Quotes about want
page 36

“If you want sense, you'll have to make it yourself.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“I’m just trying to wake up - I’m so afraid of sleeping all my life and then dying - I want to wake up first. I wouldn’t care if it was just for an hour, as long as I was properly alive and awake…”

Philip Pullman book The Amber Spyglass

Source: The Amber Spyglass

Life, Sleep

“(Jace) "Is there anything special you want to see? Paris? Budapest? The Leaning Tower of Pisa?"
Only if it falls on Sebastian's head, she thought.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Jace and Clary, pg. 220
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Lost Souls (2012)
Context: "Stay with me. We can see the whole world."
"I am with you. I'm not going anywhere."
"Is there anything special you want to see? Paris? Budapest? The Leaning Tower of Pisa?"
Only if it falls on Sebastian's head, she thought.

“They want to be tied up, I tie them up. They want to be spanked, I spank them. They want to be called names, I call them names. But try and drink a little of their blood, and they scream like babies. What about my needs?”

Christopher Moore (1957) American writer of comic fantasy

Drink, Baby

“I've got to get out of here. I choose a piece of shawl and my dirtiest suntans. I'll be back, I'll re-emerge, defeated, from the valley; you don't want me to go where you go, so I go where you don't want me to.”

Frank O'Hara book Meditations in an Emergency (book)

Source: Meditations in an Emergency

“When you have a kid, you sign on for the whole package: good, bad, everything in between. you can't just dip in and out, picking and choosing the parts you want and quitting when it's not perfect.”

Sarah Dessen book The Moon and More

Source: The Moon and More

Parting, Perfection

“Some folks want their luck buttered.”

Thomas Hardy book The Mayor of Casterbridge

Source: The Mayor of Casterbridge

“Once a person knows a kiss and a kind word, you can't blame him for never wanting to live without them again.”

Robert James Waller (1939–2017) American writer

Kiss, Personality

“All the world does as it is supposed to, except for humans. Maybe that's why you so often want to kill each other.”

Brandon Sanderson book The Way of Kings

Source: The Way of Kings

World

“If you don't want anyone to know about your existence, you might as well kill yourself. You're taking up space, air.”

Dave Eggers book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Source: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

“Real writers are those who want to write, need to write, have to write.”

Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989) American poet, novelist, and literary critic

“If you want it and expect it, it will be yours very soon.”

Esther Hicks (1948) American writer

Source: The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham

“All I want is a little more than I'll ever get.”

Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist

“I want to touch you in real time
not find you on YouTube,
I want to walk next to you in the mountains
not friend you on Facebook.”

Eve Ensler (1953) American playwright, performer, feminist, activist and artist

Source: I am an Emotional Creature

Mountain, Time

“We were quiet on the car ride home. I turned on the radio and found a station playing "Hey Jude." It was true, I didn't want to make it bad. I wanted to take the sad song and make it better. It's just that I didn't know how.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Sadness, Cars, Home

“When I write I pretend I'm telling a story to someone in the room and I don't want them to get up until I'm finished.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

“If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

People, Idea

“Before speaking, consult your inner-truth barometer, and resist the temptation to tell people only what they want to hear.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

People, Truth

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

Patrick Vlaskovits, " Henry Ford, Innovation, and That “Faster Horse” Quote https://hbr.org/2011/08/henry-ford-never-said-the-fast," in Harvard Business Review, August 29, 2011. <br class="br">Misattributed

People, Horse, Powerful

“I wish to live for myself. I should never want to be trapped.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

“Death wants to gank me. Must be Tuesday.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Endless Knight

Death

“There's no way to release yourself from a memory. It ends when it wants to end, whether it's in a flash or long after you've begged it to stop.”

