Quotes about tell
page 19

“I tell you, there are more worlds, and more doors to them, than you will think of in many years!”

George MacDonald book Lilith

Source: Lilith

World, Thinking

“People change and forget to tell each other.”

Lillian Hellman (1905–1984) American dramatist and screenwriter

People, Change, Forgetting, Relationship

“Taureans are stubborn as hell. Theywant to tell you what sign they are…. But underneath that tough Taurus hide beats the heart of a hopeless romantic.”

Armistead Maupin (1944) American writer

Hell, Heart

“If the world is ending, a woman will want time to fix her hair. If the world's ending, a woman will take time to to tell a man something he's done wrong.”

Robert Jordan (1948–2007) American writer

Matrim Cauthon
(15 October 1994)
Source: The Wheel of time series by Robert Jordan

World, Time

“We have to be able to criticize what we love,
Say what we have to say,
'Cause if you're not trying to make something better,
Then as far as I can tell, you are just in the way.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

What If No One's Watching
Song lyrics

Love, Way

“Tell me that you don’t take that blade and drag it across your skin and pray for the courage to press down.”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted

Courage

“I always thought eating was a ridiculous activity anyway. I'd get out of it myself if I could, though you've got to do it to stay alive, they tell me.”

Margaret Atwood book The Edible Woman

Source: The Edible Woman

“I don't want to make the same mistake twice. I don't want to tell myself it's over when it's not.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

“But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Love, Hope, Understanding, Kiss

“Grandmothers in Botswana tell their children that if you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, you must go together.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Leaving Time

Children

“Any librarian or scholar will tell you: Close is not the same as accurate.”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

“I bet if you go through the rest of your life telling yourself, "I'm sparkling," you'll have a whole different energy and experience.”

Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer

Source: Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

Life

“Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they add up to the story of life.”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

Life

“Never tell a lie when you can tell the truth.”

Stephen King book Mr. Mercedes

Source: Mr. Mercedes

Truth, Lie

“Most men don't seem to get that telling a pissed-off woman to calm down is like throwing gunpowder on a fire.”

~ Liberty Jones”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Men

“She remember her granny telling her, 'Men are like coal boilers, Ellie. If you find a man you reckon to keep, you got to feed his belly every day, make him burn for you, then release some steam purty regular, or you ain't ever gonna get him to work.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Lothaire

Men

“I am afraid we must make the world honest before we can honestly tell our children that honesty is the best policy.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

"Rungs of the Ladder" http://books.google.com/books?id=HLpRc3rm5b8C, BBC Radio broadcast, 11 July 1932 <br class="br">1930s

Children, World

“It's funny, don't you think, how time seems to do a lot of things? It flies, it tells, and worst of all, it runs out.”

Markus Zusak book Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Source: Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Thinking, Time

“Being with a man incapable of telling a lie – a whole lot of awesome. Being with a man who could taste when you lied – sucked the big one.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Wicked Nights

Lie

“The problem with every story is you tell it after the fact. Every play-by-play description on the radio, the home runs and strikeouts, even that's delayed a few minutes. Even live television is postponed a couple seconds. Even Sound and light can only go so fast.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 1

Home, Problem, Light

“Its important to know stories. I felt the earth shift to make a place for you when you were born, and I came to tell you stories while you are young. And like me, you were born with a word on your tongue.”

Shannon Hale The Goose Girl

Source: The Goose Girl

“I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.”

Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) American actor and comedian

Hate, Parent, Funny

“If you ask me what I want, I'll tell you. I want everything.”

Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet

“All of life, I wanted to tell him, is in our minds. Where else does it take place, where else do we add up what it means to us and subtract what we have lost? An event is just an event until some person attaches meaning to it.”

Robin Hobb book Fool's Fate

Source: Fool's Fate

Life, Personality

“We are the Edema Ruh, and the thing we value most every man possesses. You can tell us your story.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Variant: You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.
Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

People, Motivational

“Photography is all about secrets. The secrets we all have and will never tell.”

Kim Edwards book The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Source: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Secret

“A true teacher would never tell you what to do. But he would give you the knowledge with which you could decide what would be best for you to do.”

Christopher Pike book Sati

Source: Sati

Knowledge, Teachers

“Richard Nixon is a no good, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, and if he ever caught himself telling the truth, he'd lie just to keep his hand in.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

Truth, Lie, Lying, Time

“Scout, I´m telling you for the last time, shut your trap or go home - I declare to the Lord you´re gettin´ more like a girl every day!”
With that, I had no option but to join them.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

Home, Girl, Time, Scouting

“How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink?”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“Plutarch rushes to reassure me. "Oh, no, Katniss. Not your wedding. Finnick and Annie's. All you need to do is show up and pretend to be happy for them."
"That's one of the few things I won't have to pretend, Plutarch," I tell him.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Happiness, Wedding

“You will tell me what you know now," he said.

"Or?"

