Quotes about other
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“I grabbed her, right there outside the lunch room in the swarming mob. I didn't care if others were watching. In fact, i hoped they were. I grabbed her and squeezed her. I had never been so happy and so proud in my life.”

Jerry Spinelli book Stargirl

Source: Stargirl

Life, Hope, Happiness

“We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

essay "Eye to Eye", in Sister Outsider

Love, Women, Study

“They stared at each other, wanting each other, drawn to each other, but their silent shout of love went unheard in the roar of misunderstanding, and the clatter of culturally ingrained beliefs.”

Jean M. Auel book The Mammoth Hunters

Source: The Mammoth Hunters

Love

“You’re all so obsessed with other worlds, you’re so convinced that this one is crap and everywhere else is great, but you’ve never bothered to figure out what’s going on here!”

Lev Grossman The Magician King

Source: The Magician King

World

“One and one and one and one doesn't equal four. Each one remains unique, there is no way of joining them together. They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each other.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Way

“We have a nice home and we love each other and that's enough.”

Trina Paulus Hope for the Flowers

Source: Hope for the Flowers

Love, Home

“Loneliness, she thought, was craving for other people's company. But she did not know that loneliness can be an unnoticed cramping of the spirit for lack of companionship.”

Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer

Source: The Grass is Singing

People, Loneliness

“My will and my desire were turned by love, the love that moves the sun and the other stars.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Love, Star, Sun

“Sometimes the space between knowing what to do and actually doing it is a very short walk. Other times it is an impossible expanse.”

David Levithan Boy Meets Boy

Source: Boy Meets Boy

Time

“The most important decision we can make is whether this is a friendly or hostile universe. From that one decision all others spring.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Multiple variations of this quote can be found, but the earliest one on Google Books which uses the phrase "friendly or hostile" and attributes it to Einstein is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Spiritual Healing by Susan Gregg (2000), p. 5 http://books.google.com/books?id=XLQ8X67PozAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false, and this book gives no source for the quote. A variant is found in Irving Oyle's The New American Medicine Show (1979) on p. 163, where Oyle writes: 'There is a story about Albert Einstein's view of human existence. Asked to pose the most vital question facing humanity, he replied, "Is the universe friendly?"' This variant is repeated in a number of books from the 1980s and 90s, so it probably pre-dates the "friendly or hostile" version. And the idea that the most important question we can ask is "Is the universe friendly?" dates back much earlier than the attribution to Einstein, for example in Emil Carl Wilm's 1912 book The Problem of Religion he includes the following footnote on p. 114 http://books.google.com/books?id=nWYiAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA114#v=onepage&q&f=false: 'A friend proposed to the late F. W. H. Myers the following question: "What is the thing which above all others you would like to know? If you could ask the Sphinx one question, and only one, what would the question be?" After a moment's silence Myers replied: "I think it would be this: Is the universe friendly?"' Misattributed

Hostility, Spring, Decision, Universe

“You can always tell employees of the government by the total vacancy which occupies the space where most other people have faces.”

John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces

Source: A Confederacy of Dunces (1980, posthumous), Ch. 9, p. 226

People

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Virginia Resolution of 1798 (24 December 1798) http://www.constitution.org/cons/virg1798.htm Federalist No. 46 (29 January 1788) Full text at Wikisource 1790s Variant: [The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. Context: That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the "Alien and Sedition Acts" passed at the last session of Congress; the first of which exercises a power no where delegated to the federal government, and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers to those of executive, subverts the general principles of free government; as well as the particular organization, and positive provisions of the federal constitution; and the other of which acts, exercises in like manner, a power not delegated by the constitution, but on the contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a power, which more than any other, ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guardian of every other right. Context: Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

People, Country

“A truth was being revealed to me: that I had always tried to attach myself to the light of other people, that I had never had any light of my own. I experienced myself as a kind of shadow.”

Zadie Smith book Swing Time

Source: Swing Time

People, Truth, Light

“There were no route maps posted on the walls, but a Wonderland-style sign commanding, 'If you know where you are, then please tell others.”

Elizabeth Wein book Code Name Verity

Source: Code Name Verity

“The delight we inspire in others has this enchanting peculiarity that, far from being diminished like every other reflection, it returns to us more radiant than ever.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“Then they set out along the blacktop in the gunmetal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other's world entire.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

World, Light

“I shook so that it was some time before I realized that he was shaking too, and for the same reason. I don't know how long we sat there on the dusty floor, crying in each others arms with the longing of twenty years spilling down our faces.”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Time, Cry

“Silence is pure and holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

People, Silence, Drawing

“Imagine" he said, "never even thinking, 'We are alone,' simply because it has never occurred to you to think that there's any other way to be.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Source: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Way, Imagination, Thinking

“Kathy was a Republican, one of those people who used the unforgivable phrase "meant to be"--usually when describing her own good fortune or the disasters that had befallen other people.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

People

“If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Source: Don't Waste Your Life Study Guide

Life, God, Joy

“There are some choices you can only make once. You can't go back to where you made a choice and then take the other one.”

