Quotes about tell (7231 quotes, page 72)

“It's just something I do
Don't wanna kiss and tell
I'll make it up to you
And do it so well
I can't do many things
But one thing that I do
For you, it's true
I do it so well”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Do It So Well" (song, 2019)
("Do It So Well" on YouTube (with lyrics) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oXfly5xKE
Non-album singles, As lead artist

Kiss

“Oh darling, let's stay up all night
Drinking whisky, telling stories, I can keep you satisfied
Oh darling, let's stay up all night
Drinking whisky, telling stories, I can keep you satisfied
Oh darling, let's stay up all night
Drinking whisky, telling stories, I can keep you satisfied”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Whisky Story" (song, 2015)
("Whisky Story" on YouTube (Official video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQceqbA7kFI
Non-album singles, As lead artist

Drink , Night

“Need to tell myself I don't care
Need to tell myself you're not there
Need some air, need some space
Need some air
The way I'm feeling I just don't care.
This is Starship Trooper living on a whole other planet
Reboot computer”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Natural Disaster" (song), with Laidback Luke
Disaster", Official video on YouTube)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28e-Z9TAdU("Natural
(+ "Natural Disaster", a lyrics version on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Bh297hFrg
Studio albums, Playing in the Shadows (2011)

Way , Feeling

“As you can tell at this crucial point, in life, it is only the present moment that matters to us and not the past events.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Past , Life

“Keep in mind that it would be an exaggeration to tell, or convince another individual that they are COMPLETELY wrong.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Love is like a chilly wind. You are unlikely to tell when it started and when it's going to end.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Love

“May God forgive you for telling the truth to those who are not ready to hear it.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Forgiveness , Truth , God

“It’s just skating, and I’ll survive, but at the same time, it’s hard because I’ve worked so long for this moment. It’s not the way I wanted it to go, but at the same time I’m telling everybody, you can fall and still get up and keep going.”

Mirai Nagasu (1993) American figure skater

After failure in performing a triple axel skating move during a women's short program in "Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu Gives A Perfect Interview After Falling During Her Short Program" https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a18559515/olympic-figure-skater-mirai-nagasu-falling-during-triple-axel/ in Elle (February 21, 2018)

Time , Way

“The questions I want to ask will revolve around humans, connection, relationships, family, and stories - what are the stories we tell ourselves and each other?”

Lulu Wang (1983) Asian-American filmmaker

As quoted in "The Farewell director Lulu Wang on being caught between worlds" in Fader (16 August 2019) https://www.thefader.com/2019/08/16/the-farewell-director-lulu-wang-interview

Family , Question

“We have to continue to tell our stories. And if we change one mind, it’s one mind that we changed and I’m happy with that.”

Tzi Ma (1962) Hong Kong American actor

As quoted in "‘Tigertail’s Tzi Ma Transcends Role As Hollywood’s Go-To Asian Father To Become Trailblazing Icon" in Deadline (8 April 2020) https://deadline.com/2020/04/tzi-ma-tigertail-asian-american-hollywood-diversity-inclusion-representation-1202900973/

Happiness , Change

“There are a million ways to reach recovery. Don't let anyone tell you you can't find a way that works for you.”

Jonathan Van Ness (1987) American hairstylist and television personality

page 173
Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love (2019)

Way

“The only way you’re going to pay for it is not by saddling business. All you do by forcing business to pay for health care or passing a law telling people they have to go buy insurance, which is a subsidy for the insurance companies, all these plans are going backwards.”

Mike Gravel (1930–2021) American politician; United States Senator

Huffington post Mash-up: 2007 Democratic Online Debate
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mashup-transcript-mike-gr_n_64318

People , Health , Law , Business

“My job as an actor is to just tell the story as best I can from my character's point of view and let the audience decide.”

Sebastian Stan (1982) Romanian-American actor

Quote

“Teenagers give me hope. We write them off so often. But I'm seeing a lot of things in this generation that’s coming up that gives me a lot of hope for the future. So I tell them when I'm in the old folks home, I think I can relax because I think you guys are going to do a great job.”

Angie Thomas (1988) American author

On looking to the next generation for hope in “Author Angie Thomas: Burn It All Down Or Use Those Emotions In My Art” https://www.ttbook.org/interview/author-angie-thomas-burn-it-all-down-or-use-those-emotions-my-art in To the Best of Our Knowledge (2019 Jan 14)

Home , Future , Hope , Thinking

“Heart of my heart, we cannot die!
Love triumphant in flower and tree,
Every life that laughs at the sky
Tells us nothing can cease to be:
One, we are one with the song to-day,
One with the clover that scents the world,
One with the Unknown, far away,
One with the stars, when earth grows old.”

Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) English poet

Unity, § II
The Golden Hynde and Other Poems (1914)

Tree , Star , Flowers , World

“When I fall Short of Words, My existence becomes speechless, searches for words passing here and there, in the hope that they may be found. When I ask someone to know about my words, it tells me the place of their mind, maybe some people are angry with me, who often do not mention me even once in their words.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Search , People , Hope

“I don't have a big mouth, you know what I have, I have a mouth that tells the truth.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2021, September 2021
Source: "Trump says he has 'a mouth that tells the truth' while making false statements at Georgia rally" https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-says-has-mouth-tells-truth-while-lying-georgia-rally-2021-9?r=US&IR=T, Insider, 26 September 2021
Context: They want to go after me because I have, they think, a big mouth.

Truth

“Shall I tell you about getting older? When you get older, 45 plus, men stop fancying you. Or put it another way, the men I fancy don't fancy me. I want a young man. I love beauty. So what's new?”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Source: "Finding fact from fiction", The Guardian (27 May 2000) http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/may/27/fiction.features

Beauty , Way , Love , Men

“I really am a good listener because you never can tell when you will pick up something useful—and all in the world any woman has to do to be considered “charming” by men is to listen while they talk.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Podkayne of Mars

Source: Podkayne of Mars (1963), Chapter 6 (p. 60)

World , Men

“Always tell the truth, even if it should make him jump out of his shoe.”

Jules Van Praet (1806–1887) Belgian diplomat

Source: All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 4. Viceroys without colonial aspirations? Jules Van Praet (1806-1887) http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#2.%20 He certainly did not play his role of chief of staff to the king as that of a submissive slave: this is apparent from a preserved quote from him in Bruges in which he was determined to be his king. VIAENE, V. “Leopold I, Belgian Diplomacy and the Culture of the European Concert, 1831-1865”, 130. Van Praet then rebelled against the fact that Leopold I had already had several mistresses there, which according to the private secretary was detrimental to the popularity of the monarchy.

Truth , Shoe

“After years of litigation, I was pleased to have had the opportunity to tell my side of this ridiculous story — Just one more example of baseless harassment of your favorite president”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Source: " Trump faces a pile of civil lawsuits as depositions begin https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-faces-pile-civil-lawsuits-depositions-begin-n1281612" (October 18, 2021)

“It's the word I dislike, not the food. Give me a piece of bread and butter and I'll enjoy it. Now tell me it's margarine and I'll throw up.”

Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973) Romanian American actor

Source: Op. cit., p. 280

Food

“As far as we can tell - as I put it elsewhere - all organisms like to ‘feel good’ about themselves.”

Ernest Becker book The Denial of Death

They push themselves to maximize this feeling. As philosophers have long noted, it is as though the heart of nature is pulsating in its own joyful self-expansion. When we get to the level of man, of course, this process acquires its greatest interest. It is most intense in man and in him relatively undetermined—he can pulsate and expand both organismically and symbolically. This expansion takes the form of man’s tremendous urge for a feeling of total “rightness” about himself and his world. This perhaps clumsy way to talk seems to me to sum up what man is really trying to do and why conscience is his fate. Man is the only organism in nature fated to puzzle out what it actually means to feel “right.”
Source: The Denial of Death (1973), The Spell Cast by Persons—The Nexus of Unfreedom

Feeling

“One of the missions of the underground priests was to encourage these people and to tell them that yes, we're suffering, but we're doing this for Christ. That's why the Church survived; people were humans, in all the best sense of the word.”

Volodymyr Viytyshyn (1959) Polish archbishop

Source: In becoming a priest, you were agreeing to be a martyr https://osvnews.com/2018/08/15/underground-period-marks-ukrainian-church/ (15 August 2018)

People , Suffering , Christ , Sense

“I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Terry McAuliffe (1957) American businessman and politician

Source: Gubernatorial Debate Between Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin in Alexandria, Virginia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiH2ipjtVxw (Sept. 28, 2021)

School , Thinking , Parent

“... you know, it's like you think the second world war is over ... [the] second world war is not over ... d'you understand what i'm telling you ... th'second world war is not over.”

