Quotes about goodness
page 27

“It would be good to live in a perpetual state of leave-taking, never to go nor to stay, but to remain suspended in that golden emotion of love and longing; to be loved without satiety.”

John Steinbeck book The Log from the Sea of Cortez

Source: The Log from the Sea of Cortez

Love

“Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Source: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Idea

“I always thought that 'Good things happen to those who do the wave' No wonder I've been so confused”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“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

“Can you define "plan" as "a loose sequence of manifestly inadequate observations and conjectures, held together by panic, indecision, and ignorance"? If so, it was a very good plan.”

Jonathan Stroud book The Ring of Solomon

Source: The Ring of Solomon

Indecision

“I am very good at groveling.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“Bombs are good. I love bombs."--Iggy”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Love

“The key to a good life is this: If you're not going to talk about something during the last hour of your life, then don't make it a top priority during your lifetime.”

Richard Carlson (1961–2006) Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker

Life

“I had no reason to get all goofy, just because the man was too good-looking for his own good.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

“Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?”

Lloyd Alexander book The High King

Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book V : The High King (1968), Chapter 11 (p. 142)

Evil

“Listen, son—most women are damn fools and children. But they’ve got more range than we’ve got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better—and the vile ones are viler.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Puppet Masters

Source: The Puppet Masters (1951), Chapter 11 (p. 65)

Women, Children, Fools

“Things which are equally bad are also equally good. Try to look at the bright side of things.
- Humbug”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“I walk around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread until there's a knock on the door. Effie's calling me to dinner.

Good. I'm starving.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.”

P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author

The Man Upstairs (1914)
Source: The Man Upstairs and Other Stories

Life, People

“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Wisdom, Evil

“My family shouldn't have to put up with me. They're good people, solid, happy. Sometimes when I'm with them I think I'm on television.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

People, Family, Thinking, Happiness

“Human beings are strange creatures. As people come across one another they produce various outcomes. Good things, sometimes. And other times, bad.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 16

People, Time

“It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.”

John Waters (1946) American filmmaker, actor, comedian and writer

Life, Books, School, Reading

“Ella was fluttering above him, dodging missiles and calling out advice: "The groin. The Earthborn's groin is sensitive."
SMASH!
"Good. Yes. Tyson found its groin.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

“All is well. Everything is working out for my highest good. Out of this situation only good will come. I am safe." It will work miracles in your life.”

Louise L. Hay (1926–2017) American writer

Life

“The perfect woman, you see [is] a working-woman; not an idler; not a fine lady; but one who [uses] her hands and her head and her heart for the good of others.”

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English novelist and poet

Heart, Perfection

“Any weapon is a good weapon as long as ye can use it with honor and skill.”

Brian Jacques book High Rhulain

Source: High Rhulain

“One quality in a person doesn't rule out any other quality. They can exist side by side, good and terrible. Socrates said it a lot better.”

Thomas Harris (1940) American author and screenwriter

Personality

“Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Books, World, Light, Reading

“But writing poems and letters doesn't seem to do much good.”

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

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“The goodbyes we speak and the goodbyes we hear are the good byes that tell us we're still alive.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: Wolves of the Calla

“Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin (1943) American biographer

People, Fear

“You have one family, Charley. For good or bad. You have one family. You can’t trade them in. You can’t lie to them. You can’t run two at once, substituting back and forth.
“Sticking with your family is what makes it a family.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Lie, Family

“All right, big guy, down you go."

Oh, yeah. Bed. Bed was good.

"And look who's here. It's Nurse Vishous.”

Jessica Bird book Lover Eternal

Source: Lover Eternal

Guy

“He may well speak French and Latin and half a dozen languages, but since he has nothing to say – what good are they?”

Philippa Gregory book The Constant Princess

Source: The Constant Princess

“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”

Elizabeth Berg (1948) American novelist

Source: The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation

Feeling

“I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good at it.”

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

Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Thinking, Time

“But there is one thing you must remember, if you forget all else. There is no good or evil, save in the way you see the world. There is no dark or light save in your own vision. All changes in the blink of an eyelid; yet all remains the same.”

Juliet Marillier book Daughter of the Forest

Source: Daughter of the Forest

World, Way, Light, Evil

“I wake up every morning and think: You know what would be good today? Not dying.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Source: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

Thinking

“Yeah, it never fails to amaze me how a single lie can undo an entire lifetime of good. (Aiden)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Upon the Midnight Clear

Lie

“Why was the blind guy playing with matches, you ask? Because he's good at it. Anything to do with fire, igniting things, exploding things, things with fuses, wicks, accelerants… Iggy's your man. It's one of those good/bad things.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Maximum Ride The Angel Experiment

Guy

“If you aren't good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you'll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren't even giving to yourself.”

