Quotes about touch

A collection of quotes on the topic of touch, likeness, life, use.

Quotes about touch

Liam Payne photo

“Dreams are like stars; you may never touch them, but if you follow them, they will lead you to your destiny.”

Liam Payne (1993) English singer and songwriter

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6422617.Liam_Payne

Mehmed II photo
Johnny Depp photo
Aleister Crowley photo
Hunter S. Thompson photo
Protagoras photo

“As touching the gods, I do not know whether they exist or not, nor how they are featured; for there is much to prevent our knowing: the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life.”

Protagoras (-486–-411 BC) pre-Socratic Greek philosopher

Opening lines of Concerning the Gods (DK 80 B4).
Variant translation: "As to the Gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist, or if they do, what they are like."

Helen Keller photo

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist

Variant: The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Variant: The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched... but are felt in the heart.

Ptolemy photo

“I know that I am mortal by nature and ephemeral, but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies, I no longer touch earth with my feet. I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia.”

In some of the manuscripts, the books begins with this epigram (Owen Gingerich, The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, American Institute of Physics, 1993, p. 55).
Almagest

Michael Jackson photo
Terence McKenna photo
Nora Roberts photo
Rumi photo
Plato photo

“For once touched by love, everyone becomes a poet”

Plato (-427–-347 BC) Classical Greek philosopher

196
The Symposium

Aung San Suu Kyi photo

“To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.”

Aung San Suu Kyi (1945) State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy

Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (2012)
Context: Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.

Buckminster Fuller photo

“Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment.... Humanity is in ‘final exam’ as to whether or not it qualifies for continuance in Universe”

Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist

From 1980s onwards, Critical Path (1981)

Diana Gabaldon photo

“Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences; all events are blessings given to us to learn from.”

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) American psychiatrist

As quoted in " Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Messenger of Love https://books.google.com/books?id=3esDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=%22Yoga+Journal%22+Kronisch&source=bl&ots=B895e3lzeI&sig=7V4uALc6CTiPrF02-cV8AAzsgbw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjM1enasPLSAhWs6oMKHbpyAbQQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22Elisabeth%20Kubler-Ross%22&f=false" by Lennie Kronisch in Yoga Journal, Issue 11, November-December 1976, pp. 18-20
Context: Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences; all events are blessings given to us to learn from. There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.

Leonardo Da Vinci photo

“The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.
Source: Leonardo's Notebooks

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“Don't touch me; I'll die if you touch me.”

Source: Lolita

Michael Jordan photo
Denzel Washington photo
Aristotle photo

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Bobby Fischer photo

“Nothing eases suffering like human touch.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Source: Chess Meets of the Century

Oscar Wilde photo
Sadhguru photo
George Carlin photo
Eckhart Tolle photo

“When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

A New Earth (2005)
Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Leonard Cohen photo
Madeline Miller photo
Leonard Cohen photo
Common (rapper) photo

“Tried to call, or at least beep the lord, but didn't have a touch-tone”

Common (rapper) (1972) American rapper, actor and author from Illinois

"Respiration", Black Star (1998)
Albums, Compilations, Singles, and Cameos

Claude Monet photo
Jean Vanier photo
Patañjali photo
Eckhart Tolle photo
Sadhguru photo

“How deeply you touch another life is how rich your life is. -Sadhguru”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Isha Insights Magazine, Spring Edition 2009
Sourced from newspapers and magazines

Manly P. Hall photo

“To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books. It has always seemed to me that symbolism should be restored to the structure of world education.”

Manly P. Hall (1901–1990) Canadian writer and mystic

Quoted in the tribute of The Lost Symbol (2009) by Dan Brown
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)
Context: A nation with culture is blessed. To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books. It has always seemed to me that symbolism should be restored to the structure of world education. The young are no longer invited to seek the hidden truths, dynamic and eternal, locked within the shapes and behavior of living beings.

Alexis Karpouzos photo

“Lost touch with my soul…
I had no where to turn…
I had no where to go.
In My Fear,
I Unearthed My Backbone.
In Deep Pain,
I Discovered My Strength.
In My Denial,
I Detected My Durability.
I crashed down, and I tumbled…
But I did not crumble.
I got through all the Anguish…
I was not meant to be broken.
I did Not Vanquish.
I'm Still Here.
I was not meant to be broken.
From the Nightmare
I was never Awoken.
It took all I had in Me.
I was not meant to be broken.
To become the person I was meant to be.
Put through a whole lot of stress.
Entangled in this Mess.
I was not meant to be broken.
They watched as each blow hit.
Oh how I shall never forget.
Hit me harder with a smile on your face.
Wish for me to fall lower
in place.
Rock Bottom is awefully low for Me.
I'll fight you harder
and then you will see…
I was not meant to be broken.
I tried so hard to make you see.
But all you said to me was leave.
I was not meant to be broken.
They say doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the sign of insanity.
You never looked at the results.
You destroyed My Vanity.
Never prepared for the Hell that I would see.
Never taught how to Be Me
in your
Twisted World.
Can't you see?
I was not meant to be broken.
The Green Eyed Monster.
Evil childhood wishes.
Come alive before your eyes
like a Snake that Hisses.
The sad thing is this…and this much I'll say.
They will never come back again the Days
you have Missed.
It could have been sweet.
It should have been bliss.
But instead all I got was a poisoned kiss.
I was not built to break.
I was not meant to be broken.”

