Quotes about nothing
page 33

“He stared dully at the desolate, cold road and the pale, dead night. Nothing was colder or more dead than his heart. He had loved an angel and now he despised a woman.”

Gaston Leroux book The Phantom of the Opera

Source: The Phantom of the Opera

Love, Angels, Heart, Night

“If you want to keep people subjugated, the last thing you place in their hands is a Bible. There's nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

People

“Poor me. There's nothing so sweet as wallowing in it is there? Wallowing is sex for depressives.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Sex

“The time is now, the place is here. Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for.”

Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer

Hope, Change, Time, Past

“Nothing but good times ahead.”

Jennifer Crusie book Welcome to Temptation

Source: Welcome to Temptation

Time

“The ability to read becomes devalued when what one has learned to read adds nothing of importance to one's life.”

Bruno Bettelheim (1903–1990) child psychologist and writer

Life, Learning, Reading

“His air of failure had nothing desperate about it; rather, it seemed to stem from an unresented realisation that he was not cut out for success, and his duty was therefore to ensure only that he failed in the correct and acceptable fashion.”

Julian Barnes book Flaubert's Parrot

Source: Flaubert's Parrot

Fashion, Failure, Success

“Don't worry. You're safe now. You've got nothing left to steal.”

Joan D. Vinge book Catspaw

Source: Catspaw

“There is nothing more dangerous than a woman with a shotgun. Because you don't know when it's going to go off… and neither does she.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

“Choices will continually be necessary and -- let us not forget -- possible. Obedience to God is always possible. It is a deadly error to fall into the notion that when feelings are extremely strong we can do nothing but act on them.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: Discipline: The Glad Surrender

God, Error, Feeling, Strong

“I narrowed my eyes at it. Ming-de’s little gift, I assumed. “You look better in color,” I snapped.
He sent me a sultry look over his shoulder. “Really? Most women think I look better in nothing at all.”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Embrace the Night

Women, Color, Thinking

“The desperate usually succeed because they have nothing to lose.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts

“Nothing gained without cost is valued. Freedom has a cost, and all will bear it so all will value and preserve it.”

Terry Goodkind (1948) American novelist

Freedom

“Love is our response to our highest values, and can be nothing else.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Love

“The rosy gleam of his lip, the fevered gleam of his eyes. There was not a line anywhere on his face, nothing creased or graying; all crisp. He was spring, golden and bright. Envious death would drink his blood, and grow young again.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

Death, Spring, Drink

“I am nothing. I’m like someone who’s been thrown into the ocean at night, floating all alone. I reach out, but no one is there. I call out, but no one answers. I have no connection to anything.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84 (2009-2010)

Night

“Nothing is ever perfect. It is what you make of it.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Source: Something Borrowed

Perfection

“She hopes for nothing except fine weather and a resolution. She wants to end properly, like a good sentence.”

Zadie Smith book The Autograph Man

Source: The Autograph Man

Hope, Weather

“His kisses were gifts. He kissed with everything he had, with power and passion and hunger and love. He held nothing back, giving everything, exposing everything.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Reflected in You

Love, Hunger, Kiss, Passion

“Faith is stepping out into the unknown with nothing to guide us but a hand just beyond our grasp.”

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

Source: The Magnificent Defeat (1966)

Faith

“nothing she did
or said

was quite
what she meant

but still her life
could be called a monument

shaped in a slant
of available light

and set to the movement
of possible music”

Carol Shields (1935–2003) American author

Life, Music, Light

“Finally there is nothing here for death to take away.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire

Death

“I was tired of chasing ghosts, hollow men who were outside my comfort zone, men who had nothing to give me except a rush. It was all I asked for, and all I ever got.”

Terry McMillan book Getting to Happy

Source: Getting to Happy

Men

“I exaggerated even before I began to exaggerate, because it's true — nothing is ever quite as bad as it could be.”

Amy Hempel (1951) Short story writer

Source: At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories

“To hell with sweet nothings. Dirty little somethings are my choice any day of the week.”

Christine Warren American writer

Source: Wolf at the Door

Hell

“Steampunk is nothing more than what happens when Goths discover brown.”

Charles Stross (1964) British science fiction writer and blogger

“Too many people seem to believe that silence was a void that needed to be filled, even if nothing important was said.”

Nicholas Sparks book Nights in Rodanthe

Source: Nights in Rodanthe

People, Silence

“nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

World

“There is, though, nothing that prepares us for the worst things in our life. There is nothing you can do to stop the shock, or buffer the pain.”

James Frey book The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Source: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Life, Pain

“Until we accept the fact that life itself is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

Life, Learning

“Nothing really dies as long as it's not forgotten”

L.J. Smith The Forbidden Game

Source: The Forbidden Game

“I think housework is far more tiring and frightening than hunting is, no comparison, and yet after hunting we had eggs for tea and were made to rest for hours, but after housework people expect one to go on just as if nothing special had happened.”

