Quotes about thing
page 87

“You see, freedom has a way of destroying things.”

Source: Extras

“Why are you leaving me?
He wrote, I do not know how to live.
I do not know either but I am trying.
I do not know how to try.
There were some things I wanted to tell him. But I knew they would hurt him. So i buried them and let them hurt me”

Jonathan Safran Foer (1977) Novelist

Hurt

“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”

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

"A Bouquet of Wild Flowers", article published in the Missouri Ruralist (20 July 1917)

Life, Learning, Mother's Day

“A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.”

Amy Tan book The Bonesetter's Daughter

Source: The Bonesetter's Daughter

Mother's Day, For Mother

“Are you two having some sort of strange human thing that you can’t follow what I’m saying? (Simi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

“What difference do it make if the thing you scared of is real or not?”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

Song of Solomon (1977)

“Nothing's the same for anyone. That's why life's this Hell, if you do a thing you're damned, and if you don't you're damned….”

E.M. Forster book Maurice

Source: Maurice

Life, Hell

“Why is a picture of something real eventually more exciting than the thing itself?”

Jamaica Kincaid Lucy

Source: Lucy

“A very important thing is not to make up your mind that you are any one thing.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

“Things are tough all over, cupcake, an' it rains on the just an' the unjust alike… except in California.”

Alan Moore book Watchmen

Source: Watchmen

“It takes so little to make a child happy, that it is a pity in a world full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Men

Source: Little Men

Happiness, World, Heart

“Whether or not you believe in Fate comes down to one thing: who do you blame when something goes wrong.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Fate

“I always find beauty in things that are odd & imperfect - they are much more interesting.”

Marc Jacobs (1963) American fashion designer

Beauty, Inspirational

“The only thing for it is to use men for sex and never let any of them get so close they could hurt you.”

Dorothy Koomson book My Best Friend's Girl

Source: My Best Friend's Girl

Men, Sex, Hurt

“I am the Vampire Lestat. I'm immortal more or less. The light of the sun, the sustained heat of an intense fire-these things might destroy me. But then again, they might not.”

Anne Rice (1941) American writer

Light, Sun

“Destiny is for losers. It's just a lame excuse for letting things happen to you instead of making them happen.”

Cecily von Ziegesar (1970) American writer

Source: I Like It Like That

“No small thing, a bee's sting
When it enters the heart
Not so benign, the growing vine
When it tears stone apart”

Shannon Hale (1974) American fantasy novelist

Source: Palace of Stone

Tear, Bee, Heart

“People parted, years passed, they met again- and the meeting proved no reunion, offered no warm memories, only the acid knowledge that time had passed and things weren't as bright or attractive as they had been.”

Jacqueline Susann book Valley of the Dolls

Source: Valley of the Dolls

People, Knowledge, Memory, Time

“You, what are you? The brat of lucky parents who were related to a childless king. There is no such thing as royal blood. I believe we are what we make ourselves, and as such, you, Crown Princess, are nothing.”

Shannon Hale The Goose Girl

Source: The Goose Girl

Parent, Princess

“Things had a way of working out for the best when you let them run their course.”

Jodi Picoult Plain Truth

Source: Plain Truth

Way

“Sometimes the things you're convinced you don't want turn out to be the thing you need the most in this world.”

Malorie Blackman book Boys Don't Cry

Source: Boys Don't Cry

World

“He was the closest thing I'd ever had to something, or someone, that mattered. But in the end, close didn't count. You were either in, or you weren't.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“Sometimes words drew blood, they cut your tongue, they made you know things you couldn't unknow.”

Alice Hoffman The Story Sisters

Source: The Story Sisters

“And now all the others are saying, "What about Us?" So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.”

A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author

Source: The World of Winnie-the-Pooh

Books

“People and their rituals. They cling to things so hard sometimes.”

Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain

Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain

People

“But you will admit that it is a very good thing to be alive.”

L. Frank Baum book The Marvelous Land of Oz

Source: The Marvelous Land of Oz

“The three saddest things are the ill wanting to be well, the poor wanting to be rich, and the constant traveler saying 'anywhere but here'.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Travel

“When it's in a book I don't think it'll hurt any more… exist any more. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them.”

Marguerite Duras book The Lover

Source: The Lover

Books, Thinking, Hurt

“There are some things worth giving up anything for, even your freedom, and getting rid of your period is definitely one of them.”

Connie Willis (1945) American science fiction writer

Source: Even the Queen: & Other Short Stories

Freedom

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it much.”

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-British writer

Source: Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer

“I see things and I hear things I do not understand. I'm a skilled, resourceful… vegetable!”

Robert Ludlum book The Bourne Identity

Source: The Bourne Identity

Understanding

“You are a lucky lady to be marrying a man who can fix things. Most husbands just break things.”

Alexander McCall Smith book Morality for Beautiful Girls

Source: Morality for Beautiful Girls

“I see only reminders that nothing lasts forever, not even greatness.”
“Some things last.”
I faced him. “Really? And just what would that be?”
“The things that matter.”

