Quotes about thought
page 24

“Keep a demon busy, I thought. Right. Maybe he fancies a game of Tiddlywinks.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Game, Business

“He thought there was no hope for him. Me? I can't imagine a world without hope.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

World, Hope, Imagination

“Ayame: "Yuki, let's deepen the bond between us brothers!"
Yuki: "Before you can do that I'll drown you in the deepest part of that lake."
Ayame: "As long as we spend time together."
Yuki: "On second thought, go drown yourself.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Time, Parting

“I thought you had forgotten me.”
“I have spent my life remembering you.”

Meredith Ann Pierce (1958) American writer

Source: The Son of Summer Stars

Life

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”

Daniel Goleman (1946) American psychologist & journalist

Thinking, Change

“I’m talking to you more than I speak with my mahmen.”
“I thought your mother was dead.”
“She is.”
“You have a very low standard for communication.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover at Last

Communication, Dead

“I've always been happy with you," he said. "But I never thought I deserved it."
"And now you do?"
"And now the feeling's gone," he said. "All I know is that I love you and for the first time, that's good enough.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Love, Happiness, Feeling, Time

“Jamie shook his head at me admiringly. “And here I thought I married you because ye had a fair face and a fine fat arse. To think you’ve a brain as well!” He neatly dodged the blow I aimed at his ear, and grinned at me.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

Thinking

“Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.”

Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman

Decision

“That prison," I said with heartfelt sincerity, "Was absolutely the most awful thing that has happened to me in my entire life." I could tell by the way he looked at me that he thought my life had been filled with one awful thing after another.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

Life, Way, Sincerity

“The helpful thought for which you look
Is written somewhere in a book.”

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

Books, Help

“In the middle of the night, things well up from the past that are not always cause for rejoicing--the unsolved, the painful encounters, the mistakes, the reasons for shame or woe. But all, good or bad, give me food for thought, food to grow on.”

May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist

Source: At Seventy: A Journal

Pain, Food, Past, Night

“They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

“Canadians are fond of a good disaster, especially if it has ice, water, or snow in it. You thought the national flag was about a leaf, didn't you? Look harder. It's where someone got axed in the snow.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Water

“I thought you said you were the one in charge!" Ce'Nedra exclaimed.

I lied." Silk said. "It's a vice I have.”

David Eddings book Queen of Sorcery

Source: Queen of Sorcery

“Listen to your second thought, or the third might be too late.”

Shannon Hale (1974) American fantasy novelist

Source: Palace of Stone

“No neurotic harbors thoughts of suicide which are not murderous impulses against others redirected upon himself.”

Sigmund Freud book Totem and Taboo

Source: Totem and Taboo

Suicide

“It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Inimitable Jeeves

The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)

Alcohol, Food

“I thought I wouldn't live through it. But you do. You learn to love the place somebody leaves behind for you.”

Barbara Kingsolver book Prodigal Summer

Source: Prodigal Summer

Love, Learning

“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”

Alan Greenspan (1926) 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the United States

Attributed to Greenspan by Rupert Cornwell, "Alan Greenspan: The buck starts here" http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/alan-greenspan-the-buck-starts-here-595789.html, The Independent, 27 April 2003, citing an unspecified Capitol Hill hearing. However, as Ralph Keyes notes in The Quote Verifier (2006, p. 233), "This popular tongue twister gets attributed to the obfuscator du jour." The earliest known print attribution is to Robert McCloskey, U.S. State Department spokesman, by Marvin Kalb, CBS reporter, in TV Guide, 31 March 1984, citing an unspecified press briefing during the Vietnam war. Earlier attributions include: "a high government official", Annual Report, North American Gas Tax Conference, Federation of Tax Administrators, 1967; Jerry Lewis (a sign pasted on the camera during a movie shoot), by Dick Kleiner, Hollywood Correspondent, Sumter Daily Item, Feb. 4, 1970; a sign on the desk of Suzanne Schroeder, collector of bureaucratic gobbledygook, AP wire story, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, July 3, 1973; Jack Nicklaus paraphrasing Richard Nixon, by Larry Dorman, The Palm Beach Post, Dec. 8, 1979; and "a Hollywood film director", by J.D. Douglas, The Third Way, 29 December 1977. Additionally, a thesis monograph by Michael David Katz, Georgia State University, 1973 is titled with the quote. On the back of the first Stealers Wheel album, a very similar statement attributed to band member Rod Coombes is found: "We know that you believe you understand what you think we said, but we are not sure you realize that what you heard is not what we meant." The album was released in 1972. See Richard Nixon: "Now, when individuals read the entire transcript of the [March] 21st [1973] meeting, or hear the entire tape, where we discussed all these options, they may reach different interpretations, but I know what I meant, and I know also what I did" Misattributed

