Quotes about goodness
page 32

“She also said the wicked people needed love as much as good people and were much better at it.”

Source: Poor Things

“But now, I was beginning to wonder if you didn't always have to choose between turning away for good or rushing in deeper. In the moments that it really counts, maybe it's enough- more than enough, even- just to be there.
~Ruby, pg 399”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Variant: If you didn't always have to choose between turning away for good or rushing in deeper. In the moments that it really counts, maybe it's enough - more than enough, even - just to be there.
Source: Lock and Key

“I get the feeling," Alec said, and smiled, "she hasn't forgiven me for betraying you, as she sees it."
"Good girl," said Jace with appreciation.
"I didn't betray you, idiot."
"It's the thought that counts.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Smile, Feeling, Girl

“Find the Good and Praise it" by Alex Haley”

Alex Haley (1921–1992) African American biographer, screenwriter, and novelist

“Picasso had a saying - 'good artists copy, great artists steal' - and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

Walter Isaacson book Steve Jobs

Source: Steve Jobs

Idea

“Good in Crisis; Sucks at Normal.’ That about sums up my whole life, doesn’t it?”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: UnSouled

Life

“The bad things can't matter more than the good things”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

“(Nykyrian spun about at the sound, his blaster leveling at the body in the doorway.)
Whoa. Friend! (He tapped his chest twice.) Really good guy. ‘Member me? (Syn)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of the Night

Guy

“And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy."”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Remarks at the U.S. Naval Academy (1 August 1963), Public Papers of the Presidents 321, p. 620
1963

Life, Thinking

“Every person professes to love good and hate evil, but in his actions his real preferences emerges.”

Piers Anthony Bearing an Hourglass

Source: Bearing an Hourglass

Love, Hate, Evil, Personality

“Passion paralyzes good taste.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Source: Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963

Passion

“One must learn to love, and go through a good deal of suffering to get to it, and the journey is always towards the other soul.”

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

Love, Soul, Suffering, Learning

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Love, God

“The right belief is like a good cloak, I think. If it fits you well, it keeps you warm and safe. The wrong fit however, can suffocate.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Thinking

“Hey, Dad, you’ve got to taste what we just did. It’s actually good. (Omari)
That is good. What did you two do? (Devyn)
No idea. We just added spices until it didn’t suck anymore. (Omari)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Ice

Idea

“Life is boring. People are vengeful. Good things always end. We do so many things and we don’t know why, and if we do find out why, it’s decades later and knowing why doesn’t matter any more.”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Life, People

“They all have always loved you, Will Herondale, for you cannot hide what is good about yourself, however hard you try.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Love

“Did you ever fly a kite in bed?
Did you ever walk with ten cats on your head?
Did you ever milk this kind of cow?
Well, we can do it. We know how.
If you never did, you should.
These things are fun and fun is good.”

Dr. Seuss book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Source: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Cats, Flying

“The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.”

Anthony Burgess book A Clockwork Orange

Variant: The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.
Source: A Clockwork Orange

Life, Evil

“Let's have a good clean three-legged death race.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Death

“As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

1783, p. 519
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“It's good to leave behind all that is comfortable and known every so often. It opens one's mind to the wide world.”

Kristen Britain book Blackveil

Source: Blackveil

World

“I am not always good and noble. I am the hero of this story, but I have my off moments.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Love Among the Chickens

Source: Love Among the Chickens

“One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.”

Paulo Freire book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Source: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

People, World, Education

“I'll be damned if I apologize for the choices I've made. They were hard decisions, but I had good reasons for making them.”

Christine Feehan American writer

Source: Oceans of Fire

Decision

“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Hope

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms (1929), Ch. 34

World, Strong

“And quit baring your fangs at me. It's making me nervous."

"Good," Simon said. "if you want to know why, it's because you smell like blood."
"It's my cologne. Eau de Recent Injury." Jace raised his left hand.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“Woman wants monogamy;
Man delights in novelty.
Love is woman's moon and sun;
Man has other forms of fun.
Woman lives but in her lord;
Count to ten, and man is bored.
With this the gist and sum of it,
What earthly good can come of it?”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Love, Sun

“Plenty of people are good-looking. That doesn't make them interesting or intriguing or cool.”