He said nothing, so I elaborated. "See, this kind of threat usually has an 'or' attached to it. Or an 'and'. 'Tell me and I'll allow you to live' or something like that.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bites

“People say to write about what you know. I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

People, Reading

“How do I defeat Apophis?”
“I’m so glad you asked!” Thoth beamed at me with his multicolored eyes. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you.”
I glanced at Walt. “Do you want to kill him, or should I?”

Rick Riordan book The Serpent's Shadow

Source: The Serpent's Shadow

“Why are you being so mean?"
"Friends tell friends the truth."
"yeah, but not to hurt, to help.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

Truth, Help, Hurt

“The other day I went to a tourist information booth and asked, 'Tell me about some of the people who were here last year.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

People

“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

“Beneatha: You didn't tell us what Alaiyo means… for all I know, you might be calling me Little Idiot or something…
…
Asagai: It means… it means One for Whom Bread--Food--Is Not Enough.”

Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun

Source: A Raisin in the Sun

Food

“Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

Source: On the Move

Music, Change

“Which is why we have spouses and children and parents and colleagues and friends, because someone has to know us better than we know ourselves. We need them to tell us. We need them to say, "I know you, Al. You are not the kind of man who.”

Richard Russo book Straight Man

Source: Straight Man

Children, Parent

“To tell someone not to be emotional is to tell them to be dead.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Dead

“Brian Andreas Promise #1:
Promises to Myself #1: I will tell the truth unless I get confused & I think I could get in real trouble if someone found out, in which case, I will lie as convincingly as possible for as long as I feel the need.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Truth, Lie, Feeling, Thinking

“You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you.”

Nick Hornby (1957) English novelist

Life, People, Feeling

“Men do not know what they do not know, and women should not tell them.”

Amy Bloom (1953) Fiction writer, screenwriter, social worker, psychotherapist

Women, Men

“Lists of books we re-read and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves”

Russell Banks (1940) American author

Books, Reading

“You slept with Curran and you didn’t tell me? I’m your best friend.”
“It didn’t come up.”
“How disappointing for you.”
Ha-ha. “That’s not what I meant.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Disappointment

“Stig: 'Of course, she'll sail rings around Wolfswind,'
Hal: 'Then why didn't you tell him that?'
Stig: 'I like my head where it is.”

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

Source: The Outcasts

“I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

Beauty

“You must train your intuition - you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide.”

Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) Film actress from Sweden

Training

“There will be boys who will tell you you're beautiful, but only a few will see you.”

Laura Ruby American writer

Source: Bone Gap

Beauty, Boy

“I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.”

Natalie Goldberg (1948) American writer

Source: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

Dreams, Feeling, Thinking

“God, I needed you," he murmured. "I can't even tell you how many times I thought about this. The funny thing is, I don't need you any less now. I think I need you more."
~Shane~”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Carpe Corpus

God, Thinking, Time

“Sometimes you just have to reach out and grab what you want, even when they tell you not to. This is something that I've struggled with my whole life long.”

Rebecca Wells book Little Altars Everywhere

Source: Little Altars Everywhere

Life

“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

"What I Believe" in The Forum 84 (September 1930), p. 139; some of these expressions were also used separately in other Mencken essays.
1930s
Context: I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind — that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty and the democratic form is as bad as any of the other forms.
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech — alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized society.
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I —But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

Truth, Lie

“Whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story. That is his duty.”

Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor

“Andrea: "…. I think a dog is a great idea. I just never pictured you with a mutant poodle.”
Kate: “He isn’t a poodle. He’s a Doberman mix."
Andrea: “Aha. Keep telling yourself that.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Dogs, Idea, Thinking

“In the end, it is our defiance that redeems us. If wolves had a religion – if there was a religion of the wolf – that it is what it would tell us.”

Mark Rowlands (1962) British philosopher

Source: The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death, and Happiness

Religion, Wolf

“Your friends will notice at once that glib vacuities fail to impress, and hate you, and tell lies about you. It's worth it.”

Aleister Crowley book Magick Without Tears

Source: Magick Without Tears

Hate

“[When] he's here, he's always reading. He says books stop time. I myself think he's crazy… Don't tell anyone, but when he reads something that he likes he gets real happy, turns on the music, and dances by himself, or with a broom sometimes.”

Mark Helprin book Winter's Tale

Source: Winter's Tale

Happiness, Books, Music, Thinking

“You try spending six months sitting at somebody's bedside, waiting for them to die and then tell me that the happy-ending love story isn't one of God's good gifts.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Ain't She Sweet

Love, God, Happiness, Waiting

“Tell about the South. What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all.”

William Faulkner book Absalom, Absalom!

Source: Absalom, Absalom!

“… can I tell you something…? I don't think you're in love with the past. I think you're scared of the future.”

Brad Meltzer book The Inner Circle

Source: The Inner Circle

Love, Thinking, Past, Future

“Don't think about what you’ll tell people afterward. The time is here and now. Make the most of it.”

