Quotes about quiet
page 2

“I was sitting alone in an empty locker room, left leg injured. I need to prove my worth when the opportunity is given. I look at my leg, powerless, and wonder why I had to get hurt in this moment. Then, Coach Hiddink appears out of nowhere with an interpretor and speaks to me in English. Not understanding, I stare at the interpretor. He says you have great mentality. With that kind of mental strength, you will become a great player. I was shocked. Before I could murmur the easy 'thank you' in English, he was gone. My heart was pounding. The coach always seemed to be so far away, but he came to me and told me I have great mentality. Somewhere inside, energy was rousing up…. mentality. I have nothing else to boast, but one thing I could do is to never give up. I will endure all hardships, even if I would die from it. And I will keep this mentality…. in the entire World Cup, I played with those words ringing in my ears. With my mentality, I can become a great player. I kicked the ball and ran around the field clinging on to those words. For better or for worse, I am calm and quiet, so not many people take notice of me. But I was sure that Coach Hiddink would be looking at me and urging me to move on. This gave me courage. If it was not for Coach Hiddink, I would not be where I am now. With the words 'where I am now,' I am not referring to me becoming famous or being able to purchase a spacious condo for my parents. I am referring to the fact that I learned to love myself more. Within a minute, what Coach Hiddink said to me changed my life forever. I feel a bit shy thinking about what he would think after reading this, but he is my 'master' and I owe him everything and I won't be able to repay it in my lifetime.”

Park Ji-sung (1981) South Korean footballer

From Park's autobiography, praising the efforts of Guus Hiddink.

Love, Life, People, World

“She was somebody who was a very humble person and a very plain spoken person. She's one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America … They're not famous, their names aren't in the newspapers. But, each and every day, they work hard. They look after their families. They sacrifice for their children and their grandchildren. They aren't seeking the limelight. All they try to do is just do the right thing. And in this crowd, there are a lot of quiet heroes like that—mothers and fathers, grandparents who have worked hard and sacrificed all their lives, and the satisfaction that they get is seeing that their children and maybe their grandchildren or their great-children live a better life than they did. And that's what America is about. That's what we're fighting for. And North Carolina, with just one more day, we have the opportunity to honor all of those quiet heroes all across America and all across North Carolina. We can bring change to America to make sure that their work and their sacrifice is honored. That's what we're fighting for.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Obama speaking about his grandmother Madelyn Dunham at a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina (3 November 2008)
2008

Life, Children, Family, Change

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, Second State of the Union address (1862)
Context: The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Thinking, Past

“With clarity and quiet, I look upon the world and say: All that I see, hear, taste, smell, and touch are the creations of my mind.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)
Context: With clarity and quiet, I look upon the world and say: All that I see, hear, taste, smell, and touch are the creations of my mind.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down in my skull. Out of one of my temples the sun rises, and into the other the sun sets.
The stars shine in my brain; ideas, men, animals browse in my temporal head; songs and weeping fill the twisted shells of my ears and storm the air for a moment.

World

“We rightly and best remember Dr. King’s soaring oratory that day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions; how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2013, "Let Freedom Ring" Ceremony (August 2013)
Context: And then, on a hot summer day, they assembled here, in our nation’s capital, under the shadow of the Great Emancipator -- to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, and to awaken America’s long-slumbering conscience. We rightly and best remember Dr. King’s soaring oratory that day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions; how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time.

Age, Hope, Time

“To put an end to the quiet, to break it up and disperse it, to pretend at any cost that it isn't there. Ah, but it is; it is there, in spite of everything, at the back of everything.”

