Quotes about making
page 50

“I'm sorry,' he says simply. 'People make mistakes, Gemma. We take the wrong action for the right reasons, and the right action for the wrong reasons.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

People

“Only love can heal the wounds of the past. However, the intensity of our woundedness often leads to a closing of the heart, making it impossible for us to give or receive the love that is given to us.”

Bell Hooks book All About Love: New Visions

Source: All About Love: New Visions

Love, Past, Heart

“Why are they going to disappear him?'
I don't know.'
It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar.”

Joseph Heller book Catch-22

Source: Catch-22

Sense

“But I don't believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel.”

Gloria Naylor (1950–2016) American writer

Life, Feeling

“A good story should make you laugh, and a moment later break your heart.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Source: Stranger than Fiction

Heart

“I don't like this world. I definitely do not like it. The society in which I live disgusts
me; advertising sickens me; computers make me puke.”

Michel Houellebecq book Whatever

Source: Whatever

World

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

God

“I repent me of the ignorance wherein I ever said that God made man out of nothing: there is no nothing out of which to make anything; God is all in all, and he made us out of himself.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Source: Wind from the Stars

God

“If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.”

Robert Jordan The Fires of Heaven

Birgitte Silverbow
Variant: If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.
Source: The Fires of Heaven (15 October 1993)

Smile

“Sorry. I have technical difficulties making it through a room without bumping into something. Thank God my clumsiness is only restricted to the ground. I’d probably kill myself diving if I was this bad underwater. (Tory)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

God

“Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.”

Pete Seeger (1919–2014) American folk singer

Fools

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, "Make me feel important." Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.”

Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) Entrepreneur

Life, Feeling, Personality, Motivational

“Grieving doesn't make you imperfect. It makes you human.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

“All you have the right to ask of life is to choose a battle in this war, make the best you can, and leave the field with honor.”

Leon Uris (1924–2003) American novelist

Life, War

“Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.”

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

16 August 1925
Enough Rope (1926)

Men, Girl

“I will find you," Ragnor told him. "I will find whatever chest of absurd clothes you have. And I will bring a llama into the place where you sleep and make sure that it urinates on everything you possess.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: What Really Happened in Peru

Sleep, Clothes

“It's me," said Jace. "Watching me play Scrabble is enough to make most women swoon. Imagine if I actually put in some effort.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Variant: It’s me,” said Jace. “Watching me play Scrabble is enough to make most women swoon. Imagine if I actually put in some effort.
Source: City of Lost Souls

Women, Imagination, Effort

“Then Alec had smiled at one of Magnus’s jokes, and the smile had lit a lamp in his solemn face, making his blue eyes brilliant, and briefly taking Magnus’s breath away”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything

Smile

“I tried to hold myself apart, showing only what I wanted, doling out bits and pieces of who I was. But that only works out for so long. Eventually, even the smallest fragments can't help but, make a whole.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Help

“I laid it all out for him: Eliza believes in me, she moves me, and she's moved BY me. She makes me happy, she makes me sad, she makes me try harder, she makes me laugh, and she makes me feel like I can fly. Isn't that the goddamn definition of Love?”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Love, Happiness, Sadness, Feeling

“There are men you build a future with, Dani. And then there are men that you know, going in, that you're only making a memory with. I know the difference
.. Some memories are worth the price. I'll deal with it.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Iced

Men, Memory, Future

“You can indulge your righteous rage but the things it comes out of are pretty cheap. The trick is to make yourself an instrument of your own policy. Whether you like it or not, that's the highest effectiveness man has achieved.”

Norman Mailer book The Naked and the Dead

Source: The Naked and the Dead

Rage

“Tally smiled. At least she was causing trouble to the end. "I'm Tally Youngblood," she said. "make me pretty.”

Scott Westerfeld book Uglies

Source: Uglies

Smile

“Don’t ever make the mistake of telling God that you have nothing to offer. That simply is not true. God does not create any junk.”

