Quotes about likeness
page 89

“He'd probably been born with abs. Some were born with abs, some achieved abs, and some - like Simon - had abs thrust upon them by cruel instructors.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Bitter of Tongue

“The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Learning

“They dismissed me as a peasant, I dismissed them as shallow, and we were all happy like that.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Happiness

“Translators are like ninjas. If you notice them, they’re no good.”

Etgar Keret (1967) Israeli and polish writer and screenwriter

“Jace, on the other hand, looked like the sort of boy who'd come over to your house and burn it down for kicks.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Boy, Housing

“He was a guy who talked with commas, like a heavy novel. Over the phone anyway.”

Raymond Chandler book The Long Goodbye

Source: The Long Goodbye

Guy

“Forgiveness, reader, is, I think, something very much like hope and love - a powerful, wonderful thing.
And a ridiculous thing, too.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

Love, Hope, Forgiveness, Thinking

“I feel the terror of idleness,
like a red thirst.
Death isn't just an idea.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Death, Feeling, Idea

“So this was the rest of his life. It felt like a party to which he'd been invited, but at an address he couldn't actually locate. Someone must be having fun at it, this life of his; only, right at the moment, it wasn't him.”

Margaret Atwood book Oryx and Crake

Source: Oryx and Crake

Life

“When we define the Photograph as a motionless image, this does not mean only that the figures it represents do not move; it means that they do not (i)emerge(i), do not (i)leave(i): they are anesthetized and fastened down, like butterflies.”

Roland Barthes (1915–1980) French philosopher, critic and literary theorist

Source: Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

“Palindrome as well. My sister's name is Hannah. Father liked word games. He was fourteen times World Scrabble Champion. When he died, we buried him at Queenzieburn to make use of the triple word score.”

Jasper Fforde book The Big Over Easy

Source: The Big Over Easy

World, Game, Sister, Time

“Even from the beginning, that was the problem. People liked pretty things. People even liked pretty things that wanted to kill and eat them.”

Holly Black book The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Source: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

People, Problem

“I'm liking that I can throw any kind of sentence at her without worrying it's too out there.”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“Then all this became history.
Your hand found mine.
Life rushed to my fingers like a blood clot.
Oh, my carpenter,
the fingers are rebuilt.
They dance with yours.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

Life, History, Dance

“Isn't life strange? There are people who have so many leftover clothes they can't stuff them all in their wardrobe. And then there are people like me, whose socks never match.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Life, People, Clothes

“Tell me about our legal issues. And use small words. I don't like to think at this hour of the morning. It hurts."

~Leo to Merripen”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Married By Morning

Thinking, Hurt

“Seventy-six years old," she whispers, "and I can still feel like this? Like a little girl with stars in my eyes?”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

Feeling, Girl, Star

“As a lamp, a cataract, a star in space
an illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble
a dream, a cloud, a flash of lightning
view all created things like this.”

Red Pine (1943) American author, poet, and translator of poetry

Source: The Diamond Sutra

Dreams, Star

“Am I odd? Is there something wrong with me, like Mrs. Tifton Said?"

Skye knelt down on the wet grass and looked straight into Batty's eyes. "No you stupid idiot, there's nothing wrong. with you.”

Jeanne Birdsall (1951) American children's writer

Source: The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

Stupidity, Grass

“What I want is for both of us to feel safe. What you and I have together shouldn't be draining us like this. It should be the one rock-solid thing we both count on.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Reflected in You

Feeling

“It'll be hard, but life moves fast-we'll see each other again. I know that. I can feel that. Just like I can feel how much you care for me and how much I love you”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Love, Life, Feeling

“The visions are fragmented and a dark cloud spreads like spilt ink across the pages of possible futures.”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

Source: Lirael

Future

“Sometimes it feels like the whole world is conspiring to destroy my house… "
- Shigure Sohma”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 2

World, Feeling, Housing

“If you keep wiggling, things might get uncomfortable,” he said into my ear, his voice like a caress. “I’m doing my best, but thinking about baseball only takes you so far.” I froze.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

Thinking

“Those faces you see every day on the streets were not created entirely without hope: be kind to them: like you they have not escaped.”

Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Hope

“I know I can't tell you what it's like to be gay. But I can tell you what it's not. It's not hiding behind words, Mama. Like family and decency and Christianity.”

Armistead Maupin (1944) American writer

Family

“I am nothing but a bundle of nerves dressed up to look like a man.”

