Quotes about right
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“When I'm with you, I don't breathe quite right.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself”

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997) French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and …

Life

“All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right,
An emptiness above--

Know that you aren't alone.
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all your years.”

Vikram Seth (1952) Indian writer

Love, World, Tear, Sleep

“Not everything's perfect, especially in the beginning. And its all right to have a little bit of regret every once in a while. It's when you feel it all the time and can't do anything about it… that's when you get into trouble”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Feeling, Time, Perfection

“Some people cannot see a good thing when it is right here, right now. Others can sense a good thing coming when it is days, months, or miles away.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

People, Sense

“With false names, on the right nets, they could be anybody. Old men, middle-aged women, anybody, as long as they were careful about the way they wrote. All that anyone would see were the words, their ideas. Every citizen started equal, on the nets.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Women, Men, Age, Way

“I don’t know, I don’t feel right unless I’ve got the sea and mountains nearby. People are mostly a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel’s always linked to the lay of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

People, Feeling, Mountain, Thinking

“And when things start to happen, don't worry, don't stew.
Just go right along, you'll start happening too!”

Dr. Seuss Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
Context: Out there things can happen, and frequently do,
To people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don't worry, don't stew.
Just go right along, you'll start happening too!

“Sex between a man and a woman can be wonderful, provided you can get between the right man and the right woman.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Sex

“You see, this happened a few months ago, but it's still going on right now, and it ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we're talking about when we talk about love.”

Raymond Carver (1938–1988) American short story author and poet

Source: Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories

Love, Feeling

“There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party … and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

“Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: you have to learn the rhythm of respiration, acquire the pace; otherwise you stop right away.”

Umberto Eco (1932–2016) Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist

Source: Postscript to the Name of the Rose

Mountain, Learning

“This won't stop her from getting elected," Shane said. "Stupider people get elected all the time. It's America. We love the sleazy. And the crazy." "I would like to think better of us," Claire said, "but yeah. You're right.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bitter Blood

Love, People, Stupidity, Thinking

“When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right of the majority to command, but I simply appeal from the sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind.”

Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

People, Law

“She’s pretty,” Zethes mumbled. “I mean, she’s right.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

“He's right. I'm a worthless bastard fathered by a bastard even more worthless than I am." [Fury]”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dead After Dark

“When you realize that eternity is right here now, that it is within your possibility to experience the eternity of your own truth and being, then you grasp the following: That which you are was never born and will never die…. (90)”

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer

Source: Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor

Truth

“Acting without knowing takes you right off the cliff.”

Ray Bradbury book Something Wicked This Way Comes

Source: Something Wicked This Way Comes

“Things that really, really hurt are the right things to do.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Hurt

“And put me down right this minute or I'll scream bloody murder, then do the job for real!"

"I already hid all the electrical appliances, and I'm not taking a shower without locking you in the closet first.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips book Nobody's Baby But Mine

Source: Nobody's Baby But Mine

“I'll publish right or wrong:
Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.”

George Gordon Byron English Bards and Scotch Reviewers

Source: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), Line 5.

Fools

“Follow your feelings. If it feels right, move forward. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Feeling

“Keep true. Never be ashamed of doing right. Decide what you think is right and stick to it.”

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator

Thinking

“Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts inevitably bring about right results.”

James Allen (1864–1912) British philosophical writer

Effort

“We meet the people we’re supposed to when the time is just right.”

Alyson Nöel book Shadowland

Source: Shadowland

People, Time

“The size of your body is just right. The only question is whether you're big enough inside.”

Patrick Carman book The Dark Hills Divide

Source: The Dark Hills Divide

Question

“Fuckhead:
The name’s MariKETA.
Go to hell,
The WITCH, doing a creepy spell somewhere right now.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

Hell

“She's got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women.”

Kate Chopin book The Awakening

Source: The Awakening

Women

“You feel a little bit lost right now about what to do with your life, a bit rudderless and oarless and aimless but that’s okay… That’s alright because we’re all meant to be like that at twenty-four.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Life, Feeling

“The car was full of unhappy people heading west. It was the Great American Family Road Trip, all right. Whaaa-hoo!”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Pale Demon

People, Family, Cars

“She warned me about Mr. Herondale, though, said he’d likely be rude to me, and familiar. She said I could be rude right back, that nobody would mind.”

“Someone ought to be rude to him. He’s rude enough to everyone else.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“Apparently unaffected, she rose. "Yeah, you're probably right. I should be going." She feigned a yawn. "You've gotta head back to work and I've gotta head to jail. Big night for me. I'm planning to shiv someone for a bar of soap. --”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Night

“Housework can kill you if done right.”

Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…

“In the end you should always do the right thing even if it's hard.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

“I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

Dreams, Thinking

“I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that children will speak for you when you are dead.”

