Quotes about thought
page 17

“No, I thought. Not just Hell. Really, Heaven was just as guilty. What kind of group could advocate goodness and not allow its members to love?”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Revealed

Love, Hell

“I've always thought it was about finding the right person. But it's about choosing the right person, isn't it?”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Personality

“I saw doves and I thought they were rocks, but they were asleep. My breath made them stir, and they rocks took flight, the earth exploding… and my only thought was that I wanted you to see them, too.”

Douglas Coupland Microserfs

Source: Microserfs

“To simply think about the people, as the dominators do, without any self-giving in that thought, to fail to think with the people, is a sure way to cease being revolutionary leaders.”

Paulo Freire book Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

People, Way, Thinking

“If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

“Psychedelics helped me to escape.. albeit momentarily.. from the prison of my mind. It over-rode the habit patterns of thought and I was able to taste innocence again. Looking at sensations freshly without the conceptual overly was very profound.”

Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now

Help

“Really, I'm trying to care, Artemis, really. But I thought it was all supposed to be over when the fat lady sings. Well, she's singing, but it doesn't appear to be over”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Appearance, Singing

“Many of her thoughts were perfect syllogisms; unluckily they always remained thoughts. Only a few were irrational assumptions; but, unfortunately, they were the ones which most frequently grew into deeds”

Thomas Hardy book Far from the Madding Crowd

Source: Far from the Madding Crowd

Perfection

“To think new thoughts you have to break the bones in your head”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

Thinking

“I've always thought tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 15 (p. 235)
Source: Shards of Honour

“When I was a little kid I thought like a little kid, but now I'm five I know everything.”

Emma Donoghue Room

Source: Room (novel) (2010)

“An ugliness unfurled in the moonlight and soft shadow and suffused the whole world. If I were an amoeba, he thought, with an infinitesimal body, I could defeat ugliness. A man isn’t tiny or giant enough to defeat anything.”

Yukio Mishima book The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

Source: The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

World

“It was like being at the bottom of an ocean, she said. There was no light and a whole ocean crushing down on you. But most people had gotten so used to it they thought it normal, they forgot even that there was a world above.”

Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

People, World, Light

“… besides love, independence of thought is the greatest gift an adult can give a child.”

Bryce Courtenay The Power of One

Source: The Power of One

Love

“While the Lord might insist that vengeance was His, no male Highlander of my acquaintance had ever thought it right that the Lord should be left to handle such things without assistance.”

Diana Gabaldon book The Fiery Cross

Source: The Fiery Cross

“It made me start to wonder if there were other people so lonely so close. I thought about “Eleanor Rigby.” It’s true, where do they all come from? And where do they all belong?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

People

“Feeding a crowd?' the woman behind the counter asked.
Yes, ma'am,' Fang said sweetly. I thought.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Maximum Ride The Angel Experiment

“In the quiet spaces opened up by the prolonged, undistracted reading of a book, people made their own associations, drew their own inferences and analogies, fostered their own ideas. They thought deeply as they read deeply.”

Nicholas Carr (1959) American writer

Source: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

People, Books, Idea, Reading

“I love the way she projects two facets: a visible persona and a subterranean one. She keeps her thoughts to herself; she seems to suggest that her secret, inner life is at least as significant as the appearance she gives.”

Francois Truffaut (1932–1984) film director

Love, Life, Secret, Way

“I always thought it was what I wanted: to be loved and admired. Now I think perhaps I'd like to be known.”

Kristin Hannah book The Nightingale

Variant: He loves a version of me that is incomplete. I always thought it was what I wanted: to be loved and admired. Now I think perhaps I'd like to be known.
Source: The Nightingale

Love, Thinking

“He realized that he had thought only about the first step, never imagined the last.”

Colum McCann book Let the Great World Spin

Source: Let the Great World Spin

Imagination

“She had loved him for such a long time, she thought. How was it that she did now know him at all?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Heartbreaking, Depressing, Love, Time

“It takes so little to change everything. If you really thought about it, it would scare you to death.”

Sarah Dessen book The Moon and More

Source: The Moon and More

Death, Change

“Where's Simon?"…"Is he okay? Why isn't he here?" She glared at Derek. "Where'd you leave him?"
Passed out in an alley." Derek frowned in thought. "Not sure where, though…”

Kelley Armstrong (1968) Canadian writer

“What I discovered I liked best about striking out on my bicycle was that the farther I got from home, the more interesting and unusual my thoughts became.”

Richard Russo (1949) American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter

Home

“Want to come back to the morgue with me after lunch? (Tate)
I shudder at the thought of the pickup line you must have used the night you met LaShonda. Come with me, baby, and see my collection of stiffs. (Simone)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Chaser

Baby, Night

“I’ve never once thought about how I was going to die,” she said. “I can’t think about it. I don’t even know how I’m going to live.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Thinking

“We imagined we knew everything the other thought, even when we did not necessarily want to know it, but in fact, I have come to see, we knew not the smallest fraction of what there was to know.”

Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking

Source: The Year of Magical Thinking

Imagination

“We thought we were running away from the grownups, and now we are the grownups.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

“The problem is simply finding the right person. Ask Plato. Just make sure she finishes your thoughts and you finish hers. That's all you need.”

Elizabeth Kostova book The Swan Thieves

Source: The Swan Thieves

Problem, Personality

“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

Source: An Autobiography

love, Cute, Romantic, Valentine's Day

“Book! You lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You'll do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the thoughts.”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Source: Moby-Dick or, The Whale

Lie, Books

“So then I though I'd make some plans, but Fire thought she'd really rather be Water instead…”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Water

“Nearly unable to bear the thought of how much he needed her quiet strength, he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cold glass.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

“My dear, I used to think I was serving humanity… and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it. So now I do what pleases myself.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Stranger in a Strange Land

Source: Stranger in a Strange Land

Pleasure, Thinking

“Percy pushed on his side furiously and the crack closed. His eyes blazed with anger. She hoped he wasn’t mad at her, but if he was she couldn’t blame him.
If it keeps him going, she thought, then let him be angry.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Hope, Madness, Anger

“When the dawn was still long hours away, bad thoughts took on flesh and began to walk. In the middle of the night thoughts became zombies.”

Stephen King book Under the Dome

Source: Under the Dome

Night

“Your life is what your thoughts make it.”

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

Faith, Hope, Life

“At least I thought it was a wall. It sure felt like one. It was hard. It was flat. It stretched out on either side of me. You know… wall.”

D.J. MacHale The Quillan Games

Source: The Quillan Games

“His ear heard more than is said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.”

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men

Source: Of Mice and Men (1937), Ch. 2, p. 36

Understanding

“Tessa, surprising herself, let out a gasp of laughter. Will looked at her, his mouth just beginning to quirk up in a grin. "I must be more amusing than I thought. Which would make me very amusing indeed.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Laughter

“The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Truth, Books, Beauty, Way

“Why should I even bother? What's the point, really?"
He thought for a moment. "Who says there has to be a point?" he asked. "Or a reason. Maybe it's just something you have to do.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“Kill what you can't save
what you can't eat throw out
what you can't throw out bury

What you can't bury give away
what you can't give away you must carry with you,
it is always heavier than you thought.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Source: You are Happy

“To be relieved of love, she thought, was to give up a terrible burden.”

Anita Shreve book The Pilot's Wife

Source: The Pilot's Wife

Love

“Oh dear, all those words again," thought Milo as he climbed into the wagon with Tock and the cabinet members. "How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a--" "Be very quiet," advised the duke, "for it goes without saying.”

Norton Juster (1929) American children's writer, academic, and architect

“When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

Love, Sense

“Please stop looking at me, she thought, afraid of his eyes and terrified of her own heart.”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Source: The Bronze Horseman

Heart

“The most exciting acting tends to happen in roles you never thought you could play.”

John Lithgow (1945) American character actor, musician, and author

“I have often thought that the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive.”

William James The Principles of Psychology

To his wife, Alice Gibbons James (1878)
1920s, The Letters of William James (1920)
Source: The Principles of Psychology
Context: I have often thought that the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: "This is the real me!"

Way

“Grover didn't say anything for awhile. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Feeling

“I thought you might need a ride.'

'The headmaster's office called me a car.'

He shrugged, indifferent but amused. 'And here I am in a submarine.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

Cars, Indifference

“If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Friendship, For Friend, For Bestfriend, Love

“Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?”

D.H. Lawrence book Women in Love

Source: Women in Love

People, World, Beauty, Grass

“For now is my grief heavier than the sands of the seas, she thought. This world has emptied me of all but the oldest purpose: tomorrow's life.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

Life, World, Sea

“So you're not going to speak tonight," Tessa said. "At all."
"Not unless you instruct me to," said Will.
"This evening sounds as if it might be better than I thought.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“Classifying thoughts, feelings and behaviors as diseases is a logical and semantic error, like classifying whale as fish.”

Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist

Disease, Behavior, Error, Feeling

“Maryse had spoken to her son’s partner with affection she had never shown before, and now she wanted to hold the baby. Maryse was experiencing full-on grandma fever. The Lightwoods thought he and Alec were keeping the baby.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Born to Endless Night

Grandma, Baby

“Much to his annoyance, a thought popped into his mind. It was very clear and very distinct, and he had now come to recognize these thoughts for what they were. His instinct was to resist them.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

“Feelings are much stronger than thoughts. We are all led by instinct, and our intellect catches up later”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

Feeling

“I have lost everything, Han thought. Then he corrected himself. Every time I think I’ve lost everything, I find there’s still something else to lose.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Gray Wolf Throne

Thinking, Time

“Do you know, one of the greatest problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas? Now, thoughts and ideas, that interests me.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Variant: Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.
Source: Margaret Thatcher

People, Age, Feeling, Idea

“It's a long way from not having enough serotonin to thinking the world is "stale, flat and unprofitable"; even further to writing a play about a man driven by that thought.”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted

World, Way, Thinking

“Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it.”

