Quotes about thought
page 22

“Hark, his hands the lyre explore!
Bright-eyed Fancy hovering o'er
Scatters from her pictured urn
Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.”

Thomas Gray (1716–1771) English poet, historian

III. 3, Line 2 <br class="br"> The Progress of Poesy http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?textpppo (1754) <br class="br">Source: Selected Poems

“She thought of Aziza's stutter, and of what Aziza had said earlier about fractures and powerful collisions deep down and how sometimes all we see on the surface is a slight tremor.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

“Summer quiet thoughts on summer quiet noons.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Now and Forever

Summer

“He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins. As in a party game. Say the words and pass it on. So be sparing. What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

Game, Reality, Memory

“You…you got rid of that dress fast," I pointed out between heavy breaths. "I thought you liked it."
"I do like it," he said. His breathing was as heavy as mine. "I love it."
And then he took me to the bed.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

Love

“Perfectionism is a self destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Pain, Feeling, Perfection

“The problem with being clever, Serene thought with a sigh, is that everyone assumes you're always planning something.”

Brandon Sanderson Elantris

Source: Elantris

Problem

“So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

Source: Death by Black Hole - And Other Cosmic Quandaries

Star, Universe

“I always thought when I got older that God would sort of come into my life in some way. He didn't. I don't blame him. If I was him I'd have the same opinion about me that he does.”

Cormac McCarthy book No Country for Old Men

Source: No Country for Old Men

Life, God, Way

“To achieve, you need thought. You have to know what you are doing and that's real power.”

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

“I had thought about cocaine in a kind of day-dream.”

Sigmund Freud book The Interpretation of Dreams

Source: The Interpretation of Dreams

Dreams

“Sometimes, he thought, real love is silent as well as blind.”

Stephen King book The Stand

Variant: Sometimes [... ] real love is silent as well as blind.
Source: The Stand

Love

“I was thought to be 'stuck up.' I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure.”

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

“People said the towers looked like giant salt and pepper shakers, but I’d always thought they looked like Daleks from Doctor Who.”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

People

“I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn’t any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”

Philip Pullman book The Amber Spyglass

Source: The Amber Spyglass

God, Religion

“When analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“Flying daggers don't kill people, Chloe thought, leaping sidewise at the last minute to avoid one, grabbing the pedestrian rail. People kill people.”

Celia Thomson (1950) American writer of fiction for children and young adults

Source: The Fallen

People, Flying

“I imagined it. I wrote it. But I guess I never thought I'd see it.”

Ken Follett book The Pillars of the Earth

Source: The Pillars of the Earth

Imagination

“Her only thought was of getting away, as if she were carrying a live grenade from inside the house, so that when it exploded, it would destroy just herself.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Housing

“I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.”

Nick Hornby Fever Pitch

Source: Fever Pitch (1992)

Love, Women, Pain, Football

“Love is a debt, she thought. When the bill comes, you pay in grief.”

Mary Doria Russell Children of God

Source: Children of God

Love

“You spoil your horse, Halt said.
Will glanced at him. You spoil yours.
Halt considered the thought, then nodded. That's true.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Kings of Clonmel

Horse

“I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: What Are People For?

Life, Tree, Water, Animals

“Belatedly, Clary recalled something. "I thought you guys said onlyof the vampire bikes could fly?"… [Jace:]"Only some of them can!" "How did you know this was one of them?" "I didn't!" he shouted gleefully…”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Guy, Flying

“Perhaps there are other bits of my life that would take on content, take on shadow, if only I read more and thought less about money.”

Martin Amis book Money

Source: Money

Life, Money, Reading

“He could not construct for the child's pleasure the world he'd lost without constructing the loss as well and he thought perhaps the child had known this better than he.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

Pleasure, World, Loss

“It was like that part of my life, was just gone. It was almost too easy, for something I once thought had meant everything.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Life, Parting

“I thought about the days i had handed over to a bottle.. the nights i can't remember.. the mornings i slept thru.. all the time spent running from myself.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Time, Night

“I still felt like I might hurl, and I thought about how awful that would be in midair.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

“He became my confidante, someone with whom I could share thoughts I could never voice… In exchange, he trusted me with his.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“My only thought was to keep him away from Annabeth.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

“There was a time I thought I was a ferret.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Time

“Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with the seven-layer dip… And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing Soprano for a week.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Game, Singing

“Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.”

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

Source: The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

Men, Thinking

“my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" from the book of Isaiah”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: Have a Little Faith: A True Story

Books, Way

“I thought you were her knight, but you have become only her woodsman--taking little girls into the forest to cut out their hearts.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Ironside

Girl, Heart

“The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the Kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.”