Charles Manson (1934–2017) American criminal and musician

Source: Diane Sawyer interview (ABC, 1993)

Thinking , World , Understanding , War

“Christ himself would agitate against them. He would agitate against the plutocrats and hypocrites who tell workers to go down on their knees and get right with God. Christ, the carpenter’s son, would tell them to stand up on their feet and fight for righteousness and justice on earth.”

Mary Harris Jones (1837–1930) Irish-born American labor and community organizer

Source: Autobiography of Mother Jones

God , Justice , Christ , Fight

“I knew it was useless to tell the governor about conditions as I found them. I knew he would be neither interested nor would he care. It wasn’t election time.”

Mary Harris Jones (1837–1930) Irish-born American labor and community organizer

Source: Autobiography of Mother Jones

Time

“When I get to the otherside, I shall tell God Almighty about West Virginia!”

Mary Harris Jones (1837–1930) Irish-born American labor and community organizer

Source: Autobiography of Mother Jones

God

“The key to implementation is people. In a war, even you have a good fighting strategy, history tells us that having soldiers who are brave enough, with skills in shooting and fighting, is what makes the difference.”

Liu Chuanzhi (1944) Chinese businessman

Source: Lenovo Group’s Liu Chuanzhi on ‘Building a Healthy Company’ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/lenovo-groups-liu-chuanzhi-on-building-a-healthy-company/ in Knowledge @ Wharton (8 July 2009)

History , War , People , Fight

“Ten years on the moon could tell us more about the universe than a thousand years on the earth might be able to.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

What Can We Expect of the Moon?" in The American Legion Magazine, March 1965
General sources

Universe

“My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
O tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

Source: Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782), Line 37

“When I talk to the American people about climate change, I tell them it’s about jobs. It’s about workers and the communities that will revitalize themselves around new industries and opportunities.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, November 2021, US President's Statement on Day 2 of the 2021 UN Climate Conference

People , Communication , Change

“American cops are so heavily militarized these days that the only way I can tell the difference between them and the army is the color of their body armor—that, and the army is less trigger-happy.”

Charles Stross The Laundry Files

Source: The Laundry Files, The Labyrinth Index (2018), Chapter 11, “A Dead God Did It and Ran Away” (p. 321)

Happiness , Way , Color

“There is a flower, a purple flower
Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower,
O'er which Love has breathed a power and spell
The truth of whispering hope to tell.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

According to the Lady's Book of Flowers, 1842 , this is the centaury
Source: The London Literary Gazette, 1824

Flowers , Truth , Hope , Love

“If you want to introduce Jesus to people, you have to look good. If you want to tell people that Christ is a good saviour, the first thing they would look at is your appearance.”

Tope Alabi (1970) Nigerian Gospel artist

https://quotes.ng/mobile/author.php?title=tope-alabi&id=1290

People , Appearance , Christ

“If you keep on working and you don't tell people what you are doing, they lose confidence.”

Kemi Adeosun (1967) Nigerian accountant, investment banker and politician (born 1967)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNQTPE7gomU Kemi explains how the government needs to report to its people and let them know what they are doing.

Confidence , People

“Don’t kid yourself into believing that’s why we lost. It’s not. I’ll tell you openly. I'm not wrong.”

Dan Crenshaw (1984) U.S. Representative from Texas

Source: 12 August 2021 https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/going-viral-rep-dan-crenshaw-tells-supporters-dont-kid-2020-election-absolutely-not-stolen-election-video-rinoreveal/

“I have a platform and a following of millions of people, many of whom I know have been through exactly what I have. And if I tell my story, as painful and flip floppy and flawed as it is, I know it will mean something to someone, as every time someone speaks openly about sexuality, it saves lives.”

Dan Howell (1991) British video blogger and radio personality

Pain , People , Time

“I am on a quest to make movies that question the established norm in Nigeria because I don’t think there should be an established norm, I think that it should be that we’re making all sorts of films telling authentic African stories.”

Ego Boyo (1968) Nigerian actress and movie producer

Source: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/11/12/ego-boyo-i-want-to-make-movies-that-question-the-established-norm-in-nigeria/ Boyo talks about her movie, making grounds in the industry.

