Quotes about might
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“Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book, and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have a little fun.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Books, Dogs, Reading, Cute

“We are not simply in the universe, we are part of it. We are born from it. One might even say we have been empowered by the universe to figure itself out — and we have only just begun.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

2000s
Source: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Context: Yes, the universe had a beginning. Yes, the universe continues to evolve. And yes, every one of our body's atoms is traceable to the big bang and to the thermonuclear furnace within high-mass stars. We are not simply in the universe, we are part of it. We are born from it. One might even say we have been empowered by the universe to figure itself out — and we have only just begun.

Universe, Parting

“He had to keep thinking of them because if he forgot them and did not think of them they might forget about him. And he had to keep hoping.”

Gary Paulsen book Hatchet

Source: Hatchet

Hope, Thinking, Forgetting

“But it's not the name I'd give to a conqueror of worlds… I would've gone with Thundro or Ragnor. I might just call him Thundro anyway.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Shadow Heir

World

“If I might ask--," she began.
Will sighed. "You know you'll ask whether I say it's all right or not.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

“Zach, we have to stop her!"
But Zach just held me. He looked at me with shock and awe and just a little bit of wonder. In spite of everything, I thought that he might laugh.
"Gallagher Girl," he told me, "youthe school.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

Youth, School, Girl

“I was thinking, that when my time comes, I should be sorry if the only plea I had to offer was that of justice. Because it might mean that only justice would be meted out to me.”

Agatha Christie Murder at the Vicarage

Source: Murder at the Vicarage

Justice, Thinking, Time

“A man's truest self realizations might require him, above all, to learn to close his eyes: to let himself be taken unawares, to follow his dark angel, to risk his illegal instincts.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Angels, Learning

“If you don't know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

Light, Reading

“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

“Might I make free with your lettuce, my lady?”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“When you showed someone how you felt, it was fresh and honest. When you told someone how you felt, there might be nothing behind the words but habit or expectation.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Variant: When you showed someone how you felt, it was fesh and honest. Whe you told someone how you felt, there might be nothing behind the words but habit or expectation.
Source: Handle with Care

“Keep working. Keep trying. Keep believing. You still might not make it, but at least you gave it your best shot. If you don’t have calluses on your soul, this isn’t for you. Take up knitting instead.”

David Eddings (1931–2009) American novelist

Soul

“If we hadn't hated him a lot, we might have liked him a little at that moment. But we did. So we didn't.”

Ally Carter book Only the Good Spy Young

Source: Only the Good Spy Young

Hate

“I am afraid to show you who I really am, because if I show you who I really am, you might not like it--and that's all I got.”

Sabrina Ward Harrison (1975) Canadian writer

Source: Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself

“You are the male I might have been. You are the potential I had and lost. You are the honor and the strength and the kindness she needs. You'll take care of her. I want you to take care of her.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Awakened

“Today a woman must ignore her reflection in the eyes of her lover, since he might admire her, and seek it in the gaze of the God of Beauty, in whose perception she is never complete.”

Naomi Wolf book The Beauty Myth

Source: The Beauty Myth

God, Beauty, Lovers

“District 12. Where you can starve to death in safety," I mutter. Then I glance quickly over my shoulder. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, you worry someone might overhear you.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Death

“he's a genius, she's a genius, wow, you know alot of geniuses, you should meet some stupid people sometime, you might learn something”

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

People, Stupidity, Learning

“The queen's guards might have been the best of the best, but Dimitri… well, my former lover and instructor was in a category all his own. His fighting skills were beyond anyone else's, and he was using them all in defense of me.”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Variant: ... but Dimitri... well, my former lover and instructor was in a category all his own. His fighting skills were beyond anyone else's, and he was using them all in defense of me.
"Stay back," he ordered me. "They aren't laying a hand on you.
Source: Spirit Bound

Lovers, Fight

“When he comes, he makes a noise deep in his throat that is so raw and animal and sexual that I think if he merely looked at me and made that noise, I might explode in an orgasm.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Dreamfever

Thinking, Animals

“Again it might have been the American tendency in travel. One goes, not so much to see but to tell afterward.”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Travel

“My sister, who never understood most of the things I wanted her to, might have been able to understand what had happened to me in this summer of weddings and beginnings. And she was right. The first boy was always the hardest. page 40000”

Sarah Dessen book That Summer

Source: That Summer (1996)

Boy, Understanding, Sister, Wedding

“She felt herself needing more and more sleep. When she awoke in the morning, she thought of when she might lie down again - and when she would sleep. She started going to the movies.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Source: Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963

Lie, Sleep

“And so I'm stupid for thinking they might be useful. Because of something Johanna Mason said while she was oiling her breasts for wrestling.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Stupidity, Thinking

“Archer reddened to the temples but dared not move or speak: it was as if her words had been some rare butterfly that the least motion might drive off on startled wings, but that might gather a flock if it were left undisturbed.”

Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence

Source: The Age of Innocence

“It might have been done before, but it hasn’t been done by you!”

Elizabeth Gilbert Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Source: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

“The point is, you see," said Ford, "that there is no point in driving yourself mad trying to stop yourself going mad. You might just as well give in and save your sanity for later.”

Douglas Adams Life, the Universe and Everything

Source: Life, the Universe and Everything

Madness

“No, what I felt was the torment of waiting, stuck between the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next which might or might not bring a hail storm, plane crash, poetic justice, or a miraculous reversal.”

Nicole Krauss book Great House

Source: Great House

Justice, Waiting

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.
Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”

Susanna Clarke book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Source: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Question

“There might be a God, Clary, and there might not, but I don't think it matters. Either way, we're on our own.”

Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments

Jace to Clary, pg. 257
The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)

God, Way, Thinking

“As long as she was falling in love with me, I might as well start making her promises I didn't intend to keep.”

Michael Chabon book Wonder Boys

Source: Wonder Boys

Love

“It's okay not to know all the answers. It's better to admit our ignorance than to believe answers that might be wrong. Pretending to know everything, closes the door to finding out what's really there.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

“A MAN FEARED

A man feared that he might find an assassin;
Another that he might find a victim.
One was more wise than the other.”

Stephen Crane (1871–1900) American novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist

Fear

“Women are more attuned to feelings than men are, and if they’re not being truthful, more often than not it’s because they think truth might hurt your feelings. But it doesn’t mean they don’t love you.”

Nicholas Sparks book At First Sight

Mayor Gherkin, Chapter 8, p. 120
Source: 2000s, At First Sight (2005)
Context: ... but what I eventually came to understand was that if a woman truly loves you, you can't always expect her to tell the truth. You see, women are more attuned to feelings than men are, and if they're not being truthful, more often than not it's because they think the truth might hurt your feelings. But it doesn't mean they don't love you.

Love, Women, Men, Truth

“Girls had to believe in anything but their own power, because if girls knew what they could do, imagine what they might.”

Robin Wasserman (1978) American writer of speculative fiction for young people

Source: Girls on Fire

Imagination, Girl

“What I'm saying might be profane, but it's also profound.”

Richard Pryor (1940–2005) American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer, and MC

Source: Pryor Convictions: and Other Life Sentences

“People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbors.”

George Eliot book Middlemarch

Source: Middlemarch (1871)

People

“In Kilanga, people knew nothing of things they might have had - a Frigidaire? a washer-dryer combination? Really, they'd sooner imagine a tree that could pull up its feet and go bake bread. It didn't occur to them to feel sorry for themselves.”

Barbara Kingsolver (1955) American author, poet and essayist

People, Feeling, Imagination, Tree

“Lately, the world felt fragile, like a blown egg, as if it might shatter beneath a careless touch.”

Kim Edwards book The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Source: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

World

“Riggedy riggedy white
Come and spend the night
We'll play some games
Some wild some tame
Cause if you will, you might.

By, Laberge”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Game, Night

“In my case, I was not frightened in the least bit at the thought that I might live because I was certain, quite certain, that I was already dead.”

Elizabeth Wurtzel book Prozac Nation

Source: Prozac Nation

Dead, Depressing

“It was all I could do to not knock him down right there in front of Asher and climb on him. If I stunned him with a frying pan first, he might not struggle too much.…”

Cate Tiernan (1961) American novelist

Source: Immortal Beloved

“She looked like something that might have occured to Ibsen in one of his less frivolous moments.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Summer Lightning

Source: Summer Lightning

“If I had done this, if I had said that, in the end you are always more tormented by what you didn't do than what you did, actions already performed can always be rationalized in time, the neglected deed might have changed the world.”