Barbara De Angelis (1951) American psychologist

From Are You the One for Me? (1992)

Love, Time, Personality

“Libraries really are wonderful. They're better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.”

Jo Walton book Among Others

Source: Among Others

Books, Heart

“Caring about the quality of your work causes stress. Stress can kill you. Maintain good health by remembering that the stockholders are complete strangers who have never done anything for you.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Source: Dilbert's Guide to the Rest of Your Life: Dispatches from Cubicleland

Health

“Mirroring behavior. When a mark takes a drink from his water glass, so should you. When he smiles, so should you. Keep it subtle, rather than creepy, and it’s a good technique.”

Holly Black book Black Heart

Source: Black Heart

Smile, Behavior, Drink, Water

“I want to be an honest man and a good writer.”

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

“With your head full of brains,
and your shoes full of feet,
You're too smart to go down any not-so-good-street.”

Dr. Seuss Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)

Shoe

“She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.”

Toni Morrison book Beloved

Variant: She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.
Source: Beloved

Friendship, For Friend

“Anyway, how are you and Ramona doing?'

Uh… you know. Pretty good.'

Have you said the L-Word yet?'

The L-Word? You mean? Lesbian?'
Uh… No. The other L-Word.'

?'

Okay. Uh, It's "love." I wasn't trying to trick you or anything.”

Bryan Lee O'Malley (1979) Artist

Source: Scott Pilgrim, Volume 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

Love

“I will call him Small Bob," said Bob. "He is a good monster."

End of discussion. The Titan hefted his spear and they continued marching into the gloom.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

“Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.”

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

“Seth told us good night and left.

I watched him go wistfully. “Anyone else here feel like swooning?”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Blues

Feeling, Night

“A ballplayer spends a good piece of his life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”

Jim Bouton (1939–2019) American baseball player, writer

Life, Way, Time

“In the kitchens of love, after all, vice is like the pepper in a good sauce; it brings out the flavour, it's indispensable.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

[6]
Source: Journey to the End of the Night (1932)

Love

“That's the good part of dying; when you've nothing to lose, you run any risk you want.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Parting

“There is nothing so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating.”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

Sea

“I need to admit up front that I don't know how to have a fling. I'm not good at playing around and then saying good-bye. I'm throwing myself at your feet because I'm hoping for a shot at forever." Henry Jenkins/Mr. Nobley”

Shannon Hale book Austenland

Source: Austenland

Hope

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”

Leo Tolstoy book The Kreutzer Sonata

Variant: What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.
Source: The Kreutzer Sonata

Beauty, Beauty

“The highest point a man can obtain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe!”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 24

Knowledge, Victory, Despair

“True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good--and we all know how rare that is…”

Jasper Fforde book The Eyre Affair

Source: The Eyre Affair

Evil

“They say there is no light without dark, no good without evil, no male without female, no right without wrong. That nothing can exist if it's direct opposite does not also exist.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Incubus Dreams

Source: Incubus Dreams

Light, Evil

“You have to do stuff that average people don't understand because those are the only good things.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

People, Understanding

“I don’t have to be so afraid of good-bye, because good-bye doesn’t have to be forever.”

Jenny Han book To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can”

Louisa May Alcott book Rose in Bloom

Source: Rose in Bloom

Love, Books, Soul, Reading

“We doctors know a hopeless case if — listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go”

E.E. Cummings book 1 × 1

XIV : pity this busy monster, manunkind
1 x 1 (1944)
Variant: listen: there’s a hell
of a good universe next door; let’s go

Hell, Universe

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn't chop him into worthless-bastard-themed confetti.
--Isabelle Lightwood”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“While there may not be a book in every one of us, there is so often a damned good short story.”

Jeffrey Archer (1940) English author and former politician

Books

“It moves at its own measured pace, for it has no reason to hurry. Tomorrow will come in its own good time.”

Sidney Sheldon (1917–2007) American writer

Source: The Sky is Falling

Time

“Kathy was a Republican, one of those people who used the unforgivable phrase "meant to be"--usually when describing her own good fortune or the disasters that had befallen other people.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

People

“No one who writes a good book is really dead.”

Walter Moers (1957) German comic creator and author

Books, Dead

“Nothing good ever came easy.” (Garreth)”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Pleasure of a Dark Prince

“Molly, you are a good person. Don't let anyone take that away from you. Not even yourself.”

Jim Butcher Turn Coat

Source: Turn Coat

Personality

“He nuzzled my neck, inhaling deeply. “Mmm. You smell so good.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, smirking. “I call this new perfume ‘Le Jungle grime et tropical BO.’ ”

“Dirt and sweat. Very sexy.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Nevermore

“A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him.”

