Quotes about import
page 13

“You can find something truly important in a minute…”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Variant: You can find something truly important in an ordinary minute.
Source: For One More Day

“Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

“Too many people seem to believe that silence was a void that needed to be filled, even if nothing important was said.”

Nicholas Sparks book Nights in Rodanthe

Source: Nights in Rodanthe

People, Silence

“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

People, Dreams, Feeling

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.”

Etty Hillesum (1914–1943) Jewish diarist

“I began to learn the importance of lifting things up and looking underneath.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Secret Life of Prince Charming

Learning

“I'm the most important person in the lives of almost everyone I know and a good number of the people I've never even met.”

David Sedaris (1956) American author

People, Personality

“In the Kamigata area, they have a sort of tiered lunchbox they use for a single day when flower viewing. Upon returning, they throw them away, trampling them underfoot. The end is important in all things.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Flowers

“Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything.”

Tomie dePaola (1934) American children's illustrator and writer

Learning, Reading

“One must never allow oneself to acquire an exaggerated sense of one's own importance. There's no necessity to burden oneself with absolutes”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

Sense

“Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals… except the weasel.”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Learning, Animals

“Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn't mean only artistic creativity, although that's part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people.”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Life, People, Parting

“If letting go, if letting people and things work themselves out in the way that they needed to without your help was the most important thing, then it was also the hardest.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Six Rules of Maybe

People, Way, Help, Moving On

“There must always be a first," said Jem. "It is not easy to be first, and it is not always rewarding, but it is important.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

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

Back To Work

“Now I understand one of the important reasons for going to college and getting an education is to learn that the things you've believed in all your life aren't true, and that nothing is what it appears to be.”

Daniel Keyes book Flowers for Algernon

Source: Flowers for Algernon (1966)

Life, Education, Understanding, Learning

“I have a theory that every time you make an important choice, the part of you left behind continues the other life you could have had.”

Jeanette Winterson book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Life, Time, Parting

“We are divine enough to ask and we are important enough to receive.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Variant: You are important enough to ask and you are blessed enough to receive back.

“When you go to a country, you must learn how to say two things: how to ask for food, and to tell a woman that you love her. Of these the second is more important, for if you tell a woman you love her, she will certainly feed you.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Love, Food, Learning, Country

“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Variant: The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.
Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Art, Motivational

“Lust is temporary, romance can be nice, but love is the most important thing of all. Because without Love, lust and romance will always be short-lived.”

Danielle Steel (1947) American author of romance novels

Love

“Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.”

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

Beauty

“It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand their true import.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Source: Dracula

Feeling, Understanding

“But they wanted you. Time is not something you give back. The very next moment may be answer to your prayer. To deny that is to deny the most important part of the future.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

Time, Future, Parting

“The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.”

David Bohm (1917–1992) American theoretical physicist

As quoted in New Scientist (February 1993), p. 42

Knowledge, Thinking

“Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.”

Nathaniel Branden (1930–2014) Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer

Life

“What if I’ve forgotten the most important thing? What if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud?… the thought fills me with an almost unbearable sorrow.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Memory

“You must remember, my dear lady, the most important rule of any successful illusion: First, the people must want to believe in it.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

People, Success

“Whatever you get paid attention for is never what you think is most important about yourself.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

Thinking

“I said, names aren't important," he repeated. There was a silence between them for some seconds, then the Ranger said: "Do you know what is important?"
Will shook his head.
"Supper is important!”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Ruins of Gorlan

Silence

“It had been a whim, and there was nothing Magnus attached more importance to than a whim.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Runaway Queen

“You may never have proof of your importance but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Thinking

“It is not so much what we know that is important, as what we are and what we do.”

Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“I believe that being happy is the only important thing. Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or torturous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.”

Joanne Harris (1964) British author

Happiness, Heart

“Don't be too ambitious. Do the most important thing you can think of doing every year and then your career will take care of itself.”

Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State

Thinking

“The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Alloy of Law

Leadership, For Men

“Do you want to know why men name their penis? So the most important decisions in their life aren't made by a stranger.”

Linda Howard (1950) American writer

Source: After the Night

Life, Men, Decision

“the important thing is not what we (look) like, but the role we play in our best friend's life.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

Life

“Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it.”

Ray Kurzweil (1948) Author, scientist, inventor, and futurist

Death, Time

“I was told once that the most important part of a fight is making sure your opponent looks worse than you do when you’re through.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: A Night Like This

Fight, Parting

“Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.”

Nick Hornby book A Long Way Down

Source: A Long Way Down

Books

“The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision.”

Robyn Davidson (1950) Australian writer

Source: Tracks

Decision, Strong, Learning, Parting

“It always disappointed me when mortals put themselves first and failed to see the big picture—the importance of putting me first”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Disappointment

“Nothing important is completely explicable.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Section 3.9
Source: The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. … I cannot tell if I would have done any creative work of importance in music, but I do know that I get most joy in life out of my violin.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1920s, Viereck interview (1929)

Life, Music, Thinking, Joy

“The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.”

Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971) Japanese Buddhist missionary

“I've learned that it doesn't matter how your husband squeezes the toothpaste, the important thing is how he squeezes you.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Learning

“What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.”

Michael Ondaatje The Cat's Table

Source: The Cat's Table

Secret

“It takes too much energy to be against something unless it's really important.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

“Suddenly, details seemed extremely important. Details were something to grab on to, a way to insert myself into the story.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Way

“The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart. There's not getting over that.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

People, Help, Heart

“Remember to get the weather in your damn book--weather is very important.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Books, Weather

“No one will understand you. It is not, ultimately, that important. What is important is that you understand you.”

Matt Haig (1975) British writer

Source: The Humans

Understanding

“… mediocre people find their way into positions of authority… because when it comes to even the most important positions, our selection decisions are a good deal less rational than we think.”

Malcolm Gladwell book Blink

Source: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

People, Way, Thinking, Decision

“You'll see, you'll come to understand. These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life.”

Benedict Freedman book Mrs. Mike

Source: Mrs. Mike

Life, Happiness, Understanding

“It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.”

James Boswell book The Life of Samuel Johnson

October 26, 1769, p. 174
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson

Time

“I think it's important for girls to be confident. Believe in yourself and… everybody's hot”

Paris Hilton (1981) American socialite

Confidence, Girl, Thinking

“So, using his pride like a shield against despair, dejection, and-most important—
self-pity, Raoden raised his head to stare damnation in the eyes.”

Brandon Sanderson Elantris

Source: Elantris

Despair

“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.”

Natalie Goldberg (1948) American writer

Lie, Forgetting

“There are some things more important than physical survival. You gotta be able to look at yourself in the mirror.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Circus of the Damned

Source: Circus of the Damned

“Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Pain

“The thing is to understand myself: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die. That is what I now recognize as the most important thing.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

Truth, Idea, Understanding

“Dress for success. Image is very important. People judge you by the way you look on the outside”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

People, Way, Success

“Maybe we judge people too much by their looks because it's easier than seeing what's really important.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Source: Beastly

People

“Power can do everything but the most important thing: it cannot control love.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Source: Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

Love

“Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Personality

“If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it.”

Peter Singer (1946) Australian philosopher

“They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Time, Romantic

“So what if man's body evolved from the monkeys? Whether he came from monkeys or fish is unimportant. The important idea is that when the body became "human" enough, the first human soul slipped into it.”

Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain

Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain

Soul, Idea, Fish

“My books promised me that life wasn’t just made up of workday tasks and prosaic things. The world is bigger and more colorful and more important than that.”

Laura Amy Schlitz (1955) children's author

Life, Books, World, Color

“We have eyes, and we're looking at stuff all the time, all day long. And I just think that whatever our eyes touch should be beautiful, tasteful, appealing, and important.”