Aldous Huxley book Antic Hay

Antic Hay (1923)
Context: There are quiet places also in the mind', he said meditatively. 'But we build bandstands and factories on them. Deliberately — to put a stop to the quietness. … All the thoughts, all the preoccupations in my head — round and round, continually What's it for? What's it all for? To put an end to the quiet, to break it up and disperse it, to pretend at any cost that it isn't there. Ah, but it is; it is there, in spite of everything, at the back of everything. Lying awake at night — not restlessly, but serenely, waiting for sleep — the quiet re-establishes itself, piece by piece; all the broken bits … we've been so busily dispersing all day long. It re-establishes itself, an inward quiet, like the outward quiet of grass and trees. It fills one, it grows — a crystal quiet, a growing, expanding crystal. It grows, it becomes more perfect; it is beautiful and terrifying … For one's alone in the crystal, and there's no support from the outside, there is nothing external and important, nothing external and trivial to pull oneself up by or stand on … There is nothing to laugh at or feel enthusiast about. But the quiet grows and grows. Beautifully and unbearably. And at last you are conscious of something approaching; it is almost a faint sound of footsteps. Something inexpressively lovely and wonderful advances through the crystal, nearer, nearer. And, oh, inexpressively terrifying. For if it were to touch you, if it were to seize you and engulf you, you'd die; all the regular, habitual daily part of you would die … one would have to begin living arduously in the quiet, arduously in some strange, unheard of manner.

“Thus they toil on in trouble and danger all the days of their life, with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting: their only idea of a holiday is to do what the occasion demands, and to them laborious occupation is less of a misfortune than the peace of a quiet life. To describe their character in a word, one might truly say that they were born into the world to take no rest themselves and to give none to others.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, Chapter III
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

Life, World, Peace, Idea

“And then, on a hot summer day, they assembled here, in our nation’s capital, under the shadow of the Great Emancipator -- to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, and to awaken America’s long-slumbering conscience. We rightly and best remember Dr. King’s soaring oratory that day, how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions; how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2013, "Let Freedom Ring" Ceremony (August 2013)

Age, Hope, Time, Summer

“My father, Hugh Everett, III, author of the Many Worlds Theory, was a quiet man during the eighteen or so years I shared a house with him. Turns out he was depressed over a sad childhood and then being dismissed as a kook, only later - too late - to be recognized as a genius.”

Hugh Everett (1930–1982) American physicist, author of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics

Mark Oliver Everett, Things the Grandchildren Should Know, ISBN 978-0-316-02787-8, pg 11

World, Sadness, Childhood, Housing

“When you are wrong, admit it. When you are right, be quiet.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

“Although the world is quiet, it does not mean that everything is going well. It can also mean that everyone is praying to God to make their tomorrow better, waiting for the situation to change, so that life becomes happy as before.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Life, God, Happiness, World

“Women are best when they are quiet.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

First Healing, and Then Service, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series, Volume 31, Sermon number 1,836 (April 19th, 1885)

Women

“Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers.”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Life, Funny

“Find your quiet center of life and write from that to the world.”

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) American novelist, short story writer and poet

Life, World

“I spoke it soft, but close enough to brush against her lips. I spoke it quiet, but near enough so that the sound of it went twining through her hair. I spoke it hard and firm and dark and sweet.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Sanguine felt the ridiculous urge to reach out and poke him, just to see if he’d react, but he’d seen that kind of anger before. It was the quiet kind. The dangerous kind.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Last Stand of Dead Men

Anger

“If you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy and colorful and lively.”

Mel Brooks (1926) American director, writer, actor, and producer

Color

“You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Variant: He's a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Understanding

“Quiet Spaces
We had gone far enough together to listen easily in the quiet spaces.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.”

Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director

Source: Blood Wedding and Yerma

Wedding

“Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day- like writing a poem or saying a prayer.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh book Gift from the Sea

Source: Gift from the Sea

Flowers, Sense

“Quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times, a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.”

Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952) American children's writer and editor

Time, Parting

“I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Women, Pleasure

“No matter how quiet and conformist a person’s life seems, there’s always a time in the past when they reached an impasse. A time when they went a little crazy. I guess people need that sort of stage in their lives.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Life, People, Time, Past

“Even to me the issue of "stay small, sweet, quiet, and modest" sounds like an outdated problem, but the truth is that women still run into those demands whenever we find and use our voices.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Women, Truth, Problem

“Writing is not some quiet, closet act.”

Patti Smith (1946) American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist

“Stay low, stay quiet, keep it simple, don't expect too much, enjoy what you have.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

“I say, when Mercury arrives, we just pretend we’re not here.” Lawe
tipped back his whiskey and swallowed in a single drink. “Stay real quiet.
Don’t make eye contact.”
They all nodded.”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Mercury's War

Law, Drink

“They told us not to wish in the first place, not to aspire, not to try; to be quiet, to play nice, to shoot low and aspire not at all. They are always wrong. Follow your dreams. Make your wishes. Create the future. And above all, believe in yourself. That is the lesson of Babylon 5.”

