“You're the one who doesn't understand, I've been standing on the edge with you for years.”
Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer
Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory
“You're the one who doesn't understand, I've been standing on the edge with you for years.”
Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer
Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory
Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird
Pt. 2, ch. 22
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Context: "I think I'll be a clown when I get grown," said Dill. "Yes, sir, a clown.... There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off."
"You got it backwards, Dill," said Jem. "Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them."
"Well, I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks."
“Never shoot up in the air when you're standing under it.”
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
“Sooner or later even the fastest runners have to stand and fight.”
Stephen King book Just After Sunset
Source: Just After Sunset
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Strikes
“stand tall, smile bright, and let them wonder what secrets making you laugh!”
Dan Brown book Angels & Demons
Source: Angels & Demons
“Sometimes it is easier to see the light when you stand partly in the darkness.”
Garth Nix book Mister Monday
Source: Mister Monday
“Because when a guy's a jerk or an asshole, it's easier because you know exactly where you stand.”
David Levithan (1972) American author and editor
Source: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Dean Koontz book Watchers
Part 2, Chapter 9.2; Nora to an ill and unresponsive Einstein at the veterinary clinic
Watchers (1987)
Context: I thought of you as my guardian, Einstein… you taught me that I'm your guardian, too, that I'm Travis's guardian, and he is my guardian and yours. We have a responsibility to stand watch over one another, we are watchers, all of us, watchers, guarding against the darkness. You've taught me that we're all needed, even those who sometimes think we're worthless, plain, and dull.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Variant: He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet
Attributed to Auguste Rodin in: Leonard William Doob (1990). Hesitation: Impulsivity and Reflection. p. 124
Source: On His Blindness (1652)
“And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinking.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
“Friends can betray you, but with an old enemy, you always know where you stand.”
Raymond E. Feist book Krondor: The Betrayal
Source: Krondor: The Betrayal
“Freely we serve. Because we freely love, as in our will to love or not; in this we stand or fall.”
Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire
Source: City of Heavenly Fire
Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine
Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles
“If we can’t stand up to the never good enough and who do you think you are? we can’t move forward.”
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer
Source: How to Kill a Rock Star
Rachel Gibson (1961) American writer
Source: I'm In No Mood For Love
“My patience has dreadful chilblains from standing so long on a monument.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author
Source: Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Mary Russell Mitford, 1836-1854
“[Iris] squeezed his hand. "Don't lose hope, Frank. Rainbows always stand for hope.”
Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune
Source: The Son of Neptune
“They'd been standing like that for thirty seconds of forever.”
Markus Zusak book The Book Thief
Source: The Book Thief
Cynthia Rylant (1954) American author of children's books and librarian
Source: In November
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: On the Edge
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays
“Invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school.”
David Mamet (1947) American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director
Source: True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor
Victoria Moran (1950) American writer
Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit
“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”
Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer
Source: Evidence: Poems
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Strikes
“Just when you think you've hit rock bottom, you realize you're standing on another trapdoor.”
Marisha Pessl (1977) American writer
Source: Night Film
“Stand high long enough and your lightning will come.”
William Gibson (1948) American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre
“I can't stand just sitting here not doing anything. You can't solve a problem by remote control.”
Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer
Source: Every Fifteen Minutes
“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Terry Tempest Williams (1955) American writer
Source: When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
“You stand out like a fart in a church.”
James Patterson (1947) American author
Source: The Final Warning
“I just want to be able to stand up straight for a little while before I get cut down.”
Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter
Source: Solipsist
“I seem to have spent a good part of my life - probably too much – in just standing and staring.”
James Herriot (1916–1995) veterinary surgeon and writer
“The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.”
Carson McCullers book The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Source: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer
Baltimore Evening Sun (9 August 1926)
1920s
Source: A Mencken Chrestomathy