Wilkie Collins book The Woman in White

Volume II [Tauchnitz,
Source: The Woman in White (1859)

“I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.”

Kristin Hannah book The Nightingale

Source: The Nightingale

Parting

“What's that?" he asked, when I stood beside him again.

"Halos," I said with a grin. "For heavenly creatures like us."

"That might be a stretch.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

“We can't any of us do all we would like, but we can do our best for every case that comes to us, and that helps amazingly.”

Louisa May Alcott book An Old-Fashioned Girl

Source: An Old-Fashioned Girl

Help

“Never offer your heart
to someone who eats hearts
who finds heartmeat
delicious
but not rare
who sucks the juices
drop by drop
and bloody-chinned
grins
like a God.”

Alice Walker (1944) American author and activist

God, Heart

“Act out being alive, like a play. And after a while, a long while, it will be true.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“She even touches Jimmy's face on the photos, and I see what it is to love someone like Milla loved that man. Her fingertips are made of love.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Source: I Am the Messenger

Love, Photo

“The storm had now definitely abated, and what thunder there was now grumbled over more distant hills, like a man saying 'And another thing…' twenty minutes after admitting he'd lost the argument.”

Douglas Adams book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Source: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Distant

“Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence.”

Washington Irving (1783–1859) writer, historian and diplomat from the United States

Source: Old Christmas: From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving

Happiness, Smile, Light

“And the air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. Big Things lurk unsaid inside.”

Arundhati Roy book The God of Small Things

Source: The God of Small Things

Time

“Yeah, I know, but word came from Artemis herself that she wanted him here. Looks like we’re having a psycho reunion this week…Oh wait, it’s Mardi Gras. Duh. (Talon)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Night Embrace

Source: Night Embrace

Waiting

“Does koala bear poop smell like cough drops?”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume

“Tatiana, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you like I’ve never loved anyone in my whole life. Now, get up. For me, Tatia. For me, please get up and go take care of your sister. Go on. And I’ll take care of you.” His lips kissed her cheek.”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Source: The Bronze Horseman

Love, Life, Kiss, Sister

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"…
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”

Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden

Source: The Secret Garden

Spring, Sun

“I must say, I rather like the way you manage Will.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Way

“People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

People, Anger

“Audrey had an angelic quality about her. She didn't act like she was better than everyone, she just had a presence, an energy, a sort of light coming from within her that was overwhelming.”

Kevyn Aucoin (1962–2002) American make-up artist and photographer

Angels, Light

“I think that men ought to treat women like something other than weaker men with breasts.”

Jim Butcher book Storm Front

Source: Storm Front

Women, Men, Thinking

“All I know is this: nobody's very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everybody else down.”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Life, Tear

“Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys.”

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-British writer

Variant: Gossip is what no one claims to like – but everybody enjoys.

“When chickens get to live like chickens, they'll taste like chickens, too.”

Michael Pollan book The Omnivore's Dilemma

Source: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

“It’s fun to think of the what-if. Scary, but fun. It’s like, I thought this door was closed before, but here it is open just the tiniest crack. What if?”

Jenny Han book To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Thinking

“A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

“Don't you long for something different to happen, something so exciting and new it carries you along with it like a great tide, something that lets your life blaze and burn so the whole world can see it?”

Juliet Marillier book Son of the Shadows

Source: Son of the Shadows

Life, World

“If the guy likes/loves you, he won't care if you are a good kisser or not.
He should like you for what you are - not how you kiss.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Princess in Love

Love, Guy, Kiss

“Life isn’t like the movies. People don’t change overnight. people don’t go from arrogant and self-righteous to ashamed and remorseful. They don’t suddenly give in when they’ve spent years taking out. No doesn’t magically become a Yes.”

Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979) contemporary Australian writer of novels for young adults

Source: Does My Head Look Big In This?

Life, People, Change

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.”

John Osborne (1929–1994) English playwright

Quoted in Time magazine, October 31, 1977. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,945814,00.html <br class="br">Also attributed to Christopher Hampton by the Sunday Times Magazine (16 October 1977)

Dogs, Feeling, Thinking

“He's like Super Librarian, y'know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the ultimate weapon.”

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

Knowledge, Forgetting

“But just let me tell you something, son, a woman's love is like the morning dew, it's just as apt to settle on a horse turd as it is on a rose. So you better just get over it.”