Question , Thinking

“It’s always better to tell a half-truth than a half-lie.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Moon Over Soho

Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 13, “Autumn Leaves” (p. 277)

Truth , Lie

“The difference between stripping and burlesque, as far as I could tell, was class.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Moon Over Soho

Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 6, “The Empress of Pleasure” (p. 121)

“There we continued the time-honored tradition of brazenly lying through our teeth while telling nothing but the truth.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Rivers of London

Source: Rivers of London (2011; American edition title: Midnight Riot), Chapter 10, “The Blind Spot” (p. 210)

Time , Truth , Lying

“Sometimes when someone tells you not to go somewhere, it’s better not to go there.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Rivers of London

Source: Rivers of London (2011; American edition title: Midnight Riot), Chapter 9, “The Judas Goat” (p. 189)

“We have to also realise that celibacy itself is not an easy life and I think anyone who tells you it's an easy life, will not be truthful. Celibacy is not an easy life but is a life that is worth living with the grace of God.”

Robert Ndlovu (1955) Archbishop of Harare

Source: ‘Pius Ncube now living a life of prayer’ https://thestandard.newsday.co.zw/2012/08/05/pius-ncube-now-living-a-life-of-prayer/ (5 August 2012)

God , Truth , Thinking , Life

“When I first started running there were some comments regarding my age, but at the end of the day what I always tell people is, this is what I believe, this is where I stand and this is what I’ll do to fight for you.”

Jena Powell (1993) American politician

Source: One of the youngest serving Republicans on her 'fight for the American dream' https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/youngest-serving-republicans-fight-american-dream/story?id=63565981 (7 June 2019)

People , Age , Fight

“They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do just as well—you just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference.”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian

Source: Revelations (1993)

Marijuana , Lie , Effort

“I am going to tell it to you straight because Omicron is so contagious, we could be entering the worst phase of the pandemic. We must do whatever we can to reduce the total number of infections. We want as a few as those infections to cause serious illness as possible.”

Philip Davis (1951) Bahamian politician

Source: Philip Davis (2021) cited in: " NEW RULES: PM urges caution as omicron variant likely in country https://ewnews.com/new-rules-pm-urges-caution-as-omicron-variant-likely-in-country" in Eyewitness News, 24 December 2021.

“I said … unprepared, unscripted, that, "I know how to fight and I know how to dance, and I'd much rather dance than fight." ... What I didn't tell everybody was I was always a better fighter than dancer.”

Harry Reid (1939) American politician

Source: "Reid Says He's A Fighter Who'd Rather Dance", All Things Considered, NPR (18 May 2010) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126905578

Dance , Fight

“New Year's Eve is literally filled with good cheer and happy thoughts, as we all try to put our best foot forward. This openness and generosity are the spirit of this wonderful holiday, when it is so important to warm parents’ hearts with kindness and loving care, to hug them if they are near you, and to tell everyone around you how dear they are to you and that happiness is all about love, children, family, and friends.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

2021

Parent , Love , Happiness , Children

“I have lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor that is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I will insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you will know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.”

Charlton Heston (1923–2008) American actor

Winning the Cultural War (1999), Video farewell (2002)

Spring , Sea , Life , Change

“So the written Constitution, the one we can see, fails to tell us just what's in it and what's not.”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

The Invisible Constitution (2008), Identifying "The Constitution"

“Who's dat knockin' at de do',
Who's dat callin' here ter-day?
What yo' want to see me fo'?
Tell me what yo' got to say.
What yo' name an' what yo' mean,
Standin' out there in de gloam?
Trouble, waitin' to come in?
No sir, no sir, I ain't home!”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

The Callers, first stanza.
The Passing Throng (1923)

Home

“I did not stop to ask the lad his little tale to tell,
There was no need of that because I knew the story well -
"She never gave a chance to me!"”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

that sentence held it all.
A hundred times I'd lived the scene in days when I was small,
A broken rule, a teacher vexed, hot rage where calm belonged,
A guilty judgment blindly made - a youngster sadly wronged.<p>I still can see that little chap upon his homeward way,
"She never gave a chance to me," I still can hear him say,
And so I write this verse for him, and all the girls and boys
Who shall their tutors now and then disturb with needless noise.
Be fair, you teachers of our land, in every circumstance;
Don't let some little fellow say he never had a chance.
She Never Gave Me a Chance, third and final stanzas.
The Passing Throng (1923)

Chance

“I can’t tell you how much happier I’d be meeting a bunch of artificial intelligences if I also happened to have one on my side.”

