Quotes about leave
page 11

“The world is shaped by two things — stories told and the memories they leave behind.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: Dreams of the Compass Rose

“Don't ever leave me again." -Max
I won't. I won't not ever." -Fang”

James Patterson (1947) American author

“I couldn’t leave Total behind.”
“Total?” Iggy asked.
“That’s what his card said,” Angel explained.
“Totally a mutant dog who will probably turn on us and kill us in our sleep,” Fang said.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Dogs, Angels, Sleep

“I played a role. That is what actors do. But I played it too well. I went too far. And by the time I wanted to stop, to take a bow and leave the stage, it was too late.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

Time

“We've been wed more than a month. Since it appears you mean to stay, I might as well give you leave to call me by my christian name. It is preferable, at any rate, to 'clodpole.”

Loretta Chase book Lord of Scoundrels

Source: Lord of Scoundrels

Wedding, Appearance

“V?" Butch said. "Don't leave, okay?"
"Never." V brushed Butch's hair back with a gesture so tender it was out of place coming from a male.”

Jessica Bird book Lover Revealed

Source: Lover Revealed

“He died that day because his body had served its purpose. His soul had done what it came to do, learned what it came to learn, and then was free to leave.”

Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain

Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain

Soul, Learning

“Love is like cigarettes. It gives you a little pleasure while you're at it, but leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth and a pain in your chest.”

Loraine Despres (1938) Novelist/screen writer

Source: The Southern Belle's Handbook: Sissy LeBlanc's Rules to Live By

Love, Pain, Pleasure

“In all the institutions I try to be present and accountable for all I do and leave undone. I know that eventually I shall have to be present and accountable n the presence of God. I do not wish to be found wanting.”

Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter

Source: Letter to My Daughter

God

“Sometimes I see something so moving I know I’m not supposed to linger. See it and leave. If you stay too long, you wear out the wordless shock. Love it and trust it and leave.”

Don DeLillo Underworld

Source: Underworld

Love

“It is not everyone,' said Elinor, 'who has your passion for dead leaves.”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Passion, Dead

“Magnus had heard the story of how the Nephilim were created many times. They must have forgotten to leave out the bit that said: And the Angel descended from on high and gave his chosen ones fantastic abs.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Course of True Love [and First Dates]

Angels, Time

“If death is your lover, you don't got to be afraid ever that he will ever leave you”

Francesca Lia Block book Echo

Source: Echo

Death, Lovers

“A little too abstract, a little too wise,
It is time for us to kiss the earth again,
It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies,
Let the rich life run to the roots again.”

Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) American poet

Source: The Selected Poetry

Life, Kiss, Time

“There's the story, then there's the real story, then there's the story of how the story came to be told. Then there's what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.”

Margaret Atwood book MaddAddam

Source: MaddAddam

Parting

“Now, leave."
All three boys slumped forward. Percy fell face-first into his pizza.
"Percy!" Annabeth grabbed him.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Boy

“They (mothers-in-law) never leave when they say they will. When my mother-in-law visits, the mice throw themselves at the cat, begging to be eaten.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Married By Morning

Law, Cats

“All you have to do to educate a child is leave him alone and teach him to read. The rest is brainwashing.”

Ellen Gilchrist (1935) Fiction writer, poet

Education, Reading

“So you want me to go to a human orgy, where I will not be welcome, and you want us to leave before I get to enjoy myself? ~Eric Northman”

Charlaine Harris book Living Dead in Dallas

Source: Living Dead in Dallas

“A gentle breeze catches in the branches then and I hear it, soft and low, a murmured prayer--Gem-ma, Gem-ma--and then the leaves bend down and trail delicate fingers across my cold cheeks.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

“Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. The bridge was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign. The car fell a hundred feet into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feathery with new leaves, then burst into flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom. Chunks of the bridge fell on top of it. Nothing much was left but charred smithereens.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin (2000) first lines

War, Cars, Sister

“A woman's got one life: She's got to reach out and grab it with both hands, or it'll pass her by and leave nothing but a smelly old fart in her face.”

Robin Schone (1954) American writer

Source: Scandalous Lovers

Life

“Unforgiveness denies the victim the possibility of parole and leaves them stuck in the prison of what was, incarcerating them in their trauma and relinquishing the chance to escape beyond the pain.”

T.D. Jakes (1957) American bishop

Pain, Chance

“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Color, Light

“Everyone had a forever, but given a choice, this would be mine. The one that began in this moment, with Wes, in a kiss that took my breath away, then gave it back - leaving me astounded, amazed, and most of all, alive.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Kiss

“I simply believe that a book has a journey to make, and should not be condemned to being stuck on a shelf… Let’s leave our books free to travel, then, to be touched by other hands, and enjoyed by other eyes.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Books, Travel

“Don't leave yet," he said, his voice hoarse. "Let me do something. Let me feed you. Hold you. Rub your shoulders. Change your oil. Anything, please.”

Robyn Carr American writer

Source: Sunrise Point

Change

“As the future ripens in the past,
so the past rots in the future --
a terrible festival of dead leaves.”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

Source: Poems of Akhmatova

Past, Future, Dead

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

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

People

“There are more than two chances– many more. I know now, after fifty years, that the finding/losing, forgetting/remembering, leaving/returning, never stops. The whole of life is about another chance, and while we are alive, till the very end, there is always another chance.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? (2011), p.38
Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Life, Chance, Forgetting

“The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”

Kazuo Ishiguro book Never Let Me Go

Source: Never Let Me Go

Happiness, People, Way, Understanding

“The inability to live in the present lies in the fear of leaving the sheltered position of anticipation or memory, and so of admitting that this is the only life that one is ever likely (heavenly intervention aside) to live.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: On Love

Life, Fear, Memory

“The woman wears a floral print blouse with lots of leaves and pink flowers. Risa would like to attack her with a weed whacker.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

Flowers

“Rae burned me. She has matches or something. Look, look…" Tori pulled down the collar of her T-shirt.
"Leave your cloths on, Tori," Simon said, raising his hands to his eyes. "Please.”

Kelley Armstrong book The Summoning

Source: The Summoning

Clothes

“And though the coldness I have always felt leaves me, the numbness doesn't and probably never will. this relationship will probably lead to nothing… this didn't change anything. I imagine her smelling clean, like tea…”

Bret Easton Ellis book American Psycho

Source: American Psycho

Imagination, Change, Tea

“Your children will smash your understanding, knowledge and reality. You will be better off. Then they will leave. You'll miss them forever.”

Tibor Kalman (1949–1999) American graphic designer

Children, Understanding, Knowledge, Reality

“You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town”

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

Source: Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

“And see the peaceful trees extend
their myriad leaves in leisured dance—
they bear the weight of sky and cloud
upon the fountain of their veins.”

Kathleen Raine (1908–2003) poet, critic, translator

Peace, Tree, Dance

“How did you find me here?
If I was blind, I would see you.
Stay with me.
Forever. That's the whole point. I'll never leave. Not even if you kill me.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

“The leaves had fallen from the trees and lay crisp and crackling beneath his feet. Picking one up he marveled, not for the first time, at the perfection of nature where leaves were most beautiful at the very end of their lives.”

Louise Penny book The Brutal Telling

Source: The Brutal Telling

Beauty, Nature, Tree, Time

“As one, they leap, laughing, and that is where we leave them - mouths open, arms spread wide, fingers splayed to take in the whole world, bodies flying high in defiance of gravity, as if they will never fall.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Source: Beauty Queens

World, Flying

“There was something I wanted, something I envisioned, loving parents, a happy home with everyone smiling at me. A home that no one would ever want to leave, a warm place, a warm person. It exists, I know it does”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Love, Happiness, Smile, Home

“To live is to have worries and uncertainties. Keep them inside, and they will destroy you for certain--leaving behind a person so callused that emotion can find no root in his heart.”

Brandon Sanderson Elantris

Source: Elantris

Heart, Personality

“I will follow you — until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you for the rest of my life.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: I am going to sit here with you by the river. If you go home to sleep, I will sleep in front of your house. And if you go away, I will follow you — until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you for the rest of my life.

Love, Life

“Before leaving my room
i turn, and (stooping
through the morning) kiss
this pillow, dear
where our heads lived and were.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Kiss

“If truth is what you seek, then the examined life will only take you on a long ride to the limits of solitude and leave you by the side of the road with your truth and nothing else.”

Thomas Ligotti (1953) American horror author

Source: The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

Life, Truth, Solitude

“I have tried to be a man of letters in love with ideas in order to be a wiser and more loving person, hoping to leave the world just a little better than I found it.”

Cornel West (1953) African-American philosopher and political/civil rights activist

Source: The Cornel West Reader

Love, World, Hope, Idea

“The crime of suicide lies rather in its disregard for the feelings of those whom we leave behind.”

E.M. Forster book Howards End

Source: Howards End

Feeling, Suicide

“The front door shut, leaving Alec sitting in the half-lit garden, alone. He closed his eyes for a moment, the image of a face hovering behind his lids. Not Jace's face, for a change. The eyes set in the face were green, slit-pupiled. Cat eyes.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Cats, Change

“I thought I wouldn't live through it. But you do. You learn to love the place somebody leaves behind for you.”

