Quotes about second
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“There was Tyson moving into the Poseidon cabin, giggling to himself every fifteen seconds and saying, "Percy is my brother?" like he'd just won the lottery.

Aw, Tyson," I'd say. "It's not that simple.”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) British American-born writer

Life and Human Nature.
Afterthoughts (1931)

Life, Happy

“Its funny how you can let yourself forget for seconds, how even in the heat of the horrible, you can have moments when you fool yourself into thinking it might all be okay”

Harlan Coben book Shelter

Source: Shelter

Fools, Thinking, Forgetting

“If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

“good call. A second drag and your next stop's the wastepaper basket - and not to toss your kleenex, true.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Reborn

“you will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf
know you could tumble at any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

--The Art of Disappearing”

Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) American writer

Source: Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets

Art, Feeling, Time

“For a second, I'm afraid he's dying. I have to remind myself that I don't care.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

“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

“Admit nothing - that was his first rule. Appeal to logic - second rule. Delay the inevitable - third rule.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Wizard Heir

“I'm a Christian first, and a mean-spirited, bigoted conservative second, and don't you ever forget it.”

Ann Coulter book If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans

2007
Source: If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans (2007), p. 77 ISBN 0307408957

Forgetting

““I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend ... if you have one."
— George Bernard Shaw, playwright (to Winston Churchill)
"Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second, if there is one."
— Churchill's response”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Night

“Fiction that adds up, that suggests a "logical consistency," or an explanation of some kind, is surely second-rate fiction; for the truth of life is its mystery.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Source: The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982

Life, Truth

“… Don't feel sorry for me. I'm glad I had a second chance in life like you said to be smart because I learned a lot of things that I never knew were in this world, and I'm grateful I saw it even for a little bit.”

Daniel Keyes book Flowers for Algernon

Source: Flowers for Algernon

Life, World, Feeling, Learning

“This, said Damerel wrathfully, is the second time you have walked in just as I am about to propose to your sister!”

Georgette Heyer book Venetia

Source: Venetia

Sister, Time

“If the kingdom of God is not first, it doesn't matter what's second.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

God

“I've only been gone a week," I reminded him.
Well, a week's a long time. It's seven days. Which is one hundred and sixty-eight hours. Which is ten thousand, eighty minutes. Which is six hundred thousand, for hundred seconds.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Time

“a friend is a second self”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

“There's a rule, I think. You get what you want in life, but not your second choice too.”

Alison Lurie (1926) American novelist and academic

Life, Thinking

“But I should have known that it doesn't take that long for change to happen - it takes a second.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

Change

“Living is the challenge. Not dying. Dying is so easy. Sometimes it only takes ten seconds to die. But living? That can take you eighty years and you do something in that time.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Time

“The second was some rather bad poetry, but it was short, and I forced my way through by gritting my teeth and occasionally closing one eye so as not to damage the entirety of my brain.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Way

“Their mother had always stressed the importance of taking care of yourself first, your family second and everyone else not at all..

darkest surrender”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Family

“My choices were to either give in and let them kill all of us or fight back with everything I had. I chose the second one, ’cause I’m just funny that way.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Way, Fight

“Read your own obituary notice; they say you live longer. Gives you second wind. New lease of life.”

James Joyce Ulysses

Source: Ulysses

Life, Reading

“I am not okay. I will be okay, but right now I am not okay. I want my husband to put his arms around me, to console me, to baby me a little bit. Just for a second.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Baby

“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.”

Sam Levenson (1911–1980) American journalist

Help

“It's not the content of our dreams that gives our second heart its dark color; it's the thoughts that go through our heads in those wakeful moments when sleep won't come. And those are the things we never tell anyone at all.”

Carolyn Parkhurst The Dogs of Babel

Source: The Dogs of Babel

Dreams, Color, Sleep, Heart

“Monica's eyes were fierce and fiery, but she didn't move, and after a second she turned and ran up the steps to the second floor, where her formally dressed friends were huddled like the cast of”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Midnight Alley

“And in that fraction of a second before anything actually happened, Santino Corleone knew he was a dead man.”

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Source: The Godfather

Dead

“When I have one martini, I feel bigger, wiser, taller. When I have a second, I feel superlative. When I have more, there's no holding me.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Feeling

“All it takes is a second and your whole life can get turned upside down.”

Jodi Picoult Salem Falls

Source: Salem Falls

Life

“For a second I was almost jealous of the clouds. Why was he looking to them for an escape when I was right here beside him?”

Kamila Shamsie (1973) Pakistani writer

Source: Kartography

“Did you just kiss me?" Will inquired.
Magnus made a slip-second decision. "No."
"I thought-"
"On occasion the aftereffects of the painkilling spells can result in hallucinations of the most bizarre sort."
"Oh," Will said. "How peculiar.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Kiss, Decision

“Gods, I wish the world was full of passive women. He thought for a moment longer, then scowled. On second thoughts, what a nightmare that'd be. It's the job of a man to fan the spark into flames, not quench it…”

Steven Erikson book Memories of Ice

Source: Memories of Ice

Women, God, World

“What makes you walk past thirty-thousand people without a second glance, and then you look at the thirty-thousandth-and-first person and know you'll never take your eyes off her again?”