Understanding, Thinking

“I've had good moments scattered since then, times when I thought I was better, but that was the last day I felt triumphant.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

Time

“Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. Revealed faith is not harmless nonsense, it can be lethally dangerous nonsense. Dangerous because it gives people unshakeable confidence in their own righteousness. Dangerous because it gives them false courage to kill themselves, which automatically removes normal barriers to killing others. Dangerous because it teaches enmity to others labelled only by a difference of inherited tradition. And dangerous because we have all bought into a weird respect, which uniquely protects religion from normal criticism. Let's now stop being so damned respectful!”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

When asked how the world had changed following the September 11, 2001 attacks Has the world changed? http://books.guardian.co.uk/writersreflections/story/0,1367,567546,00.html, The Guardian (October 11, 2001)

People, Faith, Religion, Confidence

“Doesn't it seem to you," asked Madame Bovary, "that the mind moves more freely in the presence of that boundless expanse, that the sight of it elevates the soul and gives rise to thoughts of the infinite and the ideal?”

Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary

Source: Madame Bovary

Soul

“Have you noticed that the imbecile always smiles? Man's first frown is the first touch of God on his forehead. The touch of thought.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

God, Smile

“Science was many things, Nadia thought, including a weapon with which to hit other scientists.”

Kim Stanley Robinson Mars trilogy

Source: Red Mars (1992)

Science

“You think I'm deranged! How refreshing. Everyone here takes me so seriously, it's a wonderful change to be thought mentally deficient.”

Katie MacAlister (1964) Author

Source: Sex, Lies and Vampires

Thinking, Change

“She wondered why she’d ever thought trusting someone who wore that much eyeliner was a good idea.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Idea

“Can I love someone… and still think/fly? Love is flying, sown, floating. Thought is solitary flight, beating wings.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Source: As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

Love, Thinking, Flying

“Against his own will, almost, Will felt himself understanding; he would have done anything, he thought, told any lie, taken any risk, to make Tessa love him.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, Lie, Understanding

“As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker

Problem, Thinking

“I just thought you'd like to know I can read. You got anything needs readin' I can do it.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

Reading

“You have no idea about presents or what they mean. The last
present you gave me was a stick.”
“You wanted a weapon.”
“It was a stick.”
“It had a bow on it.”
“It was a stick.”
“I thought you liked the stick. You laughed.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Kingdom of the Wicked

Idea

“Despite everything, I can’t bear the thought of this ring being lost forever, any more than I can bear the thought of leaving you forever. And though I have no choice about the one, at least I can choose about the other.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“But after a certain point in a marriage, you stopped having a certain kind of fight, Olive thought, because when the years behind you were more than the years in front of you, things were different.”

Elizabeth Strout book Olive Kitteridge

Source: Olive Kitteridge

Marriage, Fight

“The power of thought is far greater than most people ever realize.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

People

“In terms of evolutionary history, it was only yesterday that men learned to walk around on two legs and get in trouble thinking complicated thoughts. So don't worry, you'll burn out.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Men, History, Thinking, Learning

“Cleverness is not wisdom. And not to think mortal thoughts is to see few days.”

Euripidés The Bacchae

Bacchæ l. 395
Source: The Bacchae

Wisdom, Thinking

“I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

The Keeper in the Zoological Gardens
Source: Dracula (1897)
Context: I have always thought that a wild animal never looks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us. A personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea.