Mary E. Pearson book The Kiss of Deception

Source: The Kiss of Deception

“The people one loves should take all their things with them when they die.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Love, People

“It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

“A man learns to skate by staggering about and making a fool of himself. Indeed he progresses in all things by resolutely making a fool of himself.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Source: Advice to a Young Critic

Fools, Learning

“At moments when life is at its worst there are two things you can do:
1.) break down, lose hope and refuse to go on while lying face down on the ground banging your fists and kicking your legs, or 2.) laugh. Bobby and I did the latter.”

Cecelia Ahern book A Place Called Here

Variant: At moments when life is at its worst there are two things that you can
do: 1) break down, lose hope, and refuse to go on while lying facedown on the ground
banging your fists and kicking your legs, or 2) laugh.
Source: A Place Called Here

Life, Hope, Lying

“There are, he assures her, no such things as curses. There is luck, maybe, bad or good. A slight inclination of each day towards success or failure. But no curses.”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

Failure, Success

“As with many people, Charles, who could not talk, wrote with fullness. He set down his loneliness and his perplexities, and he put on paper many things he did not know about himself.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

People, Loneliness

“You've turned into quite a bossy little thing," Myrnin said. "I think I might like it.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bite Club

Thinking

“I don't really like you, but I'm so good at acting as if I do that it's basically the same thing.”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: Every Fifteen Minutes

“To grow up is to wonder about things; to be grown up is to slowly forget the things you wondered about as a child.”

Henning Mankell (1948–2015) Swedish crime writer, children's author, leftist activist and dramatist

Source: When the Snow Fell

Forgetting

“God leads us. God will do the right thing at the right time. And what a difference that makes.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Source: Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear

God, Time

“This is one thing they forget to mention in most child-rearing books, that at times you will just lose your mind. Period.”

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

Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Books, Time, Forgetting

“She was a wicked thing sometimes. All full of want. As if the shape of the world depended on her mood. As if she were important.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Slow Regard of Silent Things

Source: The Slow Regard of Silent Things

World, Mood, Dependency

“Things break all the time.
Day breaks, waves break, voices break.
Promises break.
Hearts break.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Time, Heart

“The whole thing of what I’ve been trying,” you said, “is that you’re different, and you keep asking about the other girls, but what I mean is that I don’t think about them, because of the way you are.”

Daniel Handler book Why We Broke Up

Source: Why We Broke Up

Way, Girl, Thinking

“That's the scary thing about hope," she said. "If you let it go too long it turns into faith.”

Christopher Moore book Coyote Blue

Source: Coyote Blue

Faith, Hope

“People call me a perfectionist, but I'm not. I'm a rightist. I do something until it's right, and then I move on to the next thing.”

James Cameron (1954) Canadian film director

People

“Humans generally get out the gist of what they need to say right at the beginning, then spend forever qualifying, contradicting, burnishing or taking important things back. Yor rareley miss anything by cutting most people off after two sentences.”

Richard Ford book The Lay of the Land

Source: The Lay of the Land

People

“Pity is an emotion that can get you killed. The only thing more dangerous is blind hate, and maybe love.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Guilty Pleasures

Source: Guilty Pleasures

Love, Hate

“I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"”

George Bernard Shaw Back to Methuselah

The Serpent, in Pt. I : In the Beginning, Act I; this quote is sometimes misattributed to Robert F. Kennedy; it is often paraphrased slightly in a few different ways, including:
You see things as they are and ask, "Why?" I dream things as they never were and ask, "Why not?"
Variant: You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?
Source: 1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)

Dreams

“You should know me well enough by now to know I don't ask for things I don't think I can get.”

Bette Davis (1908–1989) film and television actress from the United States

Thinking

“To be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.”

Toni Morrison A Mercy

Source: A Mercy

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

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

Dreams, Night, Deep, Good Night

“Now he had answers, but they weren't doing what answers were supposed to do: they weren't making things simpler or easier. They weren't helping.”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Help

“He knew he was being overbearing as hell, but he couldn't help it. He was a bonded male. With his pregnant female. There were few things on the planet more aggressive or dangerous. And those bastards were called hurricanes and tornadoes.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Awakened

Hell, Help

“You were born at a pretty crappy time in history. And it looks like things are only gonna get worse from here on out.”

Ernest Cline book Ready Player One

Source: Ready Player One

History, Time

“When you do the things that you can do, you will find a way.”

A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author

Way

“You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: it wasn't that long ago that we were swept away by the Macarena.”

Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian

People

“Perhaps I am the only person who, asked whether she were a witch or not, could truthfully say, "I do not know. I do know some very strange things have happened to me, or through me."

Lady Alice Rowhedge”

Norah Lofts (1904–1983) British writer

Source: Bless This House

Personality

“To make things 'perfectly clear' is reactionary and stupefying. The real is not perfectly clear.”