Mary Hoffman book City of Flowers

Source: City of Flowers

“Live to please the others, and everyone will love you, except yourself.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Love

“Come morning I found the day as I have found every other day--without relief or explanation.”

Mark Z. Danielewski book House of Leaves

Source: House of Leaves

“After working for so long on being sure of each other, sure of this thing, suddenly we were unsure again.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

“Some people think I'm a mythical genius, others think I'm a junkie madman.”

Keith Richards (1943) British rock musician, member of The Rolling Stones

People, Thinking

“When I look in the mirror, I see a woman with secrets. When we don’t listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don’t, others will abandon us.”

Terry Tempest Williams (1955) American writer

Source: When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice

Secret, Soul

“I have found my star. She is beauty and grace. Elegance and goodness. My laughter in winter. She is courageous and strong. Bold and tempting. Unlike any other in all the universe, and I cannot touch her. I dare not even try." [Zarek]”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Beauty, Star, Courage, Laughter

“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German late baroque era composer

Variant: The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit.

God, Music, Soul

“Dream after dream we all lie in each other's arms”

Leonard Cohen book Beautiful Losers

Source: Beautiful Losers

Lie, Dreams

“Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.”

Edward Abbey book Desert Solitaire

"Water", p. 113; this is often quoted as simply: Without courage, all other virtues are useless. 
Source: Desert Solitaire (1968)
Context: Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.

Courage, Joy

“The power you have over someone who loves you is greater than any other power you'll ever have.”

Paullina Simons book The Summer Garden

Source: The Summer Garden

Love

“I am not a fan of people who abuse service staff. In fact, I find it intolerable. It’s an unpardonable sin as far as I’m concerned, taking out personal business or some other kind of dissatisfaction on a waiter or busboy.”

Anthony Bourdain book Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Medium Raw (2010)
Source: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

People, Business, Personality

“When I took the pills, I wanted to kill someone I hated. I didn't know that other Veronikas existed inside me, Veronikas that I could love.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

Love, Hate

“You're my flame in the dark. We chase away the shadows around each other.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Variant: We chase away the shadows around each other.
Source: The Indigo Spell

“Other crack teams get bat boomerangs and wall-climbing powers; we get Aquatruck.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

“We set down feasts for each other and treated our love with tongues of fire. Our bodies were fields of wonder to us.”

Pat Conroy book Beach Music

Source: Beach Music

Love

“It's as if he can no longer acknowledge the love he felt or the pain I am in. I have been dismissed. I don't think I was smarter or as beautiful as the other girls he did this to. It's just that I was me. It was all I had.”

Emma Forrest (1976) British journalist, novelist and screenwriter

Source: Your Voice in My Head

Love, Pain, Beauty, Girl

“I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Life

“I held the feeling in my heart; the urge to discuss it died out. There was all the time in the world. In the endless repetition of other nights, other mornings, this moment, too, might become a dream.”

Banana Yoshimoto book Kitchen

Source: Kitchen

World, Dreams, Feeling, Time

“If you don't want to do something, don't impose on others”

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

“I love feeling the rhythm of other people's lives. It's like traveling.”

Banana Yoshimoto book The Lake

Source: The Lake

Love, People, Travel, Feeling

“There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren't as good as others.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

“A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Well of Ascension

World, Idea

“If we knew each other's secrets, what comfort we would find.”

John Churton Collins (1848–1908) British literary critic

Variant: If we knew each other's secrets, what comforts we should find.

Secret

“Now she and I sit together in her room and eat chocolate, and I tell her that in a very long time when we both to go heaven, we should try to get chairs next to each other, close to the dessert table.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Time

“If there's a thing I've learned in my life it's to not be afraid of the responsibility that comes with caring for other people. What we do for love: those things endure. Even if the people you do them for don't”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Love, Life, People, Learning

“I was the Sumerian god of fertility. You know what that means, don’t you? (Sin)
You have a lot of penis envy over the other fertility gods? Don’t worry. I won’t tell the other gods about your small penis problem. (Kat)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

God, Problem, Envy

“You always know the mark of a coward. A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Talk is Cheap Volume 1 (1998)
Source: Talk is Cheap: Volume 1

Courageous, Freedom, Personality

“My Emma, does not every thing serve to prove more and more the beauty of truth and sincerity in all our dealings with each other?”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Truth, Beauty, Sincerity

“Regardless of what I think about Islam or Wicca or any other religion, the fact is that it's a group of people. Every faith has its ceremonies. And since it's made up of people, every faith also has its assholes.”

Jim Butcher book White Night

Source: White Night

People, Faith, Religion, Thinking

“Isn’t it funny to think that this magnificent piece of matter is in a state of decay? Really, can you think of any other living thing that looks this glorious as it’s dying?”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Thinking

“I don't know what your damage is, but in case you've failed to notice, we're in a bit of trouble here. Can you focus on something other than trying to get into my pants?" His lips curled. " I can multitask.”

Alexandra Ivy (1961) American novelist

Source: Beyond the Darkness

“A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Thinking, Personality

“One gets so used to one's own horrors, one forgets how they must seem to other people.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

People, Forgetting

“Before you look for validation in others, try and find it in yourself”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

“Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the opposite.”

Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian

Source: Community And Growth

Love, Money, People, World

“… at last I understood that writing was this: an impulse to share with other people a feeling or truth that I myself had.”

Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) Journalist and writer

Source: If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

People, Truth, Feeling

“You can't just switch off your feelings because the other person did.”

Sophie Kinsella book Twenties Girl

Source: Twenties Girl

Feeling, Personality

“Work hard, do the best you can, don't ever lose faith in yourself and take no notice of what other people say about you.”

Noel Coward (1899–1973) English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer

People, Faith

“All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub.”

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German late baroque era composer

Quoted in Ludwig Prautzsch Bibel und Symbol in den Werken Bachs, p. 7 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xaG9peANY9kC&pg=PA7&dq=teuflisches+%22Finis+und+Endursache+anders+nicht,+als+nur+zu+Gottes+Ehre+%22;translation from Albert Schweitzer (trans. Ernest Newman) J. S. Bach (New York: Dover, 1966), vol. 1, p. 167 Variant: Like all music, the figured bass should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamour and ranting.

God, Music, Soul

“There is no more hollow feeling than to stand with your honor shattered at your feet while soaring public reputation wraps you in rewards. That's soul-destroying. The other way around is merely very, very irritating.”

Lois McMaster Bujold A Civil Campaign

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, A Civil Campaign (1999)

Way, Feeling, Soul

“Never build your emotional life on the weaknesses of others.”

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

Life

“B. O. B. and I have a longtime understanding - when we're done with each other, we know exactly which one of us has been used, and it isn't me. Good night Gideon.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Understanding, Night

“Fear's greatest weapon is its ability to blind one to anything. In its presence, we forget there are others to consider, things to save besides ourselves.”

Jonathan Carroll book Bones of the Moon

Source: Bones of the Moon

Fear, Forgetting

“You can't live your life to suit other people. The harder you try, the more restrictions they'll put on you just for the fun of seeing you jump through their hoops.”

Judith McNaught (1944) American writer

Source: Paradise

Life, People

“In the end, the only one you can ever really please is yourself. How others feel is up to them.”

Nicholas Sparks book See Me

Source: See Me

Feeling

“He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others' mediocrity--suggesting that a certain type of intelligence may be at heart nothing more or less than a superior capacity for dissatisfaction.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (2009), p. 284.
Context: It appeared that the one area in which Sir Bob excelled was anxiety. He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others’ mediocrity—suggesting that a certain kind of intelligence may at heart be nothing more or less than a superior capacity for dissatisfaction.

Intelligence, Heart

“Let's replace "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" with "Do unto others, after they show you they are worthy.”

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

“It's the perfect solution. We argue all the time. We can't stand each other. It's like we're already married.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Married By Morning

Time, Perfection

“The coffee arrives, and we backslide into what lawyers do best---talking about other lawyers.”

John Grisham book The Rainmaker

Source: The Rainmaker

Coffee

“Ostara, if one dies while in these othere states of consciousness, one dies indeed. this begs the question, are dreams truly only ever dreams?”

Nancy Holder (1953) American writer

Source: Wicked 2: Legacy & Spellbound

Dreams, Question

“Surviving - that is the other name of a mourning whose possibility is never to be awaited.”

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

Source: The Politics of Friendship

“One whisper, added to a thousand others, becomes a roar of discontent”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

“And woman is the same as horses: two wills act in opposition inside her. With one will she wants to subject herself utterly. With the other she wants to bolt, and pitch her rider to perdition.”

D.H. Lawrence book Women in Love

Source: Women in Love

Horse

“Come on sempai, would you please stop growing mushrooms in other people's closets?

-Haruhi”

Bisco Hatori (1975) Japanese manga artist

People

“We humans have always sought to increase our personal energy in the only manner we have known, by seeking to psychologically steal it from the others--an unconscious competition that underlies all human conflict in the world.”

James Redfield book The Celestine Prophecy

Source: The Celestine Prophecy

World, Personality

“What we do in every other area of our lives (other than religion), is, rather than respect somebody's beliefs, we evaluate their reasons.”

Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist

Religion

“There are boys so enraptured by love that they can't get their hearts to slow down enough to get some rest, and other boys so damaged by love that they can't stop picking at their pain.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

Love, Pain, Boy, Heart

“It was a little weird that they were friends. But then, maybe freaks just tended to find each other.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Angel

“I don't remember ever feeling lonely; in fact, on the rare occasions when I met other children I found their games and their talk far less interesting than the adventures and dialogues I read in my books.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: A History of Reading

Children, Books, Feeling, Game

“I could almost see common sense and denial fighting away at each other within her. In the end, denial won, as it so often does.”

Jasper Fforde book Lost in a Good Book

Source: Lost in a Good Book

Sense, Fight

“Once the others were below, Hazel and Leo faced each other awkwardly. They were alone except for Coach Hedge, who was back on the quarterdeck singing thetheme song. The coach had changed the words to:, and Leo really didn’t want to know why.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Change, Singing

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

2010s
Context: The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And along the way, lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.

World, Suffering