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

Books, Appearance, Help, Hurt

“If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

Love, Life, Making love, Communication

“and our few good times will be rare because we have the critical sense
and are not easy to fool with laughter”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Fools, Sense, Laughter, Time

“Even trees understand me! Good heavens, I lie under
them, too, don't I? I'm just like a pile of leaves.”

Frank O'Hara book Meditations in an Emergency (book)

Source: Meditations in an Emergency

Lie, Understanding, Tree

“I have found my star. She is beauty and grace. Elegance and goodness. My laughter in winter. She is courageous and strong. Bold and tempting. Unlike any other in all the universe, and I cannot touch her. I dare not even try." [Zarek]”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Beauty, Star, Courage, Laughter

“Like most Beta Males, he didn't realize that being a good guy was not necessarily an attraction to women.”

Christopher Moore book A Dirty Job

Source: A Dirty Job

Women, Guy

“[N]obody minds having what is too good for them.”

Jane Austen book Mansfield Park

Source: Mansfield Park

“The good suffer, the evil flourish, and all that is mortal passes away.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Suffering, Evil

“They lived freely among the students, they argued with the men over philosophical, sociological and artistic matters, they were just as good as the men themselves: only better, since they were women.”

D.H. Lawrence book Lady Chatterley's Lover

Source: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Women, Men

“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

July 14, 1763, p. 121
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol 2

Reading

“It's a good thing I'm a reasonably patient woman. Otherwise, I might have to kill you.”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Wicked Pleasure

“You think they are kind, that the Nephilim are kind, because they are good, but goodness is not kindness, and there is nothing crueler than virtue.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Thinking

“I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Life

“Even in that time of utter darkness, somewhere deep inside me the memory of love and goodness had stayed alive.”

Juliet Marillier book Heart's Blood

Source: Heart's Blood

Love, Memory, Time

“Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

Food

“If you could only tell them that living and spending isn't the same thing! But it's no good. If only they were educated toinstead of earn and spend, they could manage very happily…”

D.H. Lawrence book Lady Chatterley's Lover

Source: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Education

“Nothing is fun until you're good at it.”

Amy Chua book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Source: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

“Luke's left side was bloody. His eyes were open—blue eyes, the way they used to be. His breath was a deep rattle. "Good… blade," he croaked.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Way

“The rules are the rules for a reason. Being a Shadowhunter, a good one, is about more than just training fourteen hours a day and knowing sixty-five ways of killing a man with salad tongs.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Way, Training

“Last time I talked to her she didn't sound like herself. She's depressed. It's awful what happens when people run out of money. They start thinking they're no good.”

Barbara Kingsolver Pigs in Heaven

Source: Pigs in Heaven

Money, People, Thinking, Time

“There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren't as good as others.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

“You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose.”

Lou Holtz (1937) American college football coach, professional football coach, television sports announcer

“Truth is, I'm a good Catholic girl. The faith has always been elusive, but the guilt is intractable.”

Janet Evanovich book Plum Spooky

Source: Plum Spooky

Truth, Faith, Girl

“The good guys and bad guys aren’t as easy to tell apart as I used to think they were. You can’t look at someone with your eyes and take their measure.
You have to look with the heart.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Guy, Thinking, Heart

“Ah, this is fine," he cried triumphantly, holding up a small medallion on a chain. He dusted it off, and engraved on one side were the words "WHY NOT?" "That's a good reason for almost anything - a bit used perhaps, but still quite serviceable.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“We didn't stow away!" Dan protested. "You sunk our boat and pulled us out of the canal!"
"Good point," Ian agreed. "Return them to the canal. Roughly, please.”

Gordon Korman One False Note

Source: One False Note

“There was murder, there was rape, there were unspeakable practices, and all of them were for the good, the bloody good, the bloody myth, for the grail, for the Tower.”

Stephen King book The Gunslinger

Source: The Gunslinger

“I'll tell you one thing, though. It's a terrible thing to be a disappointment to a good woman.”

Richard Russo (1949) American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter

Disappointment

“As long as you find something beautiful, good, and true to believe in and abide by, you have the equivalent of God in your life.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World

Life, God, Beauty

“Don't misunderstand me. I am not scoffing at goodness, which is far more difficult to explain than evil, and far more complicated. But sometimes it's hard to put up with.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Evil

“If you're are paralyzed with fear it's a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Fear

“…good teachers are priceless. They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even when you don't know it.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

"Because they're passionate about their subjects."
Savannah Lynn Curtis and John Tyree, Chapter 4, p. 69-70
Source: 2000s, Dear John (2006)

Learning

Quotes about goodness page 27

Quotes about goodness
page 27