Quotes about thought
page 18

“I thought, my love is so good, why isn't it calling the same thing back.”

Amy Hempel (1951) Short story writer

Source: The Collected Stories

“I really can't believe what a state the Pyramids are in. I thought they had flat rendered sides, but when you get up close, you see how they are just giant boulders balanced on top of each other, like a massive game of Jenga that has got out of hand.”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

Source: An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington

Game

“I never thought it would end like this. I never thought he would leave me without saying goodbye.”

Philippa Gregory book The Other Boleyn Girl

Source: The Other Boleyn Girl

“What was Aristotle’s life?’ Well, the answer lay in a single sentence: ‘He was born, he thought, he died.’ And all the rest is pure anecdote.”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

Life

“I've never minded it," he went on. "Being lost, that is. I had always thought one could not truly be lost if one knew one's own heart. But I fear I may be lost without knowing yours.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Fear, Heart

“She curled up and pressed her cheek against his chest. Her ear was right above his heart. She was listening to his thoughts. "I need to know this," Aomame said. "That we're in the same world, seeing the same things.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

World, Heart

“When you told me the first time that Valentine was your father, I didn't believe it. Not just because I didn't want it to be true, but because you weren't anything like him. I've never thought you're anything like him. But you are. You are.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Time

“To think is to confine yourself to a single thought that one day stands still like a star in the world's sky.”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

Source: Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger

World, Star, Thinking

“Once, maybe I would have thought you a fool, but… well, that's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion? You have to shut out that voice that whispers about betrayal, and just hope that your friends aren't going to hurt you.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Hope, Fools, Betrayal, Hurt

“Meanwhile," Simon added, "I wanted to tell you that lately I've been cross-dressing. Also, I'm sleeping with your mom. I thought you should know.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Simon to Clary, pg. 6
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)

Moms, Sleep

“Things that Shane doesn't want on his grave:
(1.) I thought it wasn't loaded.
(2.) Hand me a match so I can check the gas tank.
(3.) Killed over Ice Cream”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Kiss of Death

“A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi

Love, God, Suffering, Passion

“I love him, she thought. I'm just not in love with him and also I don't love him. I've tried, I've strained to love him but I can't. I am building a life with a man I don't love, and I don't know what to do about it.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Love, Life

“Sazed thought.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Variant: Elend thought.
Source: The Hero of Ages

“I wouldn't have done it, but it scared me that I thought of it at all. I scared me.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Source: Beastly

“Before embarking on important undertakings sit quietly calm your senses and thoughts and meditate deeply. You will then be guided by the great creative power of Spirit.”

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship

Sense

“Oh, for heaven's sake, she thought with droll exasperation, this certainly explains a lot. It's no wonder I haven't been able to keep my hands off the blasted man since the day I met him. He's an artifact! A Celtic one at that!”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: The Dark Highlander

“But you hardley even know him"she said."He could be a serial killer"
"I did have that thought. I checked the apartment out, but if his got an ice cooler full of arms in it, I havent seen it yet. Anyway he seems pretty since.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“My head is killing me, my throat is killing me, my stomach bubbles with toxic waste. I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid if this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Sleep

“They thought I suffered from lack of exterior, when I suffered from excess of interior”

Romain Gary book Gros-Câlin

Source: Gros-Câlin

Suffering

“Yesterday when we went over the plan again and again, I never thought about Grandad showing up. Because I'm an idiot, basically--an idiot with poor planning skills. Of course he's here. Where else would he be?

Seriously, what else could go wrong?”

Holly Black book White Cat

Source: White Cat

“Leap out the window, my inner Tigress cried. You aren't ready to face such a powerful Tiger. I frowned. I thought a true Tigress never backed down from a fight. Don't you know anything? When she's in heat, she avoids everything male. Now run!”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Animal Instincts

Fight

“Sometimes, when things take longer than you thought they would, it's just a gentle reminder from your greater self that you have more time than you thought, and that there's a journey to enjoy.”

Mike Dooley (1961) American writer

Time

“Indifference and pride look very much alike, and he probably thought I was proud.”

