Quotes about want
page 29

“Maybe the truth is I really want to like you instead.”

Source: Choke

“America's political system used to be about the pursuit of happiness. Now More and more of us want to stop chasing it and have it delivered.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

Source: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Happiness

“I don’t just want a part of you. I want all of you

Jeremiah Fisher”

Jenny Han (1980) American writer

Source: We'll Always Have Summer

Parting

“Your failures and your faults, they stick with you. They glob into ugly, cancerous growths inside you and make you want to die.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

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

Failure

“Is a woman a thinking unit at all, or a fraction always wanting its integer?”

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English novelist and poet

Thinking

“Everything Iʹd been taught about eluding someone came rushing back to my head. What I wanted to do more than anything was look around and see if I had a follower, but that would have definitely attracted attention.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

“I think we got in more trouble with Aunt Tasha,ʺ said Christian. ʺShe was kind of pissed off that we didnʹt tell her what was going on. I think she probably wanted to blow up the statues herself.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

Thinking

“If you're fighting moodiness and depression you don't want to hang around a bunch of other moody and depressed people.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

People, Fight

“That word again. Happy. It’s a curse. The pursuit of happiness makes us deeply unhappy. It’s a trap. Before anything else happened, there was me in bed, thinking of who you used to be.
I don’t want you to think I forgot.”

David Levithan book Every You, Every Me

Source: Every You, Every Me

Happiness, Thinking

“Watching you walk out of my life does not make me bitter or cynical about love. But rather makes me realize that if I wanted so much to be with the wrong person, how beautiful it will be when the right person comes along.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Love, Life, Beauty, Personality

“Laugh all you want. I know my own worth and don't need to prove it to someone who doesn't know theirs.”

Terry Goodkind Faith of the Fallen

Source: Faith of the Fallen

“That’s all anyone wants from anyone else, not love itself but the knowledge that love is there.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Love, Knowledge

“A sixty - eight, he wants you to go down on him but he won't return the favor. It would be sixty-nine but he owes you one.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

“Push something in someone’s face, and they will shove it away reflexively. Threaten to snatch it away from them, and sometimes they become convinced that it is what they want.”

Frances Hardinge (1973) British children's writer

Source: Fly Trap

“I wake up wating you. I fall asleep wanting you. I watch a magnificent sunrise and can think only of sharing it with you. I glimpse a piece of amver and see your eyes. Jillian, I've caught a disease, and the fever abates only when I'm near you.”

Karen Marie Moning book To Tame a Highland Warrior

Source: To Tame a Highland Warrior

Disease, Thinking

“But part of him wanted to say: Forget the world. He didn't want to be without her.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

World, Parting, Forgetting

Judith McNaught book Whitney, My Love

Source: Whitney, My Love

Life

“We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life!”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Life

“Some people never find it
Some only pretend
But I just want to live
Happily ever after, now and then”

Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman

People

“What I actually want to call you is a hell of a lot more unprintable than your name”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Hell

“My earbuds were in, but I wasn't playing music. I needed to hear the world but didn't want the world to know I was listening.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Variant: I needed to hear the world but didn't want the world to know I was listening.
Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

World, Music

“Oooh! Stop that. When you smile at me I want all of it."
"What?" He looked confused”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: The Dark Highlander

Smile

“It would be nice if you’d stop almost killing me because you don’t want to screw other people.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Danse Macabre

Source: Danse Macabre

“I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. How you hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.”

Susanna Kaysen (1948) American writer

Smile, Hurt

“When you get everything you wanted, I think maybe you do have to be a little grateful for the people who got you there… whether or not they thought they were doing you any favors at the time.”

Jennifer Weiner (1970) American writer

People, Thinking, Time

“Maybe we all just wanted someone to believe in. That's all each of us wanted, and it should be so simple, but it never was simple.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Six Rules of Maybe

“Of course there’s destiny, but destiny doesn’t push you where you don’t want to go. You’re the ones who choose. Destiny is up to you.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: One

“We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with the emphasis on "good" rather than on "time"….”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Time

“Our is a world where people don't know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it.”

Don Marquis (1878–1937) American writer

People, World, Hell

“When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart.”

William Gibson book Zero History

Source: Zero History

Study

“To me, these people were as exotic as animals in a zoo. I'd never seen anything like them. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be one of them or simply live among them taking notes and photographs.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

People, Animals

“Maybe you just saw what you wanted to see. Or maybe you justfelt what you wanted to feel.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Queen of Babble

Feeling

“Want a Coke?” Abra asked. “Sugar solves lots of problems, that’s what I think.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Source: Doctor Sleep

Problem, Thinking

“I don’t want to know what time it is. I don’t want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

Time

“And in the end, I lost him. I did it on purpose, the way Garance lost
Baptiste in the crowd. I needed to be alone, I felt. I wanted to be going on alone to my future.”

