Quotes about matter
page 15

“All little creatures are beautiful… every living thing when it first sees life is born in beauty. What they grow to be is a different matter.”

Brian Jacques book Outcast of Redwall

Source: Outcast of Redwall

Life, Beauty

“It doesn't matter where or how far you go - the farther commonly the worse - the important thing is how alive you are. Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love.”

Pico Iyer (1957) British writer

Love, Way

“No matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Books

“The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but the ignominy, the humiliation we feel that we must be what we are without any choice in the matter, and that this humiliation is seen by everyone.”

Milan Kundera book Immortality

Source: Immortality

Feeling, Personality

“Listen to me, Siddalee, and listen good: There is no excuse to let your looks go, no matter how poor you are. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but honey let me tell you, ugliness will get you nowhere.”

Rebecca Wells book Little Altars Everywhere

Source: Little Altars Everywhere

“No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into stars, or planning the movements of water, or gardening — still all is Beauty!”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

26 June 1875, page 208
John of the Mountains, 1938

God, Beauty, Mountain, Star

“In the end we had the pieces of the puzzle, but no matter how we put them together, gaps remained, oddly shaped emptinesses mapped by what surrounded them, like countries we couldn't name.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Virgin Suicides

Source: The Virgin Suicides

Country

“Because in the end, and no matter how hard it is, acceptance helps people move on with the rest of their lives.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

People, Help

“You know, some things don't matter that much… Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart - now, matters.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Life, Color, Heart, Housing

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”

James C. Collins (1958) American business consultant and writer

Source: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

“Things have a life of their own," the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. "It's simply a matter of waking up their souls.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Life, Soul

“Life is made of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the gods oblige us to live through. Their reason for this does not matter, and there is no action we can take to make them pass us by.”

Paulo Coelho book The Fifth Mountain

Source: The Fifth Mountain

Life, God

“The right understanding of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other.”

Franz Kafka book The Trial

Source: The Trial (1920)

Understanding

“It was all a matter of control. And Choice.
Nothing more, nothing less”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Variant: Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

Courage

“When in doubt, just spit it out. That all challenges can be overcome by speaking the truth, no matter how itcomes out.”

Dan Brown book Deception Point

Source: Deception Point

Truth

“What you feel doesn’t matter in the end; it’s what you do that makes you brave.”

Andre Agassi book Open. An Autobiography

Source: Open

Feeling

“No matter what form the relationship might take, he was the only person she could picture sharing her life with.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Life, Personality

“A dominant impulse on encountering beauty is to wish to hold on to it, to possess it and give it weight in one’s life. There is an urge to say, ‘I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: The Art of Travel

Life, Beauty

“But you cannot change your past, no matter how you craft your future.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel

Change, Past, Future

“Everything is the way it is because everything was the way it was. Sometimes I feel ensnared in this, as if no matter what I do, what will come has already been fixed.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Way, Feeling

“Oh, I'll trust you," the boy told him carelessly. "It hardly matters. We are all betrayed sooner or later—all betrayed, or traitors."
"I see that a flair for the dramatic runs in the blood," Magnus said under his breath.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Midnight Heir

Boy

“What really matters is what you like, not what you are like”

Nick Hornby book High Fidelity

Variant: It's not what you like but what you are like that's important.
Source: High Fidelity

“You discarded most of the lies along the way but held on to the one that said life mattered.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Life, Way

“It didn't matter what you looked like. It was how you carried yourself, how you saw yourself.”

Scott Westerfeld book Specials

Source: Specials

“No matter how much kids beg to be treated like adults, nobody likes to let go of their childhood. You wish for it and dream of it and the second you have it, you wonder what you've done. You wonder what it is you've become.”

Daniel H. Wilson book Robopocalypse

Source: Robopocalypse

Dreams, Childhood

“And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”

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

Deep, Happy, Goodbye, Cute

“know now what matters, and it is not what I have lost. It is my memories. Wounds heal. Love lasts.”

Kristin Hannah book The Nightingale

Source: The Nightingale

Love, Memory

“You are loved. If so, what else matters?”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Love

“It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you - always.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

“No matter how you spend your life, your wit will defend you more often than a sword. Keep it sharp!”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 40, “On the Horns” (p. 290)
Context: Any student of mine must be able to defend his ideas against an attack. No matter how you spend your life, your wit will defend you more often than a sword. Keep it sharp!

Life

“It seems to me that no matter what religion you subscribe to, acts of kindness are the stepping-stones to making the world a better place--because we become better people in it.”

Jodi Picoult Change of Heart

Source: Change of Heart

People, World, Religion

“If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Source: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Idea, Business, Appearance

“Stubborness is also determination. It's simply a matter of shifting from "won't power" to "will power.”

