Quotes about want
page 35

“She was everything I wanted. She was beautiful and charming, with a quick sense of humor, and she supported me in everything I did.”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Beauty, Support, Sense

“Vin, Vin. can't you see? This isn't about good or evil. Morality doesn't even enter into it. Good men will kill as quickly for what they want as evil men—only the things they want are different.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Hero of Ages

Men, Evil

“She got tired of herself. She got tired of not being able to say what she wanted or do what she wanted or even want what she wanted.”

Ann Brashares The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Source: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

“Always ask for what you want, because the worst thing that can happen is embarrassment but the best thing that can happen is nudity.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale

“There was nothing you couldn't do if you wanted it bad enough, and were willing to work hard enough to get it.”

Danielle Steel (1947) American author of romance novels

“She thought she was only seeing him because she wanted to see him… It's a by-product of very dramatic kissing.”

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

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Kiss

“Um," Grover said. "Percy?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought you'd want to know."
"Yeah?"
"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that… well… he's hungry.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

God

“I wanted to tell her that being loved is a talent too, that it takes as much guts and as much work as loving; that some people, for whatever reason, never learn the knack”

Tana French book The Likeness

Source: The Likeness

Love, People, Learning

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Robin Jones Gunn (1955) American writer

Source: Finally and Forever

For Team

“The essential thing is to WANT to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Cancer

Source: Tropic of Cancer

Singing

“Do you want to have sex? I think we should have sex. CASUAL sex.”

Bryan Lee O'Malley (1979) Artist

Source: Scott Pilgrim, Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour

Sex, Thinking

“Sometimes, you didn’t get what you wanted. But if you had all you needed? Life was good.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: The King

Life

“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

“Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won't have to be afraid all the time.”

Stephen King book Different Seasons

Source: Different Seasons

Fear, Sense, Time

“I was overpowered by being in the world, by other people and their lives I couldn’t lead, their jobs I couldn’t do - overpowered even by jobs I would never want or need to do.”

Andrew Solomon book The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

Source: The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

People, World

“If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want to make a wise man happy - improve yourself!”

Idries Shah book Reflections

Source: Reflections

Money, Happiness, Thinking

“You are wasting time by suffering twice. I mention this only to show how many things the mind cannot will itself to do, even if it wants to.”

Elizabeth Strout (1956) American writer

Source: My Name is Lucy Barton

Suffering, Time

“There are things our souls want, and mine wants you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Soul

“I frankly felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable. And I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave -- with all five fingers -- for their hospitality.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

People, Way

“I want to hug you. And I want to tear your gods-damned head off. Both at once."

"Ah," said Locke. "Near as I can tell, that’s the definition of 'family' right there.”

Scott Lynch book Red Seas Under Red Skies

Source: Red Seas Under Red Skies

God, Family, Tear

“I'm a terrible prince. I should put my kingdom first and everything else second, but your first. I want you by my side every second, but I know I would crumble if I lost you.”

Shannon Hale Enna Burning

Source: Enna Burning

“I've read that if an avalanche buries you and you're lying there underneath all that snow, you can't tell which way is up or down. You want to dig yourself out but pick the wrong way, and you dig yourself to your own demise.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Way, Lying, Reading

“I want to be with one person in my life. I want to know that the guy I spend the rest of my life with is the first person I share something so intimate and exciting with.”

Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979) contemporary Australian writer of novels for young adults

Source: Does My Head Look Big In This?

Life, Guy, Personality

“People who have what they want are fond of telling people who haven’t what they want that they really don’t want it.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

People

“I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“The odd thing about this form of communication is you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many… somethings. So, thanks.”

Nora Ephron (1941–2012) Film director, author screenwriter

Communication

“Today’s young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.”

Kristin Hannah book The Nightingale

Source: The Nightingale

People, Understanding, Problem, Thinking

“You have to sleep sometime. (Xypher)
So do you. (Julian)
Down, boys, down. Please, I just want to be free before I get testosterone poisoning. (Simone)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Chaser

Boy, Sleep

“It may sound corny, but what's wrong with wanting to fight for your country. Why are people reluctant to use the word patriotism?”

Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997) American film and stage actor

People, Fight, Country

“I want to die violently instead of fading out sentimentally.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

“I want to marry a [guy], so i can rest my soul with [him] till we both get old. This can't go on all the time-- all this franticness and jumping around. We've got to go someplace, find something.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Source: On the Road

Guy, Soul, Time

“You’ll pardon me,” he finally said, “if the suggestion that the minuscule black turnip you call a heart is suddenly overflowing with generosity toward me leaves me wanting to arm myself and put my back against a wall.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Heart

“Envy comes from wanting something that isn't yours, but grief comes from losing something you've already had.”