Susanna Kaysen (1948) American writer

Way, Future

““You can prove anything you want by coldly logical reason—if you pick the proper postulates. We have ours and Cutie has his.”
“Then let’s get at those postulates in a hurry. The storm’s due tomorrow.”
Powell sighed wearily. “That’s where everything falls down. Postulates are based on assumptions and adhered to by faith. Nothing in the Universe can shake them. I’m going to bed.””

Isaac Asimov book I, Robot

Source: I, Robot (1950), “Reason”, p. 63

Faith, Universe

“Oh, mercy. If it catches you in the wrong frame of mind, the King James Bible can make you want to drink poison in no uncertain terms.”

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

Source: The Poisonwood Bible

Drink

“It’s what we chase but never find. It is the mystery of our lives, the understanding that even when we have everything we want it is one day to leave us. It’s the something unseen, the lurking devastation, the darkness that gives our lives dimension.”

Marisha Pessl (1977) American writer

Source: Night Film

Understanding

“I want to be a society vampire, you see.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

“That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we knew always fell short of what we wanted them to say.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

“No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it.”

Elizabeth Peters (1927–2013) American author and egyptologist

For women

“If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

"The Beauty of Life," a lecture before the Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design (19 February 1880), later published in Hopes and Fears for Art: Five Lectures Delivered in Birmingham, London, and Nottingham, 1878 - 1881 (1882).

Beauty, Housing

“i want to give up my bearings, slip out of who i am, shed everything, the way a snake discards old skin.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Way

“He had been my almost. My might-have-been.

I was afraid of what I wanted most - His kiss.

Still, I collected kiss stories.

-Susie Salmon”

Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones

Source: The Lovely Bones

Kiss

“You shouldn't be able to be alive and you are. You want to trade?”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

“Jack, there are only two of us here. One of us is going to push him out, one of us is going to catch him. Which job do you want?”
(Melinda talking to her husband)”

Robyn Carr American writer

“I want to punish them. I want that punishment to be so hard, so vicious that the next who takes their place wets himself at the mere thought of trying to fight me.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Burns

Fight

“If you want to make a million you don't have to understand money, what you have to understand is people's fears about money”

William Gaddis book J R

Source: JR

Money, People, Fear, Understanding

“It's nice to have a lot of money, but you know, you don't want to keep it around forever. I prefer buying things. Otherwise, it's a little like saving sex for your old age.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Money, Age, Sex

“But if you are single the last thing you want is your best friend forming a functional relationship with somebody else.”

Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones's Diary

Source: Bridget Jones's Diary

“I want to write my life. I want to be able to write my life.

You are a second away from saying it.

You have no idea how much I love you.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: How They Met, and Other Stories

Love, Life, Idea

“We want you gone. Your presence is obviously upsetting for her."

"Oh, aye, the poor, wee lass -- who tossed me like a skipping stone.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

“All I ever wanted was to know what to do.”

Dave Eggers (1970) memoirist, novelist, short story writer, editor, publisher

Source: You Shall Know Our Velocity!

“Why would you want to go up there, when people are dying to get down here?”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

Source: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: The Illustrated Story

People

“I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it -- to be fed so much love I couldn't take any more. Just once.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Love

“Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

Death, Boy

“Sometimes my grief is overwhelming, and even though I understand that we will never see each other again, there is a part of me that wants to hold on to you forever.”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Understanding, Parting

“He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random, it would be a cool photograph. Things should look right. Fun; there should be a lot of fun and no more sadness than absolutely necessary.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Life, Sadness, Way

“He makes a pained sound. "Bloody hell, woman, I think a part of me wants to keep you this way.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Dreamfever

Pain, Way, Hell, Thinking

“Hair is gray and the firers are burning. So many dreams on the shelf. You say I wanted you to be proud of me. I always wanted that myself.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Dreams

“I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

World, Sense

“Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

People

“Sunrise

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Happiness, Way

“I don't want you to be interested in my life. I want you to be interested in me.”

Nicci French book Killing Me Softly

Source: Killing Me Softly

Life

“For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over again.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Life, Hope

“Everyone wants to know why customer service has gone to hell in a handbasket. I want to know why customer behavior has gone to hell in a handbasket.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Behavior, Hell

“That’s the thing, though. You always think you want to be noticed. Until you are.”

Sarah Dessen (1970) American writer

Source: Saint Anything

Thinking

“I hate this place,” Tiara whimpered. “It’s super creepy. Like a haunted Chuck E. Cheese’s where the games all want to kill you and you never get your pizza.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Source: Beauty Queens

Hate, Game

“There is no such thing as a soulmate…and who would want there to be? I don’t want half of a shared soul. I want my own damn soul.”