David Levithan book Every You, Every Me

Source: Every You, Every Me

Way, Memory

“Truth is, something that I thought was perfect was taken away from me, and I never wanted perfect again. I wanted middle of the road, stuff I didn’t care about so that I couldn’t lose anything I really loved ever again.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: The Time of My Life

Love, Truth, Perfection

“I never wanted to be away from the family. Intuitively, I knew how easily distances could harden and become permanent.”

Junot Díaz book Drown

Source: Drown

Family

“I want you to have big dreams, big goals. I want you to strive to achieve them. But I don't want to see you beating yourself up every time you make a mistake.”

Kelley Armstrong The Gathering

Source: The Gathering

Dreams, Time

“All I'd ever wanted was to forget. but even when I thought I had, pieces had kept emerging, like bits of wood floating up to the surface that only hint at the shipwreck below.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

Forgetting

“Tough toenails, tiger. What you want and what you get are usually two entirely different things.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Source: Three Weeks With My Brother

“I want, I don’t want.
How can one live with such a heart?”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Source: Selected Poems II: 1976 - 1986

Heart

“I wanted only a familiar voice, someone who knew me. Not some earlier, larval version of myself…”

Jennifer Haigh (1968) Novelist

Source: Faith

“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

“I want to explain everything to him, show him that it’s really not as screwed up as it all sounds, but then I remember that it is.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: How to Talk to a Widower

“I would rather die than ever see you suffering this way. I don't want you or any child I ever have or any woman I ever love to go through or feel what you're going through, but it's happened and I don't know what to do.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Love, Way, Feeling, Suffering

“And I don’t want his body touching something I wear. He’ll contaminate it. (Sasha)
Oh, good grief, Sasha. Grow up. You’re four hundred years old and you’re acting like a whelp. It’s not like he has cooties or anything. (Astrid)
Yes he does! (Sasha)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

“I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.”

Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Love, Grass

“So, what are you?"
"What I am is someone who doesn't want you to jump out of the window. The rest are details.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Rise of the Hotel Dumort

“You can tell by the way the girls whisper about him when he walks by in school that they want him. It makes me jealous but not for the reason people would think. Good hunting partners are hard to find.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

People, School, Way, Girl

“and I wondered if, in the end, this is how all disputes are settled, with a shared silence as things become equal. You take something from me, I take something from you. We all want balance, one way or another.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Way, Silence

“If you were wise enough to know that this life would consist mostly of letting go of things you wanted, then why not get good at the letting go, rather than the trying to have?”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: The First Bad Man

Life

“The sky was electric blue above the trees but the yard felt dark. Stephanie went to the edge of the lawn and sat her forehead on her knees. The grass and soil were still warm from the day. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. The feeling was too deep.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Feeling, Tree, Grass, Cry

“I only want to write. And there's no college for that except life.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

Life

“We could all be lucky. We could all be what we want to be, instead of who someone else told us to be.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

“Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated.”

Lou Holtz (1937) American college football coach, professional football coach, television sports announcer

“You said there was nothing in the world you wanted" The Queen's eyes glittered. "When you imagine your life without him, do you still feel the same?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Life, World, Feeling, Imagination

“If people don't want to come to the ballpark how are you going to stop them?”

Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American baseball player, manager, coach

The Yogi book: I really didn't say everything I said!, Workman Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0761110909, p. 36.
The quote "If people don’t want to come, nothing will stop them" first appears in 1952, credited to music impresario Sol Hurok. It was first attributed to Berra in 1962. See http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/10/30/stop-em/
Disputed

People

“I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Sense

“I don't want to be smart, because being smart makes you depressed.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

“We learn our lessons; we get hurt; we want revenge. Then we realize that actually, happiness and forgiving people is the best revenge.”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

Happiness, People, Forgiveness, Revenge

“I can’t think. I can’t work or sleep. My body aches for you. I can make you want me again. Let me try.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Thinking, Sleep

“I wanted you to stop.” “I was encouraged by you breathlessly moaning my name.” I spun on my foot. “I wasn’t moaning your name. I was shrieking in alarm.” “That was the sexiest throaty shrieking I’ve ever heard.” “You need to get out more.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Burn for Me

“We believe in the wrong things, that's what frustrates me the most. Not the lack of belief, but the belief in the wrong things. You want meaning? Well, the meanings are out there. We're just so damn good at reading them wrong.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Reading

“Also I wanted to be able to love
And we all know how that one goes, don't we?
Slowly”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

Love

“No one had ever called her wild before. She wanted to be wild now, for him. Wild seemed more enticing then a bowl of berries.”