Jodi Picoult Perfect Match

Variant: Envy, after all, comes from wanting something that isn't yours. But grief comes from losing something you've already had.
Source: Perfect Match

Envy

“She's evil. Evil, evil, evil. I want to see her naked.”

Christopher Moore book Bloodsucking Fiends

Source: Bloodsucking Fiends

Evil

“Be careful what you’re doing, because no one is ever who you want them to be. And the less you really know them, the more likely you are to confuse them with the girl or boy in your head”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Girl, Boy

“Love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, I'll be anybody you want me to be. Use me. Change me. I can be thin with big breasts and big hair. Take me apart. Make me into anything, but just love me.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

Love, Change

“I lost nothing I regret losing," Witch said softly. "I am what I want to be.”

Anne Bishop (1955) American fiction writer

Source: Dreams Made Flesh

“But if one had everything one could ever need or want, what was left to dream of?”

Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist

Source: Then Comes Seduction

Dreams

“Dead girl walking” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secrets” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
"I am that girl. I am the spaces between my thighs, daylight shinning through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

Secret, Girl, Boy, Dead

“Oh, the things we invent when we are scared
and want to be rescued.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Source: Crush

“I want to put on the table, not why 85% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences reject God, I want to know why 15% of the National Academy don’t.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

God, Science

“I want to tell them, "Chip, Kim, there is no way to suicide-proof a person.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

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

Way, Suicide, Personality

“I'm told I'm very charming when people do what I want.”

Steven Brust book Tiassa

Source: Tiassa

People

“Yes, but knee pants are so much more flattering. You can see my legs."
You want people to see your legs?"
I have very nice legs!" We both paused to admire them for a moment.”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Death's Mistress

People

“Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

“There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
Source: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Thinking

“Aphrodite,” [Annabeth] said.
“Venus?” Hazel asked in amazement.
“Mom,” Piper said with no enthusiasm.
“Girls!” The goddess spread her arms like she wanted a group hug.
The three demigods did not oblige. Hazel backed into a palmetto tree.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Girl, Moms, Tree

“Did I want a dog? No. Did I need a dog? Also no. We were six kids running for our lives, not knowing where our next meal was coming from. Could we afford to feed a dog? Wait for it—no.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Dogs, Waiting

“Your principle should be to see everything and say nothing. The world changes so rapidly that if you want to get on you cannot afford to align yourself with any person or point of view.”

Khushwant Singh (1915–2014) Indian novelist and journalist

World, Change, Personality

“When a man sees you are happy with him but you can be just as happy having nothing to do with him, that’s when he won’t want to leave your side. When you are happy, you are sexy.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Happiness

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer.”

Barbara Kingsolver (1955) American author, poet and essayist

People

“What do you want from me?” – Nick
“Normally, it’d be your life and your soul. Unfortunately, I can’t take either right now. Sucks to be me today.” – Death”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Life, Death, Soul

“I don’t want there to be things you “love about me”, I want you to love “all of me”.”

Mathias Malzieu book La Mécanique du cœur

Source: La Mécanique du cœur

Love

“No matter how good somebody's life looks from the outside, you can be sure there's something about it you wouldn't want to have in your life.”

Jean Ferris (1939–2015) American children's writer

Source: Twice Upon a Marigold

Life

“And his hands would plait the priest's entrails,
For want of a rope, to strangle kings.”

Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist

Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre,
Au défaut d’un cordon pour étrangler les rois.
"Les Éleuthéromanes", in Poésies Diverses (1875)
Variant translation: His hands would plait the priest's guts, if he had no rope, to strangle kings.
This derives from the prior statement widely attributed to Jean Meslier: "I would like — and this would be the last and most ardent of my wishes — I would like the last of the kings to be strangled by the guts of the last priest". It is often claimed the passage appears in Meslier's Testament (1725) but it only appears in abstracts of the work written by others. See the Wikipedia article Jean Meslier for details.
Let us strangle the last king with the guts of the last priest.
Attributed to Diderot by Jean-François de La Harpe in Cours de Littérature Ancienne et Moderne (1840)
Attributions to Diderot of similar statements also occur in various forms, i.e.: "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
Variant: Et des boyaux du dernier prêtre
Serrons le cou du dernier roi.

“To be loved because of one's merit, because one deserves it, always leaves doubt; maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me, maybe this, or that - there is always a fear that love could disappear.”

