Quotes about tell
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“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Adam asked as we went back upstairs.

“Sometime,” I told him. “When we're telling ghost stories around a campfire, and I want to scare you.”

Patricia Briggs book Bone Crossed

Source: Bone Crossed

“Now, Max, I think we both know your parents aren't missionaries."
I opened my eyes wide. "No? Well, for God's sake, don't tell them. They'd be crushed. Thinking they're doing the
Lord's work and all.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: School's Out—Forever

God, Thinking, Parent

“We (men) would rather lose an arm out a city bus window than tell you simply, “You’re not the
one.” We are quite sure you will kill us or yourself or both—or even worse, cry and yell at us.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Source: He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys

Men, Cry

“Whatever bro, tell it to the whales”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

“Please tell me you did not bring me out here so you could tell me a very boring story about your sister.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Sister

“One of the great conditions of anger and hatred is, that you must tell and believe lies against the hated object, in order, as we said, to be consistent.”

William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair

Source: Vanity Fair

Hate, Anger

“Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Help

“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

“I began to realize that I had tended to avoid some people because of my instant conclusions about who they were and what they would have to say. I discovered that everyone, speaking honestly and openly, had important things to tell me.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

People

“I didn’t want to tell the story of myself, but someone I called myself. If you read yourself as fiction, it’s rather more liberating than reading yourself as fact.”

Jeanette Winterson book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Reading

“I still stand by what I said. Do you want me to lie about it?' he asks.
'No, I want you to rethink it and come up with the right opinion,' I tell him.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Lie

“Dishonesty increases disorder exponentially. It's hard enough to communicate when you're telling the truth.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Kiss of the Highlander

Truth, Communication

“Let's face it, she can't have simply disappeared… can she?"
Horace shrugged. "That's what I keep telling myself," he said morosley. "But somehow it looks as if she has.”

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

Source: The Battle for Skandia

“Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues; you can tell by the way she smiles.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Smile, Way

“It's important to tell your story. It's important to listen.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Source: Baby Be-Bop

“people who say its a long story, mean it's a stupid short one that they are too embarrassed and couldn't be bothered to tell”

Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie

Source: Love, Rosie

People, Stupidity

“I tell you, deep inside you is a fountain of bliss, a fountain of joy. Deep inside your center core is truth, light, love, there is no guilt there, there is no fear there. Psychologists have never looked deep enough.”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (1956) spiritual leader

Love, Truth, Fear, Light

“I want to keep feeling the way I feel when I'm with you. Just tell me what I have to do. And give me some room to screw up. I've never done this before. There's a learning curve.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Way, Feeling, Learning

“It's actually a rather romantic and dramatic story --- one I would eagerly tell you, except for the fact that I recently forgot it, based on it being far too long and having not enough decapitations.”

Brandon Sanderson book Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

“He shook his head in mock sympathy. "I tell you, Sage. Sometimes I think I am the one who needs to take out the restraining order on you.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Thinking

“Some people have difficulty telling the difference between something great and something they've simply heard of.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

People

“But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily that I felt we'd all been duped by Plato and the idea of a soul mate. Just in case it turned out that she was mine.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Soul, Idea

“As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.”

Harper Lee (1926–2016) American author

Truth, Thinking

“I can always tell when you're reading somewhere in the house,' my mother used to say. 'There's a special silence, a reading silence.”

Francis Spufford (1964) British writer

Source: The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading

Silence, Reading, Housing

“Sonny, don't you tell me what's worthwhile--true love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops. Everybody knows that.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Love, World

“I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.”

Kazuo Ishiguro (1954) Japanese-born British author

Dunn, Adam. " In the land of memory: Kazuo Ishiguro remembers when http://web.archive.org/web/20010625162920/http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news/10/27/kazuo.ishiguro/" cnn.com Book News. 27 Oct. 2000 (archived from the original http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news/10/27/kazuo.ishiguro/ on 2001-06-25). <br class="br">Interviews <br class="br">Context: More fundamentally, I'm interested in memory because it's a filter through which we see our lives, and because it's foggy and obscure, the opportunities for self-deception are there. In the end, as a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.

People

“I bet," said Mulch, "that you would set the world on fire just to watch it burn."
Opal tapped the suggestion into a small electronic notepad on her pocket computer.
Thanks for that. Now, tell me everything.”

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

Source: The Time Paradox

World

“When you write you tell yourself a story. When you rewrite you take out everything that is NOT the story.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Variant: When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Tell me something wicked.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: When He Was Wicked

“He caught me to him and cupped my cheek in one hand. “I want to keep feeling the way I feel when I’m with you. Just tell me what I have to do.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Way, Feeling

“She would like to hear that now, even if it was a lie. Because some lies are beautiful. Stories do not tell you that.”