Larry McMurtry (1936) American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter

Source: Leaving Cheyenne

Love, Horse

“Felicity and I watch the dancers moving as one. They spin about like the earth on it's axis, enduring the dark, waiting for the sun.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

Waiting, Sun

“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”

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

Life

“He was like me - a kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying.”

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

“It’s been a full week since she left and all you’ve done is sulk like a dying cow. (Kish)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

“If suffering like hers had any use, she reasoned, it was not to the sufferer. The only way that an individual's pain gained meaning was through its communication to others.”

Diane Wood Middlebrook (1939–2007) biographer

Source: Anne Sexton: A Biography

Pain, Way, Communication, Suffering

“The Queen's Pride was his ship, and he loved her. (That was the way his sentences always went: It is raining today and I love you. My cold is better and I love you. Say hello to Horse and I love you. Like that.)”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Love, Way, Horse

“Some days simply lay on you like stones. Some were fickle as cats, sliding away when you needed comfort, then coming back later when you didn’t want them, jostling at you, stealing your breath.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Cats

“… in that drunken place
you would
like to hand your heart to her
and say
touch it
but then
give it back.”

Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Heart

“And that, my young friends, is the story of our country, one invader after another. Macedonians. Sassanians. Arabs. Mongols. Now the Soviets. But we're like those walls up there. Battered, and nothing pretty to look at, but still standing.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Cab Driver, p. 146
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

Country

“Come on outside when youʹre done,ʺ I told her. ʺItʹs like the barbecue of the damned. Except… thereʹs no grill.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

“We're fine together, just like this: Our silence protects us from ourselves”

Yasmina Khadra (1955) Algerian writer

Source: The Attack

Silence

“Lies are neither bad nor good. Like a fire they can either keep you warm or burn you to death, depending on how they're used.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Death, Dependency

“Doreen had intuition. Everything she said was like a secret voice speaking straight out of my own bones.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

Secret

“But… as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse--a lot worse-- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Learning, Time

“Anxiety's like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you very far.”

Jodi Picoult book Sing You Home

Source: Sing You Home

“I like the idea of being whoever I want to be.”

Dita Von Teese (1972) American burlesque dancer, model and actress

Variant: I've always loved the idea of not being what people expect me to be.

Idea

“I worry that Jesus drinks himself to sleep when he hears me talk like this.”

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

Drink, Sleep

“I'll tell you something,' she said. 'I'm not sure I ever really liked him.'

Adam?' I said. 'I don't blame you.' 'Not Adam,' she said, struggling to swallow a greedily chomped chunk. 'God.”

Glen Duncan book I, Lucifer

Source: I, Lucifer

God

“Summer bachelors like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be.”

Nora Ephron (1941–2012) Film director, author screenwriter

Summer

“With their hands clasped like children in a fairy tale, she fell asleep beside him in the dark.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Children

“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Sun

“There's a gift in your lap and it's beautifully wrapped and it's not your birthday. You feel wonderful, you feel like somebody knows you're alive, you feel fear because it could be a bomb, because you think you're that important.”

Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt

Fear, Feeling, Birthday, Thinking

“Wandering between two worlds, one dead,
The other powerless to be born,
With nowhere yet to rest my head,
Like these, on earth I wait forlorn.”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse (1855)

World, Waiting, Dead

“I’d never seen anything like it. First a trial, then a few murders, then dancing. Life goes on. Or, in this case, death continues.”

Charlaine Harris (1951) American writer

Life, Death, Dance

“As life goes on it becomes tiring to keep up the character you invented for yourself, and so you relapse into individuality and become more like yourself everyday.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

Source: An Autobiography

Life

“If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper…”

Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) British writer

Source: Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder

Summer

“Man, it was a good thing he fought like a nasty bastard or he might have been taken for a nancy.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Awakened

“Lots of men are like that, their artistic leanings never go beyond a weakness for shapely thighs.”

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

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

Men

“I like to write when I feel spiteful. It is like having a good sneeze."

(, November 1913)”

D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter

Source: Letters

Feeling

“It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 6
Context: The registration read: Carmen Sternwood, 3765 Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood. I went back to my car again and sat and sat. The top dripped on my knees and my stomach burned from the whiskey. No more cars came up the hill. No lights went on in the house before which I was parked. It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.

“Sophie, honey, stop looking at me like that,” Garrett said gruffly. “You’ll have me convinced I’m going to die.”
“You’re not?”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: No Place to Run