Alastair Reynolds book On the Steel Breeze

“Can we drop the ‘artificial intelligence’? It’s a bit like me calling you a meat-based processing system.”
Source: On the Steel Breeze (2013), Chapter 29 (p. 312)

Intelligence

“So where did you go to, who did you see?
How did you know I’d be there?
Oh, and did you remember not to forget?
Tell me cos I don’t...
Tell me cos I don’t care
Don’t care.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Where Did You Go To?" (song)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Where Did You Go To?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhJOUQXBOCw (song on YouTube. As audio.)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Where Did You Go To?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj2FCeCwhcM (Official video, on YouTube)
Song lyrics

Forgetting

“What's in a kiss?
Have you ever wondered just what it is?
More perhaps than just a moment of bliss?
Tell me what's in a kiss.
What's in a dream?
Is it all the things you'd like to have been?
All the places that you haven't yet seen?
Tell me what's in a dream.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"What's in a Kiss?" (song)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "What's in a Kiss?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouajeMalTcw (song on YouTube)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "What's in a Kiss?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-C3LsISY6Q (A 1981 live performance, with other material. On YouTube)
Song lyrics

Dreams , Kiss

“From the looks you're giving me
I can tell, as well see
if I've done something you think's wrong:
no words need be conveyed.
Then again, when we embrace,
from the look that's on your face
if heaven is a place on earth
right here is where it's been.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"No Way" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "No Way" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5mPUlZ4vRE (song on YouTube)

Thinking

“Miss my love today
as I miss the stars that shine above
telling me one day my love
will come to me again.
Miss my love, I'd say,
is the only thing that I can do.
I just can't live with someone new
reminding me of her.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Miss My Love Today" (song)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Miss My Love Today" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Sq7JLYWIE (song on YouTube)
Song lyrics

Star , Love

“When the evening is over,
put your head upon my shoulder
and I'll tell you something I believe is true:
happiness is me and you.
In a world so distorted,
where the worst is best reported
love may be something that will see us through
Happiness is me and you.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Happiness is Me and You" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Happiness is Me and You" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otmtVnf_aGk (song on YouTube)

Happiness , World , Love

“We had cruise ships tell us that they wouldn't come in (to United States Virgin Islands) if we had (COVID-19) positivity rates over 3%. And now we have a 20% positivity rate and they still want to come in. We are more of a danger to them than they are to us.”

Albert Bryan (1968) Governor of the United States Virgin Islands

Source: Albert Bryan (2022) cited in: " Diverted cruise ships means loss of revenue for V.I. businesses http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/diverted-cruise-ships-means-loss-of-revenue-for-v-i-businesses/article_2127974d-4e20-5b00-a104-704d85c93c34.html" in The Virgin Islands Daily News, 11 January 2022.

“In the perspective of the audience, the movies that make me think are the most precious. I want to naturally be projected onto the film or role. From there, applying my tendencies and emotions is what I believe is the most natural way for actors to tell a story.”

Gong Yoo (1979) South Korean actor

Source: "Gong Yoo Talks About The Difficulties Of Getting Out Of Character And His Approach As An Actor" https://www.soompi.com/article/1464450wpp/gong-yoo-talks-about-the-difficulties-of-getting-out-of-character-and-his-approach-as-an-actor (15 April 2021)

Nature , Thinking , Way

“Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

Parting , Death

“A garden that one makes oneself becomes associated with one's personal history and that of one's friends, interwoven with one's tastes, preferences, and character, and constitutes a sort of unwritten, but withal manifest autobiography. Show me your garden, provided it be your own, and I will tell you what you are like.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: The Garden That I Love (1894), p. 112.

History , Personality

“They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us. Our emissions are still rising. The science doesn’t lie. We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.”

Greta Thunberg (2003) Swedish climate change activist

Source: 'Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis, by Damian Carrington, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/28/blah-greta-thunberg-leaders-climate-crisis-co2-emissions, (28 September 2021)

People , Truth , Lie , Science

“Seemed like I couldn't stand it any more,
The factory whistles blowin' day by day,
An' men an' children hurryin' by the door,
An' street cars clangin' on their busy way.
The faces of the people seemed to be
Washed pale by tears o' grief an' strife an' care,
Till everywhere I turned to I could see
The same old gloomy pictures of despair.The windows of the shops all looked the same,
Decked out with stuff their owners wished to sell;
When visitors across our doorway came
I could recite the tales they'd have to tell.
All things had lost their old-time power to please;
Dog-tired I was an' irritable, too,
An' so I traded chimney tops for trees,
An' shingled roof for open skies of blue.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: When Day is Done (1921), The Cure for Weariness, stanzas 1 and 2