Anne Ursu (1900) American writer

Source: Breadcrumbs

Lie, Beauty

“I used to tell your mother she looked like Sophia Lauren." He looks at me, frowning, and then it registers.
"Oh God, some guy's using that line on you, isn't he?"
"Not just 'some guy'." I tell him. "The guy.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Saving Francesca

God, Guy

“I think,” Jace said, “that you don’t want to tell your secrets, so you decided to break up with Alec because…”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Secret, Thinking

“I'd tell you all you want and more, if the sounds I made could be what you hear”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

“I'm sure. But it doesn't work with me. for one thing, you won't look me in the eye. As for the other… I don't know. I can just tell.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not.”

Michael Shermer (1954) American science writer

Animals

“It all means more than I can tell you. So you must not judge what I know by what I find words for.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

Source: Gilead

“I can tell you love him. (Syn)
Yeah, like a boil in my nether regions. (Kiara)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of the Night

Love

“Tell me what you need."
"You," she said simply, that one word tearing to the very heart of him. "Just you.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Rush

Tear, Heart

“Don't just read words,' he would tell her as he held up the latest story, 'devour them. Let the words create new worlds.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: My Unfair Godmother

World, Reading

“When people look you in the eye and call you stupid, dont look away, but tell them that half of the world is stupid and they are one of them because they are dening their own stupidity.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

People, Stupidity, World

“Please go to this pizzeria. Order the margherita pizza with double mozzarella. If you do not eat this pizza when you are in Naples, please lie to me and tell me that you did.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Lie

“Valkyrie, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your friend is most likely dead.”
“Of course he’s dead. He’s a skeleton.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Dark Days

Hate, Dead

“I tell you in truth: all men are Prophets or else God does not exist.”

Jean Paul Sartre book The Devil and the Good Lord

Act 1
The Devil and the Good Lord (1951)

Men, God, Truth

“I'm telling you, I wanted to. But I was trapped. You of all people should know what it's like being caught between groups”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

People

“The assumption of time is one of humanity's greatest follies. We tell ourselves that there's always tomorrow, when we can no more predict tomorrow than we can the weather. Procrastination is the thief of dreams.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Walk

Dreams, Time, Weather

“a writer must always tell the truth (unless he's a journalist)”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

Source: The American Presidency

Truth

“Tell the world what scares you most. Save the world with some advice from the future.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

World, Future

“The things she most wanted to tell him would lose their meaning the moment she put them into words.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
Every time I look at you, I have to put a leash on myself. “No.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Bayou Moon

Time

“We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone else to get close enough to tell us we’re wrong. Someone we trust.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

“I will tell you the secret to getting rich on Wall Street. You try to be greedy when others are fearful. And you try to be fearful when others are greedy.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Secret, Fear

“Don’t play that game with me, Acheron. Tell me what I need to know! (Xypher)
Nice tone. We should rent you out to record Halloween albums. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Chaser

Game

“Start telling the story of your amazing life, and the law of attraction must make sure you receive it!”

Rhonda Byrne book The Power

Source: The Power

Life, Law

“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Future

“Write about us,” Robinson urged. “Tell our story.” And I did it; I told our story. You hold it in your hands.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: First Love

“What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: The Witch of Portobello (2007), p. 78.
Source: The Witch Of Portobello

Teachers

“I missed him so much I would sometimes turn to tell him something before I forgot he was gone. In spite of all that, and all the emotion boiling around inside me, all I could think of to say was: “You’re blue.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Thinking

“I'm sorry' I said again. Whenever someone tells you something said, it's the only thing you can think to say, even if you're already said it before.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

Thinking

“Just because life is hard and always ends in a bad way doesn't mean that all stories have to. Even if that's what they tell us in school and the New York Book Review.”

James Patterson book Sundays at Tiffany's

Source: Sundays at Tiffany's

Life, Books, School, Way

“Some people will tell you werewolves can only shapechange under a full moon, but people also say there's no such things as ghosts.”

Patricia Briggs book Moon Called

Source: Moon Called

People

“Well, let me tell you, gentlemen, the games of the devil are not restricted to those confined to hell. Others can play them.”

Robert Ludlum book The Bourne Ultimatum

Source: The Bourne Ultimatum

Game, Hell

“Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first?”