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

The Analects, The Great Learning
Context: The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the Kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.
Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.
From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

Family, Knowledge, Heart, Personality

“Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them.”

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

Change

“Of course he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement.”

E.M. Forster book A Room with a View

Source: A Room with a View

World

“GO FOR HIS EYES! OR BITE HIM ON THE NOSE! DRAGON NOSES ARE VERY SENSITIVE!"
Oh, very helpful, Camicazi, very helpful… thought Hiccup. What if he doesn't obligingly hold me up to his nose? What if the only part I get close to is the TEETH?”

Cressida Cowell book How to Break a Dragon's Heart

Source: How to Break a Dragon's Heart

Help, Parting

“Men exist because a vibrator can't fix a flat tire. On second thought, I should just buy a AAA card…”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Get A Clue

Men

“Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history?”

Dan Brown book Angels & Demons

Source: Angels & Demons

Feeling, History

“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”

Richard Bach book Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Source: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Flying

“I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Statement before his fight with George Foreman (31 March 1973)

Life, People

“The thought of two thousand people crunching celery at the same time horrified me.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

People, Time

“The more I thought about human nature, the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin/mistakes causes us to use our minds to rationalize our action.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Nature

“Everything else you see and experience in this world is effect, and that includes your feelings. The cause is always your thoughts.”

Rhonda Byrne book The Secret

Source: The Secret

World, Feeling

“I will remember this, thought Ender, when I am defeated. To keep dignity, and give honor where it's due, so that defeat is not disgrace. And I hope I don't have to do it often.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Hope

“Cary rocked back on his heels and twirled one index finger around another in a sign meaning, wrapped around your finger., I thought, since he was wrapped around my heart.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Heart

“Is it sad that my first thought happened to be: Thank God I'm off the treadmill.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Alice in Zombieland

God, Sadness

“What Richard is talking about is instead admitting to the existence of negative thoughts, understanding where they came from and why they arrived, and then - with great forgiveness and fortitude - dismissing them.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Forgiveness, Understanding

“People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn't see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Variant: People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn't see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.
Source: On Being Blonde (2007), p. 54

People, Personality

“Basically what we have here is a dreamer. Somebody out of touch with reality. When she jumped, she probably thought she'd fly”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Virgin Suicides

Source: The Virgin Suicides

Reality, Flying

“This is my doctrine: Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. Keep your mind open to the influences of nature. Receive new thoughts with hospitality. Let us advance.”

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

Source: The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child

Nature

“Good God, Rachel, cant you go five minutes… sweet sticky hell on a stick!' the demon exclaimed, his thoughts reeling from anger to concern as he realized I was hopped up on something.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Black Magic Sanction

God, Hell, Anger

“I thought about how one tiny decision can change a life. A decision that takes only a split second to make.”

Anita Shreve (1946–2018) American writer

Source: Light on Snow

Life, Decision, Change

“The scariest, most terrifying thing that I fear?"
Yes."
My Imagination."
I thought you were going to say "Fear, itself."
Then you have a small imagination."
Roland and Eddie”

Stephen King The Dark Tower

Source: The Dark Tower

Fear, Imagination

“He took one look at me and said, ‘Damn, you cleaned up better than I thought you would.’ (Grace)
I worry about the men of your time, Grace. They all seem to be great fools. (Julian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Fantasy Lover

Source: Fantasy Lover

Men, Fools, Time

“Aghast, Yasmeen gaped at her before looking to the duke. "It's worse than I thought. Not just the Horde, not just the police- you're keeping company with someone who has principles.”

Meljean Brook (1977)

Source: The Iron Duke

“Mmm. O positive, my favorite.”
“Is it? I thought it was a cabernet sauvignon.”
“So it is,” said Adrian, straight-faced. “My mistake.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

“If the guy you’re dating doesn’t seem to be completely into you, or you feel the need to start ‘figuring him out,’ please consider the glorious thought that he might just not be that into you. And then free yourself to go find someone that is.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Guy, Feeling

“I'd always thought that I understood this, but lately I realize that what I call "understanding" is basically just fantasizing.”

David Sedaris When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Source: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Understanding

“What do you do when you finally hear everything you've always thought said aloud?”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered, what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Baby

“It is impossible to bring more into your life if you are feeling ungrateful about what you have. Why? Because the thoughts and feelings you emit as you feel ungrateful are all negative emotions.”

