Quotes about going
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“Wisdom is doing now what you are going to be happy with later on”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

“Pull up the shades so I can see New York. I don't want to go home in the dark.”

O. Henry (1862–1910) American short story writer

Last words, quoting a 1907 song by Harry Williams. (5 June 1910) Quoted in O. Henry Biography, ch. 9, Charles Alphonso Smith (1916).
Variant: Turn up the lights — I don't want to go home in the dark.

Home

“Love drains you, takes with it much of your blood sugar and water weight. You are like a house slowly losing its electricity, the fans slowing, the lights dimming and flickering; the clocks stop and go and stop.”

Lorrie Moore (1957) American writer

Source: Self-Help

Love, Light, Water, Housing

“Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into
are awake through years with transferred touch, and go on glowing
for long years.
And for this reason, some old things are lovely
warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.”

D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter

Love, Life, Men

“Could be. I’m a pretty dangerous dude when I’m cornered.”
“Yeah,” said the voice from under the table, “you go to pieces so fast people get hit by the shrapnel.”

Douglas Adams book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Source: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

People

“Meaning what? We're going to pretend nothing's going on? That's stupid. The only way to deal with any of this is to get it out in the open."

Have you been watching Oprah again?”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Stupidity, Way

“If, for example, you are miserly by nature, you will never go beyond a certain limit; only generous souls attain greatness.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

Soul, Nature

“Because love was not the answer to every question. Because real love meant sacrifice. Sometimes love means letting go.”

Melissa de la Cruz (1971) American writer

Source: Gates of Paradise

Love, Question

“He had a feeling this was one of those times when a male should express positive enthusiasm regardless of what he really thought—especially when he didn’t really know what was going on.”

Anne Bishop book Vision in Silver

Source: Vision in Silver

Feeling, Time

“Unwinds didn't go out with a bang-they didn't even go out with a whimper. they went out with the silence of a candle flame pinched between two fingers.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

Silence

“What are you, a baby? Jeez, if you’re going to kill humans, the least you could do is learn to die with some dignity. (Wulf)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Kiss of the Night

Learning, Baby

“So, what, you just decided to sack out here and seduce me when I walked in the door? Home from spending the night at my boyfriend's? After having sex with him that could go in the Guinness Book of Records?”

Charlaine Harris book Dead Reckoning

Source: Dead Reckoning

Books, Sex, Home, Night

“The danger would be going back, or staying still. The only way out was through. The past was ruins, but the present was still in play.”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Way, Past

“If you're going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh; otherwise they'll kill you.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Credited to Shaw in the lead in to the mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004) and other recent works, but this or slight variants of it are also sometimes attributed to W. C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, and Oscar Wilde. It might possibly be derived from Shaw's statement in John Bull's Other Island (1907): "My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world."
Another possibility is that it is derived from Shaw's characteristic of Mark Twain: "He has to put things in such a way as to make people who would otherwise hang him believe he is joking."
Variants:
If you are going to tell people the truth, you'd better make them laugh. Otherwise, they'll kill you.
If you're going to tell people the truth, you'd better make them laugh. Otherwise, they'll kill you.
Disputed

People, Truth, Funny

“WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES when we go against our instincts? What are the consequences of not speaking out? What are the consequences of guilt, shame, and doubt?”

Terry Tempest Williams (1955) American writer

Source: When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice

“And if I'm alone in bed, I will go to the window, look up at the sky, and feel certain that loneliness is a lie, because the Universe is there to keep me company.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Our fate

Loneliness, Universe, Feeling, Lie

“In twentieth-century Old Earth, a fast food chain took dead cow meat, fried it in grease, added carcinogens, wrapped it in petroleum-based foam, and sold nine hundred billion units. Human beings. Go figure.”

Dan Simmons book Hyperion

Source: Hyperion

Food, Dead

“I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.”

Marlon Brando (1924–2004) American screen and stage actor

“It's what I was born for, isn't it? If I don't go, why am I alive?”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

“If you're texting Magnus to say 'I think u r kewl,' I'm going to kill you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Isabelle to Alec, pg. 329
Variant: If you're texting Magnus to say 'I think ur kewl,' I'm going to kill you.
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Thinking

“The secret self knows the anguish of our attachments and assures us that letting go of what we think we must have to be happy is the same as letting go of our unhappiness.”

Guy Finley (1949) American self-help writer, philosopher, and spiritual teacher, and former professional songwriter and musician

Secret, Thinking, Happiness

“You can't just go around killing people.
You're right. You can't go around killing people.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

People

“Sassenach,” he said against my shoulder, a moment later. “Mm?” “Who in God’s name is John Wayne?” “You are,” I said. “Go to sleep.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

God, Sleep

“If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane.”

Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman

Variant: If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.

“Let people be, boss; don't open their eyes. And supposing you did, what'd they see? Their misery! Leave their eyes closed, boss, and let them go on dreaming!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

People, Dreams

“If some people are so hungry for a feeling of importance that they actually go insane to get it, imagine what miracle you and I can achieve by giving people honest appreciation this side of insanity.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

People, Feeling, Imagination

“There's more to getting to where you're going then just knowing there's a road.”

Joan Lowery Nixon (1927–2003) American children's writer and journalist

Source: In The Face of Danger

“Some women have a weakness for shoes… I can go barefoot if necessary. I have a weakness for books.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Women, Books, Shoe

“Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.”

Zora Neale Hurston book Their Eyes Were Watching God

Source: Their Eyes Were Watching God

“You can have tons of talent, but it won't necessarily keep you fed. If you have sharp instincts, through, you'll never go hungry.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: 1Q84 BOOK 1

“It occurred to me then that it was in times of struggle that I found the best parts of myself - courage, loyalty, an unexpected peace - and I always discovered what I needed to break through and go on.”

Patrick Carman book Stargazer

Source: Stargazer

Peace, Courage, Time, Parting

“Definitely avoid going out with ugly girls who say they want to be models. Not because they're ugly, but because they're mad".”

Nick Hornby book Slam

Source: Slam

Girl, Madness

“You want to be a better person? Go listen to someone you disagree with. don't argue with them just. It's remarkable what interesting things people will say if you take the time to not be a jerk.”

Brandon Sanderson book Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

People, Jerk, Time, Personality

“You predicted quick victory. Now it’s going to get hopelessly complicated. Jesus, don’t you know any better than that by now?”

Jim Butcher Proven Guilty

Source: Proven Guilty

Victory

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Walter Isaacson book Steve Jobs

Source: Steve Jobs

Hope, Powerful, Way, Thinking

“Yeah, well, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, then we’d never go hungry. (Syn)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Fire

“It's a dangerous mission. You could die out there. You could go on forever.”

Tess Gallagher (1943) American writer

“There's something about a roof isn't there? It makes you feel like it doesn't matter what's going on below. All of those things that get in the way of your dreams - you're above them. Anything is possible.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Gray Wolf Throne

Dreams, Way, Feeling

“Look forward, not back. Correct your course and go on. You cannot undo yesterday's journey.”

Robin Hobb book Ship of Magic

Source: Ship of Magic

“I can see the first apple teetering when I let the third arrow go, catching the torn flap and ripping it from the bag. For a moment, everything seems frozen in time. Then the apples spill to the ground and I'm blown backward into the air.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Time

“Mrs. May looked back at her. "Kate," she said after a moment, "stories never really end. They can go on and on and on. It's just that sometimes, at a certain point, one stops telling them.”

Mary Norton The Borrowers

Source: The Borrowers

“Licence my roving hands, and let them go
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O, my America, my Newfoundland
My kingdom, safest when with one man mann'd,
My mine of precious stones, my empery;
How am I blest in thus discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds, is to be free;
Then, where my hand is set, my soul shall be.”

John Donne book Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed

No. 19, To His Mistress Going to Bed
Elegies
Source: The Complete English Poems

Soul

“I watched the tears run down her cheeks and start to drip from the end of her chin. One part of me wanted to put my arms round her but I daren't. Do that and I'd never be able to let her go.”

Joseph Delaney book The Spook's Mistake

Source: The Spook's Mistake

Tear, Parting

“People who go to work every day, make sacrifices to raise families, and get through life without hurting other people if they can help it-those are the real heros.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Source: Winter Moon

Life, People, Family, Help

“You don't have to die to go to hell.”

Tess Gerritsen book The Sinner

Source: The Sinner

Hell

“The chances of finding out what’s really going on in the universe are so remote, the only thing to do is hang the sense of it and keep yourself occupied.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Sense, Universe, Chance

“She didn't know whether she was running away from something or running to something, but she admitted that deep in her heart she wanted to go home.”

Beatrice Sparks (1917–2012) American writer

Source: Go Ask Alice

Home, Heart

“Go tae your hands again…let me give it tae you. Lachlain MacRieve”

Kresley Cole book A Hunger Like No Other

Source: A Hunger Like No Other

“and I shudder sometimes to think of all that stellar mystery of how she IS going to get me in a future lifetime, wow - And I seriously do believe that will be my salvation, too.
A long way to go.”

Jack Kerouac book Big Sur

Source: Big Sur

Way, Thinking, Future

“That was the crux. You. Only you could work on you. Nobody could force you, and if you weren't ready, then you weren't ready, and no amount of open-armed encouragement was going to change that.”

