Quotes about thought
page 20

“So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends. - Peeta Mellark”

Source: Catching Fire

“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”

Hays translation
The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.
V, 16
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book V

Color, Soul, Thinking

“It's probably not going to lead to anything. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. If everyone who thought they might fail didn't even try, where would we be today?”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

“That’s all I think about these days. Must be because I have so much time to kill every day. When you don’t have anything to do, your thoughts get really, really far out-so far out
you can’t follow them all the way to the end.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Way, Thinking, Time

“… racist thought and action says far more about the person they come from than the person they are directed at.”

Chris Crutcher book Whale Talk

Source: Whale Talk

Personality

“A poem…begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where an emotion finds the thought and the thought finds the words.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

Letter to Louis Untermeyer (1 January 1916)
1910s

Sense, Effort

“for some reason Gale and Peeta do not coexist well in my thoughts.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Katniss, p. 186/187
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)
Context: I wonder what Gale made of the incident for a moment and then I push the whole thing out of my mind becouse for some reason Gale and Peeta do not coexist well together in my thoughts.

“And have you never known the pleasure and triumph of a lucky guess? I pity you. I thought you cleverer; for depend upon it, a lucky guess is never merely luck. There is always some talent in it.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Pleasure, Dependency

“No matter how many people care about you, she thought, if you can't be open with them about who you truly are, you're still alone.”

Diane Chamberlain (1950) American writer

Source: The Silent Sister

People

“Teaching is a calling too. And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy - angels leading their flocks out of the darkness.”

Jeannette Walls book Half Broke Horses

Source: Half Broke Horses

Teachers' Day, Angels, Way, Teachers

“How she still thought of Max every day and it was like someone had emptied her lungs of air, and she would catch at her heart, afraid she was dying.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Heart

“I'm getting as bored with dying as with everything else, he thought.

'It's a bore,' he said out loud.

'What is, my dear?'

'Anything you do too bloody long.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Source: The Complete Short Stories

“The advantage to being a wicked bastard is that everyone pesters the Lord on your behalf; if volume of prayers from my saintly enemies means anything, I'll be saved when the Archbishop of Canterbury is damned. It's a comforting thought.”

George MacDonald Fraser Flashman at the Charge

Source: Flashman at the Charge

“I smiled back at her. I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”

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

Variant: I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.
Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Smile, Cats, Drink

“People hardly ever make use of the freedom which they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as compensation.”

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

Source: The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard

People, Freedom

“Absolutely everything you experience in your life is a result of what you have given in your thoughts and feelings, whether you realize you have given them or not.”

Rhonda Byrne book The Power

Source: The Power

Life, Feeling

“Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”

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

“Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984)
Context: Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest external horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.
Context: For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest external horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.

Way, Help

“… saying that you don’t have time to improve your thoughts and your life is like saying you don’t have time to stop for gas because you’re too busy driving. Eventually it will catch up with you.” - The Monk who sold his Ferrari”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

Life, Business, Time

“Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Variant: There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

Soul

“Asil left Bran alone with his thoughts then, because if he stayed, Bran would argue with him. This way, Bran would have no one to argue with but himself. And Asil had always credited Bran with the ability to be persuasive.”

Patricia Briggs book Fair Game

Source: Fair Game

Way

“It is a commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and love for a time in the wilderness.”

Loren Eiseley (1907–1977) US philosopher (1907-1977)

Love, Time

“He loved constantly, instantly, spontaneously, without thought or words. That's what he taught me. Love is not something you think about, it is a state in which you dwell. That was his gift.”

Christopher Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Source: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Love, Thinking

“I'll have that someday, thought Peter. Someone who'll kiss me good-bye at the door. Or maybe just someone to put a blindfold over my head before they shoot me. Depending on how things turn out.”

Orson Scott Card book Shadow of the Hegemon

Source: Shadow of the Hegemon

Kiss, Dependency

“How easy it was to lose everything you had always thought you'd have forever.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“I've always expressed my thoughts in color but we remain blind.”

Lauren Weisberger book The Devil Wears Prada

Source: The Devil Wears Prada

Color

“I stepped into the bookshop and breathed in that perfume of paper and magic that strangely no one had ever thought of bottling.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Angel's Game

Source: The Angel's Game

“The glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul -- breaking the mental manacles -- getting the brain out of bondage -- giving courage to thought -- filling the world with mercy, justice, and joy.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Source: Humboldt From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

World, Justice, Soul, Courage

“Discretion prevented me from saying that I thought she was a fiend from the underworld and that mountain lions couldn't force me to enter her service.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

Mountain

“What's happened to me,' he thought. It was no dream.”

Franz Kafka book The Metamorphosis

Source: The Metamorphosis

Dreams

“So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there's always madness. Madness is the emergency exit.”

Alan Moore book Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman : The Killing Joke (1988)
Source: Batman: The Killing Joke
Context: When you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there's always madness. Madness is the emergency exit. You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened.
Forever.

Past, Training, Madness

“I've often thought that there isn't any "I" at all; that we are simply the means of expression of something else; that when we think we are ourselves, we are simply the victims of a delusion.”

Aleister Crowley book Diary of a Drug Fiend

Source: Diary of a Drug Fiend

Thinking

“Mr. Shepherd, ye cannot stop a bad thought from coming into your head. But ye need not pull up a chair and bide it sit down." - Mrs. Brown”

Barbara Kingsolver book The Lacuna

Source: The Lacuna

“Great. Just great. One glimpse of his body and I have a full-blown crush.