Rhonda Byrne book The Secret

Source: The Secret

Life, Feeling

“A man without words is a man without thought.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“Everything I did, I did because I thought it was the correct thing to do… I am not a hero, it is true… But I am not a bad person, either.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Personality

“A gun. I had been brought down by a gun. It was practically comical. Cheaters, I thought.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

“I thought they were helping me. I was so full of trust in them that I felt grateful as they carried me in the air. Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Help

“i held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus- Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Happiness, Dogs

“Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Ham On Rye (1982)
Source: Ham on Rye
Context: And my own affairs were as bad, as dismal, as the day I had been born. The only difference was that now I could drink now and then, though never often enough. Drink was the only thing that kept a man from feeling forever stunned and useless. Everything else just kept picking and picking, hacking away. And nothing was interesting, nothing. The people were restrictive and careful, all alike. And I've got to live with these fuckers for the rest of my life, I thought. God, they all had assholes and sexual organs and their mouths and their armpits. They shit and they chattered and they were dull as horse dung. The girls looked good from a distance, the sun shining through their dresses, their hair. But get up close and listen to their minds running out of their mouths, you felt like digging in under a hill and hiding out with a tommy-gun. I would certainly never be able to be happy, to get married, I could never have children. Hell, I couldn't even get a job as a dishwasher.

Life, People

“People need routines. It's like a theme in music. But it also restricts your thoughts and actions and limits your freedom. It structures your priorities and in some cases distorts your logic.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

People, Music, Freedom

“I thought of that while riding my bicycle.”

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

“Waiting for the pen to dry up so he can start fresh with thoughts that are worth new ink.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Source: Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

Waiting

“Finally, a human man saw me as intensely valuable. Just my luck he was happily married and thought I was a freak.”

Charlaine Harris Dead and Gone

Source: Dead and Gone

“So what, ghosts can't hurt you. That's what I thought then.”

Stephen King book Bag of Bones

Source: Bag of Bones

Hurt

“Let no thought pass incognito, and keep your notebook as strictly as the authorities keep their register of aliens.”

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)

“Existence is this, I thought, a start of joy, a stab of pain, an intense pleasure, veins that pulse under the skin, there is no other truth to tell.”

Elena Ferrante book The Days of Abandonment

Source: The Days of Abandonment

Pain, Pleasure, Truth, Joy

“The enemy of science is not religion…. The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.”

Frans de Waal (1948) Dutch primatologist and ethologist

Religion, Science

“If you believe that your thoughts originate inside your brain, do you also believe that television shows are made inside your television set?”

Warren Ellis (1968) English comics and fiction writer

“It was like a Russian party, Arkady thought. People got drunk, recklessly confessed their love, spilled their festering dislike, had hysterics, marched out, were dragged back in and revived with brandy. It wasn't a French salon.”

Martin Cruz Smith (1942) American writer

Love, People

“For a moment he felt a wild hope: perhaps this really was a nightmare. Perhaps he would awake in his own bed, bathed in sweat, shaking, maybe even crying… but alive. Safe. Then he pushed the thought away. Its charm was deadly, its comfort fatal.”

Stephen King book It

Source: It

Hope, Cry

“I always thought I was happy being the dark star to your supernova.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Happiness, Star

“Life is full of troubles and vexations, that one must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts, or leave it.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Life

“Never was a cornflake girl;
Thought it was a good solution: hanging with the raisin girls.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Source: Under the Pink

Girl

“Megan thought.”

Kieran Scott (1974) American writer

Source: Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys

“There is no rest for the humble except in despising the great, whose only thought of the people is inspired by self-interest or sadism.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

People

“Through the lack of attaching myself to words, my thoughts remain nebulous most of the time. They sketch vague, pleasant shapes and then are swallowed up; I forget them almost immediately.”

Jean Paul Sartre book Nausea

Variant: Most of the time, because of their failure to fasten on to words, my thoughts remain misty and nebulous. They assume vague, amusing shapes and are then swallowed up: I promptly forget them.
Source: Nausea

Time, Forgetting

“Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your destiny.

Mahatma Ghandi,” he said. “There’s more, but I can’t remember it all.”

Louise Penny book A Fatal Grace

Source: A Fatal Grace

“Look, I guess it's natural, you're teenagers, its springtime, everyone's thoughts are turning to birds and bees and caterpillars and moths…..

- Iggy”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Nature, Bird, Bee

“I thought about all the things I was suddenly able to do—like fight with a sword and summon a magical shell of armor. Those were not things I covered in home school.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

School, Home, Fight

“I just thought I was empty and now I'm being filled… and I just wanted to keep being filled.”

Laura Hillenbrand book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Source: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

“Calvin: Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we can think faster than we speak?.
Hobbes: Probably so we can think twice.
p.171”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

There's Treasure Everywhere

Thinking

“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.”

Henry David Thoreau book Life Without Principle

Life Without Principle (1863)
Context: The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer. I am surprised, as well as delighted, when this happens, it is such a rare use he would make of me, as if he were acquainted with the tool.