Jodi Picoult book Second Glance

Source: Second Glance

People, Past, Personality

“The first ten million years were the worst," said Marvin, "and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million years I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.”

Douglas Adams book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Source: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

“Um," Grover said. "Percy?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought you'd want to know."
"Yeah?"
"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that… well… he's hungry.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

God

“I let myself feel good and sorry for myself, but only for a second. Daddy always said that the most useless of all human emotions was self-pity.”

Gabrielle Zevin (1977) American writer

Source: All These Things I've Done

Feeling

“Sometimes, you get no second chance and that its best to accept the gifts the world offers you.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

World, Chance

“I'm a terrible prince. I should put my kingdom first and everything else second, but your first. I want you by my side every second, but I know I would crumble if I lost you.”

Shannon Hale Enna Burning

Source: Enna Burning

“First time it's a stranger. Second time its just a coincidence. Third time it's a tail”

Ally Carter Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Source: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Time

“All I could think was that right there, in ever passing second, was the future winding itself own. Never would forever, with all its meanings, be so clear and distinct as in the true, guaranteed end of the world.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

World, Thinking, Future

“Looks like you're on a roll. This is the second car you've toasted this week."
Carl Costanza - Hot Six”

Janet Evanovich book Hot Six

Source: Hot Six

Cars

“Failure is just a few seconds away from success.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Battle for Skandia

Failure, Success

“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.”

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

1780s, Letter to Peter Carr (1785)

Truth, Lie, World, Time

“True love would look a second time. True love would not be thwarted. True love would not accept no for an answer. He would search the world and certainly look again and again in every cottage until he finds you.”

Alex Flinn (1966) American children's writer

Source: A Kiss in Time

Love, World, Search, Time

“Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass! It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight

Children, Tear, Grass, Success

“Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Life

“I have noticed that if you look carefully at people's eyes the first five seconds they look at you, the truth of their feelings will shine through for just an instant before it flickers away.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

People, Truth, Feeling

“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life”

Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch

Source: The Goldfinch

Life, Thinking

“With writing, we have second chances.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Chance

“Infatuation is not quite the same thing as love; it's more like love's shady second cousin who's always borrowing money and can't hold down a job.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Love, Money

“Wildflower: Don't let people walk all over you, Buttercup. It's your life. If you want something, you need to get out there and grab it by the horns because no one is going to give you what you want on a plate. Good girls always come second.”

Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie

Source: Where Rainbows End

Life, People, Girl

“In the second half of life, people have less power to infatuate you. But they also have much less power to control you or hurt you.”

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

Source: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

Life, People, Hurt

“Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. There is the second tasting, the delayed reaction.”

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

Life

“Religion is probably, after sex, the second oldest resource which human beings have available to them for blowing their mind.”

Susan Sontag book Styles of Radical Will

Source: Styles of Radical Will

Religion, Sex

“It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike- in the second place, folks don't like to have somebody around knowin' more than they do.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

“Don't think there are no second chances.

Life always offers you a SECOND CHANCE…

It's called TOMORROW”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Life, Thinking, Chance, New Year

“How do you go on knowing that you will never again - not ever, ever - see the person you have loved? How do you survive a single hour, a single minute, a single second of that knowledge? How do you hold yourself together?”

Howard Jacobson book The Finkler Question

Source: The Finkler Question

Love, Knowledge, Personality

“Merripen, despite his fear of heights, had often climbed a ladder to wash the second floor window for her. He had wanted her view of the outside world to be clear.
He had said the sky should always be blue for her.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Seduce Me at Sunrise

World, Fear

“I want to kiss her without counting the seconds. I want to hold her so long that I get to know her skin. I want, I want, I want.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Kiss

“Right there, in front of everyone, I threw my arms arond his neck and mashed my mouth against his. He was startled for a second, then his strong arms wraped around me so tightly I could hardly breathe.
"ZOMG," I heard Nudge whisper.”

James Patterson book Maximum Ride

Source: Max

Strong

“Dorian used to watch you like a starving man who wants meat. Now he looks at you like he wants seconds.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Thorn Queen

“I thought I'd pay you a visit, my dear. Since you're so interesting."

My mouth shifted into high gear, leaving my brain behind. "You know, you're the second guy in a few days to call me that. You should be more creative.”

Lilith Saintcrow book Strange Angels

Source: Strange Angels

Guy

“Phaedra looked across the water and her eyes met Lucian’s. Their needs came second. It came from the privilege of being trusted.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Quintana of Charyn

Water

“You are the only you… You are the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

“Yes, there's one thing I do want. I want to be aware of the minutes and the seconds, and to make each one count.”

