Quotes about matter
page 13

“You may think it all very fine, Mr. Huntingdon, to amuse yourself with rousing my jealousy; but take care you don't rouse my hate instead. And when you have once extinguished my love, you will find it no easy matter to kindle it again.”

Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XXVII : Misdemeanour; Helen to Arthur

Love, Hate, Jealousy, Thinking

“Nature is so exact, it hurts exactly as much as it is worth, so in a way one relishes the pain, I think. If it didn't matter, it wouldn't matter.”

Julian Barnes (1946) English writer

Source: Levels of Life

Pain, Way, Nature, Thinking

“I turned to speak to God
About the world's despair
But to make bad matters worse
I found God wasn't there.
God turned to speak to me
(Don't anybody laugh)
God found I wasn't there
At least not over half.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

Ten Mills : Not All There
1920s, Further Range (1926)

God, World, Despair

“You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“The warrior (Zsadist) rolled his black eyes. "Come on, man. What does it matter to me? You, Tohr. Britney Spears.”

Jessica Bird book Dark Lover

Source: Dark Lover

“No matter where your interest lies, you will not be able to accomplish anything unless you bring your deepest devotion to it.”

Bashō Matsuo (1644–1694) Japanese poet

“Another thing is no matter how much you think you love somebody, you'll step back when the pool of their blood edges up too close.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Variant: No matter how much you think you love somebody, you'll step back when the pool of their blood edges up too close.
Source: Invisible Monsters

Love, Thinking

“Just by gazing upon her face…
No matter how weary you are,
you will feel happy,
deep inside your heart,
you will feel a warmth
This is a "piece of joy"
This is all the happiness you need.
Normally, we call this "love"…”

Yoshiki Nakamura (1969) Artist

Source: Skip Beat!, Vol. 11

Love, Feeling, Heart, Joy

“Agad bowed to the Fairy Queen. 'You are most wise, your majesty. Some imagine the difference between heaven and hell to be a matter of geography. Not so. The difference is much more evident in the individuals who dwell there.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Keys to the Demon Prison

Imagination, Hell

“If the kingdom of God is not first, it doesn't matter what's second.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

God

“You're a hero and a gentleman, you're kind and honest, but more than that, you're the first man I ever truly loved. And no matter what the future brings, you always will be, and I know that my life is better for it.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Love, Life, Future

“For in other ways a woman is full of fear, defenseless, dreads the sight of cold steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love, no other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood.”

Euripidés Medea

Source: Medea

Love, Fear, Way, Soul

“But I want to feel like life matters. I
had something real with you, but then the realness scared me. I decided to go for other things instead.”

David Levithan Boy Meets Boy

Source: Boy Meets Boy

Life, Feeling

“It’s not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

Love

“Of course, it had to be just a rebound thing. There was no way I was interested in this arrogant, obnoxious jerk. No matter how hot he might be.”

Jenna Black (1965) American writer

Source: Glimmerglass

Jerk, Way

“…was designed to protect his heart, to bind me and bribe me to stay with him no matter what. He was giving everything he had.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

Heart

“Faith is a torment, did you know that? It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call.”

Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Swedish filmmaker

Source: The Seventh Seal

Love, Faith, Appearance

“An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.”

Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) American journalist

Reader’s Digest (May 1979)

“That is what death is like. It doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we would never have war anymore.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
Context: She died in my arms saying, "I don't want to die." That is what death is like. It doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we could never have war anymore. (p. 189)

Death, War

“I've been so ridiculous all my life that a little bit more or a little bit less hardly matters now.”

Jean Rhys book Good Morning, Midnight

Source: Good Morning, Midnight

Life

“no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Variant: It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Source: The Great Gatsby

Past

“I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore.”

George Carlin book Brain Droppings

Source: Brain Droppings

Problem, Country

“And you’ll return to real life. You need to live it to the fullest. No matter how shallow and dull things might get, this life is worth living. I guarantee it.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Life

“If you are a writer you locate yourself behind a wall of silence and no matter what you are doing, driving a car or walking or doing housework — you can still be writing, because you have that space.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

New York Times (27 July 1980)

Cars, Silence

“Because it doesn't matter anymore, and because I'm so desperately lonely I can't stand it.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

“Why is she so stubborn? And disobedient?” Cameron barked a laugh. “Because Mackenzies always choose headstrong women. You didn’t really expect her to obey you, did you? No matter what the marriage vows say?”

Jennifer Ashley (1974) American author

Source: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

Women, Marriage

“But there was only one truth about forever that really mattered, and that was this: it was happening.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Truth

“Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are.”

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) British missionary

Personality

“I think that modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato. In fact the smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the ordinary sense; they are forms, ideas which can be expressed unambiguously only in mathematical language.”

Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist

Das Naturgesetz und die Struktur der Materie (1967), as translated in Natural Law and the Structure of Matter (1981), p. 34

Mathematics, Idea, Thinking, Sense

“Every couple needs to argue now and then. Just to prove that the relationship is strong enough to survive. Long-term relationships, the ones that matter, are all about weathering the peaks and the valleys.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

For Wife, Relationship, Strong, Weather

“Do not tarry, do not stop, no matter what happens.”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

Source: Sabriel

“What's the matter?'' She immediately started laughin. ''What's the mattter? Everything is the matter! Rocks! Trees! Atoms! Even anteaters! Everything is the matter!”

Dan Brown book Angels & Demons

Source: Angels & Demons

Tree

“I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. Then even death, where you're going no matter how you live, cannot you part.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

Source: Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Death, Thinking, Parting

“In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.”

Robert James Waller The Bridges of Madison County

Source: The Bridges of Madison County

Universe

“Intellectual despair results in neither weakness nor dreams, but in violence. It is only a matter of knowing how to give vent to one's rage; whether one only wants to wander like madmen around prisons, or whether one wants to overturn them.”

Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure

Dreams, Rage, Despair

“… it's not just learning that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.”

Norton Juster (1929) American children's writer, academic, and architect

Variant: …it’s not just learning that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.

Learning

“That he would love her no matter what she told him, and that he was the kind of man who loved her already and would love her forever.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

Love

“We're all people", he said simply. "It doesn't matter if you're two, thirty-two, or ninety-two. Everyone wants to be treated with respect. Everyone wants to feel like they matter in this world.”

Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist

Source: Charmed Thirds

People, World, Feeling

“Desire makes life happen. Makes it matter. Makes everything worth it. Desire is life. Hunger to see the next sunrise or sunset, to touch the one you love, to try again.

'Hell would be waking up and wanting nothing,' he agrees.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Love, Life, Hunger, Hell

“I think of how life takes unexpected twists and turns, sometimes through sheer happenstance, sometimes through calculated decisions. In the end, it can all be called fate, but to me, it is more a matter of faith.”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Source: Love the One You're With

Life, Fate, Faith, Thinking

“We are friends for life. When we’re together the years fall away. Isn’t that what matters? To have someone who can remember with you? To have someone who remembers how far you’ve come?”

Judy Blume (1938) American children's writer

Life

“…I finally understood what true love really meant. …that love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

John Tyree, Epilogue, p. 275
Source: 2000s, Dear John (2006)

Love, Pain, Personality, Happiness

“No matter that we could be beheaded for this,” said Esa. “Heads are overrated.”
“Yes, they are so unfashionable,” said Miri, imitating an Aslandian accent. “This spring, ladies of style are wearing their feathers in their necks.”

Shannon Hale (1974) American fantasy novelist

Source: Palace of Stone

Spring

“… it was better to answer, no matter how ineptly, thank to withhold a reply. Because sometimes silence could wound someone nearly as badly as a bullet.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Love in the Afternoon

Silence

“Everyman has his own destiny: The only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

“The bad things can't matter more than the good things”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

“It was a joy! Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

Pain, Hope, Feeling, Reading

“Life is boring. People are vengeful. Good things always end. We do so many things and we don’t know why, and if we do find out why, it’s decades later and knowing why doesn’t matter any more.”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Life, People

“It doesn't matter what people tell you. It doesn't matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.”

Alice Hoffman book Practical Magic

Source: Practical Magic

People, Home

“I didnt pay atteniton to times or distance, instead focusing on how it felt just to be in motion, knowing it wasn't about the finish line but how I got there that mattered.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Time

“No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words.”

Roger Zelazny Lord of Light

Source: Lord of Light

Reality, Forgetting

“No use dwelling on the past. What you do tomorrow and the next day and the day after that is what matters.”

Kieran Scott (1974) American writer

Source: She's So Dead to Us

Past

“It was a matter of perspective, I began to see.
The whole world was crazy; I'd flattered myself by assuming I was a semifinalist."
-- Dolores Price”

Wally Lamb book She's Come Undone

Source: She's Come Undone

World

“It was enough to be near her and hear her talk, it didn't always matter what she was saying. It should have, but it didn't.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

“When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world — no matter how imperfect — becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love.”

Sören Kierkegaard book Works of Love

Source: Works of Love

Love, World, Beauty

“Those single-track military minds never think to ask their cleaning staff for help in giant lethal marauding creature matters.”

Robin McKinley book Sunshine

Source: Sunshine

Thinking, Help

“And it's not just a matter of you hurting me. I will hurt you too, even if I don't want to, I'm not the girl you think I am. And you will remember this conversation, and wish that you'd listened to me.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Exiled Queen

Girl, Thinking, Hurt

“With no fact as a referent, what is normative is purely a matter of preference.”

Ravi Zacharias (1946) Indian philosopher

2000s
Source: [The Real Face of Atheism, 2004, 9780801065118, 3293056M, http://books.google.com/books?id=0SD0mYaYz3sC&pg=PA56&dq=%22with+no+fact%22, 56]

“No matter how bad things get, you can still walk away.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“You will soon discover that in matters of the heart, memories are much kinder than reality”

Judith McNaught book Whitney, My Love

Source: Whitney, My Love

Reality, Memory, Heart

“No matter what, I want to continue living with the awareness that I will die. Without that, I am not alive.”