Animals

“I always looked upon the acts of racist exclusion, or insult, as pitiable, for the other person. I never absorbed that. I always thought that there was something deficient about such people.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

People, Personality

“Whenever she thought she could not feel more alone, the universe peeled back another layer of darkness.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

Source: Paint it Black

Feeling, Universe

“Authors, he thought. Even the sane ones are nuts.”

Dan Brown book The Da Vinci Code

Source: The Da Vinci Code

“Yet, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important. If i can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters.”

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Source: The Godfather

Life, Beauty

“There are no evil thoughts except one; the refusal to think.”

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

Variant: There are no evil thoughts, Mr. Rearden," Francisco said softly, "except one: the refusal to think.
Source: Atlas Shrugged: Wer Ist John Galt?

Thinking, Evil

“The Sims is an escapist vehicle for people who want to escape to where they already are, which is why I thought this game was made precisely for me.”

Chuck Klosterman book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Source: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

People, Game

“Everyone thinks I'm crazy, you know, because I can't tell them the truth; which is, that I'm driven crazy by all these thoughts, all these heads.”

Charlaine Harris (1951) American writer

Truth, Thinking

“Warlord, you once told me I'd always know what you're thinking. What are your thoughts now?"

"Partly, I'm thinking that I might shame myself in my trews, just from the feel of you next to me.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Feeling, Thinking

“I am, he thought dimly, watching a vampire take a piss.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“Better than chocolate, being with you last night. Silly me, I thought that nothing was better than chocolate.”

E. Lockhart book We Were Liars

Source: We Were Liars

Night

“We not not our feelings. We are not our moods. We not even our thoughts.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Feeling, Mood

“I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Motivation, Heart

“Have to sow excellent seeds to have an excellent life. Must start with sowing excellent thoughts.”

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

Life

“An image of thought called philosophy has been formed historically and it effectively stops people from thinking.”

Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) French philosopher

Source: Dialogues II

People, Thinking

“I thought only a wooden stake through the heart killed a vampire. (Amanda)
A wooden stake through the heart will kill just about anything. And if it doesn't, run like hell. (Kyrian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Night Pleasures

Source: Night Pleasures

Hell, Heart

“When the world is itself draped in the mantle of night, the mirror of the mind is like the sky in which thoughts twinkle like stars.”

Khushwant Singh (1915–2014) Indian novelist and journalist

Source: Delhi

World, Star, Night

“I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to some one. Now they frighten me. They make me feel that it was all a dream, all my youth.”

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

Youth, Dreams, Feeling, Star

“I am a coward, damn you! I couldna tell ye, for fear ye would leave me, and unmanly thing that I am, I thought I couldna bear that!”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Fear

“High calls low and low calls high. I tell you, if you were in such dire straits as I was, you too would elevate your thoughts. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

“We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them.”

Julian Barnes book The Sense of an Ending

Source: The Sense of an Ending

Way, Imagination

“Maybe she thought the garbage and rocks in your head were interesting. But finally, garbage is garbage and rocks are rocks.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Source: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

“My first time I jacked off, I thought I'd invented it. I looked down at my sloppy handful of junk and thought, This is going to make me rich.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Choke

Source: Choke

Time

“Above all, she wanted to look as though she had not given the matter a moment's thought, and that would take time.”

Ian McEwan book Atonement

Source: Atonement

Time

“The term "political correctness" has always appalled me, reminding me of Orwell's "Thought Police" and fascist regimes.”

Helmut Newton (1920–2004) German-Australian photographer

American Photo (January/February 2000), p. 90
Context: Since the commercialization and banality of editorial magazine pages have made this work uninteresting, advertising has become an increasingly important part of my work. It is interesting to compare European and American mores in regard to my work. One will notice that most of my European images have a stronger sexual content that those destined for American publication. The term "political correctness" has always appalled me, reminding me of Orwell's "Thought Police" and fascist regimes.

“How had it happened, Simon thought, that he was bound to these people—to people who thought of him as nothing more than a Downworlder, half human at best?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

People

“I bet you never thought the hardest part of finding your ‘saviorʹ would be getting her mom to let her stay out past curfew.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Moms, Past, Parting