Quotes about naming
page 8

“I collected men with interesting names. I already knew a Socrates. He was tall and ugly and intellectual and the son of some big Greek movie producer in Hollywood, but also a Catholic, which ruined it for both of us.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Men

“I confused things with their names: that is belief.”

Jean Paul Sartre book The Words

Source: The Words

“There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious.”

Donna Tartt book The Secret History

Source: The Secret History

People, Memory

“We know that the war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense.”

Roland Barthes book Mythologies

Source: Mythologies

War, Intelligence, Sense

“College wasn't like the real world. In the real world people dropped names based on their renown. In college, people dropped names based on their obscurity.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Marriage Plot

Source: The Marriage Plot

People, World

“Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.

Their language has been lost.

But not the gestures.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Secret, Tree, Singing

“Hell’s bells. I don’t call him the Fist of God as a pet name, folks.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

God, Hell

“There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Dogs, Clothes

“Hart caressed the letters of baby Graham’s name. “Mac likes to say, We’re Mackenzies. We break what we touch. But this little Mackenzie… he broke me.”

Jennifer Ashley (1974) American author

Source: The Duke's Perfect Wife

Baby

“What I actually want to call you is a hell of a lot more unprintable than your name”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Hell

“Feel free to call me by my first name: Master.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Feeling

“So that means that Peter…" I swallowed. "That his full name was Peter Parker."
"Yeah"
I burst into tears. "Oh, my God! I killed Spiderman!”

Michelle Rowen (1971) Canadian writer

Source: Fanged & Fabulous

God, Tear

“You and your name-dropping. 'I knew Michael'. 'I knew Sammael'. 'The angel Gabriel did my hair'. It's likewith biblical figures.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Angels

“What is love except another name for the use of positive reinforcement? Or vice versa.”

B.F. Skinner Walden Two

Source: Walden Two

Love

“Most people in America think Art is a man's name.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

People, Art, Thinking

“No name-calling truly bites deep unless, in some dark part of us, we believe it. If we are confident enough then it is just noise.”

Laurell K. Hamilton A Stroke of Midnight

Source: A Stroke of Midnight

Confidence, Parting

“We all have names we don't know about.”

Martin Amis (1949) Welsh novelist

“In a world where language and naming are power, silence is oppression, is violence.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

Source: On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966-1978

World, Silence

“Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

People

“Sunrise

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Happiness, Way

“That’s a pretty lame superhero name,” I told him.

“Scooby-Doo is already taken,” he said with dignity. “Anything else sounds lame in comparison.”

Patricia Briggs book Bone Crossed

Source: Bone Crossed

“Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.”

Pablo Neruda book Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

¿Quién escribe tu nombre con letras de humo entre las estrellas del sur?
Ah déjame recordarte cómo eras entonces, cuando aún no existías.
"Every Day You Play" (Juegas Todos los Días), XIV, p. 35.
Source: Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair) (1924)

Star

“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

“Say your name over two hundred times and discover you are no one.”

Stephen King The Running Man

Source: The Running Man

Time

“I did not design this game; I did not name the stakes. I just happen to like apples; and I am not afraid of snakes.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

Game

“My darling, you are indisposed! You must remain abed for the next eight months. Little Buford - "
"I am NOT naming our child Buford…”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

“She wanted to ask him why they were all strangers who shared the same last name.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book Half of a Yellow Sun

Source: Half of a Yellow Sun

“I've discovered over the years that the simplest explanation is almost always the right one; and that hunger of one kind or another - desire, by another name - is the source of almost every sorrow.”

Claire Messud (1966) American writer

Source: The Woman Upstairs

Hunger

“Man is manifestly not the measure of all things. This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and the only miracle worthy of the name.”

Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist

Source: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Universe

“Intentions don't matter. It's the end result we're all judged by. Evil in the name of good is still evil. And when you dance with the devil, you seldom get to pick the tune.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

Evil, Dance

“You are a name, not a number. Never forget that name, whatever they tell you here. You will always be Chaya—life—to me.”

Jane Yolen book The Devil's Arithmetic

Source: The Devil's Arithmetic

Life, Forgetting

“Then love knew it was called love.
And when I lifted my eyes to your name,
suddenly your heart showed me my way”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Source: Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada; Cien sonetos de amor

Love, Way, Heart

“We name us and then we are lost, tamed
I choose words, more words, to cure the tameness, not the wildness”

Alice Notley (1945) American poet

Source: Mysteries of Small Houses

“Ma vie est une énigme dont ton nom est le mot. (My life is an enigma, of which your name is the word.)”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Life

“Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

For Parents

“For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes - not that you won or lost -
But HOW you played the Game.

"Alumnus Football”

Grantland Rice (1880–1954) American sportswriter

Game, Football

“We the mortals touch the metals,
the wind, the ocean shores, the stones,
knowing they will go on, inert or burning,
and I was discovering, naming all the these things:
it was my destiny to love and say goodbye.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Source: Still Another Day

Love

“He returns years later, has no demands.
He wants only one, most precious thing:
To see, purely and simply, without name,
Without expectations, fears, or hopes,
At the edge where there is no I or not-I.”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

Fear, Hope

“I collected men with interesting names.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

Men

“You’re not seriously going out again, are you?”
“Seriously, yeah. Bowling. Her name’s Laura. If you want more details, you’re gonna have to download the video like everybody else.”

Rachel Caine book Glass Houses

Source: Glass Houses

“My name is Jimmy,
but my friends just call me
the hideous penguin boy.”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

Boy

“I was in the supermarket the other day, and I met a lady in the aisle where they keep the generic brands. Her name was 'woman.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“The difference between good and evil men is not found in the acts they are willing to commit—but merely in what name they are willing to commit them in.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Bands of Mourning

Men, Evil

“Her name badge read: Hello! My name is DIE, DEMIGOD SCUM!”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Reading

“To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that Love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.
Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Seeds of Contemplation (1949).

Love, God

“The poet…is the man of metaphor: while the philosopher is interested only in the truth of meaning, beyond even signs and names, and the sophist manipulates empty signs…the poet plays on the multiplicity of signifieds.”

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) French philosopher (1930-2004)

Truth

“To be shown love is to feel ourselves the object of concern: our presence is noted, our name is registered, our views are listened to, our failings are treated with indulgence and our needs are ministered to. And under such care, we flourish.”

Alain de Botton book Status Anxiety

Source: Status Anxiety

Love, Feeling

“Rose: But now you know there was a man named Jack Dawson and that he saved me… in every way that a person can be saved”

James Cameron (1954) Canadian film director

Rose
Titanic (1997)
Context: A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you know there was a man named Jack Dawson, and that he saved me in every way that a person can be saved. I don't even have a picture of him. He exists now only in my memory.

Way, Personality

“If one day, a bhailach… ye should meet a verra large mouse named Michael-ye'll tell him your grandsire sends his regards.”

Diana Gabaldon book A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Source: A Breath of Snow and Ashes

“The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.”

Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) Austrian physicist

Source: What Is Life? with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches

Truth, Sincerity

“I love your name. I love the sound of it”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Love, For Boyfriend

“I’ve named everything that I’ve ever owned. Real or inanimate, I have to give it a first and last name. Everything in my apartment comes alive at night.”

Amy Sedaris (1961) American comedian

Night

“In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities, haloed be her eve, her singtime sung, her rill be run, unhemmed as it is uneven!”

James Joyce book Finnegans Wake

Page 104
Source: Finnegans Wake (1939)

“Not my favourite topic, Smedley."
"Simon," said Simon. "if I'm going to die for you all, the least you could do is remember my name."………

"Alright, everybody. Get over here. Sheldon's had an idea."
"Who's Sheldon?" Said Isabelle.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Idea

“Since you won't give me your names I'll call you Thing One and Thing Two.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Hit List

Source: Hit List

“What's her name?"

"None of your business."

"That can't possibly be her name.”

Lisa Lutz (1970) US author

Source: The Spellman Files

Business

“Do you know the kind of things that live up there?… things without names 'cause no one who's seen 'em has lived long enough to give them any name besides 'AAAARG!”

Mercedes Lackey (1950) American novelist and short story writer

Source: The Oathbound

“Don't drink too much."
"When I can spell out your name in shot glasses, I'll stop."
"I'll have to get a shorter name."
"I'll have to forget how to spell it.”

Richard Kadrey (1957) San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer

Source: Kill the Dead

Drink, Forgetting

“And one more thing… You will never again refer to him as 'Hazara boy' in my presence. He has a name and it's Sohrab.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

Boy

“What I really want to tell him is to pick up that baby of his and hold her tight, to set the moon on the edge of her crib and to hang her name up in the stars.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Star, Baby, For Father

“Only in death will we have our own names since only in death are we no longer part of the effort. In death we become heroes.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Death, Effort, Parting

“Everyone should try to scratch their name on the bomb of life.”

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

Life

“A thing named is a thing tamed.”

Joanne Harris book Runemarks

Source: Runemarks

“Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been;
I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell.”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti The House of Life

A Superscription. Compare: "My name is might have been; my name is never was; my name's forgotten", Courtney Love (with Hole), "Celebrity Skin".
Source: The House of Life (1870—1881)

“Emmeline didn't call me anything. She didn't need, for I was always there. You only need names for the absent.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

“It's not funny, Jace," Alec interrupted, starting to his feet. "Are you just going to let her stand there and call me names?"

"Yes," Jace said kindly. "It'll do you good-- try to think of it as endurance training.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Thinking, Training

“Who is Hunter Becker?"
"Becker the Gory? Lighthouse Keepers? Boston?"
"I would've preferred Becker the Easiley Surrendering or Becker the Quite Reasonable, but beyond that his name tells me nothing.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays