Quotes about thing
page 62

“Well, I myself find that respect is like manure. Use it where needed, and growth will flourish. Spread it on too thick, and things just start to smell.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

“18th century scientists, the French in particular, seldom did things simply if an absurdly demanding alternative was available.”

Bill Bryson (1951) American author

“The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.”

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

Light, Change

“When you get a thing the way you want it, leave it alone.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Way

“The best way is not to fight it, just go. Don't be trying all the time to fix things. What you run from only stays with you longer. When you fight something, you only make it stronger.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

Way, Time, Fight

“When faced with the scariest of things, all you want to do is turn away, hide in your own invisible place. But you can't. That's why it's not only important for us to be seen, but to have someone to look for us, as well.”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Saint Anything

“I don't really know if it's the right thing to do, making new life. Kids grow up, generations take their place. What does it all come to? More hills bulldozed and more ocean fronts filled in? Faster cars and more cats run over? Who needs it?”

Haruki Murakami book A Wild Sheep Chase

Source: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982), Chapter 15, The Song Is Over

Life, Cars, Cats

“True wisdom consists in respecting the simple things we do”

Paulo Coelho book Aleph

Source: Aleph

Wisdom

“But I do know we’re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Variant: We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Love, Way, Universe

“I remain just one thing, and one thing only — and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

As quoted in The Observer (17 June 1960)

“Unrequited love is all right in books and things, but in real life, it completely sucks”

Meg Cabot book Haunted

Source: Haunted

Love, Life, Books

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Love, Money, People, Motivational

“The only stupid thing about words is the spelling of them.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American children's writer, diarist, and journalist

Stupidity

“It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

The Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 27
Context: In my folly, afore this time often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted: for then, methought, all should have been well. This stirring was much to be forsaken, but nevertheless mourning and sorrow I made therefor, without reason and discretion.
But Jesus, who in this Vision informed me of all that is needful to me, answered by this word and said: It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

“He was beside me then, his arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly.

"I'm not crazy," I whispered.

"I know."

Believe it or not, that's the most romantic thing Zachary Goode ever told me.

And I kind of loved him for it.”

Ally Carter Out of Sight, Out of Time

Source: Out of Sight, Out of Time

Love

“I feel like I'm lost in an anime movie" I said, as Coyote picked the thing up. "One of the tentacle-monster ones." Most of them were X-rated and ended up with a lot of dead people.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

Source: River Marked

People, Feeling, Animals, Dead

“Speak what you think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Source: Self-Reliance

Thinking

“I want these gentle hands… and this kind smile… although I should not want such a thing.”

Matsuri Hino Japanese manga artist

Smile

“If you try to use your head to think about things, people don't want to have anything to do with you”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

People, Thinking

“and he would probably not agree with my conviction that a sense of humor is the main measure of sanity. But who can say for sure? Humor is a very private thing.”

Hunter S. Thompson Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Source: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Sense

“I have noticed that doing the sensible thing is only a good idea when the decision is quite small. For the life-changing things, you must risk it.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Life, Idea, Decision, Change

“There are some things that defy explanation- kind of like… you know, you.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infamous

“She was all the things I wasn't. And i was all the things she wasn't. she could paint circles around anyone; I couldn't even draw a straight line. She was never into sports; I've always been. Her hand, it fit mine.”

Jodi Picoult book The Pact

Source: The Pact

Sport, Drawing, Painting

“Let's not allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. Remember "Life is too short to be little".”

Dale Carnegie book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Source: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Life, Forgetting

“It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

Personality, Loyalty

“It was getting hard to keep all the things I didn't know inside me.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“This is not theology. I have no bent towards gods. But i have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed - because 'Thou mayest.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Variant: But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed - because 'Thou mayest.
Source: East of Eden

Love, God, Soul, Universe

“He wasn't in a safe little story where wrongs were automatically righted; he was still in the real world, where bad bitter things happened for no reason, and people paid for things that weren't their fault.”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

People, World

“Everyone has the right to doubt everything as often as he pleases and the duty to do it at least once. No way of looking at things is too sacred to be reconsidered. No way of doing things is beyond improvement.”

Edward de Bono (1933) Maltese physician

Source: The Use of Lateral Thinking

Way

“No, not rich. I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Money

“He was obviously dead. But since he was a vampire that wasn't as hopeless a thing as it might have been.”

Patricia Briggs book Bone Crossed

Source: Bone Crossed

Dead

“The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion… and the price demanded for the most precious of all things in life is life itself - ultimate cost for perfect value.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Starship Troopers

Source: Starship Troopers

Life, Money, Perfection

“Let us study things that are no more. It is necessary to understand them, if only to avoid them.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Understanding, Study

“In my view, the novelist has no right to express his opinions on the things of this world. In creating, he must imitate God: do his job and then shut up.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

God, World

“Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know.”

Ted Chiang (1967) American science fiction writer

Question, Nature, Thinking, Reality

“Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.”

Alan Moore book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

Sense

“The only thing worse than not having your dream come true is having it come true for a little while.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: One Last Thing Before I Go

Dreams

“For whatever the future holds, one thing is certain… It just won't be the same.”

Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books

Source: V for Vendetta, Vol. I of X

Future

“He balled up my discarded
sweatshirt and put it against his shoulder.
“Go on,” he said. “I don’t bite.”
“And from what I hear, that’s a good thing.”
He gave a rumbling chuckle. “Yeah, it is.”
I leaned against his shoulder.”

Kelley Armstrong The Awakening

Source: The Awakening

“Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Death, Fear, Courageous

“When you walk on the beach at night, you can say things you can't say in real life.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: The Summer I Turned Pretty

Life, Night

“I’ve heard people say that the hardest thing in the world is to live with someone you don’t love. But I’ve always thought it would be far more difficult to live with someone who doesn’t love you.”

Amanda Stevens (1977)

Source: The Kingdom

Love, People, World

“Maybe the only thing I can definitely say about is this: That’s life. Maybe the only thing we can do is accept it, without really knowing what’s going on.”

Haruki Murakami book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Life

“He was attractive. I knew that. And I knew that attractive people always got away with things.”

David Levithan book Every You, Every Me

Source: Every You, Every Me

People

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

May 24, 2005 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050524-3.html <br class="br">2000s, 2005

Truth

“Look," said Janet, irritated, "if the thing you liked best to do in the world was read, and somebody offered to pay you room and board and give you a liberal arts degree if you would just read for four years, wouldn't you do it?”

Pamela Dean Tam Lin

Source: Tam Lin

World, Art, Reading

“I wanted to try this new drink: That's all we do, isn't it - look at things and try new drinks?”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Source: The Complete Short Stories

Drink

“I am a lover and have not found my thing to love.”

Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) writer

Love, Lovers

“The only thing worse than being hurt is everyone knowing that you're hurt.”

Carrie Fisher book Postcards from the Edge

Source: Postcards from the Edge

Hurt

“Well, normally I’m against big things. I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things. Too many things can go wrong when they get big.” — Pete Seeger (on how he felt about attending his big 90th birthday bash last year)”

Pete Seeger (1919–2014) American folk singer

World, Birthday, Thinking

“So we'll just let things take their course, and never be sorry.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Benediction

Source: Benediction

“The worst thing you can do is nothing. (re: teaching children with autism)”

Temple Grandin (1947) USA-american doctor of animal science, author, and autism activist

Children

“The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behavior as one two things: either love, or a call for love.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Love, Way, Behavior

“When I express my opinions it is so as to reveal the measure of my sight not the measure of the thing.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

“Americans do seem to say things which make the English notice England.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“A paradox: The things you don’t need to live—books, art, cinema, wine, and so on—are the things you need to live.”

Matt Haig (1975) British writer

Source: The Humans

Books, Art, Wine

“Above all things physical, it is more important to be beautiful on the inside - to have a big hear and an open mind and a spectacular spleen.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding

Beauty

“Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Personality

“It is easy to get everything you want, provided you first learn to do without the things you cannot get.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Learning

“As long as a thing is unknown, it belongs to us in a way that well-known things do not. For we have the opportunity to fill the empty, unknown spaces for ourselves, and in them there is room for imagination and for hope.”

Cameron Dokey (1956) American writer

Hope, Way, Imagination

“sometimes the best thing to do is to
pretend it didn't happen”

Candace Bushnell book Summer and the City

Source: Summer and the City

“Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back.”

Alice Hoffman book The Ice Queen

Source: The Ice Queen

“Dance like you're stamping on a human face forever, love like you've been in a serious car crash that minced the front of your brain, stab like no one can arrest you, and live like there's no such thing as God.”

Warren Ellis (1968) English comics and fiction writer

Love, God, Cars, Dance

“.. it's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world… It makes you mean, and violent, and cruel.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Love, World

“Joel, lad, school is about learning to learn. If you don't practice studying things you don't like, then you'll have a very hard time in life.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Rithmatist

Life, School, Study, Learning

“There are so many more important things to worry about than how you're perceived by strangers.”

Dennis Lehane (1965) Novelist

“It's so easy to love. The only hard thing is to be loved.
[Vincent Van Gogh]”

Irving Stone book Lust for Life

Source: Lust for Life

Love

“Every once in a while, people need to be in the presence of things that are really far away.”

Ian Frazier (1951) author and journalist

People

“But don't we often lie to people we love, or not tell them things, precisely because we love them?”

Alexander McCall Smith book Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

Source: Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

Love, People, Lie

“Look at the way you live. You've sold out. Next thing I know you'll become a Republican." She shook her head. "Where are the values I raised you with?”

Jeannette Walls book The Glass Castle

Source: The Glass Castle

Way

“The moon shows the truth of things.”

Joseph Delaney (1945) British writer

Source: Curse of the Bane

Truth

“Life is not a race to restore a past situation. Nor does one have to hurry to meet the future. Seeing how things change is what makes life interesting.”

Robin Hobb (1952) American fiction writer (pseudonym)

Life, Change, Past, Future

“Beware the things of this world that can mean everything or nothing.”

Adriana Trigiani (1970) American film director

Source: The Shoemaker's Wife

World

“memories are funny things. Sometimes they’re real, but other times they change into what we want them to be”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

Source: The Best of Me

Memory, Change, Time

“I am dying: it's a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of the cello: dying. But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it.”

Sonya Hartnett book Surrender

Source: Surrender

Beauty

“She started walking again. "Are you saying you didn't even want to be with her? Not even just a little?"
He stopped. "How could I want to be with her when I want to be with you? I told you that before this whole thing started.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Night World, No. 1

“I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.

Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;
The worlds revolve like ancient women
Gathering fuel in vacant lots.”

T.S. Eliot book The Waste Land

Source: The Waste Land and Other Poems

Women, World, Suffering

“She told me to try not to go to college with a boyfriend. She said she didn"t want me to be the girl crying on the phone with her boyfriend and saying no to things instead of yes”

Jenny Han book To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Source: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Girl, Cry

“She was a dark, unenduring little flower - yet he thought he detected in her some quality of spiritual reticence, of strength drawn from her passive acceptance of all things. In this he was mistaken.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Beautiful and Damned

Source: The Beautiful and Damned

Flowers

“If you come, you better come in force because I will kill every single one of you. My hand won't shake, my aim won't falter. My face will be the last thing you'll see before you die." I jammed my knife into the table and walked out.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

“Once one becomes a man, he can and must make his own decisions. But I do offer warning. Even a good thing can become destructive if taken to excess.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Alloy of Law

Decision

“Things change, people change, but that doesn't mean you should forget the past.”

Gail Carson Levine (1947) American writer

People, Change, Past, Forgetting

“Let them think what they liked, but I didn't mean to drown myself. I meant to swim till I sank -- but that's not the same thing.”

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-British writer

Source: The Secret Sharer and other stories

Thinking

“Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Source: The Great Learning

Learning

“All I know is that I carried you for nine months. I fed you, I clothed you, I paid for your college education. Friending me on Facebook seems like a small thing to ask in return.”

Jodi Picoult book Sing You Home

Source: Sing You Home

Education, Clothes

“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Way, Parting, Madness

“I'm looking for what might be called a body language. One thing I do is stick a vibrator up my cunt and start writing -- writing from the point of orgasm and losing control of the language and seeing what that's like.”

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

“By the way, there is nothing cute about a pink wheelchair. Pink doesn't change a thing.”

Sharon M. Draper book Out of My Mind

Source: Out of My Mind

Way, Change

“The moon hung over the planet Earth, a dead thing over a dying thing.”

John Fowles (1926–2005) British writer

Dead

“In life two negatives don't make a positive. Double negatives turn positive only in math and formal logic. In life things just get worse and worse and worse.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Life

“What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking-there’s the real danger.”

Frank Herbert (1920–1986) American writer

Thinking

“… you spend a much larger part of your life being old, not young. Rules change along the way. The first things to go are those things you thought were eternal.”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Life, Way, Change, Parting

“Why should things be easy to understand?”

Thomas Pynchon (1937) American novelist

Pynchon's response to Jules Siegel about the complexity of V, as quoted in "Who Is Thomas Pynchon... And Why Did He Take Off With My Wife?", Playboy (March 1977)

Understanding