Quotes about tell
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“A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God.”

Sidney Sheldon (1917–2007) American writer

“My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Jack, Act I
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

“You take the flotsam," I tell her, "I'll take the jetsam."
You always get the jetsam,"she says pretending to pout. "Do you ever think if poeple heard our conversations they'd lock us up?"
All the time.”

Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer

Thinking, Time

“Midlife: when the Universe grabs your shoulders and tells you “I’m not f-ing around, use the gifts you were given.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Universe

“When everyone is determined to present someone as a monster, there are two possibilities: either he’s a saint or they themselves are not telling the whole story.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

“They will always tell you that you can't do what you want to do, but you can do what you want to do. You just have to believe in yourself. The system is to bring you down, but you can rise up.”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician

“I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth.”

Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire

Source: A Streetcar Named Desire

People, Truth

“If you hear a voice within you saying, "You are not a painter," then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working. He who goes to trends and tells his troubles when he feels like that loses part of his manliness, part of the best that's in him; your friends can only be those who themselves struggle against it, who raise your activity by their own example of action.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Quote in his letter from Drenthe, The Netherlands, Oct. 1883, 'Van Gogh's Letters', http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/13/336.htm <br class="br">1880s, 1883

Feeling, Boy, Silence, Parting

“I'm trying to remember how you tell the time by looking at the sun." -"I should leave it for a while, it's too bright to see the numbers at the moment.”

Terry Pratchett book The Last Continent

Source: The Last Continent

Time, Sun

“I can tell you that solitude
Is not all exaltation, inner space
Where the soul breathes and work can be done.
Solitude exposes the nerve,
Raises up ghosts.
The past, never at rest, flows through it.”

May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist

Soul, Solitude, Past

“Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth.”

Louise Fitzhugh book Harriet the Spy

Source: Harriet the Spy

Truth, Lie

“All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.”

Karen Blixen (1885–1962) Danish writer

As quoted in The Human Condition (1958) by Hannah Arendt. This appears as part of a statement in a 1957 interview where she speaks of a friend's comments about her:
I am not a novelist, really not even a writer; I am a storyteller. One of my friends said about me that I think all sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them, and perhaps this is not entirely untrue. To me, the explanation of life seems to be its melody, its pattern. And I feel in life such an infinite, truly inconceivable fantasy.
Interview with Bent Mohn in The New York Times Book Review (3 November 1957)
Paraphrased variant : All suffering is bearable if it is seen as part of a story.

“When my husband died, people kept telling me not to cry. People kept trying to help me to forget. But I didn't want to forget… So I realize, that if it's hard for me, how much harder it must be for you.”

Katherine Paterson book Bridge to Terabithia

Source: Bridge to Terabithia

People, Help, Cry, Forgetting

“When people come to me saying they want to kill themselves, I tell them, "What's your rush? You can kill yourself any time you like. So calm down. Suicide is a positive act."”

Emil M. Cioran book The Trouble With Being Born

And they do calm down.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Source: The Trouble with Being Born

People, Suicide, Time

“About me, nothing worse they will tell you, my love, than what I told you”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Love

“You must tell Lady Alanna that sometime. I'd do it from a distance.”

Tamora Pierce book Emperor Mage

Source: Emperor Mage

“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side.

Or you don't.”

Stephen King book The Stand

Source: The Stand

Hell, Change, Personality

“The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

Speak, Memory: A Memoir (1951)
Context: The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Although the two are identical twins, man, as a rule, views the prenatal abyss with more calm than the one he is heading for (at some forty-five hundred heartbeats an hour).

Sense, Light

“They lie deadly that tell you have good faces.”

William Shakespeare Coriolanus

Source: Coriolanus

Lie

“A visiting pastor at our church in Plains once told a story about a priest from New Orleans. Father Flanagan’s parish lay in the central part of the city, close to many taverns. One night he was walking down the street and saw a drunk thrown out of a pub. The man landed in the gutter, and Father Flanagan quickly recognized him as one of his parishioners, a fellow named Mike. Father Flanagan shook the dazed man and said, “Mike!” Mike opened his eyes and Father Flanagan said, “You’re in trouble. If there is anything I can do for you, please tell me what it is.ℍ “Well, Father,” Mike replied, “I hope you’ll pray for me.” “Yes,” the priest answered, “I’ll pray for you right now.” He knelt down in the gutter and prayed, “Father, please have mercy on this drunken man.ℍ At this, a startled Mike woke up fully and said, “Father, please don’t tell God I’m drunk.ℍ Sometimes we don’t feel much of a personal relationship between God and ourselves, as though we have a secret life full of failures and sins that God knows nothing about. We want to involve God only when we plan to give thanks or when we’re in trouble and need help. But the rest of our lives, we’d rather keep to ourselves.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President

Life, God, Secret, Hope

“One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Age

“I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man canna feel the chilly winds o' fate lashing aroound his netheres wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?”

Terry Pratchett book A Hat Full of Sky

Source: A Hat Full of Sky

Fate, Feeling

“Everyone has their weaknesses. Some people smoke. I collect stuffed penguins. If you won't tell, I won't.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Guilty Pleasures

Source: Guilty Pleasures

People

“The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.”

V.S. Naipaul book In a Free State

Source: In a Free State (1971)

“We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.”