J. Michael Straczynski (1954) American writer and television producer

From the Babylon 5 Calendar (1998).

Dreams, Future

“You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find you.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

“Revenge is like sex, Mister Dresden. It's best when it comes on slow, quiet, until it all seems inexorable.”

Jim Butcher book Grave Peril

Source: Grave Peril

Sex, Revenge

“The devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds. He will not allow quietness.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot

Business

“There's an old adage," he said, "translated from the ancient Coptic, that contains all the wisdom of the ages -- "Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die.”

Beryl Markham book West with the Night

Source: West with the Night

Life, Wisdom, Age

“you got two feet, Sethe, not four." he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; tactless and quiet.”

Toni Morrison book Beloved

Source: Beloved

“I put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Variant: Put my head under my pillow, and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“Without trust, there can be no genuine peace. Neither in politics, nor in the quiet individuality of the heart and spirit.”

Timothy Zahn book Vision of the Future

Source: Vision of the Future

Peace, Heart

“All we had was her room, her stories, and the quiet that settled in as we tried in vain to spread ourselves out and fill the space she'd left behind.”

Sarah Dessen book Dreamland

Source: Dreamland

“Take it from me, there's nothing like a job well done. Except the quiet enveloping darkness at the bottom of a bottle of Jim Beam after a job done any way at all.”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

Way

“Anything I tell you is an alibi for something else."

Then let's be quiet together.”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

Source: The Favorite Game

“In the quiet spaces opened up by the prolonged, undistracted reading of a book, people made their own associations, drew their own inferences and analogies, fostered their own ideas. They thought deeply as they read deeply.”

Nicholas Carr (1959) American writer

Source: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

People, Books, Idea, Reading

“There is no stillness like the quiet of the first cold nights in the fall.”

Carson McCullers (1917–1967) American writer

Source: The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories

Night

“I waste at least an hour every day lying in bed. Then I waste time pacing. I waste time thinking. I waste time being quiet and not saying anything because I'm afraid I'll stutter.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

Lying, Thinking, Time, Sad

“The night is mine, my own time, to do with it as I will, as long as I am quiet. As long as I don't move. As long as I lie still. The difference betweenand. Lay is always passive.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Lie, Time, Night

“I sat up, sliding them off, and the quiet around me did not, for once, seem empty and vast. Instead, for the first time in a while, it felt like it already was full.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

Time

“She wanted something else, something different, something more. Passion and romance, perhaps, or maybe quiet conversations in candlelit rooms, or perhaps something as simple as not being second.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Variant: But she also sensed it wasn't enough. She wanted something else, something different, something more. Passion and romance, perhaps, or maybe quiet conversation in candlelit rooms, or perhaps something as simple as not being second.
Source: The Notebook

Passion

“Nearly unable to bear the thought of how much he needed her quiet strength, he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cold glass.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I’m far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.”

Elizabeth Gilbert Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Source: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Feeling

“Oh dear, all those words again," thought Milo as he climbed into the wagon with Tock and the cabinet members. "How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a--" "Be very quiet," advised the duke, "for it goes without saying.”

Norton Juster (1929) American children's writer, academic, and architect

“Anthony sneezed and pushed them aside. "Mother, I am trying to have a conversation with the duke."

Violet looked at Simon. "Do you want to have this conversation with my son?"

"Not particularly."

"Fine, then. Anthony, be quiet.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: The Duke and I

“Everything was so quiet, as if the silence was listening.”

Anna Kavan (1901–1968) British artist

Silence

“I understood that as much as I had resisted the outside, as much as I had constricted my life, as much as I had closed and narrowed the channels into me, there were still many takers for the quiet heart.”

Steve Martin book The Pleasure of My Company

Source: The Pleasure of My Company

Life, Heart

“The room fell quiet. And as I read down the list of over one hundred and fifty eight-grade boys, I realized that to me, there had only ever been one boy.”

