Quotes about try
page 13

“It makes me wonder, Do we spend most of our days trying to remember or forget things? Do we spend most of our time running towards or away from our lives? I don't know.”

Markus Zusak book Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Variant: Do we spend most of our days trying to remember or to forget? Do we spend most of our time running towards or away from our lives?
Source: Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Time, Forgetting

“why are trying so hard to fit in, when you're born to stand out”

Oliver James (1953) British psychologist

“Love is all right for those who can handle the psychic overload. It's like trying to carry a full garbage can on your back over a rushing river of piss.”

Charles Bukowski book Women

Variant: Love is all right for those who can handle the psychic overload. It’s like trying to carry a full garbage can on your back over a rushing river of piss.
Source: Women

Love

“Max?” said the Gasman. “Are those, um, rats?”
Lovely. “Yes, those do appear to be either rats or mice on steroids,” I said briskly, trying not to shriek and climb the walls like a girly-girl.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Love, Girl, Appearance

“I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Parting

“They all have always loved you, Will Herondale, for you cannot hide what is good about yourself, however hard you try.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Love

“The more you try to simplify things the more you complicate them. You create rules, build walls, push people away, lie to yourself and ignore true feelings. That is not simplifying things.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

People, Lie, Feeling

“One forgets
that one is one.
I must try
to
remember this.”

Mark Z. Danielewski book House of Leaves

Source: House of Leaves

Forgetting

“Roland had sworn off children—they kept trying to kill him.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Children

“When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

“You'll hit gold more often if you simply try out a lot of things.”

Ira Glass (1959) American radio personality

“Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. 'She likes you, man.'
'Sure,' I muttered. 'She likes me for target practice.'
'Nah, they always do that. A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you.
'Makes a lot of sense.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Files

Source: The Demigod Files

Girl, Sense

“The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, he's going to keep digging, he's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who he is.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Light

“I think people often try to find through sex things that are much easier to find in other ways.”

Patricia Highsmith book The Price of Salt

Source: The Price of Salt

People, Sex, Way, Thinking

“Myrnin to Claire: "If anyone comes to bite you while I'm gone - well, try not to attract attention. Die quietly.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Daylighters

“All writing is garbage. People who come out of nowhere to try and put into words any part of what goes on in their minds are pigs.”

Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French-Occitanian poet, playwright, actor and theatre director

People, Parting

“I think it was the institution… I was trying to master it.”

E. Lockhart book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Source: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Thinking

“You can tell if people are following Jesus, because they are feeding the poor, sharing their wealth, and trying to get everyone medical insurance.”

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

People, Wealth

“and don’t start your own line of glitter and try to sell it at Sephora.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

“Why do you think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time and effort.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Men, God, People, Thinking

“I have nightmares about hell, where all I do is add up numbers and try to have conversations with people like you.”

Jim Butcher book Vignette

Source: Vignette

People, Hell

“Don't try.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

“Sometimes the greatest wounds are the ones we try the hardest not to inflict.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Narcissus in Chains

Source: Narcissus in Chains

“Aristotle's axiom: The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) Canadian eductor

Source: Peter's People and Their Marvelous Ideas

“Doctoring her seemed to her as absurd as putting together the pieces of a broken vase. Her heart was broken. Why would they try to cure her with pills and powders?”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Heart, Heartbreaking

“Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.”

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

“Here I am
leaving you clues. I am singing now while Rome
burns. We are all just trying to be holy. My applejack,
my silent night, just mash your lips against me.
We are all going forward. None of us are going back.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Singing, Night

“Once you've chosen a man, don't try to change him', I wrote with more confidence. 'It can't be done. More important-don't let him try to change you.”

Diana Gabaldon book Voyager

Source: Voyager

Confidence, Change

“Give up trying to make me give up”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

“I don’t know why we insist on pain when pain is so often easy to eliminate. It’s funny the ways we try to punish ourselves when we feel we’ve committed some crime.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: Stay

Pain, Way, Feeling

“Oh, I could spend my life having this conversation - look - please try to understand before one of us dies”

John Cleese (1939) actor from England

Life, Understanding

“Alek said, "Do you think I'm being a fool?"