Avital Ronell (1952) American philosopher

“No matter how much we know in any area there are always new things to learn and things we have previously learned that we need to be refreshed in.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Source: Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

Learning

“Things that happen before you are born still affect you and people who come before your time affect you as well.”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

People, Time

“The artistic image is not intended to represent the thing itself, but, rather, the reality of the force the thing contains.”

James Baldwin book Nobody Knows My Name

Source: Nobody Knows My Name

Reality

“People take love's continuity for granted, just as they take their body's continuity for granted. They don't realize that the best thing about love is its regular presence.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

Love, People

“There is only one good thing in life, and that is love.”

Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893) French writer

"The Love of Long Ago"
Source: The Complete Short Stories of de Maupassant
Context: There is only one good thing in life, and that is love. And how you misunderstand it! how you spoil it! You treat it as something solemn like a sacrament, or something to be bought, like a dress.

Love, Life, Good Night

“There is no such thing as an "aspiring writer". You are a writer. Period.”

Matthew Reilly book Area 7

Source: Area 7

“To be left alone is the most precious thing one can ask of the modern world.”

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer

"The Ball is Free to Roll"
Non-Fiction, Homage to QWERT YUIOP: Selected Journalism 1978-1985 (1986)
Source: Homage To Qwert Yuiop: Essays

World

“I knew what was like to finally be seduced by the thing you hunted. Mine just happened to be a more traditional seduction. Okay, at least I was still among the living.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Incubus Dreams

Source: Incubus Dreams

“My mother told me that life isn't always about pleasing yourself and that sometimes you have to do things for the sole benefit of another human being. I completely agreed with her, but reminded her that that was what blow jobs were for.”

Chelsea Handler (1975) American comedian, actress, author and talk show host

Source: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

Life

“Please remember: things are not what they seem.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

“When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Source: Walden

Pleasure, Fear, Reality

“It's a scary thing; moving on. Part of me wishes life were more predictable and part of me is excited that it's not. I think it's impossible to tell the good things from the bad things while they're happening.”

Chris Crutcher book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Source: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Life, Thinking, Parting

“What appeals to you the most is the very thing that will drive you crazy”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Source: Love the One You're With

“I have to smile. He's such a dork. But I'm starting to realize the one good thing that's happened: he's my dork.”

Ally Carter book All Fall Down

Source: All Fall Down

Smile

“Trust is a fragile thing - difficult to build, easy to break. It cannot be bargained for. Only if it is freely given it can be expected in return”

Peter Lerangis book The Sword Thief

Source: The Sword Thief

“One more thing," Jace said. "Is there a holy place around here?"
“Good idea. If you're going to take on a lair of vampires by yourself, you'd better pray first.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Idea

“I found the best thing
I could do
was just to type away
at my own work
and let the dying
die
as they always have.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense

“There are worse things than being mad.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

This appears not to be a Kerouac quote. It has not been found in any of Kerouac's published work.
Misattributed

Madness

“She set you down on the floor and you started ranging around, picking things up, pulling my cats tail- you screamed like a banshee when the cat scratched you, so I asked your mother if youpart banshee. She didn't laugh."
-Magnus to Clary, pg.228-”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Cats

“Human beings have hope. Not matter how desperate things are, they convince themselves that they can change things for the better."

- John Gregory (Clash of the Demons)”

Joseph Delaney book The Spook's Sacrifice

Source: The Spook's Sacrifice

Hope, Change

“Nothing is really lost or can be lost,
No birth, identity, form--no object of the world,
Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing…
The body, sluggish, aged, cold--the embers
left from early fires,
… shall duly flame again”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Life, Age, World, Birth

“Record things in your heart. It’s more important than trying to show people what you’re experiencing.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

People, Heart

“The stupid things you say in the rain, that can't ever be washed away.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

Source: Paint it Black

Stupidity

“I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have succeeded fairly well.”

Robert Benchley (1889–1945) American comedian

Funny

“The way I approached a question, my habit of mind, the way I looked at things, what I took for granted - all this was myself and it did not seem to me that I could alter it.”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist

Source: The Woman Destroyed

Way, Question

“Would the world ever have been made if its maker had been afraid of making trouble? Making life means making
trouble. There’s only one way of escaping trouble; and that’s killing things.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Source: Pygmalion & My Fair Lady

Life, World, Way

“I began to measure things in absence instead of presence.”

Marya Hornbacher book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

Source: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

“You know the incredible thing about hearts is their unbelievable capacity for forgiveness. You’d be amazed what people will overlook when they love someone. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Love, People, Forgiveness, Heart

“Dolgan: ’Tis a wise thing to know what is wanted, and wiser still to know when ‘tis achieved.
Rhuagh: True. And still wiser to know when it is unachievable, for then striving is folly.”

Raymond E. Feist (1945) Novelist

Source: Magician: Apprentice

“Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book Memory

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Memory (1996)

Heart

“The only thing I could think of was turkey neck and turkey gizzards and I felt very depressed.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar (1963), Ch. 6
Context: Then he just stood there in front of me and I kept on staring at him. The only thing I could think of was turkey neck and turkey gizzards and I felt very depressed.

Thinking