Ernest Hemingway book The Old Man and the Sea

Source: The Old Man and the Sea

Time, Past

“But she's a redhead, so she's probably evil, even at her tender age."

"I thought you liked redheads."

"I do. What's your point?”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

Source: Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

Age, Evil

“I flipped back through the pad of paper while I thought about what Stephen Hawking would do next.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“My heart only ever had one thought, one want. One need. Despite all, in spite of all… All my heart has ever wanted is you.”

Stephanie Laurens (1943) Australian writer

Source: The Edge of Desire

For Him, For Boyfriend, Heart

“Sin, he reflected, is not what it is usually thought to be; it is not to steal and tell lies. Sin is for one man to walk brutally over the life of another and to be quite oblivious of the wounds he has left behind.”

Shūsaku Endō book Silence

Source: Silence

Life

“I want to know God's thoughts - the rest are mere details.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

God

“What I saw wasn't a ghost. It was simply--myself. I can never forget how terrified I was that night, and whenever I remember it, this thought always springs to mind: that the most frightening thing in the world is our own self. What do you think?”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

World, Spring, Thinking, Night

“I'd rather cut my throat," she said.
An intriguing thought. But I can do it so much more enjoyably.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

“The price of self-destiny is never cheap, and in certain situations it is unthinkable. But to achieve the marvelous, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume

“You had to know someone very well to make them laugh like that. She had loved him for such a long time, she thought. How was it that she did not know him at all?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Love, Time

“Looks are deceiving," Risa says. "After all, when I first saw you I thought you looked reasonably intelligent.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Variant: Do I look feeble to you"
"Actually, yes."
"Well, looks can be deceiving. For instance, when I met you, I thought you look reasonably intelligent.
Source: Unwind

Intelligence

“The ladies here probably exchanged looks which meant, 'Men never know when things are dirty or not;' and the gentlemen perhaps thought each to himself, 'Women will have their little nonsense and needless cares.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Women, Men

“I thought it was her wicked stepmother who poisoned her…'
'… Turned out the wicked stepmother had an alibi.'
'… Seems she was off poisoning someone else at the time. Chance in a million, really. It was just bad luck.”

John Connolly The Book of Lost Things

Source: The Book of Lost Things

Bad luck, Chance, Time

“Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings,--a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionises it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss.”

Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary

Source: Madame Bovary

Love, Life, Heart

“What a pair they were - a Mistborn who felt guilty wasting coins to jump and a nobleman who thought balls were too expensive.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Well of Ascension

“Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.”

Immanuel Kant book Critique of Pure Reason

A 51, B 75
Source: Critique of Pure Reason (1781; 1787)
Context: Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. The understanding can intuit nothing, the senses can think nothing. Only through their unison can knowledge arise.

“… and when he thought about the way she laughed, as though she owned the air around her, his heart thundered inside his chest, a lonely rada.”

Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Way, Heart

“The sum of all your thoughts comprises your overall attitude.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Source: The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!”

Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Variant: "Maybe Christmas...", he thought, "... Doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"
Source: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957)

Christmas, Christmas

“For in other ways a woman is full of fear, defenseless, dreads the sight of cold steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love, no other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood.”

Euripidés Medea

Source: Medea

Love, Fear, Way, Soul

“It may, after all, be the bad habit of creative talents to invest themselves in pathological extremes that yield remarkable insights but no durable way of life for those who cannot translate their psychic wounds into significant art or thought.”

Theodore Roszak (1933–2011) American social historian, social critic, writer

Life, Art, Way

“Tyson thought Annabeth was just about the coolest thing since peanut butter, and he SERIOUSLY loved peanut butter.”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Love

“I thought lightning wasn't supposed to strike in the same place twice…. sure it does… but only if you're too dumb to move.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

“I've always thought that a feeling which changes never existed in the first place.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Feeling, Change

“She thought she was independent and strong, but she got one small taste of love and she was hungrier than anyone. She was ravenous.”

Ann Brashares book Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

Source: Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

Love, Strong

“That is what death is like. It doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we would never have war anymore.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
Context: She died in my arms saying, "I don't want to die." That is what death is like. It doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we could never have war anymore. (p. 189)

Death, War

“All right, then, I thought: here I am in the bottom of a well.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

“Look at the rain long enough, with no thoughts in your head, and you gradually feel your body falling loose, shaking free of the world of reality. Rain has the power to hypnotize.”

Haruki Murakami book South of the Border, West of the Sun

Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun

World, Feeling, Reality

“If there is God, I thought… Please some day let me make love to this girl while she wears that dress." "Oh…" "Tatiasha… isn't it nice to know there is a God?”

Paullina Simons book The Bronze Horseman

Source: The Bronze Horseman

Love, God, Making love, Girl