Banana Yoshimoto book Kitchen

Source: Kitchen

“If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.”

Cal Newport (1982) American computer scientist

Source: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

“He leaned down and whispered to me: No matter how thin you get, no matter how short you cut your hair, it's still going to be you underneath. And he let go of my arm and walked back down the hall.”

Marya Hornbacher book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Source: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

“We're taught to expect unconditional love from our parents, but I think it is more the gift our children give us. It's they who love us helplessly, no matter what or who we are.”

Kathryn Harrison book The Kiss

Source: The Kiss

Love, Children, Thinking, Parent

“She would defend herself, saying that love, no matter what else it might be, was a natural talent. She would say: You are either born knowing how, or you never know.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Love in the Time of Cholera

Source: Love in the Time of Cholera

Love, Nature

“One slip. One slip in thousands. The odds had been entirely in her favor. But it hadn't mattered.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“A postcard. Neat handwriting fills the rectangle.

Half my days I cannot bear to touch you.
The rest of my time I feel like it doesn’t matter if I will ever see you again. It isn’t the morality, it’s how much you can bear.

No date. No name attached.”

Michael Ondaatje book The English Patient

Source: The English Patient

Feeling, Time

“Blood of my Blood," he whispered, "and bone of my bone. You carry me within ye, Claire, and ye canna leave me now, no matter what happens, You are mine, always, if ye will it or no, if ye want me or nay. Mine, and I wilna let ye go.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

“A part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and-no matter how much we despised ourselves for it-unable quite to let each other go.”

Kazuo Ishiguro book Never Let Me Go

Source: Never Let Me Go

World, Fear, Parting

“Write like it matters, and it will.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

“We had our breakfasts--whatever happens in a house, robbery or murder, it doesn't matter, you must have your breakfast.”

Wilkie Collins book The Moonstone

Also in Recipes from an Edwardian Country House: A Stately English Home Shares Its Classic Tastes by Laura Schaefer [Simon & Schuster, 2013, ISBN 1-476-73033-4] ( p. 22 https://books.google.com/books?id=zZPzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA22) <br class="br">Source: The Moonstone [Street, 1868] ( p. 49 https://books.google.com/books?id=FmsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA49).

Housing

“No matter how far from the war we run, it always catches up with us.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

War

“As a matter of fact, she has refused to marry me.”
“So when's the wedding?” Ramsey asked.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: Ransom

Wedding

“no matter what happens to us in the future, everyday we are together is the greatest day of my life. i will always be yours.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Life, Future

“Sanity is a matter of consensus.”

Robert Sheckley Options

Source: Options

“No matter what kind of night you're having, morning always wins.”

Barbara Kingsolver Pigs in Heaven

Source: Pigs in Heaven

Night

“We cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don't matter at all.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: Outliers: The Story of Success

World, Idea, Success

“Once you've started cheating, does it really matter what your methods are?”

Sophie Kinsella book I've Got Your Number

Source: I've Got Your Number

Cheating

“Isn't life,' she stammered, 'isn't life--' But what life was she couldn't explain. No matter. He quite understood.

'Isn't it, darling?' said Laurie.”

Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand author

Source: The Garden Party and Other Stories

Life

“For that matter, Odysseus himself might have borrowed a trick or two from the rabbit hero, for he is very old and was never at a loss for a trick to deceive his enemies.”

Richard Adams book Watership Down

Source: Watership Down

Loss

“Trapped for days, years, centuries maybe. Dead, but not allowed to die. Alive, but as good as dead. So alone that anyone, anything no matter how loathsome would be welcome.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Dead

“tiny: maybe there's something you're afraid to say, or someone you're afraid to love, or somewhere you're afraid to go. it's gonna hurt. it's gonna hurt because it matters.”

David Levithan book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Source: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Love, Hurt

“No matter how smart she appeared, she was
fragile at her core.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

Appearance

“I’d heard you were dead.”
"I heard you wear a red lace corset,” I said matter-of-factly. “But I don’t believe every bit of nonsense that gets rumored about.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Dead

“Passing time isn't a steady thing. People try to measure it, but some days seem to have years packed into them, and others pass in the blink of an eye. Some days matter, and others don't.”

Blue Balliett book The Calder Game

Source: The Calder Game

People, Time

“I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them.”

Anne Tyler The Accidental Tourist

Source: The Accidental Tourist

Love, Thinking

“Hunting hawks do not belong in cages, no matter how much a man covets their grace, no matter how golden the bars. They are far more beautiful soaring free. Heartbreakingly beautiful.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book The warrior's Apprentice

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)

Beauty

“No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.”

Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer

As Lily
Unsourced variant: No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
Contributions of Jane Wagner, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985)