Hans Christian Andersen photo
Franz Kafka photo
Dan Brown photo
Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Tamora Pierce photo
Frederick Buechner photo
Emily Brontë photo
Oscar Wilde photo

“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I
Context: There is much to be said in favor of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.
Context: Puritans cannot destroy a beautiful thing, yet, by means of their extraordinary prurience, they can almost taint beauty for a moment. It is chiefly, I regret to say, through journalism that such people find expression. I regret it because there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.
Context: It is chiefly, I regret to say, through journalism that such people find expression. I regret it because there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.

Gabriel García Márquez photo

“A true friend is the one who holds your hand and touches your heart”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Variant: Friend is the person that holds your hand and touches your heart!

Oscar Wilde photo

“For one moment our lives met, our souls touched.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Variant: For one moment our lives met our souls touched.

Stephen Fry photo
Hazrat Inayat Khan photo
Chinua Achebe photo
Henri Nouwen photo
Eugene O'Neill photo
Nanak photo
Shahrukh Khan photo
Michael Jackson photo
Matka Tereza photo

“I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No. I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.”

Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin

1970s
Source: Malcolm Muggeridge, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, A Gift For God: Prayers and Meditations, New York: Harper & Row, 1975. p. 61; Cited in: M. Dhavamony. "Mother Teresa's mission of love for the poor" in: Studia missionalia, Vol 39. (1990), p. 137

Mikhail Bakunin photo
Johnny Depp photo
Ayrton Senna photo
John Kricfalusi photo
George Orwell photo
Suman Pokhrel photo

“What heart touched is what is touched
what heart experienced is what is experienced
where heart lived is what is lived.”

Suman Pokhrel (1967) Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist

<span class="plainlinks"> I shall bid no Farewell https://allpoetry.com/poem/11694634--I-shall-bid-no-Farewell-by-Suman-Pokhrel</span>
From Poetry

U.G. Krishnamurti photo
Paramahansa Yogananda photo
José Saramago photo
Dante Alighieri photo

“How long in woman lasts the fire of love,
If eye or touch do not relight it often.”

Canto VIII, lines 77–78 (tr. Longfellow).
The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1321), Purgatorio

Nate Diaz photo

“You're playing touch-butt with that dork in park, the pony tail.”

Nate Diaz (1985) American mixed martial artist

3 March 2016, UFC 196 pre-fight press conference, source: "UFC 196: Nate Diaz Says Conor McGregor Just Plays Touch Butt" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_O-FgRFlWc&feature=youtu.be&t=1m52s.

Leonard Cohen photo

“And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know that she will trust you,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

"Suzanne" - Isle of Wight performance (1970) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_56ep729TE - Live in London (2008) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snMOmHzgssk
Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
Context: Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river.
You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night beside her,
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there,
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China.
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know that she will trust you,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

Avicenna photo

“God, the supreme being, is neither circumscribed by space, nor touched by time; he cannot be found in a particular direction, and his essence cannot change.”

Avicenna (980–1037) medieval Persian polymath, physician, and philosopher

As quoted in 366 Readings From Islam (2000), edited by Robert Van der Weyer
Context: God, the supreme being, is neither circumscribed by space, nor touched by time; he cannot be found in a particular direction, and his essence cannot change. The secret conversation is thus entirely spiritual; it is a direct encounter between God and the soul, abstracted from all material constraints.

Joan of Arc photo

“The light comes at the same time as the Voice. … I will not tell you all; I have not leave; my oath does not touch on that.”

Joan of Arc (1412–1431) French folk heroine and Roman Catholic saint

Third public examination (24 February 1431) http://www.stjoan-center.com/Trials/sec03.html; part of this testimony has sometimes been paraphrased: If I am not in the state of grace, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.
Trial records (1431)
Context: The light comes at the same time as the Voice. … I will not tell you all; I have not leave; my oath does not touch on that. My Voice is good and to be honored. I am not bound to answer you about it. I request that the points on which I do not now answer may be given me in writing. … You shall not know yet. There is a saying among children, that 'Sometimes one is hanged for speaking the truth.'" [She is asked : Do you know if you are in the grace of God? ] If I am not, may God place me there; if I am, may God so keep me. I should be the saddest in all the world if I knew that I were not in the grace of God. But if I were in a state of sin, do you think the Voice would come to me? I would that every one could hear the Voice as I hear it.

“The male has a negative Midas Touch - everything he touches turns to shit.”

Source: SCUM MANIFESTO (1967), p. 5 (hyphen (not en- or em-dash) so in original).

Virginia Woolf photo
Cassandra Clare photo
John Muir photo

“Most people are on the world, not in it — have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them — undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

July 1890, page 320
John of the Mountains, 1938
Source: John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir

Billy Joel photo
Bob Marley photo
Leonardo Da Vinci photo
Orhan Pamuk photo

“Colour is the touch of the eye,
Music to the deaf,
A word out of darkness.”

Orhan Pamuk (1952) Turkish novelist, screenwriter, and Nobel Prize in Literature recipient

Source: My Name is Red

Ovid photo
Yukio Mishima photo
Arundhati Roy photo
Edith Sitwell photo
Carlos Ruiz Zafón photo
Mary Baker Eddy photo
Jerry Spinelli photo
William Shakespeare photo
Bret Easton Ellis photo