Quotes about nothing page 21
“When a woman who has much to say says nothing, her silence can be deafening.”
Margaret Landon (1903–1993) writer, missionary
“Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.”
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman
... il n'est rien creu si fermement que ce qu'on sçait le moins, ...
Book I, Ch. 31
Essais (1595), Book I
Variant: Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known.
Source: The Complete Essays
Charles Bukowski book Tales of Ordinary Madness
Variant: I felt like crying but nothing came out. it was just a sort of sad sickness, sick sad, when you can't feel any worse. I think you know it. I think everybody knows it now and then. but I think I have known it pretty often, too often.
Source: Tales of Ordinary Madness
“There is nothing perfect. There is only life.”
Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees
Source: The Secret Life of Bees (2002)
“Nothing is better for self-esteem than survival.”
Martha Gellhorn (1908–1998) journalist from the United States
"Travels with Myself and Another: A Memoir" (1978) by Martha Gellhorn.
Source: Travels With Myself and Another
“Don’t be surprised. There is nothing new under the sun. Only endless repackagings”
John Piper (1946) American writer
Source: Don't Waste Your Life
“Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.”
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Variant: Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.
William Saroyan book The Human Comedy
Source: The Human Comedy (1943)
Context: Death is not an easy thing for anyone to understand, least of all a child, but every life shall one day end. But as long as we are alive, as long as we are together, as long as two of us are left, and remember him, nothing in the world can take him from us. His body can be taken, but not him. You shall know your father better as you grow and know yourself better. He is not dead, because you are alive. Time and accident, illness and weariness took his body, but already you have given it back to him, younger and more eager than ever. I don't expect you to understand anything I'm telling you. But I know you will remember this — that nothing good ever ends. If it did, there would be no people in the world — no life at all, anywhere. And the world is full of people and full of wonderful life.
On meurt toujours trop tôt - ou trop tard. Et cependant la vie est là, terminée : le trait est tiré, il faut faire la somme. Tu n'es rien d'autre que ta vie.
Inès, Act 1, sc. 5
No Exit (1944)
“The only unbearable thing is that nothing is unbearable.”
Christopher Hampton (1946) British playwright, screenwriter and film director
Source: Total Eclipse
“Oh God, what's wrong with me? Why does nothing ever work out?”
Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones's Diary
Source: Bridget Jones's Diary
Tom Hodgkinson (1968) British writer
Source: The Freedom Manifesto
“A man with nothing to die for has even less for which to live.”
Margaret Weis (1948) American fantasy novelist
“There's nothing so much like a god on earth as a General on a battlefield.”
Michael Shaara book The Killer Angels
Source: The Killer Angels
“I realize that nothing belongs to her anymore and she belongs to everything.”
Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author
Source: I Am the Messenger
“There is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for.”
Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Kate DiCamillo (1964) American children's writer
Source: Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer
Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You
Source: Fairest
“Unfortunately, we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing.”
Cassandra Clare book City of Bones
Hodge and Clary, pg. 75
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)
Context: "Is there anything I could get for you?" he asked. "Something to drink? Some tea?"
"I don't want tea," said Clary, with a muffled force. "I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them."
"Unfortunately," said Hodge, "we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing."
“Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.”
Markus Zusak book The Book Thief
Variant: Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.
Source: The Book Thief
“Beware of those who weep with realization, for they have realized nothing.”
Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) Peruvian-American author
Source: Fire from Within
“Nothing bad can happen to a writer. Everything is material.”
Philip Roth (1933–2018) American novelist
“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”
Victor Hugo book Les Misérables
Source: Les Misérables
“Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee:
All things pass;
God never changes.”
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint
"Poem IX", in Complete Works St. Teresa of Avila (1963) edited by E. Allison Peers, Vol. 3, p. 288
Context: Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee:
All things pass;
God never changes.
Patience attains
All that it strives for.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.
“There is nothing stable in the world; uproar's your only music.”
John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet
Sonya Hartnett (1968) Australian writer
Source: The Ghost's Child
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
Jack Kerouac book On the Road
Source: On the Road
“You concede nothing to me and I have to concede everything to you.”
Thomas Hardy book Jude the Obscure
Source: Jude the Obscure
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”
Rohinton Mistry book Family Matters
Source: Family Matters
“If you could pack for heaven, this was how you'd do it, touching everything, taking nothing.”
Mitch Albom (1958) American author
Source: Have a Little Faith: a True Story
Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist
Source: The Devil's Web
Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), p. 43
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist
[C]'est la vraie générosité ; vous donnez tout et rien ne semble jamais vous coûter.
All Men are Mortal (1946)
“Agree with everything, explain nothing, then do what is best for you.”
Sherry Argov (1977) American writer
Source: Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl—A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship
“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”
Elizabeth Berg (1948) American novelist
Source: The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation
“The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you are finished.”
Nelson DeMille (1943) American writer
Variant: The problem with doing nothing is that you never know when you're finished.
Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian
Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
“For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Source: The Faerie Queene
“When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.”
Edward Abbey book The Monkey Wrench Gang
page 294
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
Variant: He recalled Dr. Sarvis' favorite apothegm: When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.
Source: The Monkey Wrench Gang
