Quotes about first
page 16

“I dread no more the first white in my hair,
Or even age itself, the easy shoe,
The cane, the wrinkled hands, the special chair:
Time, doing this to me, may alter too
My anguish, into something I can bear”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Age, Shoe, Time

“The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it… If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.”

James Beard (1903–1985) American chef

Love, Secret, Cooking

“never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man's eyes as I am in my father's…”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

“The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second rate technology, led them into it in the first place, and continues to do so today.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

As quoted in The Guardian (1995), and in "Biting back at Microsoft" (5 June 2001) http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2001/jun/05/guardianletters3

Idea, Appearance

“The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

“I was in a tailspin of confusion I hadn't experienced since the first time I heard George W. Bush speak.”

Chelsea Handler (1975) American comedian, actress, author and talk show host

Source: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

Time

“She wondered if all the firsts in her life would go by so quickly, and be forgotten just as quickly.”

Judy Blume Summer Sisters

Source: Summer Sisters

Life

“First, I blow a hole in your face; then I go back inside, and sleep like a baby… I guarantee you.”

Clint Eastwood (1930) actor and director from the United States

Sleep, Baby

“Saint Petersburg in revolt gave us Vladimir Nabokov, Isaiah Berlin, and Ayn Rand. The first was a novelist, the second a philosopher. The third was neither but thought she was both.”

Corey Robin (1967) American academic

Source: The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin

“The first one is always the hardest," he said.
"The first?"
"The first one you love who dies," he said. "It gets easier, after.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love

“The first duty of the novelist is to entertain. It is a moral duty. People who read your books are sick, sad, traveling, in the hospital waiting room while someone is dying. Books are written by the alone for the alone.”

Donna Tartt (1963) American writer

People, Books, Sadness, Travel

“There's more magic in a baby's first giggle than in any firestorm a wizard can conjure up, and don't let anyone tell you any different.”

Jim Butcher book Fool Moon

Source: Fool Moon

Baby

“The whole crew sat on the deck, without a storm or a monster attack to worry about for the first time in days, and ate ice cream. Well, except for Frank, who was lactose intolerant. He got an apple.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Time

“I'll never be her first.
But one day I'll be her last.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Feversong

“Life's full of opportunities to make crappy decisions that feel good. And after the first one, the rest get a whole lot easier.”

Holly Black book Red Glove

Source: Red Glove

Life, Feeling, Decision

“… if you ask me whether or not I'm an atheist, I wouldn't even answer. I would first want an explanation of what it is that I'm supposed not to believe in, and I've never seen an explanation.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

“Or perhaps all those things you missed upon first glance mean much more than you could ever guess.”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

Source: Wanted

“There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'

If you ever get these questions in the wrong order you are in trouble.”

Sam Keen (1931) author, professor, and philosopher

Source: Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man

Question, For Men

“If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are so ruined, and so loved, and in charge of so little.”

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

Source: Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

Love, God, Truth, Time

“I think that to find out what love is really like, one must first make a mistake and then put it right.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Love, Thinking

“Whatever God does, the first outburst is always compassion.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

God

“I checked my phone messages. Three in all.

The first was from Joe. “Hey, Cupcake.” That was it. That was the whole message.

The second was from Ranger. “Yo.” Ranger made Joe look like a chatterbox.”

Janet Evanovich book To the Nines

Source: To the Nines

“Making Room:
When I first met him, I knew in a moment I would have to spend the next few days re-arranging my mind so there'd be room for him to stay.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

“For the first time Valentine glanced down at the body of Brother Jeremiah. "I did kill him, and the rest of the Silent Brothers as well. I had to. They had something I needed."
"What? A sense of decency?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Sense, Time

“I know you feel inhuman, and as if you are set apart, away from life and love, but…"
His voice cracked a little, the first time Tessa had heard him sound unsure.
He cleared his throat. "I promise you, the right man won't care.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Love, Life, Feeling, Time

“I like the second better, but the first fits with the vampire watching what she can’t have.” I blinked. “What he can’t have,” I amended, flushing.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

“They wanted genuine intimacy, but they could not get even normally near to anyone, because they scorned to take the first steps, they scorned the triviality which forms common human intercourse.”

D.H. Lawrence book Sons and Lovers

Source: Sons and Lovers

“We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second.”

Adam Gopnik book Paris to the Moon

Source: Paris to the Moon

“Last forever!' Who hasn't prayed that prayer? You were lucky to get it in the first place. The present is a freely given canvas. That it is constantly being ripped apart and washed downstream goes without saying.”

Annie Dillard book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Source: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

“Scepticism is the first step towards truth.”

Denis Diderot book Philosophical thoughts

As quoted in The Anchor Book of French Quotations with English Translations (1963) by Norbert Gutermam
Pensées Philosophiques (1746)
Variant: A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence skepticism is the first step toward truth. It must be applied generally, because it is the touchstone.
Variant: The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.
Source: Pensées philosophiques

Truth

“Be he the first to stand or the last, a man must stand," the father had told his adoring son. "And if there is only one man, then that man must stand alone." ~Thomas to Bruce Wayne”

Andrew Vachss Batman: The Ultimate Evil

Source: Batman: The Ultimate Evil

“I read the first chapter ofwhen Dad was still alive, and I got incredibly heavy boots about how relatively insignificant life is, and how, compared to the universe and compared to time, it didn't even matter if I existed at all.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Life, Universe, Time, Reading

“I was kind of excited to go to jail for the first time and I learnt some great dialogue.”

