Quotes about try
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“Love one another, but let’s try not to possess one another.”

Source: Eleven Minutes

“We're all born with selfish desires, so we can all relate to those feelings in others. But kindness is something made individually by each person… so it's easy to misunderstand when others are trying to be kind to you.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Source: Fruits Basket Ultimate Edition, Vol. 3

Feeling, Personality, Selfishness

“That's what being a demigod was all about, not quite belonging in the mortal world or on Mount Olympus but trying to make peace with both sides of their nature.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

World, Peace, Nature

“The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.”

Deborah Moggach (1948) English writer

Source: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Disappointment, Failure, Success

“I wonder whether there is such a thing as a sense of individuality. Is it all a facade, covering a deep need to belong? Are we simply pack animals desperately trying to pretend we are not?”

Rabih Alameddine (1959) Lebanese-American painter and writer.

Source: I, The Divine: A Novel in First Chapters

Sense, Animals

“I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

Light

“Sit down, Will. There’s a good fellow,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” replied Will, and Halt’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“He’s never called me sir,” he said.
“Probably trying to get on my good side,” Crowley replied.
Halt nodded savagely. “Probably.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: Erak's Ransom

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Art, Motivational

“I guess I'm trying to say, Grab anything that goes by. It may not come around again.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try.'

Homer Simpson”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Funny

“Try to see yourself with power. Not power so that you can get even with anybody else. Power so that you can become even with your vision- Maya Angelo”

Willa Shalit (1955) American artist

Source: Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female

“First your parents, they give you your life, but then they try to give you their life.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Life, Parent, For Parents

“Don't get lost. Give it a try. Go find the place that you're wishing for.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

“Maybe language is kind, giving us these double meanings. Maybe it's trying to teach us a lesson, that we can always be two things at once.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

“magic persists without us
no matter what we may do to try to spoil it”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: The Pleasures of the Damned

“Our Age of Anxiety is, in great part, the result of trying to do today’s jobs with yesterday’s tools!”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Age, Parting

“How can I describe how much I love you?
Is it even possible to describe a love like that? I don’t know, but as I
sit here with pen in hand, I know that I have to try.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven

Love

“Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ball park.”

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

Source: For the Love of the Game: My Story

Failure

“Never try to be better than somebody else. But most importantly, never cease trying to be the best you can be.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

Variant: Never try to be better than someone else. Learn from others, and try to be the best you can be. Success is the by-product of that preparation.

“i believe that basically you write for two people; yourself to try and make it absolutely perfect; or if not that then wonderful. then you write for who you love whether they can read or write or not and whether they are alive or dead.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Love, People, Reading, Perfection

“You’ve the presence of a mouse fart in a high wind. Stand aside, and try not to catch fire if I shed sparks of genius.”

Scott Lynch book The Republic of Thieves

Source: The Republic of Thieves

“I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Learning, Personality

“Sometimes when things are particularly bad, my brain will give me a happy dream. […] When I fully awaken, I'm momentarily comforted. I try to hold on to the peaceful feeling of the dream, but it quickly slips away, leaving me sadder than ever.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Happiness, Peace, Dreams, Feeling

“There's just something obvious about emptiness, even when you try to convince yourself otherwise.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“people who try to control situations all the time are afraid that if they don't, nothing will work out the way they want.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

People, Way, Time

“Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.”

Nick Hornby book A Long Way Down

Source: A Long Way Down

Books

“Men throw huge shadows on the lawn, don't they? Then, all their lives, they try to run to fit the shadows. But the shadows are always longer.”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Source: I Sing the Body Electric! & Other Stories

Men

“Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

People, Way, Travel

“Sometimes we get caught up in trying to glorify God by praising what He can do and we lose sight of the practical point of what He actually does do.”

Dallas Willard (1935–2013) American philosopher

God

“Don’t try to make life a mathematics problem with yourself in the center and everything coming out equal. When you’re good, bad things can still happen. And if you’re bad, you can still be lucky.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Life, Mathematics, Problem

“Stand aside, and try not to catch fire if I shed sparks of genius.”

Scott Lynch book The Republic of Thieves

Source: The Republic of Thieves

“So I stared out at that cold window, watching my breath collect on the glass, trying not to think about my life after the thaw.”

Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Life, Thinking

“We're already separated that's official but there's still a window of hope left open that perhaps someday we could give things another try.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Hope

“If you try to turn me against Lissa one more time the stories are going to be about you bleeding because I'll have ripped your throat out!”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

Time

“We try to do what's right, or rather what other say is right. But sometimes, when that goes against who we are… you have to choose.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

“And try to remember what we discussed, Susannah. A mediator is someone who helps others resolve conflicts. Not someone who, er, kicks them in the face.”

Meg Cabot book Shadowland

Source: Shadowland

Help

“… if you expect people to try to do things your way, you're going to have to give some hints as to what that way is.”

Sara Gruen book Water for Elephants

Source: Water for Elephants

People, Way

“Once you learn what life is about, there is no way to erase that knowledge. If you try to do something else with your life, you will always sense that you are missing something”

James Redfield (1950) American author, lecturer, screenwriter and film producer

Source: The Celestine Prophecy: A Pocket Guide to the Nine Insights

Life, Way, Knowledge, Sense

“If things don’t seem right, try going left.” – Chloe Traeger”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Head Over Heels

“If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there are any patterns to our mistakes.”

