Quotes about naming
page 10

Glen Cook photo

“More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way.”

Source: Dreams of Steel (1990), Chapter 23 (p. 310)
Context: “What do you want, Blade. Why are you doing this?”
He shrugged, an uncharacteristic action. “There are many evils in the world. I guess I’ve chosen one for my personal crusade.”
“Why such a hatred for priests?”
He didn’t shrug. He didn’t give me a straight answer, either. “If each man picks an evil and attacks it relentlessly, how long can evil persist?”
That was an easy one. Forever. More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way. Few villains think they are villains. But I left him his illusion. If he had one. I doubted he did. No more than a sword’s blade does.

George Santayana photo

“Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism
Tom Stoppard photo

“… reality, the name we give to the common experience.”

Tom Stoppard (1937) British playwright

Source: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Harper Lee photo
William Makepeace Thackeray photo
Kate DiCamillo photo
Patrick Rothfuss photo
Gillian Flynn photo
Jay Leno photo
Philip Pullman photo
Jhumpa Lahiri photo
Rick Riordan photo
George Carlin photo

“Griddle cakes, pancakes, hot cakes, flapjacks: why are there four names for grilled batter and only one word for love?”

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

Source: Napalm & Silly Putty

Richelle Mead photo
Salman Rushdie photo
Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Jeffrey R. Holland photo
Franz Kafka photo
Julian Barnes photo
Robert B. Parker photo
George Carlin photo
Jodi Picoult photo
Ismail Kadare photo
Jane Austen photo
Suzanne Collins photo
Victor Hugo photo

“The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.”

Variant: The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous, it means opportunity.
Source: Les Misérables

Walt Whitman photo
Margaret Maron photo
Rick Riordan photo
Ayn Rand photo
Sarah Vowell photo

“We can do subtle," I assured her.
"It's our middle name," Andrea added.
For some odd reason Rene didn't look convinced.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

Nora Ephron photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Richelle Mead photo
Edwidge Danticat photo
Suzanne Collins photo
John Stuart Mill photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Lois Lowry photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“Clary - "Look you can date whoever you want and I will totally support you. I am all about support. Support is my middle name."

Simon- "So that's why you never told me your middle name. I figured it was something embarrasing.”

Variant: Look, you can date whoever you want and I will totally support you. I am all about support. Support is my middle name.”
“So that’s why you never told me your middle name. I figured it was something embarrassing.
Source: City of Glass

Scott Westerfeld photo

“My name is tally youngblood and my mind is very ugly”

Source: Pretties

Richelle Mead photo
Philip Reeve photo
Louisa May Alcott photo
Steven Erikson photo
Richelle Mead photo
F. Scott Fitzgerald photo
Douglas Coupland photo
James Joyce photo

“and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.”

Source: Dubliners

Jodi Picoult photo
Sue Monk Kidd photo
Rick Riordan photo
Jodi Picoult photo
Rick Riordan photo
Maureen Johnson photo
Sylvia Plath photo
John Burroughs photo
Jonathan Stroud photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Confucius photo

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.”

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

名不正,则言不顺
Paraphrased as a chinese proverb stating "The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name."
Source: The Analects of Confucius
Source: The Analects, Chapter XIII

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley photo
Suzanne Collins photo
Cassandra Clare photo
David Levithan photo

“Hello, my name is ees Lebkuchen Spice, and I vant to show you my coooooookies…”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

“The name is Salvatore. As in savior.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Variant: Well, the name is Salvatore. As in Savior - Damon Salvatore
Source: The Awakening / The Struggle

Homér photo

“My name is Nobody.”

IX. 366 (tr. Robert Fagles); Odysseus to Polyphemus.
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
Variant: Nobody—that's my name.
Source: The Odyssey

Holly Black photo

“They say that nameless things change constantly—that names fix them in place like pins.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Ironside

Kohta Hirano photo

“The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.”

Kohta Hirano (1973) Japanese manga artist

Source: Hellsing, Vol. 01

Paul Tillich photo

“… history has shown that the most terrible crimes against love have been committed in the name of fanatically defended doctrines.”

Paul Tillich (1886–1965) German-American theologian and philosopher

Source: Dynamics of Faith

James Joyce photo
Sam Harris photo
Frank Miller photo
Robert Penn Warren photo
Charles Bukowski photo

“What is your name?"
Why?"
So I can mark your grave…”

Source: Wolf in Shadow

Scott Lynch photo

“My name's Jean Tannen, and I'm the ambush.”

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Richelle Mead photo