Graham Greene book The End of the Affair

Source: The End of the Affair

Indifference

“I get the feeling," Alec said, and smiled, "she hasn't forgiven me for betraying you, as she sees it."
"Good girl," said Jace with appreciation.
"I didn't betray you, idiot."
"It's the thought that counts.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Smile, Feeling, Girl

“She thought how strange it would be if she ever said 'Hello' to him. One did not greet oneself each morning.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

“Nonsense, do you imagine he has thought as much of you as you have of him?”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

Imagination

“My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.”

Mel Brooks (1926) American director, writer, actor, and producer

Rage

“It is possible to live twenty-four hours a day in a state of love. Every movement, every glance, every thought, and every word can be infused with love.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Love

“Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realise that nothing really belongs to them.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

“Always when Will did something to protect Tessa, Jem thought it was for his sake, not for Will's. Always Will wished Jem could be entirely right. Each needle prick had it own name. Guilt. Shame. Love.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love

“Matthew wanted hours, days, weeks alone with her… he wanted all her thoughts and smiles and secrets. The freedom to lay his soul bare before her.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Scandal in Spring

Secret, Smile, Soul, Freedom

“Knowledge is a fine thing, and mother Eve thought so; but she smarted so severly for hers, that most of her daughters have been afraid of it since.”

Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)

Letter to Elizabeth Shaw (20 March 1791)

Knowledge, Daughters

“Heart, we will forget him!
You and I, to-night!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me,
That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you're lagging,
I may remember him!”

Emily Dickinson book The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

Love, p. 172
Collected Poems (1993)
Source: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

Light, Heart, Night, Forgetting

“Suddenly question number four popped into my mind. Have you thought about how this relationship will end?”

Judy Blume (1938) American children's writer

Source: Forever . . .

Question

“I thought about telling him the truth: 'Oh, nothing. Just having my soul exorcised so I can roam around
purgatory, looking for the ghost of the dead cowboy who used to live in my bedroom.”

Meg Cabot book Darkest Hour

Source: Darkest Hour

Truth, Soul, Dead

“(Sookie's Thoughts on Debbie Pelt) she had been cruel to Alcide, insulted me grievously, burned a hole in my favorite wrap and—oh—tried to kill me by proxy. Also, she had stupid hair.”

Charlaine Harris book Dead to the World

Source: Dead to the World

Stupidity

“Underneath my lashes I watched him, and I thought, Come back. Be the you I love and remember”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: It's Not Summer Without You

Love

“Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

Love

“Love meant something to her, she dreamt of it, thought of it, wrote of it. It was the one thing in life that had eluded her completely.”

Danielle Steel (1947) American author of romance novels

Love, Life

“Unlike a fountain that circulates the same water in an enclosed, perpetually recycling system, a human being circulates thoughts in an unlimited reservoir of self.

Don't limit yourself to being a mere fountain when you contain an ocean.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Water

“All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of Books.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Man of Letters

Books, Lying

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”

Peace Pilgrim (1908–1981) American non-denominational spiritual teacher

Deep, Powerful, Thinking

“I have been too unhappy, I thought, it cannot last, being so unhappy, it would kill you”

Jean Rhys book Wide Sargasso Sea

Source: Wide Sargasso Sea

“Excuse me, I said. I thought you were a trout stream.
I'm not, she said.”

Richard Brautigan book Trout Fishing in America

Source: Trout Fishing in America

“But even a ninety-year-old blind priest would stop and stare at this woman. If he weren’t blind, that is. Dumb metaphor, I thought. I’ll have to work on that one. I have trouble with metaphors.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Steelheart

“He was dead. However, his nose throbbed painfully, which he thought odd in the circumstances.”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Dead

“All that running and getting nowhere, he thought. Story of my life.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Life

“Are you alright?"
"No, I bumped my head." Rubbing the spot, I looked dazedly around the bare hallway.
"What did I bang it on?" I demanded ungrammatically.
"head." he said, rather grumpily, I thought.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.”