Damon Galgut book In a Strange Room

Source: In a Strange Room

World, Change, Time

“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”

Michael Landon Jr. (1964) American television director

Life

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

Life, God

“Anna looked at Brother Wolf. ‘I’d like to see someone try to put a radio control collar on Charles. It might be fun to watch on YouTube.”

Patricia Briggs book Fair Game

Source: Fair Game

Wolf

“Because sometimes people who seem good
end up being not as good as you might have hoped.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Variant: Sometimes people who seem good end up being not as good as you might have hoped, you know?
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

People, Hope

“If you don't want anyone to know about your existence, you might as well kill yourself. You're taking up space, air.”

Dave Eggers book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Source: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

“I watched the spinning stars, grateful, sad and proud, as only a man who has outlived his destiny and realizes he might yet forge himself another, can be.”

Roger Zelazny Isle of the Dead

Source: Isle of the Dead (1969), Chapter 1 (pp. 29-30)

Sadness, Star

“Her fluency was marvelous. She would say things at random, intricate, flamelike, or slide off into a parenthetical limbo peppered with fireworks-- admirable linguistic feats which a practiced writer might struggle for hours to achieve.”

Henry Miller book Sexus

Source: Sexus

“After a moment, he turned sharply to me. 'Are you quite all right?'

'Yes, perfectly. Why do you ask?'

'Because I have just called you contrary and you did not bother to contradict me. I thought you might be ill.”

Deanna Raybourn (1968) American writer

Source: Silent on the Moor

“Once I'm on my feet I realize escape might not be so easy.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“Julian: “Wikipedia knows about everything. It might be run by warlocks.”
Emma: “You think that’s what they do all day in the Spiral Labyrinth? Run Wikipedia?”
Julian: “I admit it seems like a letdown.”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

Thinking

“All Americans have something lonely about them. I don't know what the reason might be, except maybe that they're all descended from immigrants.”

Ryū Murakami book In the Miso Soup

Source: In the Miso Soup

“For every action, there’s an infinity of outcomes. Countless trillions are possible, many milliards are likely, millions might be considered probable, several occur as possibilities to us as observers—and one comes true.”

China Miéville book The Scar

Part 6 “Morning Walker”, chapter 34 (p. 394)
Source: The Scar (2002)

“They signed the unwind order just to spite each other, but laugh, laugh, laugh, Hayden, because if you ever stop laughing, it might just tear you apart worse than a Chop Shop.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: UnWholly

Tear

“Well, hi, CeeCee," I said. "Hi, Adam. Nice of you two to drop by. Ever heard of knocking?"
"Oh, please," CeeCee said. "Why? Because we might interrupt you and your precious Jesse?"
Jesse, upon hearing this, raised his eyebrows. Way up.”

Meg Cabot book Haunted

Source: Haunted

Way

“I think sex with him might undo my essential cellular cohesion.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Faefever

Sex, Thinking

“Love might have expanded her. But we are not all of us going to get loved. We are not all of us going to get expanded.”

Martin Amis (1949) Welsh novelist

Love

“Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.”

Flannery O’Connor book Wise Blood

Source: Wise Blood

Tree, Water

“It's like my whole life never happened,
When I see you, it's as if I never had a thought.
I know this dream, it might be crazy,
But it's the only one I've got.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Life, Dreams

“Every book, remember, is dead until a reader activates it by reading. Every time that you read you are walking among the dead, and, if you are listening, you just might hear prophecies.”

Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet

"On Delany the Magician", a foreword to Trouble on Triton (1996) by Samuel R. Delany, and reprinted in Acker's collection Bodies of Work (1996)
Source: Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia
Context: Every book, remember, is dead until a reader activates it by reading. Every time that you read you are walking among the dead, and, if you are listening, you just might hear prophecies. Aeneas did. Odysseus did. Listen to Delany, a prophet.

Books, Time, Reading, Dead

“Like a cartoon world, where the figures are flat and outlined in black, jerking through some kind of goofy story that might be real funny if it weren't for the cartoon figures being real guys…”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

World, Jerk, Guy

“It's probably not going to lead to anything. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. If everyone who thought they might fail didn't even try, where would we be today?”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

“If the feeling is there, you might as
well admit it. Saying the words, or not saying
them, doesn't change a damn thing”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Smooth Talking Stranger

Feeling, Change