Shannon Hale Forest Born

Source: Forest Born

“… there were certain chapters when I stopped writing, saw the domestic situation I was in and thought, "I don't want to face this world, let's get back to the hellish one I'm imagining.”

Alasdair Gray (1934–2019) Scottish writer and artist

World, Imagination

“If God had wanted us to be concerned for the plight of the toads, he would have made them cute and furry.”

Dave Barry (1947) American writer

God, Cute

“Wildflower: Don't let people walk all over you, Buttercup. It's your life. If you want something, you need to get out there and grab it by the horns because no one is going to give you what you want on a plate. Good girls always come second.”

Cecelia Ahern book Love, Rosie

Source: Where Rainbows End

Life, People, Girl

“What did it matter to me? Did I think that by making you rational about one thing, I could make you rational about everything? Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted to save you from your fears”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

Fear, Thinking

“I feel myself shriveling along with my world, getting smaller and harder. I'm turning into a rock, and in some ways that's good, because rocks last forever.
But if this is how I'm going to last forever, then I don't want to.”

Susan Beth Pfeffer book Life As We Knew It

Source: Life As We Knew It

World, Way, Feeling

“God wants us to know we are saved, for saved people are dangerous people, willing to face off with the world, unafraid of the consequences since they know that, whatever happens, they will have eternal life.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Source: Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Life, God, People, World

“The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.”

Judith Martin (1938) American etiquette expert

Life, People, Way, Nature

“We are men without ambition, and all we want is to be left alone, in peace so that we can try and be happy. So few people will understand this simplicity.”

Upamanyu Chatterjee (1959) Indian writer

Source: English, August: An Indian Story

Men, Happiness, People, Peace

“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

“All that existed was Jace; all she felt, hoped, breathed, wanted, and saw was Jace. Nothing else mattered.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Hope

“You need me? You yell. You want to leave? We go. I'll get you out of here, no matter what.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

“It's just hard to see a friend hurt this much. Especially when you can't do anything except "be there". I want to make him stop hurting, but I can't.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Hurt

“I can see myself now, she said. And I can see what I want to be, ten years from now. But I don't understand how I'm going to get from here to there.”

Jodi Picoult book The Pact

Source: The Pact

Understanding

“It's a funny thing… but people mostly have it backward. They think they live by what they want. But really, what guides them is what they're afraid of. What they don't want.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

People, Thinking

“But that was the problem with having the answers. It was only after you gave them that you realized they sometimes weren't what people wanted to hear.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

People, Problem

“There is too little mystery in the world; too many people say exactly what they feel or want.”

Robert Greene book The Art of Seduction

Source: The Art of Seduction

People, World, Feeling

“No matter the truth, people see what they want to see..”

Cecily von Ziegesar Gossip Girl

Source: Gossip Girl

People, Truth

“Didn't you ever have a father yourself? You don't want him for a reason. You want him because he's your father.' So I figured it's because I never had a father that I don't want one now. A person can't miss something she never had.”

