Quotes about most
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John C. Maxwell book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You

“Most of us come to the church by a means the church does not allow.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

“People die of broken hearts. They have heart attacks. And it's the heart that hurts most when things go wrong and fall apart.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Source: I Am the Messenger

People, Heart, Hurt

“I have thoroughly compromised your niece," Alex declared. "Will you plase insist that she marry me?"
Caroline didn't bat an eyelash. "This", she announced, "is most peculiar.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: Splendid

“Most suits made the man. Gideon did things to a three-piece suit that should've been illegal.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Variant: Most suits made the man. Gideon did things to a three-piece suit that should be illegal.
Source: Reflected in You

“Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people and that most of them seemed to come from Texas.”

Ian Fleming book Casino Royale

Source: Casino Royale

People

“You know, the New Testament is pretty old. I think they should call them the Old Testament and the Most Recent Testament.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Thinking

“Adults had the notion that juveniles needed to suffer. Only when they had suffered enough to wipe out most of their naturally joyous spirits and innocence were they staid enough to be considered mature. An adult was essentially a broken-down child.”

Piers Anthony book Centaur Aisle

Source: Centaur Aisle

Nature, Suffering

“Fantasy love is much better than reality love. Never doing it is very exciting. The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Love, Reality

“Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it.”

Elizabeth Strout book Olive Kitteridge

Source: Olive Kitteridge

Life, People

“… even the most independent people sometimes needed help. And if I'd learned nothing else from my life thus far, it was that you don't always end up where you think you're going.”

Margaret Peterson Haddix book Just Ella

Source: Just Ella

Life, People, Thinking, Learning

“Sometimes the most preposterous lies are the most believable.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Rise of the Evening Star

“It is a commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and love for a time in the wilderness.”

Loren Eiseley (1907–1977) US philosopher (1907-1977)

Love, Time

“When I tell people I went to library school, the most common reaction is either “You’re joking, right?” or “They have schools for librarians? Do they teach you how to properly sssh people?”

Scott Douglas (1963) American wheelchair tennis player

People, School

“The three most harmful negative emotions are anger, guilt, and fear. And anger is number one. It is also the strongest and most dangerous of all passions.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Source: Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don't Control You

Fear, Passion, Anger

“Perhaps most people in the world aren’t trying to be free, Kafka. They just think they are. It’s all an illusion. If they really were set free, most people would be in a real pickle. You’d better remember that. People actually prefer not being free?”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

People, World, Thinking

“From an evolutionary point of view, most emotions - fear, desire, anger - serve some practical purpose, but nostalgia is a useless, futile thing because it is a longing for something that is permanently lost….”

David Nicholls book Us

Source: Us

Fear, Nostalgia, Anger

“The mentally disturbed do not employ the Principle of Scientific Parsimony: the most simple theory to explain a given set of facts. They shoot for the baroque.”

Philip K. Dick book VALIS

Source: VALIS

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl book The Minpins

The Minpins (1991)

Secret, World

“But money spent while manic doesn't fit into the Internal Revenue Service concept of medical expense or business loss. So after mania, when most depressed, you're given excellent reason to be even more so.”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Money, Business, Loss

“Endeavoring to purchase something we think beautiful may in fact be the most unimaginative way of dealing with the longing it excites in us, just as trying to sleep with someone may be the bluntest response to a feeling of love.”

Alain de Botton book The Architecture of Happiness

Source: The Architecture of Happiness

Love, Beauty, Way, Feeling

“Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.”

Kate DiCamillo (1964) American children's writer

Light, Heart

“What bothered me most was their lack of style. I learned early that class is universally admired. Almost any fault, sin or crime is considered more leniently if there's a touch of class involved.”

Frank W. Abagnale (1948) American security consultant, former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist

Source: Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Learning, Universe

“Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Walden (1854), p.18

Life

“The most elementary of good manners… at a social gathering one does not bring up the subject of personalities, sad topics or unfortunate facts, religion, or politics.”

Laura Esquivel book Like Water for Chocolate

Source: Like Water for Chocolate

Sadness, Religion, Personality

“4. Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.”

Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) American writer

Knowledge

“I swear. Everyone here gets so worked up over the most minute details.
~Mayuri Kurotsuchi”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

“You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…”

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

Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Fear, Waiting

“One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go." He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid—Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes—duct tape”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

World

“How can this be your car? (Nick)
Well, I wrote a really big check that didn’t bounce to the dealer and then the most amazing thing happened…the salesman gave me the keys and let me take it home. It was like magic. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

Cars, Home

“…the violin — that most human of all instruments…”

Louisa May Alcott book Jo's Boys

Source: Jo's Boys

“Wear audacious underwear under the most solemn business attire.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Business

“The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Life, Way

“Most people think it takes a long time to change. It doesn’t. Change is immediate! Instantaneous! It may take a long time to decide to change…but change happens in a heartbeat!”

Andy Andrews (1959) author and corporate speaker

Source: The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective

People, Thinking, Change, Time

“Men think that self-sacrifice is the most charming of all the cardinal virtues for women, and in order to keep it in healthy working order, they make opportunities for its illustration as often as possible. I would fain teach women that self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton book The Woman's Bible

The Woman's Bible (1898)
Source: The Woman's Bible: A Classic Feminist Perspective

Women, Men, Thinking

“Sometimes, life threw up problems that even the wisest, most trusted mentor couldn't solve for you. It was part of the pain of growing up.
And having to stand by and watch was part of being a mentor.”

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

Source: The Siege of Macindaw

Life, Pain, Problem, Parting

“Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.”

Philip Yancey (1949) American writer

Hope, Universe

“The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn't been here twelve hours and already they loved me.”

Bill Bryson book Notes from a Small Island

Source: Notes from a Small Island

Love, Men

“With science, ideas can germinate within a bed of theory, form, and practice that assists their growth… But we as gardeners, must beware… for some seeds are the seeds of ruin… and the most iridescent blooms are often the most dangerous”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Idea, Science

“Never give up what you want most for what you want today.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

“I like being on my own better than I like anything else, but I can't give up love. Maybe it's the tension between longing and aloneness that I need. My own funicular railway, holding in balance the two things most likely to destroy me.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: The Powerbook

Love

“In all the world, you are what I love the most.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, World

“… A strange art – music – the most poetic and precise of all the arts, vague as a dream and precise as algebra.”

Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893) French writer

Source: Complete Works

Dreams, Art, Music

“DeWitt: Loneliness leads to nothing good, only detachment. And sometimes the people who most need to reach out are the people least capable of it.”

Jane Espenson (1964) American television writer and producer

People, Loneliness

“Education spending will be most effective if it relies on parental choice & private initiative -- the building blocks of success throughout our society.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

Education, Parent, Success

“Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.”

Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American writer

“I lived in the royal library, among all the books."
"You resided in a… library?"
"Theresuites inside and great balconies that overlooked the city, but yes. I was most content among those shelves, so one night, I simply never left.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Shadow's Claim

Books, Night

“Language is the most massive and inclusive art we know, a mountainous and anonymous work of unconscious generations.”

Edward Sapir (1884–1939) American linguist and anthropologist

Source: Language: an Introduction to the Study of Speech

Art, Mountain

“The most important things in your life are almost always impossible to predict.”

Joe Meno book The Boy Detective Fails

Source: The Boy Detective Fails

Life

“The difference between how you look and how you see yourself is enough to kill most people. And maybe the reason vampires don’t die is because they can never see themselves in photographs or mirrors.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005)

People

“Becoming vegan is the most important and direct change we can immediately make to save the planet and its species.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

Change

“But what if your obsession has nothing to do with drugs or thrills or money? What if what you want most in the world is to recapture the way life was a week, a month, a year ago-and you are willing to do whatever it takes?”

Jodi Picoult Perfect Match

Source: Perfect Match

Life, Money, World, Way

“You become what you do most of the time.”

Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker

Time

“Most people believe me when I lie. I've learned how to say the words just right. I have a trusting kind of face. But the boy in front of me was a trained operative, so Zach knew better. And besides, Zach new me.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

People, Lie, Boy, Learning

“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

Source: Essays, Letters and Miscellanies

Men, God

“Our purest form of joy comes when people we envy get hurt. That most genuine form of joy.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted

People, Joy, Envy, Hurt

“… nothing ever happens quickly (except when it does). Nothing is ever, ever easy (except when it is). And, most of all, nothing ever goes perfectly according to plan (except in the movies).”

Ally Carter book Only the Good Spy Young

Source: Only the Good Spy Young

“A young writer is easily tempted by the allusive and ethereal and ironic and reflective, but the declarative is at the bottom of most good writing.”

Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer

"Post to the Host" (July 2005) http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/posthost/2005/07/ <br class="br">Context: Journalism is a good place for any writer to start — the retailing of fact is always a useful trade and can it help you learn to appreciate the declarative sentence. A young writer is easily tempted by the allusive and ethereal and ironic and reflective, but the declarative is at the bottom of most good writing.

“Who are you?" because even now, she couldn't let her questions go. "What are you?"
That face that wasn't a face smiled. It was the most terrible thing she'd ever see, ever. "Magnus" he said. "I'm the end.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Last Breath

Smile, Question

“I love you. Most ardently.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Love

“Kilimanjaro is a pretty tricky climb you know, most of it's up until you reach the very very top, and then it tends to slope away rather sharply.”

Graham Chapman (1941–1989) English comedian, writer and actor

“The idea was fantastically, wildly improbable. But like most fantastically, wildly improbable ideas it was at least as worthy of consideration as a more mundane one to which the facts had been strenuously bent to fit.”

Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Idea

“The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning.”

John Dewey book Experience and Education

Source: Experience and Education

Learning

“Stories are the most important thing in the world. Without stories, we wouldn't be human beings at all.”

Philip Pullman (1946) English author

World

“we had made love without love, half-dressed most of the time and always in the dark so we could imagine ourselves as better than we were.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Love, Imagination, Time

“Who do you love?
It's a question anyone should be able to answer. A question that defines a life, creates a future, guides most minutes of one's days. Simple, elegant encompassing.
Who do you love?”

Lisa Gardner (1956) American author

Love, Life, Question, Future

“These things you did were like prayers; you did them and you hoped they would save you. And for the most part they did. Or something did; you could tell by the fact that you were still alive.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Hope, Parting

“A friend of mine, the most innocuous dreamer who ever lived, once set a forest on fire to see, as he said, if it would catch as easily as people said. The first ten times the experiment was a failure; but on the eleventh it succeeded all too well.”

Charles Baudelaire book Le Spleen de Paris

Source: Paris Spleen

People, Failure, Time

“Faith isn't knowledge, Rachel. Faith is a tool. Faith keeps us going until we get the knowledge. Faith keeps us striving until we reach the consequences of our most important decisions.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Chasing the Prophecy

Faith, Knowledge, Decision

“To love is to enter into the inevitability of one day not being able to protect what is most valuable to you.”

Mohsin Hamid book Exit West

Source: Exit West

Love

“most days go
nowhere
but the avoidance
of pain and
dissolution are
lovely.”

Charles Bukowski book Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories

Source: Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories

Love, Pain

“Do you know why most survivors of the Holocaust are vegan? It's because they know what it's like to be treated like an animal.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

Animals

“Everyone has crap in their background, everyone has things they wish they could undo. But most people don't go around doing their best to screw up their present lives because of it.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Rescue

Source: The Rescue

People

“These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

People, Dead

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”

James Beard (1903–1985) American chef

Food

“Stories are the single most powerful weapon in a leader's arsenal.”

Howard Gardner (1943) American developmental psychologist

Howard Gardner, cited in: Richard L. Daft (2014), The Leadership Experience, p. 273

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Life, Question, Wise, Life

“Then the writing became so fluid that I sometimes felt as if I were writing for the sheer pleasure of telling a story, which may be the human condition that most resembles levitation.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Pleasure

“Irony is Fate's most common figure of speech.”

Trevanian book Shibumi

Source: Shibumi

Fate

“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