Tom Stoppard The Real Thing

Henry, Act II, scene V
Source: The Real Thing (1982)

Children, World, Thinking, Dead

“What was your name again?"
"Still Eve."
"No, I'm sure it's something else. That doesn't seem right.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bite Club

“Kat felt her heart beat faster, adrenaline pumping through her veins, and she knew he was right. She studied him for a long time. "Do you believe in curses, Hale?"

He looked at her. "I believe in you.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

Study, Time, Heart

“Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves; when that right is pre-empted it is called brain-washing.”

Germaine Greer (1939) Australian feminist author

The Times, London (1986-02-01)

“I wondered again why the right thing always seemed to be met with so much resistance, when you'd think it would be the easier path. You had to fight to be virtuous…”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Someone Like You (1998)

Thinking, Fight

“I need you like - like light. You're light, all right - like a flame to a moth. I told you once that you shouldn't mess with forbidden things - I should have taken my own advice.”

L.J. Smith The Forbidden Game

Source: The Forbidden Game

Light

“There are so many ways to go wrong. All we've got are metaphors, and they're never exactly right. You can never just Say. The. Thing.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Way

“Pierre was right when he said that one must believe in the possibility of happiness in order to be happy, and I now believe in it. Let the dead bury the dead, but while I'm alive, I must live and be happy.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

Happiness, Dead

“All right," I managed to say, just before I crumpled to the floor. "Let's see what you've got.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

“You got to be right with yourself before you can be right with anybody else.”

August Wilson (1945–2005) American playwright

“We try to do what's right, or rather what other say is right. But sometimes, when that goes against who we are… you have to choose.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“Sometimes, you get things right the first time. Others, the second. But the third time, they say, is the charm.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

Time

“The thing to do when one feels sure that he has said or done the right thing and is condemned, is to stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will show it.”

Booker T. Washington book Up from Slavery

Source: Up from Slavery

Feeling, Time

“Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

Yes, Lord Dionysus."

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on.”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

God

“In a world of sorrow, love was an act of will. All you needed were the right ingredients.”

Alice Hoffman The Story Sisters

Source: The Story Sisters

Love, World

“Odd, isn't it? He really was the right man for her in a sort of way; but then as you know, it is a law of love that the so-called 'right' person always comes to soon or too late.”

Lawrence Durrell book Balthazar

Source: Balthazar

Love, Law, Way, Personality

“If things don’t seem right, try going left.” – Chloe Traeger”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Head Over Heels

“Be quiet, or I swear to God I'll take you right here”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: This Heart of Mine

God

“The media is the right arm of anarchy.”

Dan Brown book Angels & Demons

Source: Angels & Demons

“I knew you'd decide to be all right again.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

“It's a good thing you and your pills weren't around a few hundred years ago or there never would have been a Vermeer or a Caravaggio. You'd have drugged "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Taking of Christ" right the hell out of them.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

Girl, Hell, Christ

“… One thing you learn when you've lived as long as I have-people aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives. Right now, I'm pleased to be in the light.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Variant: One thing yo learn when you've lived as long as I have-people aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives. Right now, I'm pleased to be in the light.
Source: Unwind

People, Light, Learning

“you may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you're looking for”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

You May Be Right.
Song lyrics, Glass Houses (1980)
Context: Now think of all the years you tried to
Find someone to satisfy you.
I might be as crazy as you say.
If I'm crazy then it's true
That it's all because of you
And you wouldn't want me any other way.
You may be right
I may be crazy.
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for.
It's too late to fight
It's too late to change me.
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right.

“Why are you stingy with yourselves? Why are you holding back? What are you saving for—for another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now.”

George Balanchine (1904–1983) Georgian choreographer, dancer and ballet master (1904-1983)

Time

“Right and wrong are not the product of census.”

Terry Goodkind book Naked Empire

Source: Naked Empire

“But still," Ayumi said, "it seems to me that this world has a serious shortage of both logic and kindness."
"You may be right," Aomame said, "But it's too late to trade it in for another one.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

World

“The First Splendid Truth: To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Happiness, Truth, Feeling, Thinking

“He sighed and then focused his eyes right on me. It was like drowning, drowning in seas of green. There was nothing in the world except for those eyes.
"I want to kiss you, Rose," he said softly. "And I want you to want me too.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

World, Kiss, Sea

“I just don't see the point in beating myself up. I think it's more productive to concentrate on being a better person right now than punishing myself for who I was in the past.”

Megan McCafferty (1973) American novelist

Source: Second Helpings

Thinking, Past, Personality

“There is, after all, a kind of happiness in unhappiness, if it's the right unhappiness.”

Jonathan Franzen book Freedom

Source: Freedom

Happiness

“Nobody gets praised for the right reasons.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Castle in the Air

Source: Castle in the Air

“Who's that little brunette?" Suzanne asked. "I hate little petite types. Gregory doesn't look right with someone petite. Little face, little hands, little dainty feet."
"Big boobs," Beth said, glancing up.”

