Quotes about try
page 17

“I will not fail,' the water bearer's daughter vowed. 'But worse than failing is not to try at all. For then there can be no hope of success.”

Cameron Dokey (1956) American writer

Source: The Storyteller's Daughter: A Retelling of the Arabian Nights

Hope, Water, Success, Daughters

“I am trying to unlearn many lessons of gender I internalized while growing up. But I sometimes still feel vulnerable in the face of gender expectations.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie We Should All Be Feminists

Source: We Should All Be Feminists

Feeling

“Think you can maybe not die for five minutes?"
"I'll try,"I told him seriously.
"You know, if anyone else said that, it would be funny.”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Hunt the Moon

Thinking

“The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Problem

“There are so many men, all endlessly attempting to sweep me off my feet. And there is one of you, trying just the opposite. Making sure my feet are firm beneath me, lest I fall.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Men

“There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free.”

Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence

Source: The Age of Innocence

“The guy had literally been through hell and back. Even when he wasn’t trying, he made the toilets explode. What would Percy be like if he wanted to act scary?”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Guy, Hell

“As I walk back to the school on my own, I realise I'm crying. So I go back to the stories I've read about the five and I try to make sense of their lives because in making sense of theirs, I may understand mine.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

School, Understanding, Sense, Reading

“I might look like a honey-eyed schoolgirl on the outside, in my skirt with its regulation four-inches-above-the-knee hem. But I'll rip those tassels off your shoes, old man. Just try Googling me.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Shoe

“Slow down. Stop trying to do everything now, now, now. Hold up the people behind you for all you care, feel them kicking at your heels but maintain your pace. Don't let anybody dictate your speed.”

Cecelia Ahern book Thanks for the Memories

Source: Thanks for the Memories

People, Feeling, Speed

“Throughout history, people with new ideas—who think differently and try to change things—have always been called troublemakers.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

People, History, Idea, Thinking

“Nobodys life ever goes according to plan.
So why do we keep on planning?
Because that's how we know who we are. By what we intend to be. By what we try to become.
And fail.
I don't say 'fail'. I saw we aim and miss. But we still hit something.”

Orson Scott Card Treasure Box

Source: Treasure Box

Life

“You try spending six months sitting at somebody's bedside, waiting for them to die and then tell me that the happy-ending love story isn't one of God's good gifts.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Ain't She Sweet

Love, God, Happiness, Waiting

“The next time you try to seduce anyone, don't do it with talk, with words. Women know more about words than men ever will. And they know how little they can ever possibly mean.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Women, Men, Time

“There's no end to the absurd things people will do trying to make life mean something.”

William Wharton book Birdy

Source: Birdy

Life, People

“And no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can’t stop
yourself from dreaming.”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: It's Not Summer Without You

Dreams

“A guitarist or a drummer can get a cold and still play; I get a cold and sound like a wet mitten trying to sing you a love song. Charming.”

Tori Amos book Piece by Piece

Source: Piece by Piece

Love, Singing

“Note to self: If you’re trying not to have kids, don’t marry a lady who is the Titan of motherhood.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Source: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

“What brings you onto my property?" Rhev said, cradling his mug with both hands trying to absorb its warmth.
Got a problem"
I can't fix your personality, sorry”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Enshrined

Problem, Personality

“Hatori: "You won't get very far if you try to threaten me in THAT outfit."

Yuki: "Thank you. So much.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket, Vol. 2

“And then there is Darcy. She is a woman who believes that things should fall into her lap, and, consequently, they do. They always have. She wins because she expects to win. I do not expect what I want, so I dont. And I dont even try.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Source: Something Borrowed

“Max, if you survive your final test, can you steal me one of those magic outfits for me?"
I'll try to get one for each of us. Hey! 'If'?”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

“Stand firm in the Lord. Stand firm and let Him fight your battle. Do not try to fight alone.”

Francine Rivers book A Voice in the Wind

Source: A Voice in the Wind

Fight

“And love is always complicated. But still humans most try to love each other, darling. We must get out hearts broken sometimes. This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Love, Heart

“Have you found someone to share your heart with? Are you giving to your community? Are you at peace with yourself? Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Peace, Communication, Heart

“I would rather die then try to live without you”, “May you always love me and want me but never have me”, “May you never love anyone but me”.”

Jude Deveraux (1947) American writer

Love

“My philosophy is pretty simple – any day nobody’s trying to kill me is a good day in my book.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

Books

“I took a puff of the wrong cigarette at a fraternity dance once, and the cops had to get me, y'know. I broke two teeth trying to give a hickie to the Statue of Liberty.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Dance

“Anyone who's just driven 90 yards against huge men trying to kill them has earned the right to do Jazz hands.”

Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…

Men

“Don't die. Don't die! You don't have to win. You don't have to keep trying! Just don't get hurt anymore, please!”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Hurt

“He pulls the hood over my head. I try to pull back. I'm not trying to run away. I just want to see her… One last time…”

Malorie Blackman Noughts & Crosses

Source: Noughts & Crosses

Time

“I'm trying to make some sense out of the phrase "Everything happens for a reason," and I think I've figured out what the reason is - to pissed me off.”

Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie

Variant: I’m trying to make some sense out of the phrase “Everything happens for a reason,” and I think I’ve ﬁgured out what the reason is—to piss me off.
Source: Love, Rosie

Thinking, Sense

“The only way I can pay back for what fate and society have handed me is to try, in minor totally useless ways, to make an angry sound against injustice.”

Martha Gellhorn (1908–1998) journalist from the United States

Letter as quoted in "Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life" (2003) written by Caroline Moorehead, pg. 142.

Fate, Way

“I shall try to tell the truth, but the result will be fiction.”

Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980) American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist

Truth

“I know
the odds are all against me
and I know
you might not feel this way too
but I know
I would rather die trying
to know
if I could mean something to you”

David Levithan The Realm of Possibility

Source: The Realm of Possibility

Way, Feeling

“Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, the never get around to doing what they want to do.”

Kathleen Winsor (1919–2003) American author

People, Business, Thinking

“If people try to judge you or shame you for doing safe, consensual things that make you happy, I can guarantee you they're bad people.”

Tucker Max book Assholes Finish First

Source: Assholes Finish First

Happiness, People

“I go back to my room and lie under the covers, trying not to think of Gale and thinking of nothing else.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Lie, Thinking

“You spend so much time, so much effort, trying to hold yourself together.

And then everything falls apart anyway.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

Effort, Time

“Does it hurt?”
He bent his head and lightly kissed her forehead. “Only when I laugh.”
“I’ll try not to be funny.”
“Epic fail, beautiful.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Last Breath

Beauty, Kiss, Hurt

“Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.”

Barbara Kingsolver (1955) American author, poet and essayist

People

“President Wilson says a leader must treat public opinion the way a sailor deals with the wind, using it to blow the ship in one direction or another, but never trying to go directly against it.”

Ken Follett book Fall of Giants

Source: Fall of Giants

Way

“Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

God, Tear

“We 're all yearning for a wedge of sky, aren 't we? I suspect God plants these yearnings in us so we'll at least try and change the course of things. We must try, that's all" - Lucretia Mott in The Invention of Wings
― Sue Monk Kidd”

Sue Monk Kidd (1948) Novelist

Source: The Invention of Wings

God, Change

“Mirrors and images. Or sex and love. These are two separate systems that we miserably try to link.”

Don DeLillo book Cosmopolis

Source: Cosmopolis

Love, Sex

“The school even had a Latin motto: Pergo et Perago, which sounded like the story of two Italian cannibals but which actually meant “I try and I achieve.”

Anthony Horowitz book Crocodile Tears

Source: Crocodile Tears

School

“If he had a bloody gash across his throat and a physiker was trying to sew it up, Lamora would steal the needle and thread and die laughing.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

“Let us keep courage and try to be patient and gentle. And let us not mind being eccentric, and make distinction between good and evil.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Courage, Evil

“Then stop trying to throw logic at nightmares. Sometimes the monsters are real, Anita. Sometimes they're real and the only way to defeat them is to be the bigger monster. ~Bibiana to Anita”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bullet

Variant: Sometimes the monsters are real, Anita. Sometimes they’re real and the only way to defeat them is to be the bigger monster.'
- Chang Bibi to Anita
Source: Bullet

Way

“Basically, men are afraid of women and can't handle the fact that they came out of the same thing they spend the rest of their lives trying to get back into.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Source: Solipsist (1998)

Women, Men

“You're so easy to tease. And yes, your friend is just fine. Well, except that he keeps putting all my things away and trying to clean up. Now I can't find anything. He's compulsive.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

“I will always buy extra yarn. I will not try to tempt fate.”

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (1968) Canadian writer

Source: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Fate

“I'll never get laid trying to keep you safe. You're a train wreck on steroids.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Iced

Training

“Bubba there zombies….. and there trying to eat me!"
-Nick Gautier”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

“Oh ye of little faith. Not for IYD… But you didn't even try.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Dreamfever

Faith

“I'm not better than anyone, and I'm not trying to convince people to live by my standards of what's right. I'm trying to convince them to live by their own.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Eating Animals

Source: Eating Animals (2009)
Context: People care about animals. I believe that. They just don't want to know or to pay. A fourth of all chickens have stress fractures. It's wrong. They're packed body to body, and can't escape their waste, and never see the sun. Their nails grow around the bars of their cages. It's wrong. They feel their slaughters. It's wrong, and people know it's wrong. They don't have to be convinced. They just have to act differently. I'm not better than anyone, and I'm not trying to convince people to live by my standards of what's right. I'm trying to convince them to live by their own.

People

“You look confused," said Adrian.
I shook my head and sighed. "I think I'm just overthinking things."
He nodded solemnly. "That's why I try to never do it.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Thinking