Eric Carle (1929) American children's illustrator and writer

Beauty, Thinking, Time

“Remember, 'No one's more important than people'! In other words, friendship is the most important thing--not career or housework, or one's fatigue--and it needs to be tended and nurtured.”

Julia Child My Life in France

Source: My Life in France

Friendship, People

“Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness. The things I have learned and the things I have been taught seem of ridiculously little importance compared with their "large loves and heavenly charities."”

Helen Keller book The Story of My Life

Source: The Story of My Life (1903), Ch. 21

Love, Books, Literature, Sense

“The Bible tells us to be like God, and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer. This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of Western Civilization.”

Robert Anton Wilson (1932–2007) American author and polymath

God, Behavior

“So many of us find ourselves saying, “but he was so great!” Yes, and the people who got on the Titanic thought they were going on vacation. Things changed and it’s important to remember that they did.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Source: It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy

People, Change

“Getting to the top of any given mountain was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving routes with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable.”

Jon Krakauer (1954) American outdoors writer and journalist

Source: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Imagination, Mountain

“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”

Barbara Johnson (1947–2009) American literary critic

Love, Problem, Personality

“I have won important things for myself, but I'm going to destroy them, because I tell myself they have lost their meaning. I know that is not true. I know they are important, and that if I destroy them, I'll be destroying myself, as well.”

Paulo Coelho book The Valkyries

Source: The Valkyries

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing--and keeping the unknown always beyond you.”

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) American artist

Quote in a letter to Sherwood Anderson, October 1923; as quoted in Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life, Roxana Robinson, University Press of New England, 1999
1917 - 1929
Context: I have been thinking of what you say about form... I feel that a real living form is the natural result of the individual’s effort to create the living thing out of the adventure of his spirit into the unknown.... and from that experience comes the desire to make the unknown known. By unknown I mean the thing that means so much to the person that he want to put it down - clarify something he feels but does not clearly understand... Making the unknown known.... if you stop to think of form as form you are lost.

“There was an unexpected freedom in
ﬁnding out that one wasn't as important as one had always assumed!”

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1956) novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist

Source: The Palace of Illusions

Freedom

“That's the thing about the internet. It's really good at giving you pointless facts like how many horses a star owns, but not important things like how to invade his trailer.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: Just One Wish

Star, Horse

“it was important to him that i know who she was, so im glad for that. but it makes me sad too. they loved each other so much, and now she's gone. it doesn't seem fair.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Love, Sadness

“we can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun. But the day man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

Love, Learning, Sun, Sea

“All the world was before me and every day was a holiday, so it did not seem important to which one of the world's wildernesses I first should wander.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

Source: The Yosemite

World, Holiday

“I am Tessa Gray,” she said in a low, clear voice. “And I believe in the importance of stories.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Whitechapel Fiend

“Wrong turns are as important as right turns. More important, sometimes.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: One

“The important thing was that we were being polite and not saying all the things that were making us unhappy, which was the only way we knew how to love each other.”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Love, Way

“Seriously, a thirty-something woman shouldn't be daydreaming about a fictional character in a two-hundred-year-old world to the point where it interfered with her very real and much more important life and relationships. Of course she shouldn't.”

Shannon Hale (1974) American fantasy novelist

Life, World

“Heaven is important, but its not the end of the world”

N.T. Wright (1948) Anglican bishop

World

“After a long, long time she reached an important conclusion. She was never going to stand by and say nothing again.”

Eleanor Estes book The Hundred Dresses

Source: The Hundred Dresses

Time

“Aloneness and selfness are too important to betray for company.”

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

“We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve, but to strive. … The problem, then, is how to bring about a striving for harmony with land among a people many of whom have forgotten there is any such thing as land, among whom education and culture have become almost synonymous with landlessness. This is the problem of 'conservation education.”

Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American writer and scientist

"Conservation" (c. 1938); Published in Round River, Luna B. Leopold (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1966, p. 155.
1930s
Source: Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold

People, Education, Justice, Problem