Elizabeth Chandler (1954) writer

Source: Kissed by an Angel/The Power of Love/Soulmates

Hate

“I'm not really qualified to install a security system," said Dimitri.
"Really? There's something you can't do?" Adrian's voice was so soft that I could barely hear him, and he was sitting right next to me.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

“In spite of the seven thousand books of expert advice, the right way to disciplne a child is still a mystery to most fathers and… mothers Only your grandmother and Genghis Khan know how to do it.”

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

Books, Way

“The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“Right here and now, one quanta away, there is raging a universe of active intelligence that is transhuman, hyperdimensional, and extremely alien… What is driving religious feeling today is a wish for contact with this other universe.”

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist

Feeling, Intelligence, Universe, Rage

“Killing an animal to make a coat is sin. It wasn't meant to be, and we have no right to do it. A woman gains status when she refuses to see anything killed to be put on her back. Then she's truly beautiful.”

Doris Day (1922–2019) American actress, singer, and animal rights activist

Beauty, Animals

“They walked back into the world together, wearing the gift that had been given them: just life. Pity was not love, Barbie reflected… but if you were a child, giving clothes to someone who was naked had to be a step in the right direction.”

Stephen King book Under the Dome

Source: Under the Dome

Love, Life, World, Clothes

“Everything feels right with the world…
… and the sad thing is that I know it's a dream. I know it must soon end, and when it does I will be thrust awake into a place where either I'm broken, or the world is broken.”

Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist

Source: Challenger Deep

World, Sadness, Dreams, Feeling

“He [Brian Fraser] told me that a man must be responsible for any see he sows, for it's his duty to take care of a woman and protect her. And if I wasna prepared to do that, then I'd no right to burden a woman with the consequences of my own actions.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

“Why would I kill to know what she's thinking right now?
Probably because I enjoy killing.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Lothaire

Thinking

“But I discovered that people like me -- they do, you know, if you like them -- and then it was all right.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

People

“Because others have let us down, it is now our duty to face the hard truths and do the right thing--no matter the personal cost.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

Truth, Personality

“We study there a lot because… what other choice does society give us, right? It's Starbucks or death, sometimes.”

Maureen Johnson book Let It Snow

Source: Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

Death, Study

“You must admit I have a right to live in a pigsty if I want.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance, although
difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Personality

“And sometimes you do everything right and something bad just happens. It's as simple, and as scary, as that.”

Anna Quindlen (1952) journalist, Novelist

“You’re a terrible liar, boy,” Rand called after us.
“Is he right?” I asked quietly, once we’d put some distance between the guest cabin and us.
“That I’m a terrible liar? No. I’m a fantastic liar.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: The Ruby Circle

Boy

“Yes, Chix, it's between us. Everyone has a right to be temporarily unstable.
- Foaly”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Opal Deception

“She knew she shouldn't feel that way about a monster, but right then, she wanted nothing more than a monster of her very own.”

Holly Black book The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Source: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Way, Feeling

“What is there to see in Europe? I'll bet those foreigners can't show us a thing we haven't got right here in Georgia.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

“All my life they had made choices for me, and I had resented it. Now the choice was mine, and once it was made, I would have no right to blame anyone else for the consequences. Loss of that privilege, to blame others, unexpectedly stung.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

Life, Loss

“Did you love Annie right away, Finnick?" I ask. "No." A long time passes before he adds, "She crept up on me.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Love, Time

“What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.”

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist

“But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Source: A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition

Money

“Let's make a law that gay people can have birthdays, but straight people get more cake — you know, to send the right message to kids.”

Bill Maher book New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer

"Valentine's Day, that great state holiday" in The Boston Globe (14 February 2004) http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/02/14/valentines_day_that_great_state_holiday Source: New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer

People, Law, Birthday

“But dying's part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can't pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that's the blessing.”

Natalie Babbitt book Tuck Everlasting

Source: Tuck Everlasting

Parting

“My mom had a soft heart after all! Instead of being chained by both wrists, we were only chained by one ankle!
I mean, if I’d been looking for proof that she really did love me, this was it, right?”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Love, Moms, Heart

“When a man takes a woman for granted, he still looks for reassurance that she is still right there.”

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

“How do you ever know for certain that you are doing the right thing?”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

“Life is always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

Life, Waiting

“Equal laws protecting equal rights…the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.”

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

Letter to Jacob De La Motta (August 1820), Manuscript Division, Papers of James Madison http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/madison.html 1820s Context: Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth. Context: Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect. And it is particularly pleasing to observe in the good citizenship of such as have been most distrusted and oppressed elsewhere, a happy illustration of the safety and success of this experiment of a just and benignant policy. Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.

Love, Law, Loyalty, Country