Rebecca Stead book When You Reach Me

Source: When You Reach Me

Personality

“hey. I just wanted to make sure you got home," I say. "Katniss, I live three houses away from you," he says.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Home, Housing

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

Seth Grahame-Smith book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Source: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Truth, Universe

“Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around? Without it I too am disembodied. I can listen to my own heartbeat against the bedsprings… but there’s something dead about it, something deserted.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Dead

“Drinking would shut down my seeing and my hearing and my feeling,' she used to say. 'Why would I want to be in the world if I couldn't touch the world with all of my senses intact?”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

World, Feeling, Drink, Sense

“Sometimes, kids want you to hurt the way they hurt.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Way, Hurt

“When we make our own misery we sometimes cling to it even when we want so bad to change, because misery is something we know. The misery is comfortable.”

Dean Koontz book One Door Away from Heaven

Source: One Door Away from Heaven

Change

“I'd cut up my heart for you to wear if you wanted it.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Heart

“Magnus wants to shout at me, don’t you, Magnus?” (Jace)
“Yes,” Magnus said, tearing his eyes away from Alec long enough to scowl.
-pg.275-”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Tear

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.”

John Cleese (1939) actor from England

As quoted in Best New Games (2002) by Dale N. LeFevre, p. 9

Time

“It's never the changes we want that change everything.”

Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Change

“Conservatives understand Halloween, liberals only understand Christmas. If you want to control a population, don't give it social services, give it a scary adversary.”

Tom Robbins Skinny Legs and All

Source: Skinny Legs and All

Understanding, Christmas

“Invention:
I always wanted to invent something that would move around & make funny noises & would change the world as we know it & I forgot all about that until we had kids & now I see I came pretty close.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

World, Change

“I screwed her over. I didn't want to see her screwed over by someone else.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“I'll think about you everyday. Part of me is scared that there'll come a time when you don't feel the same way, that you'll somehow forget about what we shared, so this is what I want to do forever.”

Nicholas Sparks book Dear John

Source: Dear John

Way, Feeling, Thinking, Time

“People don't expect too much from literature. They just want to know they're not alone with being confused.”

Jonathan Ames (1964) American novelist, memoirist

People, Literature

“Christmas is never over, unless you want it to be… Christmas is a state of mind.”

Lauren Myracle book Let It Snow

Source: Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

Christmas

“Sometimes you read a book so special that you want to carry it around with you for months after you've finished just to stay near it.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Books, Reading

“For years now, I've wanted to fall asleep. The sort of slipping off, the giving up, the falling part of sleep. Now sleeping is the last thing I want to do.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Sleep, Parting

“he wanted people to like his mind again-after awhile it might be such a nice place in which to live.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book This Side of Paradise

Source: This Side of Paradise

People

“Man never thinks himself happy, but when he enjoys those things which others want or desire.”

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) eighteenth century English poet

Happiness, Thinking

“It was easier when all we wanted to do was eat them and take their stuff,” he grumbled.
And it had been easier when he hadn’t cared if he made any of them cry.”

Anne Bishop book Written in Red

Source: Written in Red

Cry

“maybe he's falling in love with the idea of falling in love with me. Maybe he wants to be in love with someone and I've ended up in the right place at the right time.”

Candace Bushnell book Summer and the City

Source: Summer and the City

Love, Idea, Time

“Books are not about passing time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, one just wishes one had more of it. If one wanted to pass the time one could go to New Zealand.”

Alan Bennett book The Uncommon Reader

Source: The Uncommon Reader

Books, World, Time

“Man wanted a home, a place for warmth, or comfort, first of physical warmth, then the warmth of the affections.”

Henry David Thoreau book Walden ou la vie dans les bois

Source: Walden

Home

“Take what you want and pay for it, says God. You can have anything you want, as long as you accept that there is a price and you will have to pay it.”

Tana French book The Likeness

Source: The Likeness

God

“I smiled back at her. I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”

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

Variant: I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.
Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Smile, Cats, Drink

“What’s the difference between spending your life trying to be invisible, or pretending to be the person you think everyone wants you to be? Either way, you’re faking.”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

Life, Way, Thinking, Personality

“If Alex has chosen you, then I want you to believe that I have chosen you as well.”

Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven

Source: Safe Haven