Norah Vincent (1968) American journalist

Change

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.”

Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones's Diary

Source: Bridget Jones's Diary

Life, Truth, Universe, Parting

“People with passion are people who will destroy—for a man's passion is notuntil he proves how much he's willing to sacrifice for it. Will he kill? Will he go to war? Will he break and discard that which he has, all in the name of what he?”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Hero of Ages

War, People, Passion

“So, that’s what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies. That’s what they needed. People were fools. It was going to be easy for me.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

People, Beauty, Fools

“To work with God's happiness bubbling in the soul is to carry a portable paradise within you wherever you go.”

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship

God, Soul, Happiness

“But she knew that no matter what beauty lay behind, it must remain there. No one could go forward with a load of aching memories.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Beauty, Memory

“Sometimes, instead of going down the road less taken, you just charge down the beaten path.”

Charlaine Harris book Club Dead

Source: Club Dead

“Only in our darkest hour do we find the light. Humans are destructive by nature. The world is lacking balance. Terrors are beginning to triumph over the simple joys. Stand back and watch, because you're going to be here when we fall.”

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (1984) Novelist

World, Nature, Light, Joy

“They should be going to sleep, but good company is the enemy of sleep.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

Sleep

“I have no memory of climbing the stairs up to the roof. I don't even know how to get where I am, which is a problem since I'm going to have to get down, ideally in a way that doesn't involve dying.”

Holly Black book White Cat

Source: White Cat

Way, Problem, Memory

“My eyelids are my own private cave, he murmured. That I can go to anytime I want.”

Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

“…she'll go and fall in love, and there's an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Love, Peace, Time

“Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom… is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go. -Anthony Bourdain”

Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018) Chef and food writer

No Reservations - Machu Picchu
Context: It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that's enlightenment enough - to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.

Wisdom

“Tell me how you crumble when you hit the wall, the place you cannot go beyond by the strength of your own will. What carries you to the other side of that wall, to the fragile beauty of your own humanness?”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (1954) Canadian author

Beauty

“I remember everything about it—with an effort. I see it all, as divers see what is going on above them, through a medium, dense, rippling, but transparent.”

J. Sheridan Le Fanu book Carmilla

Source: Carmilla

Effort

“There's no use going to school unless your final destination is the library.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

School

“There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under.”

Nick Flynn book Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

Source: Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

Way

“Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Grace is everywhere, like lenses that go unnoticed because you are looking through them.”

Philip Yancey book What's So Amazing About Grace?

Source: What's So Amazing About Grace?

“people will tell you were they have gone, they'll tell you where to go, but until you get there for yourself you never really know.”

Joni Mitchell (1943) Canadian musician

People

“If you are going to try, go all the way or don't even start. If you follow it you will be alive with the gods. It is the only good fight there is.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

God, Way, Fight

“Footsteps in the snow
suggest where you have been,
point to where you were going:
but when they suddenly vanish,
never dismiss the possibility
of flight…”

Diane Duane (1952) American author

“At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record of it needs to be kept and you don't need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens — that letting go — you let go because you can.”

Toni Morrison book Tar Baby

Tar Baby (1981)

Life, World, Beauty, Painting

“You can't ever tell what's going to hurt people.”

Evelyn Waugh book A Handful of Dust

Source: A Handful of Dust

People, Hurt

“I am going to sing lesbian love songs and support gay rights no matter what. The rest is public relations.”

Jasmine Guy (1962) American actor, director and singer

Love, Support, Singing

“The night you gave me my birthday party… you were a young Lieutenant and I was a fragrant phantom, wasn't I? And it was a radiant night, a night of soft conspiracy and the trees agreed that it was all going to be for the best.”

Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948) Novelist, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Birthday, Tree, Night

“I won’t tell you how I managed to break in, since I don’t want the authorities figuring out, but let’s just say that if you’re going to make a gate, make sure it reaches all the way to the ground.”

Meg Cabot book Shadowland

Source: Shadowland

Way

“He die one day, and then he go above of my head to live with your father."
He weared the long hair, and after he died, the first day he come back here for to say hello to the peoples."
He nice, the Jesus.”

David Sedaris book Me Talk Pretty One Day

Source: Me Talk Pretty One Day

People

“Hang on - Slow down. I'm not going anywhere. You know that, right? You don't have to put out to keep me here. Well, as long as you eventually…" Shane said.

"Shut up" Claire said.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Variant: Shane talking to Claire -

"Hang on - Slow down. I'm not going anywhere. You know that, right? You don't have to put out to keep me here. Well, as long as you eventually..."
"Shut up" Claire said.
Source: The Dead Girls' Dance