I honestly thought I was a bit deeper than that.”

Sophie Kinsella book The Undomestic Goddess

Source: The Undomestic Goddess

“Poetry is prose bewitched, a music made of visual thoughts, the sound of an idea.”

Mina Loy (1882–1966) Futurist poet and actress

Source: The Lost Lunar Baedeker: Poems of Mina Loy

Music, Idea

“Victor Hugo was a madman who thought he was Victor Hugo.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Opium (1929)

“There was a saying that a man's true character was revealed in defeat. I thought it was also revealed in victory.”

Alison Goodman (1966) Australian science-fiction writer

Source: Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Victory

“Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.”

Jane Austen book Mansfield Park

Source: Mansfield Park

“If your goal is purity of heart, be prepared to be thought very odd.”

Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary

Source: Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control

Heart

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius.”

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

1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Self-Reliance
Context: I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instil is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, — and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.

Men, Heart

“Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.”

Philip Larkin book High Windows

Source: High Windows

Sun

“I don't think the money people in Hollywood have ever thought I was normal, but I am dedicated to my work and that's what counts.”

Angelina Jolie (1975) American actress, film director, and screenwriter

Money, People, Thinking

“Even if I thought he as perfect for her." She turned to face him. "What were we thinking?"

"We weren't," he said. "We were in love.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

Source: The Best of Me

Love, Thinking, Perfection

“The truth is that, no matter what kind of game you find yourself in, no matter how good or bad the luck, you can change your life completely with a single thought or a single act of love”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Love, Life, Truth, Game

“Freedom is the dream you dream
While putting thought in chains again”

Giacomo Leopardi Canti

Source: Canti

Dreams, Freedom

“Uh, I thought DVDs werne't allowed at my sleepovers.
They're not.
Then why am i watching the Lady and the Tramp?”

Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer

Source: Invasion of the Boy Snatchers

“Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. No hope so bright but is the beginning of its own fulfilment.”

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

Progress of Culture Phi Beta Kappa Address (July 18, 1867) <br class="br">1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Books, Letters and Social Aims http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=5&id=74&Itemid=149 (1876)

Men, World, Hope

“Since then I've always thought that under rape in the dictionary it should tell the truth. It is not just forcible intercourse; rape means to inhabit and destroy everything.”

Alice Sebold book Lucky

Source: Lucky

Truth

“Old age comes on suddenly, and not gradually as is thought.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Age

“It’s in Latin.”
“So? What does it say?”
“I don’t read Latin!”
“You’re kidding. I thought all geniuses read Latin. Isn’t that the international language for smart people?”

Rachel Caine book Glass Houses

Source: You're kidding. I thought all geniuses read Latin. Isn't that the international language for smart people?"-Shane (Glass Houses)

People, Reading

“I'm not living the life I thought I would lead, but it does have meaning, purpose. There is love… there is joy… there is laughter.”

Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) actor, director, producer, screenwriter

Love, Life, Laughter, Joy

“By doing one wrong thing, I thought I could make everything right.”

Scott B. Smith book A Simple Plan

Source: A Simple Plan

“As he thought of it, though, he could not imagine what “just living” might actually be. He had never done it in his life. But he wanted to do it anyway.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Life, Imagination

“The Suicide, as she is falling,
Illuminated by the moon,
Regrets her act, and finds appalling
The thought she will be dead so soon.”

Edward Gorey (1925–2000) American writer, artist, and illustrator

Suicide, Dead

“there is moss on the walls
and the stain of thought and failure and
waiting”

Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Failure, Waiting

“I thought I'd pay you a visit, my dear. Since you're so interesting."

My mouth shifted into high gear, leaving my brain behind. "You know, you're the second guy in a few days to call me that. You should be more creative.”

Lilith Saintcrow book Strange Angels

Source: Strange Angels

Guy

“Watching them, I thought again of how we can't expect everybody to be there for us, all at once. So it's a lucky thing that really, all you need is someone.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Variant: We can't expect everybody to be there for us, all at once. So it's a lucky thing that really, all you need is someone.
Source: Lock and Key

“People changed. Even the people you thought you knew as well as you knew yourself.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

People, Change

“One Original Thought is worth 1000 Meaningless Quotes.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Quotes

“Language is the dress of thought.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

The Life of Cowley
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)

“Anybody see you come in here?"
Holly thought about it.
"The FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA, M16. Oh, and the EIB."
Foaly frowned. "EIB?"
"Everyone in the building.”

Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl

Variant: Foaly: Anyone see you come in here?
Holly: The FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA, MI6. Oh, and the EIB.
Foaly: The EIB?
Holly: (smirking) Everyone in the building.
Source: Artemis Fowl (2001)

“… and with my last thought I felt some real sympathy for those poor chickens.”

Shannon Hale book Book of a Thousand Days

Source: Book of a Thousand Days

“The father hesitated only a moment. He felt the vague pain in his chest. If I run, he thought, what will happen? Is Death important? No. Everything that happens before Death is what counts. And we've done fine tonight. Even Death can't spoil it.”

Ray Bradbury book Something Wicked This Way Comes

Source: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Death, Pain

“And he understands. He understands why people hold hands: he’d always thought it was about possessiveness, saying This is mine. But it’s about maintaining contact. It is about speaking without words. It is about I want you with me and don’t go.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

People, Understanding

“How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.”

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

Either/Or Part I, Swenson Translation p. 19 Variations include: People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid. People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
1840s, Either/Or (1843)

Men, Freedom