Peter McWilliams (1949–2000) American author and civil liberties advocate

“No matter how much you love someone, you still want to have you own way.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

Love, Way

“I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor

Source: Up From Slavery: An Autobiography

Learning, Evil

“Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin (1943) American biographer

History, Housing

“It was nice to see someone who appreciated her for her character, no matter how disgusted Christian was by the idea of ANYONE dating his aunt. And I actually kind of liked seeing Christian so obviously tormented. It was good for him.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Idea

“What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises—no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

Love, Making love, Mood, Fight

“No matter what all your teeth and wet fingers anticipated, there was no accounting for the way that simple joy could shake you.”

Toni Morrison book Beloved

Source: Beloved

Way, Joy

“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, it will not change you.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Change, Time

“The fight isn't over until you win it, Fitz. That's all you have to remember. No matter what the other man says.”

Robin Hobb book Royal Assassin

Source: Royal Assassin

Fight

“Your destiny is shaped by choice, never by chance. Beware the decisions you make, no matter how small, for they will be your salvation… or your death.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Death, Decision, Chance

“I believe it doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can find something concrete to keep you busy while you are living your meaningless life.”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Life, Business

“Words used carelessly, as if they did not matter in any serious way, often allowed otherwise well-guarded truths to seep through.”

Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Truth, Way

“Losing you is most difficult for me, but the nature of my love for you is what matters. If it distorts into half-truth, then perhaps it is better not to love you. I must keep my mind but loose you.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 38, Escape

Love, Truth, Nature

“I wondered which was harder, in the end. The act of telling, or who you told it to. Or maybe if, when you finally got it out, the story was really all that mattered.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

“Sometimes I think children are the worst people alive. And even if they're not—even if some smiling toddler is as pure as Evian—it's only a matter of time.”

Chuck Klosterman (1972) Author, Columnist

Children, People, Smile, Thinking

“Ethan: "You think I'm a hero?"
Beth: "Yes."
Ethan: "But lousy husband material?" Like that really mattered to him.
Beth: "Don't sweat it. So was Superman.”

Lucy Monroe (1967)

Source: Satisfaction Guaranteed

Thinking

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be finished. No matter how much I write, there will always be something I should’ve said.”

Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist

Source: Fourth Comings

“For me hotness was a complicated matter involving brains, humor, and some other things, but all that aside, I was willing to admit Sean Evans was nice to look at.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Clean Sweep

“Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.”

Sandra Day O'Connor (1930) Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Problem, Learning, Time, Personality

“We?" I asked.
Of course. I'm not leaving you alone on this, no matter what. You know I'd never abandon you.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted

“Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other.”

Philip Yancey book The Jesus I Never Knew

Source: The Jesus I Never Knew

Love, God, Suffering

“it doesn't matter if Prince Charles falls off his horse
or that the hummingbird is so seldom
seen
or that we are too senseless to go
insane.

coffee. give us more of that NOTHING
coffee.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense

Coffee, Horse

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Color, Understanding

“When you love someone, it doesn't really matter if they love you back or not. Having love in your heart for someone is its own reward. or punishment, depending on the circumstances.”

Lisa Unger book Beautiful Lies

Source: Beautiful Lies

Love, Heart, Dependency

“I’m a girl. Every girl pretends she’s a princess at one point, no matter how little her life is like that. And I like the idea of ‘happily ever after.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Source: Beastly

Life, Girl, Idea, Princess

“I was running from one problem or place to another, with no time left to study, or sleep, or just breathe. I felt pulled in all directions, fighting to keep all these obligations circling in the air above me. It was only a matter of time before something fell.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Source: Dreamland (2000)

Problem, Sleep, Study, Time

“What really matters is what you believe.”

Dan Brown book The Da Vinci Code

Source: The Da Vinci Code

“The fog is clearing; life is a matter of taste.”

Frank Wedekind (1864–1918) German playwright

Source: Spring's Awakening

Life

“Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper (2004)

People, World, Disappointment, Solitude

“It doesn't matter how anything happens.”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

Variant: It doesn't matter what you do because it's going to happen anyway.
Source: The Favorite Game

“You couldn't be romantic if your life depended on it." "You know what's lucky? Most bad guys don't ask you to be romantic on command, so that probably won't matter.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Kiss of Death

Life, Guy, Dependency

“An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to believe their lives are entirely a matter of choice; but in my day we viewed ourselves as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

People

“If our lives are truly "hid with Christ in God," the astounding thing is that this hiddenness is revealed in all that we do and say and write. What we are is going to be visible in our art, no matter how secular (on the surface) the subject may be.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

God, Art, Christ

“No matter how people try to dispute it, perception is reality. Its what you choose to believe that makes you the person you are.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

People, Reality, Personality

“We are all fools blessed with the knowledge that certain events will come to pass no matter what path we take to get there. The wise ones follow their angels while they may.”

Alethea Kontis (1976) American writer

Source: Enchanted

Fools, Angels, Knowledge

“My daddy said, that the first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Love, Feeling, Change, Time

“You ever laughed so hard
nobody in the world could hurt you for a minute,
no matter what they tried to do to you?”

Virginia Euwer Wolff book Make Lemonade

Source: Make Lemonade

World, Hurt

“It doesn’t matter how many universes come and go, I will always remember who we were together.”

Mary E. Pearson (1955) young-adult fiction writer

Source: The Beauty of Darkness

Universe

“Age is artificial. It's soulless. It doesn't matter one bit.”

Laurie Faria Stolarz (1972) American writer

Source: Bleed

Age

“What use is? What good is watching for that matter? People are forever watching things. They should be. Ithe things I look at. I am a see-er.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

People

“As a matter of principle, I never attend the first annual anything.”

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

“Man, that did his ego good. Matter of fact, she hit him with anything like that again, he was going to feel like he could bench-press a city bus. With a jet plane on its roof.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Reborn

Feeling

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
- Atticus Finch”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Pt. 1, ch. 11
Atticus Finch
Variant: Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Context: I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

Courageous, Idea, Courage

“With love, there are no rules. The heart decides and what it decides is all that really matters.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Love, Heart

“Things that matter are not easy. Feelings of happiness are easy. Happiness is not. Flirting is easy. Love is not. Saying you’re friends is easy. Being friends is not.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

Love, Feeling, Happiness

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Variant: Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.

Water

“Most of humanity, he said, have eyes that are so caked shut with the dust of deception they will never see the truth, no matter who tries to help them.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Truth, Help

“Let go of me or slow down," she demanded as she tried to keep pace with him.
He slowed down. "I swear to God, you try the patience of a saint."
"You aren't a saint, Brodick, no matter what your mother might have told you.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: Ransom

God, Patience

“It was only the matter of a new voice. Nobody listened to an old voice anymore. Old voices became a part of one's self, like a fingernail.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Source: Women

Parting

“It was like Percy had faced death before, like he knew about grief. What mattered was listening. You didn’t need to say you were sorry. The only thing that helped was moving on—moving forward.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Death, Help

“So go out and live real good and I promise you'll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you're dead, you'll be rotted away anyway. It's not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn't live.”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

Lufkin, Texas http://www.kidbrothers.net/words/concert-transcripts/lufkin-texas-jul1997-full.html (July 19, 1997) <br class="br">In Concert

Dead

“No matter what, nobody can take away the dances you've already had.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Source: Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Dance

“That's the point, isn't it? We have to live on, no matter how hard it gets. We'll win in the end.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Well of Ascension

“And no matter what anybody says about grief and about time healing all wounds, the truth is, there are certain sorrows that never fade away until the heart stops beating and the last breath is taken.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Truth, Time, Heart

“That night as I lay in bed, I thought of several things I could have said and mourned the fact that my wit usually bloomed late, peaking when it no longer mattered, during the solitary hours close to midnight.”

Siri Hustvedt (1955) novelist, essayist, poet

Source: The Blindfold

Night

“He meant the Kingdom was over, the Kingdom of Heaven, it was all finished. We shouldn’t live as if it mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place.”

Philip Pullman book The Amber Spyglass

Lyra to Pan in Ch. 38 : The Botanic Garden
Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000)
Context: "I remember. He meant the Kingdom was over, the Kingdom of Heaven, it was all finished. We shouldn’t live as if it mattered more than this life in this world, because where we are is always the most important place."
"He said we had to build something…"
"That’s why we needed our full life, Pan... we wouldn’t have been able to build it. No one could if they put themselves first. We have to be all those difficult things like cheerful and kind and curious and patient, and we’ve got to study and think and work hard, all of us, in all our different worlds, and then we’ll build…"

Life, World

“If you dont like me, Walk away, Matter of fact Run Away”

Virginia Euwer Wolff book Make Lemonade

Source: Make Lemonade

“I was going to put what birthday it was on the sign," he said, "but Jace said that after twenty, you're just old, so it doesn't matter anyway."
Jace stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth.
"I said that?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Birthday

“The man who prays is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right.”

Christopher Hitchens Mortality

Source: Mortality

God, Thinking

“A story is like a moving train: no matter where you hop onboard, you are bound to reach your destination sooner or later.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Training

“The truth of the matter is, you die, all you do is die, and yet you live, yes you live, and that's no Harvard lie.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Truth, Lie

“With God on your side, what does luck matter?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

God

“Because love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is a commitment to others. No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is commitment to their cause--the cause of liberation.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Love, Fear, Courage

“Good sense is the most equitably distributed of all things because no matter how much or little a person has, everyone feels so abundantly provided with good sense that he feels no desire for more than he already possesses.”

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist

Feeling, Sense, Personality

“That life isn't fair?" Yeah, that, of course. But I also learned that it's possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief… lessens.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Tim Wheddon, Chapter 20, p. 265
Variant: ... I learned that it's possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief... lessens. It may not ever go away completely, but after a while it's not overwhelming.
Source: 2000s, Dear John (2006)

Life, Learning, Time

“Nothing, no one, is too small to matter. What you do is going to make a difference.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Source: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Quotes about matter page 15

Quotes about matter
page 15