Quotes about interest
page 10

“No; that doesn't interest me.'
'That's because you never read a book about it.”

Ernest Hemingway book The Sun Also Rises

Source: The Sun Also Rises

“The Victorian woman became her ovaries, as today's woman has become her 'beauty.' Her reproductive value, as the 'aesthetic' value of her face and body today, 'came to be seen as a sacred trust, one that she must constantly guard in the interest of her race.”

Naomi Wolf book The Beauty Myth

Source: The Beauty Myth (1991), Chapter 7 : 'Violence', p. 222

Beauty

“I have no interest at all in food and drink, but only in slaughter and blood and the agonized groans of mangled men”

Homér Ancient Greek epic poet, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey

Men, Food, Drink

“Someone has to ask you a question," George continues meaningly, "before you can answer it. But it's so seldom you find anyone who'll ask the right questions. Most people aren't that much interested….”

Christopher Isherwood book A Single Man

Source: A Single Man

People, Question

“Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Tree, Perfection

“Tradionally, parents made decisions for a child, because presumably they are looking out for his or her best interests. But if they are blinded, instead, by the best interests of another one of their children, the system breaks down.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Children, Parent, Decision

“Maybe we’ll admit this thing we have is perfect, not worth messing around with. And stay together forever. If you’re interested, that is.”
She glanced away. “I could think about that.”
He buried his face in her neck. “Think fast”

Robyn Carr American writer

Source: Wild Man Creek

Thinking, Perfection

“My son Asclepius had become the god of medicine by the time he was fifteen, and I couldn’t have been happier for him. It left me time for my other interests. Besides, it’s every god’s dream to have a child who grows up to be a doctor.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

God, Dreams, Time

“I just believe that the interesting time in a career is pre-success, what shaped things, how did you get to this point?”

Steve Martin (1945) American actor, comedian, musician, author, playwright, and producer

Source: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

Time, Success

“I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.”

Kazuo Ishiguro (1954) Japanese-born British author

Dunn, Adam. " In the land of memory: Kazuo Ishiguro remembers when http://web.archive.org/web/20010625162920/http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news/10/27/kazuo.ishiguro/" cnn.com Book News. 27 Oct. 2000 (archived from the original http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news/10/27/kazuo.ishiguro/ on 2001-06-25). Interviews Context: More fundamentally, I'm interested in memory because it's a filter through which we see our lives, and because it's foggy and obscure, the opportunities for self-deception are there. In the end, as a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.

People

“You have an interesting history. Now people can generally be classified in to two groups: the mediocre realists and the mediocre dreamers. You clearly belong to the letter. Your fate is and will always be the fate of dreamers.”

Haruki Murakami book A Wild Sheep Chase

Source: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982), Chapter 17, The Strange Man's Strange Tale

Fate, People, History

“I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”

Philip Pullman book The Amber Spyglass

Source: The Amber Spyglass

God, Religion

“A book had always been a door to another world… a world much more interesting and fantastical than reality. But she had finally discovered that life could be even more wonderful than fantasy.

And that love could fill the real world with magic.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Scandal in Spring

Love, Life, Books, World

“Revenge is the concern of those who are at some point or other beaten. I am not beaten, I told myself. No, not beaten. And victory is far more interesting to contemplate than revenge.”

Anne Rice The Tale of the Body Thief

Source: The Tale of the Body Thief

Revenge, Victory

“The more you try to be interested in other people, the more you find out about yourself.”

Thea Astley (1925–2004) Australian novelist

People

“Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Book IV, ch. 11
War and Peace (1865–1867; 1869)

Love, Happiness, World, Reality

“Interesting people always have a past.”

Jeannette Walls (1960) American writer and journalist

People, Past

“It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (1954) Canadian author

Study

“life is to be lived. if you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don't do that by sitting around.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

Life, Way, Support

“I haven’t the slightest interest in being happy. I prefer to live life passionately, which is dangerous because you never know what might happen next.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

Life, Happiness, Passion

“Well, isn’t that interesting. (Bubba)
I ain’t your science experiment, Bubba. I don’t want to be interesting and I definitely don’t want to be a nubby treat for the zombies. (Nick)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

Science

“What is the sound of one hand clapping? What is the weight of a single grain of sand? The answer is equal to my interest in the message you are about to leave so make it short. -- Mitch Hertzog's voice mail message.”

Meg Cabot book Boy Meets Girl

Source: Boy Meets Girl

“Looking back, I guess I used to play-act all the time. For one thing, it meant I could live in a more interesting world than the one around me.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

World, Time

“I love you is an interesting phrase, in that apparently small alterations–taking away the I, adding a word like lots or loads–render it meaningless.”

David Nicholls book Us

Source: Us

Love

“We're wired to expect the world to be brighter and more meaningful and more obviously interesting than it actually is. And when we realize that it isn't, we start looking around for the real world.”

Lev Grossman (1969) American novelist, journalist

World

“Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present".”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Past, Future

“Garrett ran a hand through his hair. “How can you stay the head of the Stake-Out team? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“You expect me to stake myself?” Sean growled.
“I’ve got a nice, big one you can borrow,” Gregori suggested.”

Kerrelyn Sparks (1955) American writer

Source: Sexiest Vampire Alive

“The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Source: The Works of Schopenhauer: The Wisdom of Life and Other Essays

Business

“Truth was, if you were going to believe something, it was best to believe in stuff that made the world seem a more interesting place.”

Christopher Brookmyre Not the End of the World

Source: Not the End of the World

Truth, World

“Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing!”

Kenneth Grahame book The Wind in the Willows

Source: The Wind in the Willows (1908), Ch. 2

World, Travel, Change

“Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Ham On Rye (1982)
Source: Ham on Rye
Context: And my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born. The only difference was that now I could drink now and then, though never often enough. Drink was the only thing that kept a man from feeling forever stunned and useless. Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought. God, they all had assholes and sexual organs and their mouths and their armpits. They shit and they chattered and they were dull as horse dung. The girls looked good from a distance, the sun shining through their dresses, their hair. But get up close and listen to their minds running out of their mouths, you felt like digging in under a hill and hiding out with a tommy-gun. I would certainly never be able to be happy, to get married, I could never have children. Hell, I couldn't even get a job as a dishwasher.

Life, People

“It interests me how we find ways to feel superior to another person, another group of people. It happens everywhere, and all the time. Whatever we call it, I think it’s the lowest part of who we are, this need to find someone else to put down.”

Elizabeth Strout (1956) American writer

Source: My Name is Lucy Barton

People, Way, Feeling, Thinking

“I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer's disease where they slowly began to recover other people's lost memories.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

People, Disease, Thinking, Memory

“This is the city, and I am one of the citizens/Whatever interests the rest interests me”

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

“Rose: "Did you hotwire this car? Did you steal this car?"
Dimitri: "You have an interesting set of morals. Breaking out of jail is okay. But steal a car, and you sound totally outraged."
- Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov (Last Sacrifice)”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Cars

“Being interesting has been replaced by being identifiable.”

Chuck Klosterman book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Source: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

“There is no rest for the humble except in despising the great, whose only thought of the people is inspired by self-interest or sadism.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

People

“I'm only interested in stories that are about the crushing of the human heart.”

Richard Yates (1926–1992) Novelist, short story writer

Heart

“We have some nachos left.” Carlos motioned to a plate on the table. “But I don’t suppose you’re interested.”
“I already ate.” Ian sat at the end of the table.
“Anyone we know?” Carlos’s amber eyes twinkled. “Ouch.” He glared at Toni.”

Kerrelyn Sparks (1955) American writer

Source: All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire

“I'm not interested in creating a book that is read once and then placed on the shelf and forgotten. I am very happy when people have worn out my books, or that they're held together by Scotch tape.”

Richard Scarry (1919–1994) author and illustrator from the United States

Happiness, People, Books, Reading

“Many invest wisely in business matters, but fail to invest time and interest in their most valued possessions: their spouses and children.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Source: Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well

Children, Business, Time

“One of the inescapable encumbrances of leading an interesting life is that there have to be moments when you almost lose it.”

Jimmy Buffett book A Pirate Looks at Fifty

Source: A Pirate Looks at Fifty

Life

“It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.”

Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic

Letter to H.G. Wells (10 July 1915).

Life, Beauty, Art

“Censors never go after books unless kids already like them. I don’t even think they know to go after books until they know that children are interested in reading this book, therefore there must be something in it that’s wrong.”

Judy Blume (1938) American children's writer

Children, Books, Thinking, Reading

“Intrigued by that enigma, he dug so deeply into her sentiments that in search of interest he found love, because by trying to make her love him he ended up falling in love with her.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Love, Search

“You're an interesting woman."
"Your interest has been duly noted.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

“Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.”

Frank O'Hara book Meditations in an Emergency (book)

Source: Mayakovsky, st. 4, from Meditations in an Emergency (1957).

Beauty, Thinking, Laughter, Tree

“Riches seem to come to the poor in spirit, the poor in interest and joy. To put it straight - the very rich are a poor bunch of bastards”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Joy

“Do you find coming to terms with the mindless tedium of it all presents an interesting challenge?”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.”

Drew Barrymore (1975) American actress, director and producer

Variant: In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.

Life, Pain, Motivational, For women

“Chasing after a guy who’s not interested in you will rip the hell out of your self-respect. Better to face facts now because the longer you put it off, the harder it’ll be.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Call Me Irresistible

Guy, Hell

“If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

Personality

“Maryse: I am fighting for a better world for myself and my son.
Magnus: I have no interest in the world you want or in your doubteless repellent brat, I might add.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Last Stand of the New York Institute

World, Fight

“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Variant: It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Source: The Alchemist

Life, Dreams, Motivational, Deep

“I am no poet. I do not love words for the sake of words. I love words for what they can accomplish. Similarly, I am no arithmetician. Numbers that speak only of numbers are of little interest to me.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Love

“I'm only interested in poetry.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966

“It is always of interest to know what strikes another human being as remarkable.”

Graham Greene book The Ministry of Fear

Source: The Ministry of Fear

“Dempseys are never in trouble. We just have stretches of life that are more interesting than others.”

Jennifer Crusie (1949) American writer

Source: Faking It

Life

“The knowledge of the cross brings a conflict of interest between God who has become man and man who wishes to become God.”

Jürgen Moltmann (1926) German Reformed theologian

Source: The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology

God, Knowledge

“You have an interesting set of morals," he observed. "Breaking out of jail is okay. But steal a car, and you sound totally outraged.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Cars

“It was like wondering how evil had come into the world or what happens to a person after he dies: an interesting philosophical exercise, but also curiously pointless, since evil and death happened, regardless of the why and the how and what-it-meant.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Source: Horns

Death, World, Exercises, Evil

“Nobody would stay interested in me if I was normal”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

“… and that, in the end, the most interesting people always leave.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

People

“In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.”

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer

"A First Word" A Backward Glance http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200271.txt (1934)

Happiness, Way, Change, Past

“I flip ahead in the textbook. There's an interesting chapter about acid rain. Nothing about sex. We aren't scheduled to learn about that until eleventh grade.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Sex, Learning

“Time will generally lessen the interest of every attachment not within the daily circle.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Time

“Learning should take place when it is needed, when the learner is interested, not according to some arbitrary, fixed schedule”

Donald A. Norman (1935) American academic

Source: Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things

Learning

“You must understand the following: In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious.”

Robert Greene book Mastery

Source: Mastery

Love, Feeling, Understanding

“It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (1954) Canadian author

Source: The Invitation

Dreams, Heart

“Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is.”

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men

Source: Of Mice and Men

Guy

“I am not a snob; it is simply that I am not interested with what most people have to say, or what they want to do — mostly with my time.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

People, Time

“He could not stand. It was not
That he could not thrive, he was born
With everything but the will –
That can be deformed, just like a limb.
Death was more interesting to him.
Life could not get his attention.”

Ted Hughes (1930–1998) English poet and children's writer

Life, Death

“If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen… A great lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting--only the deeply personal and familiar.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Personality

“I could read the great books but the great books don't interest me.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: The Last Night of the Earth Poems

Books, Reading

“It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fifty words used in correct context - no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Learning

“One thing I've learnt recently: how to think nothing. Here's the trick: don't have any interest in the world around you, don't have any hope for the future, and be warm.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

World, Hope, Thinking, Future

“What keeps me interested--and it always does--is how can she be a bad actress on film but a good one in reality?”

Bret Easton Ellis book Imperial Bedrooms

Source: Imperial Bedrooms

Reality

“I can become someone else, not out of pressure and desperation, but merely because a new life sounds fun or interesting or joyful.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Damned

Source: Damned

Life

“Beware
At war
Or at peace,
More people die
Of unenlightened self-interest
Than of any other disease”

Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) American science fiction writer

War, People, Disease, Peace

“They [dogs] never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation.”

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English humorist

Dogs, Appearance

“Real solemn history, I cannot be interested in…. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all.”

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist

Women, Men, War, History

“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Life, Happiness, Past, Future

“Maybe she thought the garbage and rocks in your head were interesting. But finally, garbage is garbage and rocks are rocks.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

“Have you ever wondered why Republicans are so interested in encouraging people to volunteer in their communities? It’s because volunteers work for no pay. Republicans have been trying to get people to work for no pay for a long time.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

People, Communication, Time

“I don't have hobbies; hobbies cost money. Interests are quite free.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Money

“Egotist, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Personality

“The moral truth here is obvious: anyone who feels that the interests of a blastocyst just might supersede the interests of a child with a spinal cord injury has had his moral sense blinded by religious metaphysics.”

Sam Harris Letter to a Christian Nation

Source: 2000s, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006), p. 32

Truth, Feeling, Sense

“Life is dangerous. That's what makes it interesting.”

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Source: Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005)

Life

“Abstruse dullness is actually a much more effective shield than is secrecy. For the great disadvantage of secrecy is that it’s interesting.”

David Foster Wallace book The Pale King

Source: The Pale King

“Flawed, we're truly interesting, truly memorable, and yes, truly beautiful.”

Justina Chen (1968) American writer

Source: North of Beautiful

Beauty

“I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.”

Mark Rothko (1903–1970) American painter

1950's Source: Conversations with Artists, Selden Rodman, New York Devin-Adair 1957. p. 93.; reprinted as 'Notes from a conversation with Selden Rodman, 1956', in Writings on Art: Mark Rothko (2006) ed. Miguel López-Remiro p. 119 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=ZdYLk3m2TN4C&pg=PA119 Context: I am not an abstractionist... I am not interested in the relationships of color or form or anything else... I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions — tragedy, ecstasy, doom and so on — and the fact that a lot of people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures show that I communicate those basic human emotions... The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. And if you, as you say, are moved only by their color relationships, then you miss the point!

Color

“However, because they have no actual interests of their own (or if they do, they squelch them in order to fit in) and merely pursue those that they think will look best on their college apps, they're zombies.”

Meg Cabot book Airhead

Source: Airhead

Thinking