Barbara Kingsolver book Prodigal Summer

Source: Prodigal Summer

Love, Learning

“Drive down any road,

take a train or an airplane
across the world, leave
your old life behind,

die and be born again~
wherever you arrive
they'll be there first,

glossy and rowdy
and indistinguishable.
The deep muscle of the world.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

Life, World, Training

“I'm leaving!" she said, with, in her opinion, great drama and resolve.
But he just answered her with a sly half smile, and said, "I'm following."
And the bloody man remained two strides behind her the entire way home.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: An Offer From a Gentleman

Smile, Way, Home

“It's much easier to not know things sometimes. Things change and friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Variant: Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody.
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Life, Change, Sad

“You can't exist in this world without leaving a piece of yourself behind.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts

World

“Sometimes tradition and habit are just that, comfortable excuses to leave things be, even when they are unjust and unworthy. Sometimes--not often, but sometimes--the cranks and radicals turn out to be right. Sometimes Everyone is wrong.”

Matthew Scully (1959) American political writer and speechwriter

Source: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

“Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: Keep a Quiet Heart

“At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.”

Alan Alda (1936) actor and United States Army officer

Time

“Despite everything, I can’t bear the thought of this ring being lost forever, any more than I can bear the thought of leaving you forever. And though I have no choice about the one, at least I can choose about the other.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“Sometimes leaving is the only thing you can do.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“I shook my head and turned away, unable to hear this. “I’m leaving now. I really don’t want to see you again. Nothing personal. Well, yeah, actually it is.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Storm Born

Personality

“A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself.”

John Muir book My First Summer in the Sierra

Terry Gifford, EWDB, pages 243-244
Source: 1860s, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1869

Life, God, Music, Tree

“They were always like two people talking to each other in different languages. But she loved him so much, when he withdrew as he had now done, it was like the warm sun going down and leaving her in chilly twilight dews.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Love, People, Sun

“It wasn't torpor that kept her - she was often restless to the point of irritability. She simply liked to feel that she was prevented from leaving, that she was needed.”

Ian McEwan book Atonement

Source: Atonement

Feeling

“If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy.”

Charles Manson (1934–2017) American criminal and musician

Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C6K0umwZwo by Diane Sawyer (1994)

“When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse”

Theodore Dreiser book Sister Carrie

Source: Sister Carrie

Home, Girl

“To be left behind… or to leave behind. I wonder which hurts more.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 16

Hurt

“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

Life, Past

“I am a coward, damn you! I couldna tell ye, for fear ye would leave me, and unmanly thing that I am, I thought I couldna bear that!”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Fear

“It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. You can let go of the sword."
"I can’t. I can’t leave him alone. I have to protect him."
"You have.”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

“I felt lethal, on the verge of frenzy. My nightly bloodlust overflowed into my days and I had to leave the city. My mask of sanity was a victim of impending slippage. This was the bone season for me and I needed a vacation.”

Bret Easton Ellis book American Psycho

Source: American Psycho

Season

“Detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That’s how you are able to leave it.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

“Then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A Paradise within thee, happier far.”

John Milton book Paradise Lost

Source: Paradise Lost

“There's the life you live and the life you leave behind. but what you share with someone else - especially someone you love - that's not just how you bury your past. It's how you write you future.”

Brad Meltzer book The Book of Lies

Source: The Book of Lies

Love, Life, Past, Future

“Plus her mom was so awesome. She was strict about some things—don’t leave your socks lying around—but so not strict about other things, like calling the cops about my bullet wound.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Lying, Moms

“I wanted to touch him like he was a bunny, a kitten, something so special and soft your fingertips can’t leave it alone.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Source: We Were Liars

“It goes without saying that a civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”

Sigmund Freud book The Future of an Illusion

Es braucht nicht gesagt zu werden, daß eine Kultur, welche eine so große Zahl von Teilnehmern unbefriedigt läßt und zur Auflehnung treibt, weder Aussicht hat, sich dauernd zu erhalten, noch es verdient.
Source: 1920s, The Future of an Illusion (1927)

“I could never leave,' Pine Sap said.
'Why?' she asked.
Pine Sap shrugged, and gestured in the direction of the village. 'Because I think people must be the same everywhere. Only these people are my bones.”

Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Tiger Lily

People, Thinking

“I stopped. She was bleeding after all. Perfect lines crossed her wrists, not near any crucial veins, but enough to leave wet red tracks across her skin. She hadn; t hit her veins when she did this; death hadn't been her goal.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

Death, Perfection

“After all, a woman didn't leave much behind in the world to show she'd been there. Even the children she bore and raised got their father's name. But her quilts, now that was something she could pass on.”

Sandra Dallas American writer

Children, World

“I wonder what it will be like when I leave this place.”