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

Source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

People

“You know, a cell phone's like a guy; if you don't plug him in every night, charge him good, you got nothing at all.”

Catherine Coulter (1942) American romance novelist

Source: Tail Spin

Guy, Night

“Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.”

Gary Gygax (1938–2008) American writer and game designer

GameSpy interview by Allen Rausch, Pt. 1 (15 August 2004) http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/538/538817p2.html

Game, Chance

“A good story is always more dazzling than a broken piece of truth.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Truth

“All my life, since I came to the Institute, you were the mirror of my soul. I saw the good in me in you. In your eyes alone I found grace. When you are gone from me, who will see me like that?”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Life, Soul

“There are kinds of action, for good or ill, that lie so far outside the boundaries of normal behavior that they force us, in acknowledging that they have occurred, to restructure our own understanding of reality. We have to make room for them.”

Guy Gavriel Kay book The Summer Tree

Source: The Summer Tree

Lie, Behavior, Understanding, Reality

“It's wrong to hurt even bad people. Because they don't know any better, and because bad people sometimes become good.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

People, Hurt

“There's only one good reason to be a writer-we can't help it! We'd all like to be rich, famous and successful, but if those are our goals, we're off on a wrong foot… I just wanted to earn enough money so I could work at home on my writing.”

Phyllis A. Whitney (1903–2008) American writer

Money, Home, Success, Help

“It took me a long time to learn that mistakes aren't good or bad,
they're just mistakes, and you clean them up and go on.”

Kaye Gibbons book A Virtuous Woman

Source: A Virtuous Woman

Learning, Time

“All good things in life are fragile and easily lost”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Life

“To read makes our speaking English good.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Reading

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.”

Raymond Chandler book The Simple Art of Murder

essay, first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly (November, 1945)
The Simple Art of Murder (1950)

World, Weather

“You look angry," he said.
"You put me on hold."
"For a very good reason."
"You put me," she said very, very slowly, "on hold.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Kingdom of the Wicked

“Goodness,' Myrnin said quietly. 'I don't think I should be watching this. I don't think I'm old enough.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Fade Out

Thinking

“They understand not only evil, it seemed, but the extravagance of tricks with which evil presents itself as good.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

Understanding, Evil

“I said nothing. I’m good at saying nothing. I don’t like talking. I could go the rest of my life without saying another word, if I had to.”

Lee Child book The Affair

Source: The Affair

Life

“Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it. (in a letter written while she was in college)”

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

Variant: Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it.

“I knew my dad was a good man, a kind man, and though he'd led a wounded life, he'd done the best he could in raising me.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

John Tyree, Chapter 16, p. 198
2000s, Dear John (2006)
Source: The Best of Me

Life

“That question is too good to spoil with an answer.”

Harry Mulisch book The Discovery of Heaven

Source: The Discovery of Heaven

Question

“once you laugh at you own weaknesses, you can move forward. Comedy breaks down walls. It opens up people. If you're good, you can fill up those openings with something positive. Mabye…….. combat some the ugliness in the world.”

Goldie Hawn (1945) American actress, film director, and producer.

People, World

“If you're too happy about anything, fate usually gives you a good sock in the jaw and knocks you down.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: The Joys of Love

Fate, Happiness

“The movie itself was very interesting, but I didn't think it was very good because I didn't really feel different when it was over.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Feeling, Thinking

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Singing

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

Men, Money, Dogs, Music

“Alek said, "Do you think I'm being a fool?"

"I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

War, Fools, Thinking

“Some say it's too country, some say it's too rock n' roll. But it's just good music if you can feel it in your soul.”

Tim McGraw (1967) American country singer

Music, Feeling, Soul, Country

“Do a little bit of good wherever you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Variant: Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

World

“Chumps always make the best husbands. When you marry, Sally, grab a chump. Tap his head first, and if it rings solid, don't hesitate. All the unhappy marriages come from husbands having brains. What good are brains to a man? They only unsettle him.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Doctor Sally

Source: Doctor Sally

Marriage

“Good news!" she chirped. "The doctor says this time it's triplets!”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Kiss an Angel

Time

“Why do people who are good at families have to be smug and assume it is the only way to live. … Why can’t they be blamed for being bad at promiscuity?”