Erich Fromm book The Art of Loving

Source: The Art of Loving

Love, Fear, Personality

“Each time he suggested they get married, she said no. They were too happy, precariously so, and she wanted to guard that bond; she feared that marriage would flatten it into a prosaic partnership.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book Half of a Yellow Sun

Source: Half of a Yellow Sun

Marriage, Happiness, Fear, Time

“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”

Maurice Sendak book Where the Wild Things Are

Source: Where the Wild Things Are

Love

“You want to remember that while you're judging the book, the book is also judging you.”

Stephen King book Night Shift

Source: Night Shift

Books

“All I really want is enough to live on, a little house in the country… and a tree in the garden with seven of my enemies hanging in it.”

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

Tree, Housing, Country

“As for monkeys, I would have five, and they would be named: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, Do Pretty Much Whatever The Hell You Want, and Expensive Attorney.”

Tad Williams (1957) novelist

Hell, Evil

“I wanted to read immediately. The only fear was that of books coming to an end.”

Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author

Books, Fear, Reading

“Very touching. Do you want me to imitate a violin?”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Variant: Very touching," said a voice from the stairway. "Do you want me to imitate a violin?" - Damon
Source: The Fury

“When I have a kid, I want to buy one of those strollers for twins. Then put the kid in and run around, looking frantic. When he gets older, I'd tell him he used to have a brother, but he didn't obey.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“You were never what I wanted to forget.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: Sweethearts

Forgetting

“The one good thing about being kind of shy is that nobody bugs you when you want to be left alone.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

“People cry at weddings for the same reason they cry at happy endings: because they so desperately want to believe in something they know is not credible.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Happiness, People, Wedding, Cry

“Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

"My Feelings" (p. 179)
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)

“Why no. I’m too conceited. If you want to call it that. I don’t make
comparisons. I never think of myself in relation to anyone else. I just refuse
to measure myself as part of anything. I’m an utter egotist.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

Thinking, Parting

“He nodded and curled over his paper, writing quickly. As his words took form on the white page, she got to watch him… and realized she never wanted him to go. She wanted him here beside her forever.”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Mine

“All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Lie, Feeling, Communication

“But to mean it when I say that I want my life to count for His glory is to drive a stake through the heart of self - a painful and determined dying to me that must be a part of every day I live.”

Louie Giglio (1958) American clergy

Life, Pain, Heart, Parting

“Waste not want not. I am not being wasted. Why do I want?”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“Trust no one at your back unless you want them to bury a knife in it.’ (Syn)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Fire

“One day I was talking to Cora. She prayed for me because she believed I was blind to sin, wanting me to kneel and pray too, because people to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

Source: As I Lay Dying

People

“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.”

Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches

People, Intelligence, Courage

“I have a big hole in my heart," I said. "But it'll close over."
I don't want to sound all Dr. Phil," she said. "But don't let the scab seal the pain in, okay?"
That's good advice," I said. "I hope I can manage it.”

Charlaine Harris book Definitely Dead

Source: Definitely Dead

Pain, Hope, Heart

“The heart wants what the heart wants”

Candace Bushnell book Summer and the City

Source: Summer and the City

Heart, Cute, For Her

“If you want to create, you'll create…”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

“But I've strayed so far from normal now, I'll never find my way back. And the truth is, I no longer want to.”

Alyson Nöel (1965) writer

Source: Saving Zoë

Truth, Way

“What do you want meaning for? Life is desire, not meaning.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

Source: My Life In Pictures

Life, Wise, Life

“Although there are times I'd give anything to have her back, I'm glad she went first. Losing her was like being cleft down the middle. It was the moment it all ended for me, and I wouldn't have wanted her to go through that.”

Sara Gruen book Water for Elephants

Source: Water for Elephants

Time

“Every decision you make can change the world. The best life is the one the gods don't notice. You want to live free, boy, live quietly."
"I want to be a soldier. A hero."
"You'll grow out of it.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Prologue (p. 5)
Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999)
Context: “Heed the lesson there, son.”
“What lesson?”
“Every decision you make can change the world. The best life is the one the gods don’t notice. You want to live free, boy, live quietly.”
“I want to be a soldier. A hero.”
“You’ll grow out of it.”

Life, God, World, Boy

“Oh, no way," Leo said. "We've been sitting in a cave and you get the luxury tent? Somebody give me hypothermia. I want hot chocolate and a parka!”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Way

“Sometimes, mothers say and do things that seem like they don't want their kids… but when you look more closely, you realize that they're doing those kids a favor. They're just trying to give them a better life.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

Life

“I hate it when people let me down, when things are temporary. I think that's why I want to be an architect."
"To build something permanent," I said. "A monument to last a thousand years.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian