on fire.”

Cornel West (1953) African-American philosopher and political/civil rights activist

Source: Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir

China Miéville photo
Sarah Mlynowski photo

“Sometimes you don't need lightning to start a fire. Sometimes, it builds on its own.”

Sarah Mlynowski (1977) Novelist

Source: Ten Things We Did

Jodi Picoult photo

“When you have been burned by fire once, you don't leap into the flames again.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

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“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”

William T. Sherman (1820–1891) American General, businessman, educator, and author.

Letter to James E. Yeatman of St. Louis, Vice-President of the Western Sanitary Commission (21 May 1865). As quoted on p. 358, and footnoted on p. 562, in Sherman: A Soldier's Passion For Order https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/080938762X (2007), John F. Marszalek, Southern Illinois University Press, Chapter 15 ('Fame Tarnished')
Variant text: I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting — its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers […] it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated […] that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. […] I declare before God, as a man and a soldier, I will not strike a foe who stands unarmed and submissive before me, but would rather say—‘Go, and sin no more.’
As quoted in Sherman: Merchant of Terror, Advocate of Peace https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1455611891 (1992), Charles Edmund Vetter, Pelican Publishing, p. 289
See the Discussion Page for more extensive sourcing information.
1860s, 1865, Letter to James E. Yeatman (May 1865)
Context: I confess without shame that I am tired & sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. Even success, the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies […] It is only those who have not heard a shot, nor heard the shrills & groans of the wounded & lacerated (friend or foe) that cry aloud for more blood & more vengeance, more desolation & so help me God as a man & soldier I will not strike a foe who stands unarmed & submissive before me but will say ‘Go sin no more.

Libba Bray photo
Scott Westerfeld photo

“I'm playing with fire, with something I don't understand.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: The Awakening

Lee Child photo
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Meg Cabot photo

“You know your Lamborghini is on fire, right?”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Runaway

Nicholas Sparks photo
Rick Riordan photo
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Yann Martel photo

“It was as unbelievable as the moon catching fire.”

Source: Life of Pi

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“And at home by the fire, whenever you look up, there I shall be — and whenever I look up, there will be you.”

Source: Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), Ch. 4 (Gabriel Oak, proposing to Bathsheba Everdene)

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“Henry," said Charlotte, who appeared to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.”

Variant: Henry," said Charlotte, who seemed to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.
Source: Clockwork Angel

Rick Riordan photo
Rick Riordan photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“Clary," he said. "You saved my life."
"I stabbed you. With a massive sword. You caught on fire."
His lips twitched imperceptibly. "Okay," he said. "So maybe our problems aren't like other couples.”

Variant: I stabbed you. With a massive sword. You caught on fire."
His lips twitched, almost imperceptibly. "Okay, so maybe our problems aren't like other couples.
Source: City of Lost Souls

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Isaac Asimov photo

“A fire eater must eat fire even if he has to kindle it himself.”

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951), Part III, The Mayors, section 9

Rick Riordan photo
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Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Victor Hugo photo
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Joe Hill photo

“If you didn't have me to rake you over the coals now and then, there wouldn't be any fire in your life at all.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Source: Heart-Shaped Box

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George Gordon Byron photo

“I am ashes where once I was fire…”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Source: Selected Poems

Stephen King photo
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Bill Hybels photo
Edna St. Vincent Millay photo

“My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?”

Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
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Emma Thompson photo

“Can he love her? Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections? To love is to burn - to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise…”

Emma Thompson (1959) British actress and writer

Source: The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film

Thomas Kinkade photo
George Carlin photo

“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?”

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

Doin' It Again, Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics (1990)
Context: Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people, or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The Pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos, Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime, and firefighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?

Salman Rushdie photo

“Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn.”

Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966) American poet

"Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day" ( full text online http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/calmly-we-walk-through-this-april-s-day/); this poem has also been printed under the title "For Rhoda"
Selected Poems: Summer Knowledge (1959)
Context: Each minute bursts in the burning room,
The great globe reels in the solar fire,
Spinning the trivial and unique away.
(How all things flash! How all things flare!)
What am I now that I was then?
May memory restore again and again
The smallest color of the smallest day:
Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn.

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