Business , Tear , Men , Tree

“Sat for hours in front of a screen
Mouse will tell you what you are seeing
When you get home, how to relax
Another screen for you to look at
Welcome to the world of work
It's a kind of living
where you give more than you'll ever receive
Welcome to the world of work
Only place a loyal servant can be
kicked in the teeth”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"World of Work" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "World of Work" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzBK6HUpxw0 (song on YouTube)

Home , World

“Who was it that came to see you
when there was no one else in sight?
And who was it that stayed over an hour
(and not as I'd expected, overnight)?
It was me, and I'll tell you why:
Oh, I did it because of my
pure unabashed devotion to loving
(pure unabashed devotion to loving)
you, you, you, you.
Who was it that caught you falling?”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Who Was It?" (song)
(+ Cover version by Davy Jones on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogzt6NntvrE
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Who Was It?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FDzXcD1mDg (song on YouTube)

Love

“There is too much attention
paid to him who shot at he
and to how he got away
but didn't quite.
Yes there's too much attention
So much so that we'll believe
he's not guilty of the crime which he's being tried
So forgive me when I tell you
I ain't got no place to go
I ain't got no one to talk to
got no one left to say hello”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Too Much Attention" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Too Much Attention" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR47R4uWdDo (song on YouTube)

Forgiveness

“When I'm alone with you it seems all my dreams come true
It makes me feel so good I just can't help loving you
Cos you're everything I could hope for:
that's why I love you
Sometimes I tell myself this girl don't love you no more
and that some day with someone new she'll walk from your door
But if you did, my world would break in two,
that's why I love you
And any time I see your face
something very unusual takes place:
all my inhibitions disappear
now that you are here”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"That's Why I Love You" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "That's Why I Love You" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zpN5iej40E (song on YouTube)

Girl , World , Time , Dreams

“Once upon a time I drank a little wine,
was as happy as could be, happy as could be,
Now I'm just like a cat on a hot tin roof,
Baby, what do you think you're doing to me?
Told you once before
and I won't tell you no more,
so get down, get down, get down
You're a bad dog, Baby
but I still want you around, around
I still want you around
Hey hey hey”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Get Down" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Get Down" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXl5P2xO9-o (song on YouTube)
Source: (+ Duet with Lulu. On YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlqoiBV6ETs

Baby , Happiness , Cats , Wine

“People predict by making up stories.
People predict very little and explain everything.
People live under uncertainty whether they like it or not.
People believe they can tell the future if they work hard enough.
People accept any explanation as long as it fits the facts.
The handwriting was on the wall. It was just the ink that was invisible.
People often work hard to obtain information they already have and avoid new knowledge.
Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic Universe. In this match, surprises are expected.
Everything that has already happened must have been inevitable.
A part of good science is to see what everyone else can see but think what no one else has ever said.
The difference between being very smart and very foolish is often very small.
So many problems occur when people fail to be obedient when they are supposed to be obedient, and fail to be creative when they are supposed to be creative
The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.
It is sometimes easier to make the world a better place than to prove you have made the world a better place.”

Amos Tversky (1937–1996) Israeli psychologist

Source: Notes made by Tversky for a scientific paper, c.1972. Michael Lewis. "The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed the World". Penguin, 2016 (ISBN 9780141983035).

Knowledge , Problem , Thinking , People

“How much grit do you think you've got?
Can you quit a thing that you like a lot?
You may talk of pluck; it's an easy word,
And where'er you go it is often heard;
But can you tell to a jot or guess
Just how much courage you now possess?You may stand to trouble and keep your grin,
But have you tackled self-discipline?
Have you ever issued commands to you
To quit the things that you like to do,
And then, when tempted and sorely swayed,
Those rigid orders have you obeyed?Don't boast of your grit till you've tried it out,
Nor prate to men of your courage stout,
For it's easy enough to retain a grin
In the face of a fight there's a chance to win,
But the sort of grit that is good to own
Is the stuff you need when you're all alone.How much grit do you think you've got?
Can you turn from joys that you like a lot?
Have you ever tested yourself to know
How far with yourself your will can go?
If you want to know if you have grit,
Just pick out a joy that you like, and quit.It's bully sport and it's open fight;
It will keep you busy both day and night;
For the toughest kind of a game you'll find
Is to make your body obey your mind.
And you never will know what is meant by grit
Unless there's something you've tried to quit.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: Just Folks (1917), On Quitting

Night , Men , Game , Courage

“Okay, firstly, academic historians write academic history for academics. It's a myth that you can't be a historian without having a degree. Ian Fletcher, the globally acknowledged expert in the Peninsular War, doesn't have a degree. He always tells me that, “The books we write are the ones which academics read to get their degrees from.””

