Quotes about goodness
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“What you should really be sorry for," he continued, "is that for the rest of my life, I'll have to avoid wine cellars to keep from thinking about you."
"Why? Was kissing me that bad?"
A devil-solf whisper. "No sweetheart. It was that good.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Blue-Eyed Devil

Life, Kiss, Thinking, Wine

“It's a penis,' Grandma said. 'Stephanie got it in the mail. It's a pretty good one too.”

Janet Evanovich Two for the Dough

Source: Two for the Dough

Grandma

“To Sorrow
I bade good morrow,
And thought to leave her far away behind;
But cheerly, cheerly,
She loves me dearly;
She is so constant to me, and so kind.”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

Bk. IV, l. 173
Endymion (1818)
Source: The Complete Poems
Context: To Sorrow
I bade good-morrow,
And thought to leave her far away behind;
But cheerly, cheerly,
She loves me dearly;
She is so constant to me, and so kind:
I would deceive her
And so leave her,
But ah! she is so constant and so kind.

Love

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionately to their occupancy of your thoughts.”

Mary Baker Eddy book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

Source: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

“Has anybody ever seen a drama critic in the daytime? Of course not. They come out after dark, up to no good.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Adventures of Sally

The Adventures of Sally (1922)

“That was the thing about being alone, in theory or in principle. Whatever happened-good, bad, or anywhere in between-it was always, if nothing else, all your own.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“I'm sure anyone who likes a good crime, provided it is not the victim.”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

“What am I supposed to do,
Sit around and wait for you?
Well I can't do that,
And there's no turning back.
I need time to move on,
I need love to feel strong.
Cause I've got time to think it through,
And maybe I'm too good for you!”

Cher (1946) American singer and actress

Love, Feeling, Thinking, Strong

“I for one like chaos. Chaos looks good on me.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

“I truly believed that the cost of success for us shouldn't be the cost of failure for a good friend.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

Failure, Success

“And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more…”

Banana Yoshimoto book The Lake

Source: The Lake

“To count - really and truly to count - a woman must have goodness or brains.”

Agatha Christie book Evil Under the Sun

Source: Evil Under the Sun

“You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.”

Jeannette Walls book The Glass Castle

Source: The Glass Castle

Love, Hate, Personality

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Beyond This Horizon

Source: Beyond This Horizon (1948; originally serialized in 1942), Chapter 15, “Probably a blind alley—”, p. 147
Context: Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing.

Life

“You have to make an effort to always look at the good side, always think about the good things. Then you've got nothing to be afraid of. If something bad comes up, you do more thinking at that point.”

Haruki Murakami book The Elephant Vanishes

Source: The Elephant Vanishes

Thinking, Effort

“Barbarian that I am, I had eaten all of it. It had tasted quite nice too. Still, I took note of this fact and resigned myself to throw away half of a perfectly good cheese if it was set in front of me. Such is the price of civilization.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“We remember the good times and the bad ones, forgetting that most times are neither good nor bad. They just are.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

Time, Forgetting

“Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others-- even when there's not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.”

Jim Butcher book Changes

Source: The Dresden Files, Changes (2010), Chapter 26
Context: Harry Dresden: But there were some things I believed in. Some things I had faith in. And faith isn’t about perfect attendance to services, or how much money you put on the little plate. It isn’t about going skyclad to the Holy Rites, or meditating each day upon the divine. Faith is about what you do. It’s about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It’s about making sacrifices for the good of others—even when there’s not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.

Faith

“It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time."”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

"Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution", sermon at the National Cathedral, 31 March 1968, published in A Testament of Hope (1986)
1960s
Source: A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

People, Silence, Time, Waiting

“You can't become a decent horseman until you fall off and get up again, a good number of times.
There's life in a nutshell.”

Bear Grylls (1974) Chief Scout, adventurer, author

Source: Mud, Sweat and Tears

Life, Time

“Good wine is a necessity of life for me.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

As quoted in The Man from Monticello : An Intimate Life of Thomas Jefferson (1969) by Thomas J. Fleming, p. 250
Posthumous publications

Life, Wine

“What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney?”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Truth

“He's a good man," Ranger said.
"And you?"
"I'm better.”

Janet Evanovich book Lean Mean Thirteen

Source: Lean Mean Thirteen

“Oh, no, my dear; I'm really a very good man, but I'm a very bad Wizard, I must admit.”

L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

“When it comes to memories, the good and the bad never balance.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

Memory

“My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.”