"I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

War, Fools, Thinking

“If I try to summon back his face, the sound of his voice, and the sensation in my stomach like a key turning in a lock when he touched me, I lose everything.”

Joyce Carol Oates book First Love: A Gothic Tale

Source: First Love: A Gothic Tale

“Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

People

“Working with him was sort of like trying to defuse a bomb with somebody standing behind you and every now and then clashing a pair of cymbals together. In a word, upsetting.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: La Milla Verde

“The battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yell next time.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

Time, Cry

“History is hereditary only in this way: we, all of us, inherit everything, and then we choose what to cherish, what to disavow, and what do do next, which is why it's worth trying to know where things come from.”

Jill Lepore (1966) American historian

Way, History

“And she finds it difficult to believe—that a person would love her even when she isn't trying. Trying to figure out what other people need, trying to be worthy.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Love, People, Personality

“By trying to grab fulfillment everywhere, we find it nowhere.”

Elisabeth Elliot book Passion and Purity

Source: Passion and Purity

“From my own experience, when someone is trying very hard to get something, they don't. And when they're running away from something as hard as they can, it usually catches up with them. I'm generalizing, of course.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Variant: When someone is trying very hard to get something, they don't. And when they're running away from something as hard as they can, it usually catches up with them.
Source: Kafka on the Shore

“… because people who talk about their dreams are actually trying to tell you things about themselves they'd never admit in normal conversation. It's a way for people to be honest without telling the truth.”

Chuck Klosterman book Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

Source: Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

People, Truth, Dreams, Way

“Are you trying to get run over by a cab?"

"Don't be ridiculous. We could never get a cab that easily in this neighborhood.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“I was young I was so young it hurt like a knife
inside
because there was no alternative except to hide as long
as possible---
not in self-pity but with dismay at my limited chance:
trying to connect.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Chance, Hurt

“There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying.
Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do.”

Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club

Source: The Joy Luck Club

Life, Fate, Hope

“Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Variant: summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screeneed porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape.
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

Color, Sleep, Summer, Season

“You go to work the next day pretending nothing happened.
Your co-workers ask
if everything's okay and you tell them
you're just tired.
And you're trying to smile. And they're trying to smile.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Smile

“Keep working. Keep trying. Keep believing. You still might not make it, but at least you gave it your best shot. If you don’t have calluses on your soul, this isn’t for you. Take up knitting instead.”

David Eddings (1931–2009) American novelist

Soul

“The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

Fear, Failure, Personality

“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”

Tony Schwartz (1952) American writer

Learning

“Never whine, never complain, never try to justify yourself.”

Robert Greene (1959) American author

Attitude

“Suckers try to win arguments, nonsuckers try to win.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960) Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader and risk analyst

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder

“Don’t try to understand! It’s enough if you do not misunderstand.”

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) Indian guru

Understanding

“The oldest emotion in the world may be that of being moved; but to describe it-just to name it-must have been like trying to catch something invisible.”

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

Source: The History of Love

World

“Passing time isn't a steady thing. People try to measure it, but some days seem to have years packed into them, and others pass in the blink of an eye. Some days matter, and others don't.”

Blue Balliett book The Calder Game

Source: The Calder Game

People, Time

“For the first time I realize how perilous peace can be. I appreciate the tightrope that my grandfather has spent his whole life trying to walk. And now, more than ever, I grow terrified that I'm going to make us all fall down.”