Hanif Kureishi (1954) English playwright, screenwriter, novelist

People, Family, Way

“Our people are good people; our people are kind people. Pray God some day kind people won't all be poor.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

Source: The Grapes of Wrath

God, People

“I decided to dub the room with the good chairs my lutery. Or perhaps my performatory. I would need a while to come up with something suitably pretentious.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“There is no such thing as a good call at 7 AM. It's been my experience that all calls between the hours of 11 PM and 9 AM are disaster calls.”

Janet Evanovich (1943) Novelist

“Percy: Dad-

Poseidon: Very well! It shall be as you say. But my son, pray this works.

Percy: I'm praying, I'm talking to you, right?

Poseidon: Oh… yes. Good point.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Variant: Very well! It shall be as you say. But my son, pray this works.
I am praying. I'm talking to you, right?
Oh... yes. Good point. Amphitrite - incoming!
Source: The Last Olympian

“I could give you my word as a Spaniard," Inigo said.
"No good," the man in black replied. "I've known too many Spaniards.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

“The question, O me! so sad, recurring -
What good amid these, O me, O life?
That you are here - that life
exists and identity,
that the powerful play goes on,
and you may contribute a verse.”

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

Source: The Leaves of Grass

Life, Sadness, Question

“Sex was never as neat as the movies made it. Real sex was messy. Good sex was messier.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Blue Moon

Source: Blue Moon

Sex

“Acheron: You're really not right, are you?
Nick: Yeah. I know. It was all the paint chips I ate as a kid. They were good, but chromosomally damaging”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Variant: You’re really not right, are you?
Yeah, I know. It was all the paint chips I ate as a kid. They were good, but chromosomally damaging. (Nick)
Source: Infinity

Painting

“It costs nothing to ask wise advice from a good friend.”

George S. Clason book The Richest Man in Babylon

Source: The Richest Man in Babylon

“If goodness has causes, it is not goodness; if it has effects, a reward, it is not goodness either. So goodness is outside the chain of cause and effect.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news.”

Anthony Horowitz book Stormbreaker

Source: Stormbreaker

“Sometimes good people have to do terrible things.”

Orson Scott Card Treasure Box

Source: Treasure Box

People

“As for methods of prayer, all are good, as long as they are sincere.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Sincerity

“No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

TV Interview for London Weekend Television Weekend World (6 January 1980) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=104210 <br class="br">First term as Prime Minister

Money

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?”

Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American writer and scientist

Animals

“If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?”

George Eliot book Middlemarch

Source: Middlemarch

Rage

“We needn't talk about Tessa if you don't want to, you know."
"It's not Tessa." This was true. Will hadn't been thinking of Tessa. He was getting good at not thinking about her, really; all it took was determination and practice.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Thinking

“A good speech is like a woman's skirt: short enough to hold your attention, long enough to cover the subject”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: This is Where I Leave You

“Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book, and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have a little fun.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Cute, Books, Dogs, Reading

“You are too arrogant for your own good. I officially de-mate you. Go away. I never want to see you again. Except maybe tonight. Naked. Your place. But after that, no more.”

Katie MacAlister (1964) Author

Source: You Slay Me

“it istrue that good can follow only from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true. Anyone who fails to see this is, indeed, a political infant.”

Max Weber (1864–1920) German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist

Source: From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology
Source: From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (1946), p. 124; Essay "Politics as a vocation"
Context: The problem — the experience of the irrationality of the world — has been the driving force of all religious evolution. The Indian doctrine of karma, Persian dualism, the doctrine of original sin, predestination and the deus absconditus, all these have grown out of this experience. Also the early Christians knew full well the world is governed by demons and that he who lets himself in for politics, that is, for power and force as means, contracts with diabolical powers and for his action it is not true that good can follow only from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true. Anyone who fails to see this is, indeed, a political infant.

Evil