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

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

Way, Gratitude

“Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything.”

Anita Brookner book Hotel du Lac

Source: Hotel du Lac

Women, Thinking

“Escape? There is one unwatched way: your eyes. O Beauty! Keep me good that secret gate.”

Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) English poet and soldier (1893-1918)

Source: The Poems Of Wilfred Owen

Secret, Beauty, Way

“Sleep with Seth Mortensen? Good grief. It was the most preposterous thing I'd ever heard. It was appalling. If I absorbed his life force, there was no telling how long it'd be until his next book came out.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Blues

Life, Books, Sleep

“me: you know what sucks about love?
o. w. g.: what?
me: that it's so tied to the truth.

I know it sucks, but in a way, it's good…. Love and truth being tied together, I mean. They make each other possible, you know?”

David Levithan book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Source: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Love, Truth, Way

“Many a good man has been put under the bridge by a woman.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Source: Women (1978)

“In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Post-war years (1945–1955) <br class="br">Source: The Second World War, Volume I : The Gathering Storm (1948) Moral of the Work, p. ix http://books.google.de/books?id=HzlT3t05OHoC&pg=PR9#v=onepage&q&f=false

War, Peace, Victory

“Because you may think a bed is a peaceful thing, Sir, and to you it may mean rest and comfort and a good night's sleep. But it isn't so for everyone; and there are many dangerous things that may take place in a bed.”

Margaret Atwood book Alias Grace

Source: Alias Grace

Peace, Thinking, Sleep, Night

“The best stories don't come from "good vs. bad" but "good vs. good.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

“Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence. Art for the sake of truth, for the sake of what is beautiful and good — that is the creed I seek.”

George Sand (1804–1876) French novelist and memoirist; pseudonym of Lucile Aurore Dupin

L'art pour l'art est un vain mot. L'art pour le vrai, l'art pour le beau et le bon, voilà la religion que je cherche....
Letter to Alexandre Saint-Jean, (19 April 1872), published in Calmann Lévy (ed.) Correspondance (1812-1876). Eng. Transl by Raphaël Ledos de Beaufort in Letters of George Sand Vol. III, p. 242

Truth, Beauty, Art

“Hope makes a good breakfast. Eat plenty of it.”

Ian Fleming book From Russia, with Love

Source: From Russia With Love

Hope

“wherever you find the greatest good, you will find the greatest evil, because evil loves paradise as much as good.”

Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) American historian, writer, and environmentalist

Source: All the Little Live Things

Love, Evil

“He still didn't think I was good enough for you."

"No father thinks any man is good enough for his daughter.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride

Source: The Longest Ride

Thinking, Daughters

“The distinction between good and evil is meaningless if one does not have the freedom to choose between them.”

Jim Butcher (1971) American author

Freedom, Evil

“I wanted so terribly to be good to him.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“I’ve had a lot of fun. Good-bye, and thank you.”

Romain Gary (1914–1980) French writer and diplomat

The Life and Death of Émile Ajar (1980), an essay written prior to his suicide, as quoted in "Romain Gary: A Short Biography" by Madeleine Schwartz, at The Harvard Advocate http://www.theharvardadvocate.com/content/romain-gary-short-biography <br class="br">Context: The gossip that came back to me from fashionable dinners where people pitied poor Romain Gary, who must be a little sad, a little jealous of the meteoric rise in the literary firmament of his cousin Emile Ajar… I’ve had a lot of fun. Good-bye, and thank you.

“This was her life. Not the life she had once dreamed of, not a life her younger self would ever have imagined or desired, but the life she was living, with all its complexities. This was her life, built with care and attention, and it was good.”

Kim Edwards book The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Source: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Life, Dreams, Imagination

“I’m not very good at giving anyone a clear no.”

Haruki Murakami book The Strange Library

Source: The Strange Library

“A good book should leave you…. slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.”

William Styron (1925–2006) American novelist and essayist

Interview in Writers at Work, First Series (1958), edited by George Plimpton
Variant: A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.
Source: Conversations with William Styron

Books, Reading

“Love grows from the rich foam of forgiveness, mongrels make good dogs, and the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.”

Wally Lamb book I Know This Much Is True

Source: I Know This Much Is True

Love, God, Dogs, Forgiveness

“A good place to meet a man is at the dry cleaner. These men usually have jobs and bathe.”

Rita Rudner (1953) American comedian

Men

“See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good.”