Tad Williams (1957) novelist

Lie, Fear, Thinking, Time

“So with curious eyes and sick surmise
We watched him day by day,
And wondered if each one of us
Would end the self-same way,
For none can tell to what red Hell
His sightless soul may stray.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Way, Soul, Hell

“Lord Raoul asked me to tell you that if you get yourself killed, he will never speak to you again.”

Tamora Pierce (1954) American writer of fantasy novels for children

Variant: I love you, if you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you.

“But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.”

Terry Pratchett book Guards! Guards!

Source: Guards! Guards!

“Now ain nobody tell us it would be fair no love for my father cause the coward wasn't their" {Tu Pac Shukur}”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

Love

“You wish to put me in the dark. I tell you that I will never be put in the dark. You wish to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat me.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Source: The Final Problem and Other Stories

“[Science fiction is] out in the mainstream now. You can tell by the way mainstream literary authors pillage SF while denying they're writing it!”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Way, Science

“My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

People, Feeling

“The past is just a story we tell ourselves.”

Spike Jonze (1969) American director and actor

Source: her

Past

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 130

God, Fear, Dreams, Search

“Ordinary fortune-tellers tell you what you want to happen; witches tell you what’s going to happen whether you want it to or not. Strangely enough, witches tend to be more accurate but less popular.”

Terry Pratchett book The Wee Free Men

Source: The Wee Free Men

“So next time someone complains that you have made a mistake, tell him that may be a good thing. Because without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author

Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010)

Time

“In my view, philanthropy goes against the grain; therefore it generates a lot of hypocrisy and many paradoxes. Here are some examples: Philanthropy is supposed to be devoted to the benefit of others, but philanthropists are primarily concerned with their own benefit; philanthropy is supposed to help people, yet it often makes people dependent and turns them into objects of charity; applicants tell foundations what they want to hear, then proceed to do what the applicant wants to do.”

George Soros (1930) Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

People, Help, Dependency

“I don't care," Clary said. "He'd do it for me. Tell me he wouldn't. If I were missing-"
"He'd burn the whole world down till he could dig you out of the ashes. I know," Alec said.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

World

“Do you really think, Arthur, that it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength, strength and courage, to yield to.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Sir Robert Chiltern, Act III
An Ideal Husband (1895)

Courage, Thinking

“A mask tells us more than a face.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“If one day I could get out of here, I would allow myself to be crazy. Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don't know they're crazy; they just keep repeating what others tell them to.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

“People only tell lies when there is something they are terribly frightened of losing.”

Orhan Pamuk book The Museum of Innocence

Source: The Museum of Innocence

People

“Tell me, when you are alone with him [ Max Beerbohm ] Sphinx, does he take off his face and reveal his mask?”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

In a letter to Ada Leverson [Sphinx] recorded in her book Letters To The Sphinx From Oscar Wilde and Reminiscences of the Author (1930)

“As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are.”

Quentin Tarantino (1963) American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor

Truth, World, Thinking

“The news lies all the time. They tell us what they think we would want to hear.”

Malorie Blackman Noughts & Crosses

Source: Noughts & Crosses

Thinking, Time

“I could tell you it's the heart, but what is really killing him is loneliness. Memories are worse than bullets.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Memory, Heart, Loneliness

“I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay”

Sara Evans (1971) American country singer and songwriter

Heart, Heartbreaking

“Ach, people are always telling us not to do things" said Rob Anybody, "that's how we ken the most interesting things to do.”

Terry Pratchett book Wintersmith

Source: Wintersmith

People

“The librarians were mysterious. It was said they could tell what book you needed just by looking at you, and they could take your voice away with a word.”

Terry Pratchett book Wintersmith

Source: Wintersmith

Books

“If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Love, Hate, Fear, Fools

“Tell someone you are going to rob them and all that will happen is that you'll get a reputation as a truthful man.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Truth

“Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. They're truthful in a different way.”

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) Polish science fiction author

"Pirx's Tale" in More Tales of Pirx The Pilot (1983)
Context: Oh, I read good books, too, but only Earthside. Why that is, I don't really know. Never stopped to analyze it. Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. They're truthful in a different way. When they talk about outer space, they make you feel the silence, so unlike the Earthly kind — and the lifelessness. Whatever the adventures, the message is always the same: humans will never feel at home out there.

Truth, Books, Way

“Love is being honest with yourself at all times
being honest with the other person at all times
telling, listening, respecting the truth
and never pretending
Love is the source of reality”

Susan Polis Schutz (1944) American poet

Love, Truth, Reality, Time

“Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”

Joan Crawford (1904–1977) American actress

Interview, Hollywood Reporter (1954)

Love, Housing, Wise, Romantic

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

Women, World, Thinking, Time

“Do you ever just put your arms out and just spin and spin and spin? Well, that's what love is like; everything inside of you tells you to stop before you fall, but for some reason you just keep going.”

Alice Hoffman book Practical Magic

Source: Practical Magic

Love

“As far as I can tell, the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on day trips with the art department.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Existencilism (2002)

Art

“Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Often attributed to Twain online, but unsourced. Alternate source: "The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak." — Robert Heinlein, The Man Who Sold the Moon, 1951, p. 188.
Misattributed

Baby