Paulo Coelho book Aleph

Source: Aleph

People, Thinking, Time

“Go to sleep, baby, Mama will sing. Of blue butterflies, and dragonfly wings. Moonlight and sunbeams, raiment so fine. Silver and gold, for baby of mine. Go to sleep, baby. Sister will tell, of wolves and of lambs, and demons who fell.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Black Magic Sanction

Sister, Sleep, Singing, Baby

“Did you say something Macey?' I asked, but she cut me a look that could kill. She reached into her bag, ripped off a sliver of Evapopaper, and scribbled:
'Can we study tonight? (Tell anyone, and I'll kill you in you sleep!)”

Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Sleep, Study

“When he wins the bet, I tell Griggs that it will take me a lifetime to save up two trillion dollars and he tells me that he's only giving me seventy years.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

“Now all the mute objects of my life seem to tell my story, to stretch back in time, if I look closely enough.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book Middlesex

Source: Middlesex

Life, Time

“They say the only people who tell the truth are drunkards and children. Guess which one I am.”

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

Children, People, Truth

“People always tell me "Have a nice day." Well what if I don't want to? What if I want to have a crappy day?”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

People

“❝Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.❞”

Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist

People

“And when I was young, did I ever tell you, I always wanted to get inside
a book and never come out again? I loved reading so much I wanted
to be a part of it, and there were some books I could have stayed in
for ever.”

Peter Ackroyd (1949) English author

Source: First Light

Love, Books, Reading, Parting

“… My friend, there are some things that I cannot tell you. Some I will tell you in time; some, others will tell you; some you may never know, or you may be the first to find the answers.”

Robin McKinley book The Blue Sword

Source: The Blue Sword

Time

“You are not Dostoevsky,' said the woman…
'You never can tell…' he answered.
'Dostoevsky is dead,' the woman said, a bit uncertainly.
'I protest!' he said with heat, 'Dostoevsky is immortal!”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Source: The Master and Margarita

Dead

“She can tell you the height of the attacker from the trigonometry of the blood spatter, while I'm fuzzy on what trigonometry is.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

“If only these walls could talk…the world would know just how hard it is to tell the truth in a story in which everyone’s a liar.”

Gregg Olsen (1959) American writer

Source: Envy

Truth, World

“I'll tell you a little secret about the Blues: it's not enough to know which notes to play, you have to know why they need to be played.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Source: Napalm & Silly Putty

Secret

“What are you going to have?” he asked.
“A nervous breakdown,” she muttered and opened her menu.
So we’ll tell the waitress to make that a double, he thought.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Beauty and the Black Sheep (The Moorehouse Legacy, #1)

“The Word of God I think of as a straight edge, which shows up our own crookedness. We can't really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of Scripture.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

God, Thinking

“Pretty much always. We need to tell the story of our life to someone.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted

Life

“And tell them what?" Jace said witheringly. "That invisible people are bothering you? Trust me, little girl, the police aren't going to arrest someone they can't see”

Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments

Clary and Jace, pg. 44
The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)
Source: City of Bones / City of Ashes / City of Glass / City of Fallen Angels / City of Lost Souls
Context: "Do you want to tell me what this is about, or should I just call the police?"
"And tell them what?" Jace said witheringly. "That invisible people are bothering you? Trust me, little girl, the police aren't going to arrest someone they can't see."

People, Girl

“And you can tell Darroc that Ms. Lane is mine. If he wants her, he can bloody well come and get her”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Dreamfever

“Rene, you want us to find you-don't-know-who and to retrieve his you-don't-know-what for you-won't-tell-me-whom?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

“It is not, what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell me I ought to do.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

Source: Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)

Justice

“Who in the universe halts when the enemy tells them to?”

Sherwood Smith book Crown Duel

Source: Crown Duel (Crown & Court #1 - 2, 1997)

Universe

“I shall try to tell the truth, but the result will be fiction.”

Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980) American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist

Truth

“People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Rising Strong

People, Truth

“People resist a census, but give them a profile page and they'll spend all day telling you who they are.”

Max Barry (1973) Australian writer

Source: Lexicon

People

“In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get his family back.”

Philip Yancey book The Jesus I Never Knew

Source: The Jesus I Never Knew

God, Family

“He'd woken up the next day in the city hospital with Magnus Bane staring down at him with an odd expression--it could have been deep concern or merely curiosity, it was hard to tell with Magnus.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.”

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

Truth

“The difference between hope and despair is a different way of telling stories from the same facts.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Hope, Way, Despair, Hope

“So you’re telling me that right now I’m responsible for Acheron’s beloved pet and the favorite sister of the Fates? (Zarek)
Tell Fang-boy I’m not a pet. If he doesn’t take a nicer tone to me, he’s going to be really sorry. (Simi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Fate, Boy, Sister

“I will follow you — until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you for the rest of my life.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Context: I am going to sit here with you by the river. If you go home to sleep, I will sleep in front of your house. And if you go away, I will follow you — until you tell me to go away. Then I'll leave. But I have to love you for the rest of my life.

Love, Life

“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Time

“If you're really tired, I could put you to sleep," he said. "Tell you a bedtime story."
She looked at him. "Are you serious?"
"I'm always serious”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Sleep