Hayao Miyazaki (1941) Japanese animator, film director, and mangaka

Evil

“J’aurais dû être plus gentille—I should have been more kind. That is something a person will never regret. You will never say to yourself when you are old, Ah, I wish I was not good to that person. You will never think that.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Thinking, Personality

“Good things happen to those who hustle.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Deep

“All young people worry about things, it's a natural and inevitable part of growing up, and at the age of sixteen my greatest anxiety in life was that I'd never again achieve anything as good, or pure, or noble, or true, as my O-level results.”

David Nicholls book Starter for Ten

Source: Starter for Ten

Life, People, Age, Nature

“The best thing about the bedroom was the bed. I liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with covers pulled up to my chin. It was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

People

“Just because a poet said something didn’t mean it was true, only that it sounded good.”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

Source: White Oleander

“O, there is lovely to feel a book, a good book, firm in the hand, for its fatness holds rich promise, and you are hot inside to think of good hours to come.”

Richard Llewellyn book How Green Was My Valley

Source: How Green Was My Valley

Love, Books, Feeling, Thinking

“I hopehaven't given up on the S. Q.'s of the world, Reynie. As you see, there are a great many sheep in wolves' clothing. If not for S. Q.'s good nature, we'd never have escaped.”

Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

Source: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

World, Nature, Clothes

“This one looks good,” said Chong over breakfast the next morning.
Benny read out loud from the paper. “‘Pit Thrower.’ What’s that?”
“I don’t know,” Chong said with a mouth full of toast. “I think it has something to do with barbecuing.”
It didn’t.”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

Source: Rot & Ruin

Thinking, Reading

“A sufficient and sure method of civilization is in the influence of good women.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Women

“What, are you, crazy?' 'It's a possibility I haven't ruled out yet', said Zaphod quietly. 'I know as much about myself as my mind can work out under its current conditions. And its current conditions are not good.”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“His books are kept on freestanding shelves hung at different angles on a sea-green wall. They defy gravity, as good books should.”

David Levithan Boy Meets Boy

Source: Boy Meets Boy

Books, Sea

“Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me—to find out what you're good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tools.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

“Being sixteen forever sounded good until you really thought about it. Then it didn't seem like such a great prospect.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“Once you have lived in New York and made it your home, no place else is good enough”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Home

“I am so tired of waiting.
Aren’t you,
for the world to become good
and beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
and cut the world in two —
and see what worms are eating
at the rind.”

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) American writer and social activist

World, Beauty, Waiting

“God give me anything but a good man's pity.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Kiss of a Demon King

God

“Lies and secrets, Tessa, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Secret, Soul

“You know how sometimes, your life is so perfect you’re afraid for the next moment, because it couldn’t possibly be quite as good? That’s what it felt like.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

Life, Perfection

“This perplexing, good natured boy who can spin out lies so convincingly to be hopelessly in love with me… and I admit it there are moments when he makes me believe it myself.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Love, Boy, Nature

“I shall keep my book on the table here, and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good, and help me through the day.”

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist

Books, Reading, Help

“I am not a bad person. I am a good person who has lived in a bad time."
Alex's grandfather.. Everything is Illuminated”

Jonathan Safran Foer (1977) Novelist

Time, Personality

“The choice of life is not between fame and fortune, nor wealth and poverty, but between good and evil.”

Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015) American Mormon leader

Life, Evil, Wealth

“The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.”

Malcolm Gladwell book Blink

Source: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Understanding, Knowledge, Decision

“I don't believe in your "Good". I believe in human kindness.”

Vasily Grossman book Life and Fate

Source: Life and Fate

“The future always looks good in the golden land, because no one remembers the past.”

Joan Didion (1934) American writer

Past, Future

“Adrian sighed. "I knew you staying out of trouble was too good to be true.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

“Judging the mistakes of strangers is an easy thing to do - and it feels pretty good.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Feeling

“If it’s not meeting a need, turn it into a seed. Remember, we will reap what we sow. When you do good for other people, that’s when God is going to make sure that His abundant blessings overtake you.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

God, People

“No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature, or its kind. If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature.”

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) American writer

People, Literature, Reading

“Then tell them we've all got meanness in us… But tell them we have some good in us too. And the only thing worth living for is the good. That's why we've got to make sure we pass it on.”

Billie Letts book Where the Heart Is

Variant: ... tell them that we have some good in us, too. And the only thing worth living for is the good. That’s why we’ve got to make sure we pass it on.
Source: Where the Heart Is