Wendelin Van Draanen Flipped

Source: Flipped

Boy, Reading

“You have the nicest window, you know? None of the others can even compete. It´s not flashy like the others, or bleary – your window gives of this nice, quiet light.”

Banana Yoshimoto book The Lake

Source: The Lake

Light

“There is a fullness of time for things. You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet. When to let things take their course.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Variant: You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet, when to let things take their course.
Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Time

“I'm all for a quiet life. I just didn't get one.”

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

Life

“I didn’t mind the quiet stretches. It was like we were trying out the idea of being side by side.”

Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Idea

“I learnt another valuable lesson that night: listen to the quiet voice inside. Intuition is the noise of the mind.”

Bear Grylls (1974) Chief Scout, adventurer, author

Source: Mud, Sweat and Tears

Night

“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?"
"Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Heart

“Our stares connected and we were quiet for a long minute, united by our misery. At least he understood me and I understood him.
"A fine pair we make,” he said.
"Yeah.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

“I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt it in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.”

Leo Tolstoy book Family Happiness

Variant: I want movement, not a calm course of existence. I want excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I feel in myself a superabundance of energy which finds no outlet in our quiet life.
Source: Family Happiness

Love, Life, Chance

“There are two ways to stay safe, Reen's voice whispered to her. Either be so quiet and harmless that people ignore you, or be so dangerous that they're terrified of you.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Well of Ascension

People, Way

“Many homicidal lunatics are very quiet, unassuming people. Delightful fellows.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

Source: And Then There Were None: A Mystery Play in Three Acts

People

“There are certain half-dreaming moods of mind in which we naturally steal away from noise and glare, and seek some quiet haunt where we may indulge our reveries and build our air castles undisturbed.”

Washington Irving (1783–1859) writer, historian and diplomat from the United States

Source: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

Dreams, Mood, Nature

“She decided she'd rather die in some less memorable way- maybe falling down the stairs, or going peacefully in her sleep at the age eighty, after a nice quiet life with Percy. Yes, that sounded good.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Life, Age, Way, Sleep

“When I say 'I will be true to you' I am drawing a quiet space beyond the reach of other desires.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Written on the Body

Drawing

“Quiet heroism or youthful idealism, or both? What do we know? That life without heroism and idealism is not worth living - or that either can be fatal?”

Erich Segal book The Class

Source: The Class

Life, Youth

“I think most serious and omnivorous readers are alike- intense in their dedication to the word, quiet-minded, but relieved and eagerly talkative when they meet other readers and kindred spirits.”

Paul Theroux book Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Source: Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Thinking

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

People

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Source: Walden (1854), p.10

Men, For Men

“A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen-and-a-half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest. A bear must have his secrets, after all; they make him seem attractive and mysterious.”

Walter Moers The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

Source: The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

Secret, Books

“Iggy: Now what? Who you gonna call?
A quiet voice in the hallway outside: Ghostbusters!
(Captain Perry and John groan)
John: That phrase is ruined forever.”

James Patterson book Maximum Ride

Source: Max

“The silence wasn't uncomfortable or hostile but exhausted--the quiet of people who have a great deal to think about but not a hell of a lot to say.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Source: Doctor Sleep

Hostility, People, Hell, Thinking

“Below a certain point, if you keep too quiet, people no longer see you as thoughtful or deep; they simply forget you.”

Douglas Coupland book Eleanor Rigby

Source: Eleanor Rigby

People, Forgetting

“Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.”

Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer

Source: The Book of Guys

Jerk, Communication, Heart

“We were quiet on the car ride home. I turned on the radio and found a station playing "Hey Jude." It was true, I didn't want to make it bad. I wanted to take the sad song and make it better. It's just that I didn't know how.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Sadness, Cars, Home

“Shigure: "What's in the camera? Huh? Huh? What is it?"

Hatori: "Quiet, you hack.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 2

“Another world is not only possible, she's on the way and, on a quiet day, if you listen very carefully you can hear her breathe.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

From a speech entitled Confronting Empire http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=2919 given at the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre, 28 January 2003 <br class="br">Speeches <br class="br">Variant: Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. <br class="br">Source: War Talk

World, Way

“Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.”

Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist

Cats

“Deep rivers run quiet.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World