Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature
Source: The Aleph and Other Stories
Quotes about goodness page 41
“We never cease wanting what we want, whether it's good for us or not.”
Stephen King book Full Dark, No Stars
Source: Full Dark, No Stars
“young or old, good or bad, I don't think anything dies as slow and as hard as a writer.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: The Last Night of the Earth Poems
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
Source: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982) American poet, writer, anarchist, academic and conscientious objector
“A wind that blows aimlessly is no good to anyone.”
Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus
Source: The Blood of Olympus
“Good music always defeats bad luck.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) American mystery and speculative fiction writer
L.J. Smith book The Initiation
Source: The Initiation
“As exits go, that's a good one." It was pretty hard to have the last word with a vampire.”
Charlaine Harris book All Together Dead
Source: All Together Dead
“God save us always," I said, "from the innocent and the good.”
Graham Greene book The Quiet American
Pt. I, ch. 1, pg 15
Source: The Quiet American (1955)
“It is a good thing to be rich and strong, but it is a better thing to be loved.”
Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
“Even though it was hard to see you, it was good to see you.”
David Levithan book Every Day
Source: Every Day
Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress
Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding
Jessica Bird book Lover Unbound
Variant: See, this was his kind of decorating. An active mind don't need distractions in its physical environment. It needed a collection of outstanding books and a good lamp. Maybe some cheese and crackers
Source: Lover Unbound
“Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding.”
Harvey Mackay (1932) American businessman and journalist
Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer
Source: Blue-Eyed Devil
“I used to believe in forever, but forever's too good to be true”
A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh
Source: Winnie-the-Pooh
“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything good.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer
May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist
Source: At Seventy: A Journal
“We had a good run, and now it’s over; what’s wrong with that?”
Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain
Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1950s, Loving Your Enemies (November 1957)
Context: There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do." There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue." There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do." So somehow the "isness" of our present nature is out of harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.
Philip Pullman book Northern Lights
Source: His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (1995), Ch. 15 : The Dæmon Cages
Context: Being a practiced liar doesn't mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all; it's that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.
Charles Stross book The Fuller Memorandum
Source: The Laundry Files, The Fuller Memorandum (2010), Chapter 2, “Pointing the Finger” (p. 32)
“There is no such thing as a good tax.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The correct attribution is Oklahoma Senator Thomas Gore, in his speech to the National Tax Association in 1935.. Though it is often attributed to Churchill, there is no evidence he ever said it.
Misattributed
Variant: There is no such thing as a good tax.
Source: http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/there_is_no_such_thing_as_a_good_tax/
Source: http://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-express/1935-10-17/page-2
Kyōichi Katayama (1959) Japanese writer
Source: Socrates In Love
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
Source: The Essays: A Selection
“I learned to love the feel of good words.”
Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind
Source: The Name of the Wind
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.”
John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author
“having too many ideas is not always a good thing.”
Paul Arden (1940–2008) writer
Source: Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite
Jane Addams (1860–1935) pioneer settlement social worker
"The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements" http://www.infed.org/archives/e-texts/addams6.htm; this piece by Jane Addams was first published in 1892 and later appeared as chapter six of Twenty Years at Hull House (1910) <br class="br">Context: These young people accomplish little toward the solution of this social problem, and bear the brunt of being cultivated into unnourished, oversensitive lives. They have been shut off from the common labor by which they live which is a great source of moral and physical health. They feel a fatal want of harmony between their theory and their lives, a lack of coördination between thought and action. I think it is hard for us to realize how seriously many of them are taking to the notion of human brotherhood, how eagerly they long to give tangible expression to the democratic ideal. These young men and women, longing to socialize their democracy, are animated by certain hopes which may be thus loosely formulated; that if in a democratic country nothing can be permanently achieved save through the masses of the people, it will be impossible to establish a higher political life than the people themselves crave; that it is difficult to see how the notion of a higher civic life can be fostered save through common intercourse; that the blessings which we associate with a life of refinement and cultivation can be made universal and must be made universal if they are to be permanent; that the good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.
“To be good, and to do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words.”
Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)
Letter to Elizabeth Shaw (1784), quoted in John Adams (2001) by David McCullough, p. 310
“Look what we've done so far. We're pretty good at the impossible.”
Richelle Mead (1976) American writer
Source: Soundless
William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer
Variant: the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat
Dave Eggers book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Source: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter
Undated letter to his daughter "Scottie" (Frances Scott Fitzgerald).
Quoted, Letters
Variant: All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
“I'm no good at anything. Not men. Not social skills. Not work. Nothing.”
Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones's Diary
Source: Bridget Jones's Diary