Raymond Chandler book The Simple Art of Murder

essay, first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly (November, 1945)
The Simple Art of Murder (1950)

World, Weather

“I used to care about how other people thought I led my life. But lately I've realized that most people are too preoccupied with their own lives to give anybody else even the scantiest of thoughts.”

Douglas Coupland Microserfs

Source: Microserfs

Life, People

“You can not entertain weak, harmful, negative thoughts ten hours a day and expect to bring about beautiful, strong and harmonious conditions by ten minutes of strong, positive, creative thought.”

Charles F. Haanel book The Master Key System

Source: The Master Key System

Beauty, Strong

“Her silence was worth more to her than a thousand words. In that silence, she had peace and clarity. Except during the night, when her own jumbled thoughts would keep her awake.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

Peace, Silence, Night

“It's not the content of our dreams that gives our second heart its dark color; it's the thoughts that go through our heads in those wakeful moments when sleep won't come. And those are the things we never tell anyone at all.”

Carolyn Parkhurst The Dogs of Babel

Source: The Dogs of Babel

Dreams, Color, Sleep, Heart

“I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had.”

Shirley Jackson book We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Source: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

“Everything has boundaries. The same holds true with thought. You shouldn't fear boundaries, but you should not be afraid of destroying them. That's what is most important if you want to be free: respect for and exasperation with boundaries.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Fear

“It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.”

Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Cry

“How about this?' Simmon asked me. "Which is worse, stealing a pie or killing Ambrose?"
I gave it a moment's hard thought. "A meat pie, or a fruit pie?”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“The mind thinks thoughts that we don't plan. It's not as if we say, 'At 9:10 I'm going to be filled with self-hatred.”

Sharon Salzberg (1952) American writer

Thinking

“They looked like two children," she told me. And that thought frightened her, because she'd always felt that only children are capable of everything.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Source: Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Children

“And then I had a thought, clear as day. I would never be somebody's favorite again. I would never be a kid again, not in the same way. That was all over now. She was really gone.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: It's Not Summer Without You

Way

“What occurs to people when they read Kurt [Vonnegut] is that things are much more up for grabs than they thought they were. The world is a slightly different place just because they read a damn book. Imagine that.”

Mark Vonnegut (1947) American physician and writer

People, Books, World, Imagination

“Plant seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacles and weaknesses.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

“Why do only the awful things become fads? I thought. Eye-rolling and Barbie and bread pudding. Why never chocolate cheesecake or thinking for yourself?”

Connie Willis Bellwether

Source: Bellwether (1996), Chapter 3 “Tributaries”, Section 3 (p. 119)

Thinking

“He wasn't what I'd thought he was; maybe he never had been. I wasn't what I'd thought I was, either.”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Someone Like You

“Sorry. Was it awful?”
“Being a rat? No. First it was disorienting. I was suddenly at ankle-level with everyone. I thought I'd drunk a shrinking potion, but I couldn't figure out why I had this urge to chew used gum wrappers.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

“But on that sunlit Sunday, Alexander knew nothing, thought nothing, imagined nothing. He forgot Dimitri and war and the Soviet Union and escape plans, and even America, and crossed the street for Tatiana Metanova.”

Paullina Simons book Tatiana and Alexander

Source: Tatiana and Alexander

War, Imagination

“The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

love, For Him, For Boyfriend, Love

“So I find words I never thought to speak

In streets I never thought I should revisit

When I left my body on a distant shore.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Distant

“… think of the solution, not the problem. If your mind was filled only with thoughts of why you were going to lose, then you couldn't think of how to win.”

Terry Goodkind Blood of the Fold

Source: Blood of the Fold

Problem, Thinking

“Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Melissa,' Graham growled. 'Really? I've always thought it brings out my eyes.”

Christine Warren American writer

Source: On the Prowl

“Yeah, tell me I’m a bottle of single malt scotch, she thought. That’s the way to my heart.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Nightfall

Way, Heart

“All this time I'd thought we were strangers, and it turned out we knew each other intuitively, in our bones, in our blood. It was kind of romantic. Catastrophically romantic.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Time

“The thought of Christmas overwhelms him. He no longer looks forward to the holiday; he wants only to be on the other side of the season. His impatience makes him feel that he is incontrovertibly, finally, an adult.”