Nancy Mitford (1904–1973) British writer

People, Thinking, Tea

“Nothing external to you has any power over you.”

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

Peaceful

“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

“Honest criticism means nothing: what one wants is unrestrained passion, fire for fire.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

Passion

“Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.”

Rex Stout book The Red Box

Source: The Red Box

Wealth

“Nothing is ever easy”

Terry Goodkind book Wizard's First Rule

Quotes from the Books
Source: Nothing is ever easy. Zedd- Wizard's First Rule

“If it means something, take it to heart. If it means nothing, it's nothing. Let it go.”

Philippa Gregory book The Other Boleyn Girl

Source: The Other Boleyn Girl

Heart

“All I heard was the blood rushing through my ears, and the distant rumble and crackle of the Lake of Fire. (And Khufu scratching himself and grunting, but that was nothing new.)”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Distant

“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.”

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

1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Art

Men, Sense

“I have been a friend to Shadowhunters. I know many of your families, going back for hundreds of years."
"There is nothing we can do to correct the questionable judgments of our ancestors," Lucian said.
Magnus hated this guy.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Last Stand of the New York Institute

Hate, Family, Guy, Question

“The only thing you can be is yourself nothing more nothing less”

Terry Goodkind Blood of the Fold

Source: Blood of the Fold

“There is nothing like a War for the reinvention of lives…”

Salman Rushdie book Midnight's Children

Source: Midnight's Children

War

“I thought of the wilderness we had left behind us, open to sea and sky, joyous in its plenitude and simplicity, perfect yet vulnerable, unaware of what is coming, defended by nothing, guarded by no one.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

Source: Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside

Perfection, Sea

“For there is nothing quite so terror-inducing as the loss of sleep. It creates phantoms and doubts, causes one to questions one's own abilities and judgement, and, over time, dismantles, from within, the body.”

Charlie Huston Sleepless

Source: Sleepless

Question, Sleep, Loss, Time

“HELLO! Look at me. HELLO! I am so ZEN. This is BLOOD. This is NOTHING. Hello. Everything is nothing, and it's so cool to be ENLIGHTENED. Like me.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“It won't be pleasant."
"Nothing ever is.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

“I do not believe in any religion, I will have nothing to do with immortality. We are miserable enough in this life without speculating upon another.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Life, Religion

“So,” Wanda cried, “a woman in furs is nothing more than a large cat, a charged electric battery?”

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch book Venus in Furs

Source: Venus in Furs

Cats

“In an ugly and unhappy world the richest man can purchase nothing but ugliness and unhappiness.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

#110
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)

World

“The maxim ‘Nothing avails but perfection’ may be spelt shorter: ‘Paralysis.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Minute [brief note] to General Ismay, December 6, 1942, on proposed improvements to landing-craft.
In The Second World War, Volume IV : The Hinge of Fate (1951), Appendix C.
The Second World War (1939–1945)

Perfection

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want for nothing. He makes me lie down in the green pastures. He greases up my head with oil. He gives me kung-fu in the face of my enemies. Amen”

Stephen King book The Stand

Source: The Stand

Lie

“We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

God, World, Joy

“Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny.”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Star

“Inside and out, Westley's world was ripping apart and he could do nothing but crack along with it.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

World

“Cause nothing said lovin' like a shitload of motion detectors.”

Jessica Bird book Lover Unbound

Source: Lover Unbound

“There has to be a middle. Without it, nothing can ever truly be whole. Because it is not just the space between, but also what holds everything together.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

“Faith's most severe tests come not when we see nothing, but when we see a stunning array of evidence that seems to prove our faith vain.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: These Strange Ashes

Faith

“Doing nothing is opting for the sweetness of stillness… Instead of fighting with that which you cannot control, you might as well just see it through…”

Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967–2020) American author and journalist

Source: Radical Sanity: Commonsense Advice for Uncommon Women

Fight

“I am determined that nothing but the deepest love could ever induce me into matrimony. [Elizabeth]”

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist

Love

“You wouldn't have taken Rose to such a place, would you?"

"Of course not, but she is a little girl, and I'm-"

"My life", he interrupted quietly. "You're my entire life. If anything ever happens to you, Holly, there is nothing left for me.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Where Dreams Begin

Life, Girl

“When you've nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Variant: When one has nothing left make ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.
Source: The Road

“Thank you for nothing, you stupid reptile.”

Cressida Cowell book How to Train Your Dragon

Source: How to Train Your Dragon

Stupidity

“It is the good children, Madame, who make the most terrible revolutionaries. They say nothing, they do not hide under the table, they eat only one sweet at a time, but later on, they make Society pay dearly for it!”