Rick D Phillips

Source: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-become-historian-without-studying-history-in-University

Reading , History , War , Books

“I want to tell stories that reflect people from all walks of life.”

Ricardo P. Lloyd (1993) British actor

Source: On Acting and being a creative, as quoted by The Stage, https://www.thestage.co.uk/qa/actor-ricardo-p-lloyd-i-want-to-tell-stories-that-reflect-people-from-all-walks-of-life, October 26, 2021.

People , Life

“Oh, I cannot tell you how the notion of eternity bores me—not to mention all the silly stories we are always making up to render the idea palatable!”

Samuel R. Delany book They Fly at Çiron

Source: They Fly at Çiron (1993), Chapter 7 (p. 202)

Idea

“They say music can alter moods and talk to you
Well, can it load a gun up for you and cock it too?
If it can, then the next time you assault a dude
Just tell the judge that it was my fault, and I'll get sued”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Sing For The Moment"
2000s, The Eminem Show (2002)

Mood , Time , Music

“You’re abbreviating heavily, not lying. That’s what you tell yourself.”

N. K. Jemisin book The Obelisk Gate

Source: The Obelisk Gate (2016), Chapter 16 “you meet an old friend, again” (p. 293)

Lying

“I am not telling you to embrace the truth,
I am telling you to embrace yourself.”

- Goa

Truth

“"You must tell them that there must be a new union or there will be chaos," he [Shevardnadze] implored me. That evening, when I hosted republic leaders for dinner — a mixed group of presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers — I saw around the table and in the conversation a microcosm of the post-coup Soviet Union’s potential — and its problems. Whatever euphoria that they felt with their post-putsch independence declarations had given way to a marked degree of realism. "Independence sounds nice, but we have to live, and we have to be practical," observed the Prime Minister of Moldova, Valeriu Muravsky. That was the persistent theme that I heard from every one of the republic leaders, with the sole exception of the Georgian Prime Minister, Vissarion Gugushvili, though even he spoke of the need for economic cooperation once Georgian independence was recognized internationally.”

James Baker (1930) Former U.S. Secretary of State

The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace 1989-1992 (1995) by James Addison Baker, p. 531
1990s

Problem , Way

“When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No … don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is!”

Louis De Bernières (1954) English novelist

Source: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Imagination , Lying , Madness , Night

“Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors. And this I will tell you as well: One cannot seek to uphold honor in a being that has none.”

Charles de Lint book Moonheart

Part 3, Chapter 7 (p. 386)
Moonheart (1984)

World

“Freud was, after all, a genius. You can tell that because people still hate him.”

Jordan Peterson book 12 Rules for Life

"Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't"
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Hate , People

“Theatre is all about people. You can love a play and character and can be the right person to tell that story. But if you don’t click with the other people in the play, it won’t work.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Jonathan Bailey on starring in The York Realist, humanising LGBT history and the importance of community" in the Evening Standard https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/jonathan-bailey-on-starring-in-the-york-realist-humanising-lgbt-history-and-the-importance-of-community-a3761256.html (8 February 2018)

Personality , People , Love

“The thing nobody ever tells you about marriage is that sometimes it makes you lonelier than being alone ever could.”

Michael Ian Black (1971) American comedian, actor, writer, and director

Michael Ian Black, You're Not Doing It Right, Simon & Schuster, 2012. p.159-160

Marriage , Loneliness

“Never say goodbye,
You say tomorrow's another day,
All I know is we're here today. I've got nightmares I could never share with you,
The kind that keeps me up all night.
So hold me tight till the room is light
And tell me that it's all right.”

Yoko Ono (1933) Japanese artist, author, and peace activist

"Never Say Goodbye" on It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982).

Light , Night

“The secret that our poets and philosophers have been trying to tell us for centuries, is that our longing is the great gateway to belonging.”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

Bittersweet Introduction at p. xxvii

Secret

“I never liked horses, but after this scene, I hate them. I hate them, they are nasty animals, and I hate cows. Cows are evil. Cows are absolutely evil, I tell you. They look, like, inoffensive, but they're perverted creatures, and so are horses, they are absolutely evil motherfuckers.”