Myles Munroe (1954–2014) Bahamian Evangelical Christian minister

Source: The Purpose and Power of Love & Marriage

God

“making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Dreams, Decision, Strong

“Digestion of words as well; I often read aloud to myself in my writing corner in the library, where no one can hear me, for the sake of better savouring the text, so as to make it all the more mine.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: The Library at Night

Reading

“Being a doctor at Johns Hopkins does not make me any better in God's sight than the individual who has not had the opportunity to gain such an education but who still works hard.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

God, Education

“The big companies are like steel and activists are like heat. Activists soften the steel, and then I can bend it into pretty grillwork and make reforms.”

Temple Grandin (1947) USA-american doctor of animal science, author, and autism activist

Source: Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

“Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega?
-No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so.”

Isabel Allende book Zorro

Source: Zorro

Life

“Do you mind not being so kind and obedient? It makes me nervous.”

Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011) English children's fantasy writer

Source: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. 1

“It's easy to mistake understanding for empathy - we want empathy so badly. Maybe learning to make that distinction is part of growing up. It's hard and ugly to know somebody can understand you without even liking you.”

Thomas Harris book Hannibal

Variant: I think it's easy to mistake understanding for empathy - we want empathy so badly. Maybe learning to make that distinction is part of growing up. It's hard and ugly to know somebody can understand you without even liking you.
Source: Hannibal

Understanding, Learning, Parting

“I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

“Rejection, though--it could make the loss of someone you weren't even that crazy about feel gut wrenching and world ending.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Secret Life of Prince Charming

World, Feeling, Loss

“I want to make a difference with people who want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

People

“You know, I really hate Romans, but I have to say their descendants make one fine automobile. (Kyrian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Night Pleasures

Source: Night Pleasures

Hate

“… when your heart changes, you change, and you have to make new plans.”

Katherine Hannigan (1962) American artist and novelist

Source: Ida B. . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World

Change, Heart

“Maybe innocence makes its way easiest through the elemental chaos of this world…”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

World, Way

“My doctrine is this, that if we see
cruelty or wrong that we have the
power to stop, and do nothing, we
make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

Anna Sewell book Black Beauty

Source: Black Beauty (1877), Ch. XXXVIII, p. 192

“I know I have to stop. We all have to stop. Funny how knowing something's a bad idea doesn't make a difference.”

Sara Ryan (1971) American writer

Source: The Rules for Hearts

Idea

“the beautiful are found in the edge of a room
crumpled into spiders and needles and silence
and we can never understand why they
left, they were so
beautiful.

they dont make it,
the beautiful die young
and leave the ugly to their ugly lives.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Beauty, Understanding, Silence

“Start making excuses and there's no end to it. I can't live that kind of life.”

Haruki Murakami book South of the Border, West of the Sun

Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun

Life

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.”

Jack Kornfield (1945) American writer

Source: Buddha's Little Instruction Book

Peace

“Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand, and what you've been up there searching for forever, is in your hands. When you figure out love is all that matters after all it sure makes everything else seem so small.”

Carrie Underwood (1983) American country music singer

Love, Search, Mountain

“And I could always set Coach Hedge on fire,” Leo volunteered. “Then he can be fire.” The thought of a blazing satyr screaming, “Die, scumbag!” as he attacked Gaea was almost enough to make Piper laugh— almost.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

“Relationship Principle 6
Men see how you dress, and then make assumptions about your relationship potential.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart

Men

“Yes, there's one thing I do want. I want to be aware of the minutes and the seconds, and to make each one count.”

Jacqueline Susann book Valley of the Dolls

Source: Valley of the Dolls

“What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently: "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book A Study in Scarlet

Source: A Study in Scarlet

Sun

“It was…the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make.
In every way, a walk to remember.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Landon Carter, Chapter 13, p. 237
Source: 1990s, A Walk to Remember (1999)

Way

“Dogs make sense. They understand hierarchy and the need to cooperate. They come when you call them. A cat though—a cat will take your number and get back to you. Maybe. If he’s in a good mood.”

Eileen Wilks Mortal Danger

Source: Mortal Danger

Dogs, Cats, Mood, Understanding

“The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don't know.

If you care about something enough, it's going to make you cry. But you have to use it. Use your tears. Use your pain. Use your fear. Get mad.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Pain, World, Fear, Tear

“Let me make sure I have this straight. The cavalry just now rode into town and it's a Czech Gypsy porn-star zombie killer. Have I got that right?”

Richard Kadrey (1957) San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer

Source: Kill the Dead

Star

“But if we’re going to kill them all, we might as well make an occasion of it.”
Toshak shrugged. “Do as you wish,” he said. “Occasion or not, as long as they’re all dead, I’m happy.”

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

Source: Erak's Ransom

Happiness, Dead

“Decide what makes you happy and damn what anyone else thinks or says”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Rush

Happiness, Thinking

“There was something about Jace, though, that made her want to push him, crack that shell of cynicism and make him admit her believed something, felt something, cared about anythinng at all.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“Nodding, Cery strode to the door and stepped through. Though the burly guards eyes him suspiciously, Cery smiled back. Never make enemies of someone's lackeys, his father had taught him. Better still, make them like you a lot.”

Trudi Canavan book The Magicians' Guild

Source: The Magicians' Guild

Smile

“The demands that good people make are upon themselves;
Those that bad people make are upon others.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

People

“If you cannot love me, I will die. Before you came I wanted to die, I have told you many times. It is cruel to have made me want to live only to make my death more bloody.”

James Baldwin book Giovanni's Room

Source: Giovanni's Room

Love, Death, Time

“Anyone who says that women do not have influence in men's decisions makes a vast and stupid mistake.”

Lisa See book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Source: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Women, Men, Stupidity, Decision

“I sipped my own coffee, heavy on the sugar and cream, trying to make up for the late work the night before. Caffeine and sugar, the two basic food groups.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Cerulean Sins

Source: Cerulean Sins

Food, Coffee, Night

“Science fiction makes the implausible possible, while science fantasy makes the impossible plausible.”

Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter

The Twilight Zone, "The Fugitive" (1962).
The Twilight Zone
Variant: Science fiction is the improbable made possible, and fantasy is the impossible made probable.
Context: It is said that science fiction and fantasy are two different things. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, and fantasy is the impossible made probable.

Science

“Comfort zones are overrated. They make you lazy.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Saving Francesca

“Fiction just makes it all more interesting. Truth is so boring.”

Charlaine Harris book Dead as a Doornail

Source: Dead as a Doornail

Truth

“Once a guy starts using a wig, he has to keep using one. It's, like, his fate. That's why wig makers make such huge profits. I hate to say it, but they're like drug dealers.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Hate, Fate, Guy

“I love arguing with you, Claire. You always surprise me. And occasionally, you even make sense.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ghost Town

Love, Sense

“That, dillop brain, is what getting close to the Darke does. It makes you think only of yourself. It takes you away from people you care about. And now you don't have anyone to talk to and it serves you right.”

Angie Sage book Darke

Source: Darke

People, Thinking

“Screw reality. It don’t feed my dog. It don’t make my Porsche payments. It don’t get me laid. Bullshit does that…and I like it that way. (Leo)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dark Side of the Moon

Dogs, Way, Reality

“You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.”

Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher

Variant: You can never get enough of what you don’t really need.

Happiness

“The life of the individual has meaning only insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful. Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate.”

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

Life, Beauty

“When you make a solemn promise to a friend, it ain't right to go back on it. No. Never let your friend down, never break a trust, and when you give your word, never go back on it.

-Sheriff Andy Taylor”

Lauren Myracle (1969) American children's writer

Source: Bliss

“my 6 foot goddess
makes me laugh
the laughter of the mutilated
who still need
love…

she has saved me
from everything that is
not here”

Charles Bukowski book Love Is a Dog from Hell

Source: Love Is a Dog from Hell

Love, Laughter

“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Crack-Up

Source: Quoted, The Crack-Up (1936)
Context: Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the "impossible," come true.

History, Intelligence, Idea, Time

“He who never makes a mistake, never makes anything.”

Joseph Delaney (1945) British writer

Variant: He who never makes a mistake never makes anything. It's part of learning the job.
Source: Revenge of the Witch

“She had perfect features, with her eye, nose, lips, and ears the right size and in right places. That is all it takes to make people beautiful, normal body parts – yet why does nature mess it up so many times?”

Chetan Bhagat book 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

Source: 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

People, Beauty, Nature, Time

“The heart makes dreams seem like ideas.”

Daniel Woodrell (1953) Novelist

Source: Winter's Bone

Dreams, Idea, Heart

“Nothing,' wrote Tolstoy, 'can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Life, People, Beauty