Ely inRachel Cohn and David Levithan”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Variant: There's no such thing as a soulmate... and who would want there to be? I don't want half of a shared soul. I want my own damn soul.
Source: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

Soul

“He's going to hurt you," Al said, looking at Pierce. "I can take care of you, teach you to survive. Be there for you, even if you do hate me."
I shivered. "I don't want him," I said, and Al turned away, seeming smaller somehow.”

Kim Harrison (1966) Pseudonym

Source: Black Magic Sanction

Hate, Hurt

“I don't want to have to give up me, in order to be his.”

Danielle Steel Second Chance

Source: Second Chance

“I want us to be doing things, prolonging life's duties as much as we can. I want death to find me planting my cabbages, neither worrying about it nor the unfinished gardening.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

Life, Death

“What nobody understood then is this: The only way that you achieve what you want and fulfill your dreams and become great is by demanding that sort of attention. You have to make it happen.”

Augusten Burroughs book Running with Scissors

Source: Running with Scissors

Dreams, Way

“But what I wanted back had never really been there. He was a temporary illusion, a mirage of water after walking in the desert. I had made him up. And he could have killed me. You've got to stop the ride sometimes. Stop it and get off.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Secret Life of Prince Charming

Water

“You don't just decide to have sex because you feel like having sex. You decide to have sex once you realize you're in love with someone and want to express that love physically.”

Sarah Mlynowski (1977) Novelist

Source: Ten Things We Did

Love, Sex, Feeling

“Twenty-two astronauts were born in Ohio. What is it about your state
that makes people want to flee the Earth?"

- Stephen Colbert to Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones,
"The Colbert Report," November 3, 2005”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

People

“Isabelle says the Queen of the Seelie Court has requested an audience with is"
Sure" said Magnus. "And Madonna wants me as a backup dancer on her next world tour”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

World

“Some women are meant to change the world, while others are meant to hold it together. And then there are those of us who simply don't want to be in it, because we know no matter how much we struggle, we can't comfortably fit.”

Jodi Picoult book Second Glance

Source: Second Glance

Women, World, Change

“Home is where they want you to stay longer.”

Stephen King book Revival

Source: Revival

Home

“There's something sad about people going to bed. You can see they don't give a damn whether they're getting what they want out of life or not, you can see they don't even try to understand what we're here for. They just don't care.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

Life, People, Sadness, Understanding

“As if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger than anything else ever has. Since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Variant: And now I'm looking at you, he said, and you're asking me if I still want you, as if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger than anything ever has.
Source: City of Glass

Love, Time

“The rat was merely trying to sleep. Believe me, pup, if I had wanted to kill you we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” said Ripred.”

Suzanne Collins (1962) American television writer and novelist

Sleep

“If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.”

Beverly Cleary (1916) American writer of children's books

Books

“The real question is, can you love the real me? Not the perfect person you want me to be, not that image you had of me, but who I really am.”

Christine Feehan American writer

Source: Oceans of Fire

Love, Question, Personality, Perfection

“There was a difference between people looking at you because they wanted to be like you, and people looking at you because your misfortune brought them one rung higher.”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

People

“Well, I try my best to be just like I am,
But everybody wants you to be just like them,
They sing while you slave and I just get bored”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, The Essential Bob Dylan (2000), Maggie's Farm
Variant: Well I tried my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them

Singing

“Oh lovers! be careful in those dangerous first days! once you've brought breakfast in bed you'll have to bring it forever, unless you want to be accused of lovelessness and betrayal.”

Milan Kundera book The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Source: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Lovers, Betrayal

“I want to keep my dreams, even bad ones, because without them, I might have nothing all night long.”

Joseph Heller (1923–1999) American author

Dreams, Night

“Whereas Angeline's antics made me want to pull out my hair sometimes, Trey found them endearing.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

“There was that word again. Mature. Was this what maturity was? Giving up on the things we wanted because we knew we’d never get them?”

Diana Peterfreund (1979) American writer

“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for… but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love

Source: Time Enough for Love

Parting

“The 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with those three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Expanded Universe

Source: "The Happy Days Ahead" in Expanded Universe (1980)
Context: I started clipping and filing by categories on trends as early as 1930 and my "youngest" file was started in 1945.
Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.

History, Mathematics, Understanding, Learning

“So all you want is a kiss?" I asked. A little voice in my head said I was heading for one of those slippery slopes. I told the little voice to shut up.
"Well, maybe more than one. But basically, yeah.”

Jenna Black (1965) American writer

Source: Glimmerglass

Kiss