Jhumpa Lahiri (1967) Short story writer, novelist

Feeling, Holiday, Christmas, Season

“There are things of which I may not speak;
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,
And bring a pallor into the cheek,
And a mist before the eye.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet

Dreams, Strong, Heart

“You are one of my nicest thoughts.”

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) American artist

“Like anyone nostalgic for a time he didn't live through, I chose to weed out the little inconveniences: polio, say, or the thought of eating stewed squirrel. The world was simply grander back then, somehow more civilized, and nicer to look at.”

David Sedaris When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Source: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

World, Time

“Drifting off to sleep, I thought about her. How nobody is perfect. How you just have to close your eyes and breathe out and let the puzzle of the human heart be what it is.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Sleep, Heart, Perfection

“Zach, we have to stop her!"
But Zach just held me. He looked at me with shock and awe and just a little bit of wonder. In spite of everything, I thought that he might laugh.
"Gallagher Girl," he told me, "youthe school.”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

Youth, School, Girl

“I wonder what Piglet is doing," thought Pooh.
"I wish I were there to be doing it, too.”

A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh

Source: Winnie-the-Pooh

“Did you just kiss me?" Will inquired.
Magnus made a slip-second decision. "No."
"I thought-"
"On occasion the aftereffects of the painkilling spells can result in hallucinations of the most bizarre sort."
"Oh," Will said. "How peculiar.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Kiss, Decision

“Brightness… I believe you stray into sarcasm."

"Funny. I thought I'd run straight into it, screaming at the top of my lungs.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

“I was in the machine. My whole life. Then the machine coughed and spat me out. So I thought, OK, if I'm out, I'm out. All the way out. I was a little angry and it was probably an immature reaction. But I got used to it.”

Lee Child book One Shot

Source: One Shot

Life, Way

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

People, Freedom

“She thought of the orchids spreading across the plains below, choking the life out of other plants, out of the soil itself, selfish and unstoppable. Tally Youngblood was a weed. And, unlike the orchids, she wasn't even a pretty one.”

Scott Westerfeld book Uglies

Source: Uglies

Life, Selfishness

“I don’t want my thoughts to die with me, I want to have done something. I’m not interested in power, or piles of money. I want to leave something behind. I want to make a positive contribution - know that my life has meaning.”

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

Life, Money

“We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.”

Amy Hempel (1951) Short story writer

Source: The Collected Stories

Future

“All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.”

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

“Well, let it pass, he thought; April is over, April is over. There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice.

--The Sensible Thing”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: The Short Stories

Love, World

“I knew immediately something was terribly wrong, but you can know that and not allow the thought in your head, at the front of your head. It dances around at the back, where it can't be controlled. But the front of the head is where the pain begins.”

Sebastian Barry book The Secret Scripture

Source: The Secret Scripture

Pain, Dance

“Part of me aches at the thought of her being so close yet so untouchable.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Heartbreaking, Parting, Sad

“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

God, Thinking

“I'm a mess of unfinished thoughts.”

John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter

“Gods, I wish the world was full of passive women. He thought for a moment longer, then scowled. On second thoughts, what a nightmare that'd be. It's the job of a man to fan the spark into flames, not quench it…”

Steven Erikson book Memories of Ice

Source: Memories of Ice

Women, God, World

“So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen, p. 5
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)

Learning, Reading, Indifference

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it”

Flannery O’Connor book Wise Blood

Source: Wise Blood

“It was strange, really. A couple months ago, I had thought I couldn’t live without him. Apparently I could.”

Gabrielle Zevin book Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Source: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Moving On

“I thought Alchemists avoided alcohol the same way they do primary colors.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Alcohol, Color, Way

“To distract myself from tiresome thoughts, I have only to resort to books; they easily draw my mind to themselves and away from other things.”

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

Books, Drawing

Quotes about thought page 18

Quotes about thought
page 18