Robert Greene book Mastery

Source: Mastery

Failure, Forgetting

“It's true," she said. "Sometimes I do pretend I am a princess. I pretend I am a princess, so that I can try and behave like one.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess

Source: A Little Princess

Princess

“I try to deny myself any illusions or delusions, and I think that this perhaps entitles me to try and deny the same to others, at least as long as they refuse to keep their fantasies to themselves.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Source: Hitch-22: A Memoir

Thinking

“Remember this? You gave it to me for ensuring your trigger finger got reattached to your hand. You said it would remind me of that spark of decency inside me. I'm trying to do something decent now, Captain.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Arctic Incident

“If you only try to please others, you're going to resent those people you're trying to please; the ones who are often closest to you. If you choose a path that you yourself want to take, then you're going to be much kinder to the people in your life.”

Sarah McLachlan (1968) Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter

Source: Plenty: A Collection of Sarah McLachlan's Favorite Recipes

Life, People

“Adrian frowned.
'Is that a noose?'
'It's a tie!' I cried, trying not to feel offended. He laughed, clearly delighted at this.
'My mistake.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Feeling

“To travel is the experience of ceasing to be the person you are trying to be, and becoming the person you really are.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Warrior of the Light

Travel, Personality

“Failure concentrates the mind wonderfully. If you don't make mistakes, you're not trying hard enough.”

Jasper Fforde book The Well of Lost Plots

Source: The Well of Lost Plots

Failure

“And even though people try to pretend that pain doesn't do anything to them, none of us can really handle it. Everything bad we do in our life is because of pain of some kind.”

James Frey book The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Source: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Life, Pain, People

“You know how you're always trying to get things to come out perfect in art because it's real difficult in life”

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

Source: Annie Hall: Screenplay

Life, Art, Perfection

“Trying to drown me woman?"
'You can't drown a SEAL,' she said. 'How embarrassing would that be?'
'God yes. Shoot me, hang me, let me die of infection from a hangnail, but don't let me die in the water. They'd send me to hell on principle.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: The Darkest Hour

God, Hell, Water

“Sometimes you just have to try, even if you know it won’t work.”

Junot Díaz book Drown

Source: Drown

“He is trying to recapture his innocence, yet all he succeeds in doing (by writing) is to inoculate the world with a virus of his disillusionment.”

Henry Miller book Sexus

Context: A man writes to throw off the poison which he has accumulated because of his false way of life. He is trying to recapture his innocence, yet all he succeeds in doing is to inoculate the world with a virus of his disillusionment. No man would set a word down on paper if he had the courage to live out what he believed in....

The Rosy Crucifixion I : Sexus (1949), Chapter 1. (New York: Grove Press, c1965, p. 17-18)

World

“Do you always try to kill people when they blow their nose?”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

People

“To make real friends you have to put yourself out there. Sometimes people will let you down, but you can't let that stop you. If you get hurt, you just pick yourself up, dust off your feelings, and try again.”

Kristin Hannah (1960) American writer

Source: Firefly Lane

People, Feeling, Hurt, Heartbreaking

“James - "Are you paying attention or just trying to make me look like an idoit?"
Elizabeth - "Oh, I'm definately paying attention. If you look like an idiot it has nothing to do with me.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: How to Marry a Marquis

“But I'm going to try to tell the truth. Except for the parts I'm leaving out, because there's still stuff I'm just not going to tell you. Get used to it.”

Robin McKinley Dragonhaven

Source: Dragonhaven

Truth, Parting

“We are all life trying to live, among other life trying to live.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Life

“"You're not leaving me here alone," I say. Because if he dies, I'll never go home, not really. I'll spend the rest of my life in this arena trying to think my way out.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen, p. 343
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)

Life, Way, Home, Thinking

“I closed my eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m tired. My knee is hurting again and I’m trying to teleport myself upstairs.”
“Um, Kate, you can’t do that.”
“I know. But I’m trying very hard. Let me know if I start fading?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

Hurt

“I try not to borrow, first you borrow then you beg.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

“Hey,” Shayne said through the door. “You going to stay in there all night, because we’re getting tired of trying to eavesdrop from out here. Can’t hear a damn thing.”

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: Smart and Sexy

Night

“Wow,” said Adrian. He sat down on the bed and tested its bounciness, giving it a nod of approval. “This is amazing. What do you think, buttercup?”

“I have no words,” I said honestly.

He patted the spot beside him. “Want to try it out?”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

Thinking

“Never throw the first punch. If you have to throw the second, try to make sure they don't get up for a third.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Steelheart

“That's just your ego, trying to make sure it stays in charge. This is what ego does. It keeps you feeling separate, keeps you with a sense of duality, tries to convince you that you're flawed and broken and alone instead of whole.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Feeling, Sense

“Shoes off in the whale! And don't try and make a break for the anus.”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

Source: Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

Shoe

“The violence between women is unbelievable… women try to make each other crawl so that their knees are bleeding.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Women

“Nick glowered at Ash. "Are we through now, Dad? Can I go play with my friends if I promise to be a good boy? I'll even try and make it home by curfew."

Ash laughed evilly. "Oh, absolutely, son. In fact, here come your new playmates now.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Warrior

Home, Boy

“It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden (1952)
Context: When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.
Context: In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.

Death, Pleasure, World

“Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.”

Colin Powell (1937) Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general

“It's a bit embarrassing… to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than 'Try to be a little kinder.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

As quoted in Huston Smith, "Aldous Huxley--A Tribute," The Psychedelic Review, (1964) Vol I, No.3, (Aldous Huxley Memorial Issue), p. 264-5
Source: Moksha: Writings on Psychedelics & the Visionary Experience

Life, Way, Problem