Jean Paul Sartre Dirty Hands

Jessica, Act 3, sc. 1
Dirty Hands (1948)

Children, Time

“But then she was not awkward, she was slow-flowing, graceful, seductive - a seductiveness that had nothing to do with breast and hips and legs, but was an invitation to forget the world in the recesses of the body”

Bernhard Schlink book The Reader

Source: The Reader

World, Forgetting

“Death isn't peaceful; it is just nothing. Everything is gone. No more sunrises, no more hopes, no more fears. Nothing.”

Linda Howard (1950) American writer

Source: Kill and Tell

Death, Fear, Peace, Hope

“There is nothing to prove and nothing to protect. I am who I am and it's enough.”

Richard Rohr (1943) American spiritual writer, speaker, teacher, Catholic Franciscan priest

“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

People

“But unlike you," said Jace, "there is nothing of hell in us."
"You are mortal; you age; you die," the Queen said dismissively. "If that is not hell, pray tell me, what is?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Age, Hell

“There is nothing to winning, really. That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind, and no scruples whatsoever.”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

“When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there's either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world.
And there's nothing wrong with my skills.”

Jonathan Maberry (1958) writer

Source: Patient Zero

World

“Now I understand one of the important reasons for going to college and getting an education is to learn that the things you've believed in all your life aren't true, and that nothing is what it appears to be.”

Daniel Keyes book Flowers for Algernon

Source: Flowers for Algernon (1966)

Life, Education, Understanding, Learning

“I know you have nothing to worry about. I wasn't in love with Mark. I'll never be in love with anyone again who isn't you.”

Cassandra Clare book Lord of Shadows

Source: Lord of Shadows

Love

“Sometimes I thought about nothing and sometimes I thought about my life. At least I made a living. What kind of living? A living. It wasn't easy. I found out how little is unbearable.”

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

Source: The History of Love

Life

“She learned that an act intended to express love could have nothing to do with it. That her heart and her body were different things.”

Jhumpa Lahiri book The Lowland

Source: The Lowland

Love, Learning, Heart

“There's nothing happy about having your fate decided for you! You have to grab your own happiness!”

Hiro Mashima (1977) Japanese manga artist

Fate, Happiness

“Every beginning, after all, is nothing but a sequel, and the book of events is always open in the middle.”

Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) Polish writer

Books

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Art, Motivational

“I hate it when people imply that people only read because they have nothing better to do.”

Jo Walton book Among Others

Source: Among Others

Hate, People, Reading

“But at night, when the library lamps are lit, the outside world disappears and nothing but the space of books remains in existence.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: The Library at Night

Books, World, Night

“Nothing happened, and nothing kept happening.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted

“From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.”

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) writer

"Dedicatory Ode", stanza 22
Verses (1910)

Love, Home, Laughter

“People weren't firecrackers who burst into the night sky with brilliance and glory, and a moment later faded away to nothing. Our souls had to be more lasting than that.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: Just One Wish

People, Soul, Night

“I still cry on waking. I'm not sure why. I feel nothing. Nothing I can name, anyway. It's like breathing - something that happens over which I have no control. (6)”

Mary E. Pearson book The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Source: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Feeling, Cry

“We come from nothing, we are going back to nothing-In the end what have we lost? Nothing!”

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

“When you are on the dancefloor, there is nothing to do but dance.”

Umberto Eco book The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Source: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Dance

“Today, when I saw you, I realized that what is between us is nothing more than an illusion.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Love in the Time of Cholera

Source: Love in the Time of Cholera

“one who makes no mistakes makes nothing”

Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice

“Saying you like "Piano Man" doesn't mean you like Billy Joel; it means you're willing to go to a piano bar if there's nothing else to do”

Chuck Klosterman (1972) Author, Columnist

“I had no voice to talk with because she was my whole language. Without her to talk to, there was nothing to say.”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Variant: I had no voice to talk with because she was my whole language.
Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

“Are those the only options? Nothing or forever?”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

“What else do I have to offer? Nothing happens to me anymore. That’s the reality of getting old, and I guess that’s really the crux of the matter. I’m not ready to be old yet.”

Sara Gruen book Water for Elephants

Source: Water for Elephants

Reality

“…there’s nothing in the world more fun than doing something you’re good at.”

Clive Barker book Galilee

Source: Galilee

World

“it's just business nothing personal…”

Mario Puzo (1920–1999) American Novelist

Business, Personality

“Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters.”

Samuel Adams (1722–1803) American statesman, Massachusetts governor, and political philosopher

Men, Personality

“Nothing of value is free. Even the breath of life is purchased at birth only through gasping effort and pain.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

Life, Pain, Birth, Effort

“There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

For Men

“Writing is hard work. But if you want to become a writer you will become one. Nothing will stop you.”

Dorothy Day (1897–1980) Social activist

“The things that break your heart when you think there`s nothing left to break”

Meg Rosoff book How I Live Now

Source: How I Live Now

Thinking, Heart

“It had been a whim, and there was nothing Magnus attached more importance to than a whim.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Runaway Queen

Quotes about nothing page 33

Quotes about nothing
page 33