Ally Carter book All Fall Down

Source: All Fall Down

Life, Peace, Time

“The crazy people of the world… shouldn't get to win. If God won't make it better after they do have their shitty little victories, then ordinary people have to. They have to try, at least.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

God, People, World, Victory

“I belong to you. You could do anything you wanted with me and I would let you. You could ask anything of me and I'd break myself trying to make you happy. My heart tells me this is the best and greatest feeling I have ever had.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Happiness, Feeling, Heart

“Let's try our best? I hope that someday the many, many tears that were shed will be worth it.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Hope, Tear

“But Rose? While I'm fine with you two dating and being happy, please try not to brake his heartmuch when the time comes.”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Variant: While I'm fine with you two dating and being happy, please try not to break his heart too much when the time comes.
Source: Spirit Bound

Happiness, Time

“The answers were maddeningly absent—it was like trying to remember a song that you knew made you feel a certain way, without a title, artist, or even a few bars to bring it back.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Way, Feeling

“Everyone tried with me. And everytime, it felt like the whole point of life was to see if trying was ever enough.”

David Levithan book Every You, Every Me

Source: Every You, Every Me

Life

“He knows that there's no better way in the world to aggravate somebody who's trying to make it hard for you than by acting like you're not bothered.”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

World, Way

“Sometimes when I'm alone, I take the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares on the train, the kisses in the arena. To make myself put a name to the thing I've lost. But what's the use? It's gone. He's gone. Whatever existed between us is gone. All that's left is my promise to kill Snow. I tell myself this ten times a day.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Katniss (p. 195)
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (2010)

Boy, Kiss, Strong, Time

“We are not strangers to ourselves, we only try to be.”

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas

Source: Odd Thomas

“Fate has a way of getting what she wants, no matter how we try to avoid it.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Pleasure of a Dark Prince

Fate, Way

“The point is, you see," said Ford, "that there is no point in driving yourself mad trying to stop yourself going mad. You might just as well give in and save your sanity for later.”

Douglas Adams Life, the Universe and Everything

Source: Life, the Universe and Everything

Madness

“The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most.”

Thomas Merton book The Seven Storey Mountain

Source: The Seven Storey Mountain (1948)
Context: Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers the most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being, that is at once the subject and the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture.

Fear, Suffering, Hurt

“Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.”

Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) Entrepreneur

People, Music

“History has rewritten itself so many times I'm not really sure how it was to begin with -- it's a bit like trying to guess the original color of a wall when it's been repainted eight times.”

Jasper Fforde book Something Rotten

Source: Something Rotten

Color, History, Time

“I’m so tired… I was up all night trying to round off infinity.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Night

“You're better equipped for this world than I am," she said. "I'm always trying to change the world. You know how to live in it.”

Tom Robbins book Still Life with Woodpecker

Source: Still Life with Woodpecker

World, Change

“If you insist on trying to get yourself killed, I insist on being the one who chooses what you wear while you recover”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Luke Garroway, Clary Fray, and Jocelyn Fray, pg. 221-222
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Context: Clary looked down at herself. She was wearing a pair of flannel pajamas, too short in the leg and tight in the chest, with fire trucks on them.
Luke raised an eyebrow. 'I think those were mine when I was a kid.'
'You can't seriously tell me there wasn't anything else you could have put me in.'
'If you insist on trying to get yourself killed, I insist on being the one who chooses what you wear while you recover,' Jocelyn said with a tiny smirk.
'The pajamas of vengeance,' Clary muttered.

“And we must still try or we would be leaving our friends to fight without us. I think this is what you have meant by duty, all along; I do understand, at least this much of it.”

Naomi Novik book His Majesty's Dragon

Source: His Majesty's Dragon

Understanding, Thinking, Fight

“By trying to understand everything, everything makes me dream”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

Dreams, Understanding

“And how can you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her. Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you, Oskar. It's always necessary.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Oskar's grandmother
"My Feelings" (p. 314)
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
Context: I said, I want to tell you something She said, you can tell me tomorrow I had never told her how much I loved her. She was my sister. We slept in the same bed. There was never a right time to say it. It was always unnecessary. I thought about waking her. But it was unnecessary. There would be other nights. And how can you say I love you to someone you love? I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her. Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you, Oskar. It's always necessary. I love you. Grandma.

Love