Quotes about today
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“If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.”

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer

“The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big long cloud, and it's stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it, the sun is
like a yellow hole…”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

Sun

“Every tomorrow is determined by every today.”

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

“You're off to great places. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Way, Mountain, Waiting

“["The Devil in the Dark"] impressed me because it presented the idea, unusual in science fiction thennow, that something weird, and even dangerous, need not be malevolent. That is a lesson that many of today's politicians have yet to learn.”

Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host

Idea, Learning, Science

“If you live today, you breath in nihilism… it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

Fight

“I couldn’t miss Percy’s fifteenth birthday,” Poseidon said. “Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!”

"That’s true,” Paul said. “I used to teach ancient history.”

Poseidon’s eyes twinkled. “That’s me. Ancient history.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

History, Birthday

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity.”

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

1960s, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Context: We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late."

Life, History, Time

“I believe I want adult sanity, which seems to me the only unalloyed form of heroism available today.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

“Things to do today:
1) Breathe in.
2) Breathe out.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

“A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.”

Robert Henri (1865–1929) American painter

Tree

“Today I have so much to do:
I must kill memory once and for all,
I must turn my soul to stone,
I must learn to live again—
Unless …”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

Translated by Judith Hemschemeyer from Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova (1989)
Requiem; 1935-1940 (1963; 1987), The Sentence
Context: Today I have so much to do:
I must kill memory once and for all,
I must turn my soul to stone,
I must learn to live again—
Unless... Summer's ardent rustling
Is like a festival outside my window.

Soul, Learning, Memory

“What difference does it make if the Gospel is mostly a lie? It's an engrossing story and the words of its hero are excellent words to live by, even today.”

Tom Robbins (1932) American writer

Lie

“The weather today is partly angry, leading to resignation and ultimatums.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Diary

Source: Diary

Weather

“There's only one great evil in the world today. Despair.”

Evelyn Waugh book Vile Bodies

Source: Vile Bodies

World, Evil, Despair

“Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

Books, Reading

“Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.”

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet and playwright of the XVIIth century

Book III, Ode 29, lines 65–68.
Imitation of Horace (1685)

Happiness

“Night falls fast.
Today is in the past.

Blown from the dark hill hither to my door
Three flakes, then four
Arrive, then many more.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Past, Night

“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be.”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

“I'm feeling generous today. You get to live.”

Frank Beddor American skier and writer

Feeling

“Even though I don't ask, Plutarch gives me cheerful updates on the phone like "Good news, Katniss! I think we've almost got him convinced you're not a mutt!" Or "Today he was allowed to feed himself pudding!”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Thinking

“Let me ask you a question Alex. What do you think is the greatest evil on this plant today?"
"Is that including, or not including you?”

Anthony Horowitz book Eagle Strike

Source: Eagle Strike

Question, Thinking, Evil

“Today,’ said Lymond, ‘if you must know, I don’t like living at all. But that’s just immaturity boggling at the sad face of failure. Tomorrow I’ll be bright as a bedbug again.”

Dorothy Dunnett (1923–2001) British writer

Source: The Disorderly Knights

Sadness, Failure

“Today is the last day of some of your life. Don't waste it." quote from Tara Daniels”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: The Sweetest Thing

Life, Quotes

“Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.”

Dave Barry (1947) American writer

Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead (1985)

Clothes

“Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

quote of 1953; as cited in Smithsonian magazine.
Variants:
Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy — the joy of being Salvador Dalí — and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?
Every morning when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being Salvador Dalí.
Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1951 - 1960

Pleasure

“Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day.”

A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author

“No day but today.”

Jonathan Larson (1960–1996) American composer and playwright

Source: Rent

“I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.”

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

1960s, Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam (1967)
Context: As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through non-violent action; for they ask and write me, "So what about Vietnam?" They ask if our nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without first having spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence I cannot be silent.

World

“Hold fast to the diary from today on! Write regularly! Don't surrender! Even if no salvation should come, I want to be worthy of it every moment.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

“No," mom says, looking at me in the eyes. "What's a triumph is that you woke up this morning and decided to LIVE. THAT'S a triumph. that's what you did today.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

Moms

“To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

"The “Threat” of Creationism" http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/azimov_creationism.html in New York Times Magazine (14 June 1981) <br class="br">General sources <br class="br">Context: There are many aspects of the universe that still cannot be explained satisfactorily by science; but ignorance only implies ignorance that may someday be conquered. To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.

God

“But in the meantime all the life you have or ever will have is today, tonight, tomorrow, today, tonight, tomorrow, over and over again (I hope),…”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Life, Hope

“Today a woman must ignore her reflection in the eyes of her lover, since he might admire her, and seek it in the gaze of the God of Beauty, in whose perception she is never complete.”

Naomi Wolf book The Beauty Myth

Source: The Beauty Myth

God, Beauty, Lovers

“Today I love you more than ever; tomorrow I will love you even more. I need you more than ever; I want you more than ever.”

Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie

Source: Love, Rosie

Love

“Oh, Daisy, it's revolting the way I want to fawn all over him. I'm afraid I'm going to do something dreadfully silly today. Burst into song or something. For God's sake, don't let me.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: It Happened One Autumn

God, Way

“My own definition is a feminist is a man or a woman who says, yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie We Should All Be Feminists

Source: We Should All Be Feminists

Women, Men, Problem

“Today is the sort of day where the sun only comes up to humiliate you.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Variant: Today is just one of those days the sun comes out to really humiliate you.
Source: Fight Club

Sun

“Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Misattributed

“Jamie: You know what I figured out today?
Landon: What?
Jamie: Maybe God has a bigger plan for me than I had for myself. Like this journey never ends. Like you were sent to me because I'm sick. To help me through all this. You're my angel.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Variant: Maybe God has a bigger plan for me that i had for myself,
likes, this journey never ends,
likes, you were sent to me because I'm sick, to help me through all this,
you're my angel!
Source: A Walk to Remember

God, Angels, Help

“Today’s young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.”

Kristin Hannah book The Nightingale

Source: The Nightingale

People, Understanding, Problem, Thinking

“For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

Law, Confidence, Nature

“What do you want from me?” – Nick
“Normally, it’d be your life and your soul. Unfortunately, I can’t take either right now. Sucks to be me today.” – Death”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Life, Death, Soul

“Nay, father.
Some of us have been killing giants today and aren't in the mood to have a tea party.
- Thor, God of Thunder”

Matt Fraction (1975) American comic book writer

Source: Thor: Ages of Thunder

God, Mood, Tea

“What is so marvelous about living today is that it is possible to extend, like a flower, spreading petals in all directions.”

Carolyn Kizer (1925–2014) American poet

Flowers

“The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”

Richard J. Foster (1942) American Quaker theologian

Source: Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

People, Intelligence

“Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow because even today I still arrive.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Being Peace

“To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success--the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history--with a society that provides opportunities for all.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: Outliers: The Story of Success

World, History, Birth, Success

“You are becoming a snake tomorrow, and as you start to devour people, with that mouth that has eaten others, you cry your love to me, and the same as today, I do wonder, will I be able to say my love to you?" - Gin Ichimaru awww”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Love, People, Cry

“Love mattered, in the end. A house without love would always fall, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in the end without love nothing could endure.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bullet

Source: Bullet

Love, Housing

“In a thousand years time this day will have existed for a thousand years to the day. And the ignorance of the whole world about what they've said today will have a date too.”

Marguerite Duras book Blue Eyes, Black Hair

Source: Blue Eyes, Black Hair

World, Time

“It's hopeless! Tomorrow there'll be even more books I should have read than there are today.”

Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist

Books, Reading

“Victory to the spider. Patience wins the day. And today my patience ends. (Apollymi)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: The Dream Hunter

Victory, Patience

“And if those children are unresponsive, maybe you can't teach them yet, but you can love them. And if you love them today, maybe you can teach them tomorrow.”

Jeffrey R. Holland (1940) Mormon leader

Love, Children

“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

“Thwart," I said. "To prevent someone from accomplishing something by means of visiting gratuitous violence upon his smarmy person."

"I'm pretty sure that isn't the definition." Sarissa said.

"It is today.”

Jim Butcher book Cold Days

Source: Cold Days

Personality

“My schedule for today lists a six-hour self-accusatory depression.”

Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

“He smiled, and suddenly she knew that his words were true. Everything would be all right. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but soon. Tragedy couldn't coexist in a world with one of Colin's smiles.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

World, Smile

“Never give up what you want most for what you want today.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

“What I cannot forgive is dishonesty - and no matter what, or how hard, I would rather know the truth of which I today had such a clear & devastating vision from his mouth than hear foul evasions, blurrings and rattiness.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Truth, Forgiveness

“I'm scared. What will tomorrow bring? It has to be better than today. It has to.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

“Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us together today.”

William Goldman (1931–2018) American novelist, screenwriter and playwright

“Anyone in the United States today who isn't paranoid must be crazy.”

Robert Anton Wilson book The Illuminati Papers

Source: The Illuminati Papers

“Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

“Today,' Elodin said brightly, 'we will talk about things that cannot be talked about. Specifically, we will discuss why some things cannot be discussed.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

“Do not think of todays failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow.”

Helen Keller book The Story of My Life

Source: The Story of My Life

Failure, Thinking, Success

“Ah coffee. The sweet balm by which we shall accomplish today's tasks.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Ironside

Coffee

“Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today's employer is seeking.”

John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces

Source: A Confederacy of Dunces

“Today will die tomorrow.”

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic

“Even today, I hunt for the fabulous books that will change me utterly. I find myself happiest in the middle of a book which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch.”

Pat Conroy (1945–2016) American novelist

Source: My Reading Life

Life, Books, Change, Reading

“Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible.”

Elie Wiesel book Night

Source: Night

“I was going to kill someone today. I just wasn’t sure who when I woke up this morning. I do love mornings. So full of possibilities.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Love

“Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better”

Kevin Henkes (1960) American children's illustrator and writer

Variant: Today was a difficult day.
Tomorrow will be better.'
-Mr. Slinger
Source: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

“Speak what you think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.”

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

Source: Self-Reliance

Thinking

“The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

Gaylord Nelson (1916–2005) American politician

Future

“Today is today. But there are many tomorrows”

Dan Brown book The Da Vinci Code

Source: The Da Vinci Code

“Today I will go to wait for her again, because I cannot help it, because my whole being seems now to be bound up in the being of one so different from myself and yet so exquisitely familiar that I can scarely understand what has happened.”

Elizabeth Kostova book The Historian

Source: La historiadora

Understanding, Waiting, Help

“Today I am a woman torn between the terror that everything might change and the equal terror that everything might carry on exactly the same for the rest of my days.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

Change

“So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So… get on your way!”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Way, Mountain, Waiting

“He had on a funny T-shirt, as usual. Today's featured acartoon figure running from a giant T. rex, and it read EXERCISE: SOME MOTIVATIONREQUIRED.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ghost Town

Exercises, Reading

“I didn't wash today. I wasn't dirty. If I'm not dirty, I don't wash. Some weeks I don't have to shower at all. I just groom my three basic areas: teeth, hair, and asshole. And to save time, I use the same brush.”

George Carlin book Brain Droppings

Source: Brain Droppings

Time

“You only have one life, but if you live it well, that’s enough. The only reality is now, today. What are you waiting for to be happy?”

Isabel Allende (1942) Chilean writer

Source: The Japanese Lover

Life, Reality, Waiting, Happiness

“Shura, I’m yours. You may not like it today, you may not want it tonight, you may wish for it all to be different now, but it remains, and I remain, as always, only yours. Nothing can change that. Not your wrath, your fists, your body or your death.”

Paullina Simons book Tatiana and Alexander

Source: Tatiana and Alexander

Death, Change

“Smaller World:
I know he's not really gone, she said, but the world still feels smaller to me today.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

World, Feeling

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”

Karen Lamb (1982) British tennis player

Deep, Inspirational, Motivational, Success

“Damn, you have no idea what I have been through today."

"Actually I have a pretty good idea.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

Idea

“the strange ideas we derive today will one day be our celebrated truths”

Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol

Source: The Lost Symbol

Truth, Idea

“Today my winged horse is coming and I am carrying you off to the moon and on the moon we will eat rose petals.”

Shirley Jackson book We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Source: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Horse

“Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”

Ernest Hemingway book The Old Man and the Sea

Variant: But, he thought, I keep them with precision. Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.
Source: The Old Man and the Sea