Quotes about inside
page 2

Michael Jackson photo
Lyndon B. Johnson photo

“It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, 36th president of the United States (in office from 1963 to 1969)

On FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, as quoted in The New York Times (31 October 1971).
1970s

Sukirti Kandpal photo
Charlie Parker photo
Steve Blank photo

“There are no facts inside the building, so get the hell outside.”

Steve Blank (1953) American businessman

Forbes "Try 'Walking The Path' To Solve Your Startup Problems" http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2015/10/27/try-walking-the-path-to-solve-your-startup-problems/#6cb0ab3a5c64. October 27, 2015.

Sergei Rachmaninoff photo
William Luther Pierce photo
Sai Baba of Shirdi photo
Dwayne Johnson photo
Etty Hillesum photo
Meera Bai photo
Leonard Cohen photo

“The light came through the window,
Straight from the sun above,
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of Love.”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

"Love Itself"
Ten New Songs (2001)
Context: p>The light came through the window,
Straight from the sun above,
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of Love.In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see,
Out of which the Nameless makes
A Name for one like me.</p

George Orwell photo

“The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"As I Please," Tribune (28 April 1944) https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRLPIbLP8IC&lpg=PA132&dq=%22fallacy%20is%20to%20believe%20that%20under%20a%20dictatorial%22&pg=PA132#v=onepage&q=%22fallacy%20is%20to%20believe%20that%20under%20a%20dictatorial%22&f=false
"As I Please" (1943–1947)
Context: The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside. Quite a number of people console themselves with this thought, now that totalitarianism in one form or another is visibly on the up-grade in every part of the world. Out in the street the loudspeakers bellow, the flags flutter from the rooftops, the police with their tommy-guns prowl to and fro, the face of the Leader, four feet wide, glares from every hoarding; but up in the attics the secret enemies of the regime can record their thoughts in perfect freedom—that is the idea, more or less.

Andrew Biersack photo
Sitting Bull photo

“Inside of me there are two dogs. One is mean and evil and the other is good and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins I answer, the one I feed the most.”

Sitting Bull (1831–1890) Hunkpapa Lakota medicine man and holy man

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5712889.Sitting_Bull
Attributed quotes

Rumi photo

“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

Misattributed
Source: Frequently quoted on social media, but appears to be a misquote of Thomas Browne's "We carry within us the wonders we seek without us: there is all Africa and her prodigies in us" in Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 15.

Eminem photo
Eminem photo
Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Anne Rice photo
Jonathan Safran Foer photo
Frida Kahlo photo

“I want to be inside your darkest everything”

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) Mexican painter

Source: The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait

Maya Angelou photo

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

Misattributed
Source: This is actually from Zora Neale Hurston, <i>Dust Tracks On the Road,</i> though it is widely attributed to Ms. Angelou's book, <i>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.</i>

Emile Zola photo

“There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.”

Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)

Letter to Paul Cézanne (16 April 1860), as published in Paul Cézanne : Letters (1995) edited by John Rewald.

Julian Barnes photo
Salman Rushdie photo
Stephen King photo
Ajahn Chah photo
Norman Cousins photo

“Each patient carries his own doctor inside him.”

Norman Cousins (1915–1990) American journalist

Source: Anatomy of an Illness

Morihei Ueshiba photo

“When you bow deeply to the universe, it bows back; when you call out the name of God, it echoes inside you.”

Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido

Source: The Art of Peace (1992)

Anne Frank photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Nora Roberts photo
Carlos Ruiz Zafón photo

“A book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us.”

Variant: Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.
Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Carlos Ruiz Zafón photo
Charles Bukowski photo
Joseph Campbell photo

“Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer

Variant: Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.

Haruki Murakami photo
Nora Roberts photo
Dave Barry photo
Malcolm X photo
Eckhart Tolle photo
Muhammad Ali photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Neil Young photo

“One of my favorite album covers is On the Beach. Of course that was the name of a movie and I stole it for my record, but that doesn't matter. The idea for that cover came like a bolt from the blue. Gary and I traveled around getting all the pieces to put it together. We went to a junkyard in Santa Ana to get the tail fin and fender from a 1959 Cadillac, complete with taillights, and watched them cut it off a Cadillac for us, then we went to a patio supply place to get the umbrella and table. We picke up the bad polyester yellow jacket and white pants at a sleazy men's shop, where we watched a shoplifter getting caught red-handed and busted. Gary and I were stoned on some dynamite weed and stood there dumbfounded watching the bust unfold. This girl was screaming and kicking! Finally we grabbed a local LA paper to use as a prop. It had this amazing headline: Sen. Buckley Calls For Nixon to Resign. Next we took the palm tree I had taken around the world on the Tonight's the Night tour. We then placed all of these pieces carefully in the sand at Santa Monica beach. Then we shot it. Bob Seidemann was the photographer, the same one who took the famous Blind Faith cover shot of the naked young girl holding the airplane. We used the crazy pattern from the umbrella insides for the inside of the sleeve that held the vinyl recording. That was the creative process at work. We lived for that, Gary and I, and we still do.”

Source: Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream

Derek Landy photo
Corrie ten Boom photo
Frank Herbert photo

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”

Variant: Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.
Source: Dune

Albert Einstein photo

“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Corrie ten Boom photo
Mark Twain photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Dolly Parton photo
Sylvia Plath photo

“So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them."

()”

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

Source: Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose and Diary Excerpts

“You, yes, you, linger inside my heart
The same you who stopped us before we could start.”

Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist

Source: Second Helpings

Jimmy Carter photo

“In his early twenties, a man started collecting paintings, many of which later became famous: Picasso, Van Gogh, and others. Over the decades he amassed a wonderful collection. Eventually, the man’s beloved son was drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam, where he died while trying to save his friend. About a month after the war ended, a young man knocked on the devastated father’s door. “Sir,” he said, “I know that you like great art, and I have brought you something not very great.” Inside the package, the father found a portrait of his son. With tears running down his cheeks, the father said, “I want to pay you for this.ℍ “No,” the young man replied, “he saved my life. You don’t owe me anything.ℍ The father cherished the painting and put it in the center of his collection. Whenever people came to visit, he made them look at it. When the man died, his art collection went up for sale. A large crowd of enthusiastic collectors gathered. First up for sale was the amateur portrait. A wave of displeasure rippled through the crowd. “Let’s forget about that painting!” one said. “We want to bid on the valuable ones,” said another. Despite many loud complaints, the auctioneer insisted on starting with the portrait. Finally, the deceased man’s gardener said, “I’ll bid ten dollars.ℍ Hearing no further bids, the auctioneer called out, “Sold for ten dollars!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then the auctioneer said, “And that concludes the auction.” Furious gasps shook the room. The auctioneer explained, “Let me read the stipulation in the will: “Sell the portrait of my son first, and whoever buys it gets the entire art collection. Whoever takes my son gets everything.ℍ It’s the same way with God Almighty. Whoever takes his Son gets everything.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President

Orhan Pamuk photo
Marilyn Monroe photo
Fernando Pessoa photo
Jodi Picoult photo
Quentin Crisp photo
Edna Ferber photo

“I'm not much to look at", replied Elizabeth, "but I'm beautiful inside.”

Edna Ferber (1885–1968) Novelist, playwright

Source: Half Portions

Winston S. Churchill photo

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”

BBC broadcast (“The Russian Enigma”), London, October 1, 1939 ( partial text http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/RusnEnig.html, transcript of the "First Month of War" speech https://ww2memories.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/churchills-ww2-speech-to-the-nation-october-1939/).
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Context: I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.

Terry Pratchett photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Frida Kahlo photo
Alice Hoffman photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo
Tad Williams photo

“Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it- memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.”

Tad Williams (1957) novelist

Source: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, The Dragonbone Chair (1988), Chapter 42, “Beneath the Uduntree” (p. 718).
Context: “Never make your home in a place,” the old man had said, too lazy in the spring warmth to do more than wag a finger. “Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things.” Morgenes had grinned. “That way it will go with you wherever you journey. You’ll never lack for a home—unless you lose your head, of course...”

Haruki Murakami photo
Benjamin Disraeli photo

“Most people die with their music still locked up inside them.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Patrick Rothfuss photo
Mark Twain photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Pablo Neruda photo
Joanne Harris photo
Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Franz Kafka photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo
Fernando Pessoa photo
Eckhart Tolle photo

“If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Marilyn Ferguson photo
Klaus Kinski photo

“I've solved the mystery: You have to submit silently. Open up, let go. Let anything penetrate you, even the most painful things. Endure. Bear up. That's the magic key! The text comes by itself, and its meaning shakes the soul… You mustn't let scar tissue form on your wounds; you have to keep ripping them open in order to turn your insides into a marvelous instrument that is capable of anything. All this has its price.”

Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) German actor

Source: Kinski Uncut : The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (1996), p. 72-73
Context: At a performance everything works out on its own. I've solved the mystery: You have to submit silently. Open up, let go. Let anything penetrate you, even the most painful things. Endure. Bear up. That's the magic key! The text comes by itself, and its meaning shakes the soul. Everything else is taken care of by the life one has to live without sparing oneself. You mustn't let scar tissue form on your wounds; you have to keep ripping them open in order to turn your insides into a marvelous instrument that is capable of anything. All this has its price. I become so sensitive that I can't live under normal conditions. That's why the hours between performances are worst.

Rainer Maria Rilke photo

“weren’t you always
distracted by expectation, as if every event
announced a beloved? (Where can you find a place
to keep her, with all the huge strange thoughts inside you
going and coming and often staying all night.)…”

First Elegy (as translated by Stephen Mitchell)
Source: Duino Elegies (1922)
Context: Yes—the springtimes needed you. Often a star
was waiting for you to notice it. A wave rolled toward you
out of the distant past, or as you walked
under an open window, a violin
yielded itself to your hearing. All this was mission.
But could you accomplish it? Weren't you always
distracted by expectation, as if every event
announced a beloved? (Where can you find a place
to keep her, with all the huge strange thoughts inside you
going and coming and often staying all night.)

Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Robert Browning photo

“Open my heart and you will see
Graved inside of it, "Italy".”

"De Gustibus", ii.
Men and Women (1855)
Context: Italy, my Italy!
Queen Mary's saying serves for me
(When fortune's malice
Lost her Calais):
"Open my heart, and you will see
Graved inside of it ‘Italy.'"

Muhammad Ali photo
Amy Tan photo

“I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind.
-Lindo”

American Acheivement interview (1996)
Source: The Joy Luck Club
Context: Reading for me was a refuge. I could escape from everything that was miserable in my life and I could be anyone I wanted to be in a story, through a character. It was almost sinful how much I liked it. That's how I felt about it. If my parents knew how much I loved it, I thought they would take it away from me. I think I was also blessed with a very wild imagination because I can remember, when I was at an age before I could read, that I could imagine things that weren't real and whatever my imagination saw is what I actually saw. Some people would say that was psychosis but I prefer to say it was the beginning of a writer's imagination. If I believed that insects had eyes and mouths and noses and could talk, that's what they did. If I thought I could see devils dancing out of the ground, that's what I saw. If I thought lightning had eyes and would follow me and strike me down, that's what would happen. And I think I needed an outlet for all that imagination, so I found it in books.