Jacqueline Susann book Valley of the Dolls

Source: Valley of the Dolls

“The world of the dead wonʹt give you
up a second time.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

World, Time, Dead

“Knowledge exists in two forms - lifeless, stored in books, and alive, in the consciousness of men. The second form of existence is after all the essential one; the first, indispensable as it may be, occupies only an inferior position.”

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

Men, Books, Knowledge

“My brain: it's my second favorite organ.”

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

Sleeper (1973)

“Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.”

Roger von Oech (1948) Creativity theorist and inventor

Failure, Learning

“No matter how much kids beg to be treated like adults, nobody likes to let go of their childhood. You wish for it and dream of it and the second you have it, you wonder what you've done. You wonder what it is you've become.”

Daniel H. Wilson book Robopocalypse

Source: Robopocalypse

Dreams, Childhood

“A moment passed, perhaps half a second when their faces said what they felt, and then Emma was smiling, laughing, her arms around his neck.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Smile

“Some memories remain close; you can shut your eyes and find yourself back in them. But there are second-person memories, too, distant you memories, and these are trickier: you watch yourself in disbelief.”

Jess Walter book Beautiful Ruins

Source: Beautiful Ruins

Distant, Memory, Personality

“Where are the cops when you need them? (Nick)
Probably eating beignets. As the old saying goes, when seconds count, the police are just minutes away. (Caleb)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

“All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white-hot worship of God and His Son among all the peoples of the earth. Missions is not that goal. It is the means. And for that reason it is the second greatest human activity in the world.”

John Piper (1946) American writer

God, People, World, History

“I like living, breathing better than working… my art is that of living. Each second, each breath is a work which is inscribed nowhere, which is neither visual nor cerebral, it's a sort of constant euphoria.”

Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) French painter and sculptor

Art

“God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

God, Books

“she held her breath, and in her head, counted seconds. She pretended that for each second she didn’t breathe, God would grant her another day”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

God

“First thought: It was a dream
Second thought: No it wasn't
Third thought: Crap”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: Twisted

Dreams

“The second bathroom's downstairs - that's kind of the emergency backup bathroom when Shane's in there moussing his hair for like an hour or something…."
"" Shane yelled from behind the closed door.”

Rachel Caine book Glass Houses

Source: Glass Houses

“Everything, in the end, comes down to timing. One second, one minute, one hour could make all the difference.”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

Time

“As it turned out, hell wasn't watching the people you love get hurt; it was coming in during the second act, when it was already too late to stop it from happening.”

Jodi Picoult book The Tenth Circle

Source: The Tenth Circle

Love, People, Hell, Hurt

“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend… if you have one.""Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second, if there is one."”

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

Night

“You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn't enough, in the second half, you have to give what's left.”

Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American baseball player, manager, coach

Game

“Mark: When did you learn to drive?
Courtney: About three seconds ago.”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Learning

“Did you know that a jiffy is an actual measurement of time? It’s a sixtieth of a second.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Malcolm Fade and Bat Velasquez, pg. 465
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Context: "'How do you people stand snow?' he demanded.
"'You people'?" Bat bristled. 'Do you mean werewolves?'
'I mean East Coasters,' said Malcolm. 'Who would have weather if they could avoid it? Snow, hail, rain. I'd move to Los Angeles in a jiffy. Did you know that a jiffy is an actual measurement of time? It's a sixtieth of a second. You can't do anything in a jiffy, not really.'"

Time

“What good is knowledge if it just floats in the air? It goes from computer to computer. It changes and grows every second of every day. But nobody actually knows anything.”

Don DeLillo (1936) American novelist, playwright and essayist

Source: Don DeLillo's White Noise

Knowledge, Change

“She would consider each day a miracle - which indeed it is, when you consider the number of unexpected things that could happen in each second of our fragile existences.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“I was getting depressed. My life wasn't going anywhere. I needed something, the flashing of lights, glamour, some damn thing. And here I was, talking to the dead. I finished my first drink. The second was ready.”

Charles Bukowski book Pulp

Source: Pulp

Life, Drink, Light, Dead

“I'm not sure if there's one right place I'm supposed to be, he said, but I know a couple of wrong places I'd give a second try in a heartbeat.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

“A couple of times he called the second he'd finished reading a novel and just had to tell me about it, and I know it sounds hokey and librarianish to say so, but I just swooned when he did that.”

Sarah Vowell book Take the Cannoli

Source: Take the Cannoli

Time, Reading

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

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

No known source in Emerson's works; first found as a piece of anonymous folk-wisdom in a 1936 newspaper column:<br>: Every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.<br>:* Junius, "Office Cat" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/85995624/, The Daily Freeman [Kingston, NY] (30 December 1936), p. 6 <br class="br">Misattributed

Happiness, Happy, Life, Positive