Quentin Tarantino (1963) American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor

Time

“Remember, the first road to God is prayer, the second is joy.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

God, Joy

“when he smiles it's as if you'd just told him the first joke on earth.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Smile

“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

“fang will be the first to die”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

“On the subject of love at first sight, I’m with the Beatles: I believe that it happens all the time.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

Love, Time

“If I must be faithful to someone or something, I have, first of all, have to be faithful to myself.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

Faith

“First, you start carrying a man satchel. Next thing you know, you're running around in a bathrobe and pink bunny slippers, chasing chickens with a weed whacker.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

“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

“Budget the luxuries first.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

“I have long known that it is part of God’s plan for me to spend a little time with each of the most stupid people on earth, and Mary Ellen was proof that even in the Appalachian woods I would not be spared. It became evident from the first moment that she was a rarity.”

Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods

Source: A Walk in the Woods (1997), Chapter 4 (p. 51)

God, People, Stupidity, Time

“Yes!" Narissus unslung his bow and grabbed an arrow from his dusty quiver. "The first one who get that bronze, I will like youas much as I like me. I might even kiss you, right after I kiss my reflection!"

"Oh my gods!" the nymphs squealed.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

God, Kiss

“Believe me, I'm no romantic, and while I've heard all about love at first sight, I've never believed in it, and I still don't. But even so, there was something there, something recognizably real, and I couldn't look away.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Love

“At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did bear it. The question remains: how?”

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

An Karl von U.

Question, Despair

“Be strong, live happy and love, but first of all
Him whom to love is to obey, and keep
His great command!”

John Milton book Paradise Lost

Source: Paradise Lost

Love, Happiness, Strong

“If you look at the sky that way, it’s this massive shifting poem, or maybe a letter, first written by one author, and then, when the earth moves, annotated by another. So I stare and stare until, one day, I can read it.”

Maria Dahvana Headley (1977) American writer

Source: Magonia

Way, Reading

“You are the leader here. Obviiusly your skills are far superior to mine. I don't think I could fit into your life. I'm a loner, not the first lady.”

Christine Feehan book Dark Prince

Source: Dark Prince

Life, Thinking

“Mike, however, heard nothing at all. Lost in her breathlike touch, he knew only one thing for sure: In the instant their lips first met, there was a flicker of something almost electrical that made him believe the feeling would last forever.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Guardian

Source: The Guardian

Feeling

“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.”

Octavia E. Butler book Bloodchild and Other Stories

Source: Bloodchild and Other Stories

Help, Dependency, Forgetting, Motivational

“Because that's what you do, you stand up for your best friend. And you eat lunch with him and talk with him and share secrets and laugh a lot and go places and do stuff, and when you wake up in the morning, he's the first person you think of.”

Jerry Spinelli book Loser

Source: Loser

Secret, Thinking, Personality

“The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.”

Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist

Source: The Money Game

“Most people who decide to grow personally find their first mentors in the pages of books.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Source: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential

People, Books, Personality

“We cannot discuss the state of our minorities until we first have a sense of what we are, who we are, what our goals are, and what we take life to be.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Life, Sense

“That's what came from having romance in your soul. You believe in things like love at first sight and perfect presents.”

Dorothy Koomson book My Best Friend's Girl

Source: My Best Friend's Girl

Love, Soul, Perfection

“It may not seem obvious at first glance, but the way we make decisions in life tells a lot about the kind of faith we have in Jesus Christ.”

Jim Cymbala (1959) author, pastor

Source: Fresh Faith: What Happens When Real Faith Ignites God's People

Life, Faith, Way, Decision

“Lucky is the spouse who dies first, who never has to know what survivors endure.”

Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American writer

Source: F is for Fugitive

“A lot of parents tell their children that if they want to be an actor, that's fine, but they should do something else first, so they've got something to fall back on. It doesn't work like that, as far as I'm concerned.”

Ewan McGregor (1971) British actor

Children, Parent

“You can tell a lot from a person's nails. When a life starts to unravel, they're among the first to go.”

Ian McEwan book Saturday

Source: Saturday

Life, Personality

“At first she was overjoyed that he would be with her, but then she recalled that human people could not live under the water, and he could only visit her father's palace as a dead man.”

Hans Christian Andersen book The Little Mermaid

Source: The Little Mermaid

People, Water, Dead

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year (1993), "April 13"
Earlier variant: People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. And those who have learned to have a realistic, nonegotistical belief in themselves, who possess a deep and sound self-confidence, are assets to mankind, too, for they transmit their dynamic quality to those lacking it.
‪You Can If You Think You Can‬ (1987), p. 84

People, Secret, Thinking, Success