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English novelist

“As far as I can tell, they never get up before noon unless there's some sort of national emergency, like my leg hair.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

“Gazzy called over to me "I can't see anything!"
"I can't see anything either," Iggy complained.
"I'm rolling my eyes, Ig." I had to tell him that because he couldn't see me do it, what with his blindness and all.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

“Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right–and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself, even inside your head. (339)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

Moms

“This is what happens. You tell your friends your most personal secrets, and they use them against you.”

Sophie Kinsella book Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Source: Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Secret, Personality

“When I tell her what I’m thinking and she tells me what she’s thinking, our each ideas jumping into the other’s head, like coulouring blue crayon on top of yellow that makes green.”

Emma Donoghue Room

Source: Room

Idea, Thinking

“However, he also trusted me to make my own decisions. Contradicting me or telling me what to do wasn't in his nature - even though he secretly may have wanted to.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Nature, Decision

“Everyone will think I'm ugly."
Tik Tok smiled. "That's true. But we are a small village. We have narrow tastes. There's no telling who else in the world would think you're beautiful.”

Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Tiger Lily

World, Smile, Beauty, Thinking

“Rules and Things Number 63: Never, Ever Say Something Bad About Someone You Don't Know--Especially When You're Around a Bunch of Strangers. You Never Can Tell Who Might Be Kin to That Person or Who Might Be a Lip-Flapping, Big-Mouth Spy.”

Christopher Paul Curtis book Bud, Not Buddy

Source: Bud, Not Buddy

Personality

“This is your one chance. Tell me where the key is."
"Okay."
Serpine raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"No, only joking. Do your worst.”

Derek Landy Skulduggery Pleasant

Source: Skulduggery Pleasant

Chance

“By telling you anything at all I'm at least believing in you, I believe you're there, I believe you into being. Because I'm telling you this story I will your existence. I tell, therefore you are.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 41 (p. 268)
Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“I'll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I'm afraid it could be taken away.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Katniss (p. 390; closing words of the epilogue)
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (2010)
Context: I'll tell them how I survive it. I'll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I'm afraid it could be taken away. That's when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I've seen someone do. It's like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years.
But there are much worse games to play.

Pleasure, Feeling

“He couldn't even tell whether he was angry or contrite, whether it was forgiveness he wanted or the power to forgive.”

Richard Yates book Revolutionary Road

Source: Revolutionary Road

Forgiveness

“Semiotics is in principle the discipline studying everything which can be used in order to lie. If something cannot be used to tell a lie, conversely it cannot be used to tell the truth: it cannot in fact be used "to tell" at all.”

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

Variant: A sign is anything that can be used to tell a lie.
Source: Trattato di semiotica generale (1975); [A Theory of Semiotics] (1976)

Truth, Lie, Study

“There was a lot they didn’t tell you about death, she had discovered, and one of the biggies was how long it took the ones you loved most to die in your heart.”

Stephen King book Lisey's Story

Source: Lisey's Story

Love, Death, Heart

“She was with me. She did all of those things and so many more, things I would never tell anyone, and she never even loved me. Now that’s love.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Love

“Yes, I know," "And I love to hear you say it, Louis. I need to hear you say it. I don't think anyone will ever say it quite like you do. Come on, say it again. I'm a perfect devil. Tell me how bad I am. It makes me feel so good!”

Anne Rice book The Queen of the Damned

Source: The Queen of the Damned

Love, Feeling, Thinking, Perfection

“Your Grandpa was a boxer in his youth. Sexiest thing I'd ever seen, let me tell you. He wore these short little shorts, and was always dripping in sweat." There goes my appetite.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Alice in Zombieland

Youth

“You know how teachers tell you the magic word is 'please'? That's not true. The magic word is 'puke'. It will get you out of class faster than anything else.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Files

Source: The Demigod Files

Teachers

“Growing up is a trap," snapped Dr. Robbins. "When they tell you to shut up, they mean stop talking. When they tell you to grow up, they mean stop growing. Reach a nice level plateau and settle there, predictable and unchanging, no longer a threat.”

Tom Robbins Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Source: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

“Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention."

[, The Nation, June 18, 2001]”

Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American journalist

Shrub Flubs His Dub http://www.thenation.com/article/shrub-flubs-his-dub, May 31, 2001. Retrieved October 24, 2011. <br class="br">Context: The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention.<br>Bush was replaced by his exceedingly Lite Guv Rick Perry, who has really good hair. Governor Goodhair, or the Ken Doll (see, all Texans use nicknames—it's not that odd), is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But the chair of a major House committee says, "Goodhair is much more engaged as governor than Bush was." As the refrain of the country song goes, "O Please, Dear God, Not Another One."

Time