Guillermo del Toro (1964) Mexican film director

Pan's Labyrinth DVD director's commentary

Hate , Animals , Horse , Evil

“You lie so well
I could never even tell
what were facts in your artful rearranging But I came back for more
and you laughed in my face and you rubbed it in
cause I’m a Labrador
and I run
when the gun
drops the dove again”

Aimee Mann (1960) American indie rock singer-songwriter (born 1960)

"Labrador" · Video (a shot for shot recreation of scenarios from her first hit video with 'Til Tuesday, "Voices Carry") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA1cX-wgMdM
Song lyrics, Charmer (2012)

Art , Lie

“It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Hagakure (c. 1716)

Dreams , World

“Computers are not very smart. They don't understand human language, so we have to tell them what to do in a language that both humans and computers can understand.”

Yukihiro Matsumoto (1965) Japanese computer scientist

Yukihiro Matsumoto " I'm a Mormon, Ruby Author and a World-changer https://youtube.com/watch?v=bkh0gPf4Noc" by ComeUntoChrist.org on 2013-08-12.

Understanding

“Let me tell you, if anyone in the past has spoken
ill of women, or speaks so now or will speak so
in the future, I’ll sum it up for him: Neither sea
nor land has ever produced a more monstrous
creature than woman.”

Euripidés book Hecuba

Hecuba, lines 1178-1182 ( tr. Jay Kardan and Laura-Gray Street (2010) http://didaskalia.net/issues/8/32/)
Variant ( tr. E. P. Coleridge (1938) http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg007.perseus-eng1:1145-1186):
[I]f any of the men of former times have spoken ill of women, if any does so now, or shall do so hereafter, I will say all this in one short sentence; for neither land or sea produces such a race, as whoever has had to do with them knows.

Sea , Past , Future , Women

“People tell you that wishful thinking is bad. Do not believe it, this is just one of those generally accepted errors.”

George Pólya (1887–1985) Hungarian mathematician

Source: Mathematical Discovery (Volume 1), p. 6

People , Thinking , Error

“Like sometimes when a coach is behind you, they don’t really know how you feel. It’s hard for me to tell him, because I’m also thinking. If the coach and I think the same thing, that’s good, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. Then do you listen to the coach, or do you listen to yourself?”

Beiwen Zhang (1990) badminton player

"Beiwen Zhang – Adapting To Every Challenge" in Badminton Pan America http://www.badmintonpanam.org/beiwen-zhang-adapting-to-every-challenge/ (15 December 2020)

Thinking , Feeling

“Fragments of hope
keeping me up at night,
hunger to hear your voice
tell me I was right,
I'd give everything away
for another try.”

Marian Renta

Music lyrics, Headfirst (2021) —"Fragments"

Hunger , Night , Hope

“I wanted to break boundaries for myself as an actor, where it's not to tell the story and do a good job, but to go to another level where I feel free.”

Fala Chen (1982) Hong Kong actress

"Fala Chen Came to America to Find Herself—And Wound Up Being Cast in a Groundbreaking Marvel Movie" in Harpers Bazaar https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a37711969/fala-chen-shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings/ (24 September 2021)

Feeling

“I like to encourage students to reach for the stars and go for their dreams. I tell them not to be afraid to pursue something different. I also tell them that it's very important to read as much and as often as they can and to work hard in school.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Questions and Answers for the Governor" https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/governorlocke/kids/questions.htm

Star , School , Reading , Dreams

“All men lie to you. When they tell you that they love you, it’s a lie… All men hate you, ladies, they hate you. Because you prevent men from thriving… This is why all the crimes committed in the world are women’s fault.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"The Best of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Clown Prince of Russian Politics" in VICE https://www.vice.com/en/article/xd5q47/the-best-of-vladimir-zhirinovsky-russias-craziest-politician

Hate , Lie , World , Love

“I’ll tell you, nothing is so dangerous as ambition in a man who cares not who stands in his way.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The True Game, The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped (1985), Chapter 3 (p. 48)

Way

“As for the coldness, I have never seen it like this. I mean, coldness that makes like it wants to kill you, like it's telling you, with its snow, that you should go back to where you came from.”

NoViolet Bulawayo book We Need New Names

We Need New Names (2013)

Quotes about tell page 72

Quotes about tell
page 72