Quotes about want
page 46

“The only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have.”

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst

“She's a woman, you're a dude. You're notto understand her. That'swhat she's after…. She doesn't want you to understand. She knowsimpossible. She just wants you to understand. Everything else is negotiable.”

Neal Stephenson book Snow Crash

Source: Snow Crash

Understanding

“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

“I don't want our relationship to end like this. You're one of the very few friends I have, and it hurts not being able to see you. When am I going to be able to talk to you? I want you to tell me that much, at least.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Hurt

“You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself.”

Gaston Leroux (1868–1927) French writer

Love, Women, Singing, Cry

“I don't like it, but my hands are tied. I just want you to know this: if I ever get the chance to betray you, I will. If the opportunity arises to pay you back, I'll take it. You'll never be able to trust me.”

Darren Shan book Cirque du Freak

Source: A Living Nightmare

Chance

“I was crying a little for the boy I had wanted him to be and the boy he hadn’t turned out to be.”

Gabrielle Zevin book Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Source: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Boy, Cry

“If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it's within your reach. And it'll be worth every minute you spend alone at night, thinking and thinking about what it is you want to design or build. It'll be worth it, I promise.”

Steve Wozniak book iWoz

Source: iWoz (2006), p. 300

Love, Thinking, Night

“And this shows that sometimes people want to be stupid and they do not want to know the truth.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

People, Truth, Stupidity

“Some people have been unkind. If I say I want to grow as an actress, they look at my figure. If I say I want to develop, to learn my craft, they laugh. Somehow they don't expect me to be serious about my work.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

People, Learning

“It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (1954) Canadian author

Source: The Invitation

Dreams, Heart

“I wanted to create a voyage to the moon just for her, but what I
should have given her was a real journey on earth.”

Mathias Malzieu book La Mécanique du cœur

Source: La Mécanique du cœur

“I am not a snob; it is simply that I am not interested with what most people have to say, or what they want to do — mostly with my time.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

People, Time

“Why did everything always change when all you wanted, all you had ever humbly asked of whatever God there might be, was that certain things be allowed to stay the same?”

Richard Yates (1926–1992) Novelist, short story writer

God, Change

“Why was it, Lloyd wondered, that the people who wanted to destroy everything good about their country were the quickest to wave the national flag?”

Ken Follett book Winter of the World

Source: Winter of the World

People, Country

“Psychotics, say what you want about them, tend to make the first move.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

“I wanted to say goodbye to someone, and have someone say goodbye to me. The goodbyes we speak and the goodbyes we hear are the goodbyes that tell us we´re still alive.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: Wolves of the Calla

“Believe that if Allah wants you to know something, someone will tell you.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.”

Les Brown (1945) American politician

Hunger, Way, Motivation

“Once I turned eighteen, I could cut myself off from everyone and finally get what I wanted, which was to be on my own, once and for all.

~Ruby, pg 38”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

“I'm just not prepared to be treated like this anymore.'
'Treated like what?'
She sighed, and it was a moment before she spoke. 'Like you always want to be somewhere else, with someone else.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

“It's a little place on the Pacific Ocean. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.”

Stephen King book Different Seasons

Source: Different Seasons

Life, Memory

“You cannot be with someone just because you don’t want to hurt him. You have your own happiness to think about.”

Melissa de la Cruz book The Van Alen Legacy

Source: The Van Alen Legacy

Happiness, Thinking, Hurt, Heartbreaking

“Say it," she said.
"Say it sober."
"I love you," he said.
"I don't want you to say it back unless you mean it, but I love you."
She leaned back over him, and pressed the pads of her fingertips against his.
"I mean it.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Love

“People don't want other people to be people.”

Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Source: Shadow & Claw

People

“I wanted my life to start - but in those rare moments when it seemed like something might actually change, panic shot through me.”

Curtis Sittenfeld book Prep

Source: Prep

Life, Change

“We may not get what we want, when we want. But with a bit of perseverance and a lot of patience, we can get what we need.”

Sarah Strohmeyer (1950) American writer

Source: Sweet Love

Patience, Perseverance

“I did not myself know what I wanted: I feared life, desired to escape from it, yet still hoped something of it.”

Leo Tolstoy book A Confession

Source: A Confession

Life, Fear, Hope

“Although you hadn't asked why, it had less to do with you not noticing than with you not wanting to hear the answer.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

“I want to talk to you. I want to listen to you. I want to walk with you and, yes, I want you in my bed. That's what I want today. That's what I'll want in a hundred years. If you promise to be my wife forever, I will pledge myself to your happiness.”

Christina Dodd (1957) American writer

Source: Rules of Attraction

Happiness

“From the first time I saw you, I've belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me. -Jace”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Variant: Since the first time i saw you, I've belonged to you completely.
Source: City of Glass

Time

“Dr. Martinez: "I take it you don't want me to call your parent?"
Max: "Uh, no." Hello, lab? May I speak to the test tube please?”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Parent

“I want a magical horse that fits in my pocket," Wil said. "And a ring of red amber that gives me power over demons. And an endless supply of cake.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Horse

“I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a man nailed to two pieces of wood. Especially if it's me!”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

"Interview With Jesus"
A Place for My Stuff (1981)

“You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free”

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

“I want my best friend back, she thinks, because without him nothing is good and nothing is right.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Thinking

“You really don’t want to take that tone with me. (Varyk)
Well, I do have several others we can choose from. Contemptuous. Angry. Snide. Aggravated. How about I just settle on extreme sarcasm and we call it even? (Dev)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Bad Moon Rising

“If I wanted death, Edward would give it to me. Because we both understand that it isn't death that we fear. It's living.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Obsidian Butterfly

Source: Obsidian Butterfly

Death, Fear, Understanding

“Each time I told my story, I lost a bit, the smallest drop of pain. It was that day that I knew I wanted to tell the story of my family. Because horror on Earth is real and it is every day. It is like a flower or like the sun; it cannot be contained.”

Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones

Source: The Lovely Bones

Pain, Family, Flowers, Time

“If we want to keep the blessings of life coming to us, we must learn to be grateful for whatever is given.”

Harold Klemp (1942) American writer

Source: The Language of Soul: Keys to Living a More Meaningful Life

Life, Learning

“We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.”

Milan Kundera (1929–2023) Czech author of Czech and French literature

Life, Perfection

“You have been compelled to cultivate your reflective faculties for want of occasions for frittering away your life on silly trifles.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

Life

“You have no idea about presents or what they mean. The last
present you gave me was a stick.”
“You wanted a weapon.”
“It was a stick.”
“It had a bow on it.”
“It was a stick.”
“I thought you liked the stick. You laughed.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Kingdom of the Wicked

Idea

“The first day of the rest of my life, and I’m not sure I want to
be here. I know I should be thanking somebody for this, but I really
don’t feel like it. Instead, I wish they hadn’t bothered.”

Cecelia Ahern book Thanks for the Memories

Source: Thanks for the Memories

Life, Feeling

“For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me.”

Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club

Source: The Joy Luck Club

“I'm not afraid to die; I just don't want to be there when it happens”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

“Don't attach yourself to anyone who shows you the least bit of attention because you're lonely. Lonliness is the human condition. No one is ever going to fill that space. The best thing you can do it know yourself… know what you want.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

“He’d never get over her. He knew that without hesitation or doubt. He loved her. As deeply as it was possible to love another person. And God, he wanted her. Every day. In hit life. As much a part of him as he would be of her.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: Rush

Love, Life, God, Parting

“I wanted to paint a picture some day that people would stand before and forget that it was made of paint. I wanted it to creep into them like a bar of music and mushroom there like a soft bullet.”

O. Henry (1862–1910) American short story writer

Source: The Complete Works of O. Henry

People, Music, Painting, Forgetting

“I want to feel what I feel. What's mine. Even if it's not happiness, whatever that means. Because you're all you've got.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

Happiness, Feeling

“Because it's simple, I love you, and I don't want to keep pretending like I don't. -Rose to Dimitri”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

Love

“Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Reading

“Do you just want to get by? Or do you want to make me proud?”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

“I don't want the world. I want you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

World

“Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

Change

“I am a painter with letters. I want to restore everything, mix everything up and say everything.”

Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic

“Sam looked at me soft. And she hugged me. And I closed my eyes because I wanted to know nothing but her arms. And she kissed my cheek and whispered so nobody could hear.
"I love you.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Love, Kiss

“Why else do any of this if not to become who we want to be?”

Anthony Doerr book All the Light We Cannot See

Source: All the Light We Cannot See

“Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion.”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Source: Don't Waste Your Life

Life, Passion

“If you want to double your success rate, triple your failure rate.”

Cory Doctorow book Pirate Cinema

Pirate Cinema
Variant: you want to double your success rate, triple your failure rate.

Failure, Success

“I am not a pretty girl. I don't want to be a pretty girl. No, I want to be more than a pretty girl.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

Girl

“You're all he ever wants.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

“When your sad--like really sad--you only want to be with other people who are sad.”

Nick Hornby book A Long Way Down

Source: A Long Way Down

People, Sadness

“You want safe? Find a nice puppy you can train to come heel. Love's supposed to be scary. Because if there's no fear, there's no thrill.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Love, Fear, Training

“The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly. The farther you run, the more God wants you back.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Variant: The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly.
Source: Fight Club

God, Flying

“Have you ever wanted to put on a Santa suit?"
"I have always wanted to do that," said Carter gravely.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Revealed

“The Sims is an escapist vehicle for people who want to escape to where they already are, which is why I thought this game was made precisely for me.”

Chuck Klosterman book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Source: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

People, Game

“You can tell yourself that you would be willing to lose everything you have in order to get something you want. But it's a catch-22: all of those things you're willing to lose are what make you recognizable. Lose them, and you've lost yourself.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

“I want to live in a world where people are judged by who they are instead of what size they wear.”

Jennifer Weiner book Good in Bed

Source: Good in Bed

People, World

“it never really occurred to her that literary men, if they like women at all, do not want literary women but girls.”

Muriel Spark book The Girls of Slender Means

Source: The Girls of Slender Means

Women, Men, Girl

“I shook my head and turned away, unable to hear this. “I’m leaving now. I really don’t want to see you again. Nothing personal. Well, yeah, actually it is.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Storm Born

Personality

“If you're in the room, I want to be next to you. If you're gone, I think about you. You're who I want to talk to. In a fight, I want you at my back. When we're together the sun is shining. When we're apart, everything is in shades of gray.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Thinking, Sun, Fight

“…He was always high on drugs. I was not a drug man, but in case I wanted to hide from myself for a few days, I knew I could get anything I wanted from him.”

Charles Bukowski book Post Office

Source: Post Office

“Just because I'm not forever by your side doesn't mean that's not precisely where I want to be.”

Stephanie Laurens (1943) Australian writer

Source: A Rogue's Proposal

“Doobie always wanted to see the badge. It was shiny, and he was eight.”

Eoin Colfer book Half Moon Investigations

Source: Half Moon Investigations

“The thing I want to know is, if you tell your brain not to do stuff… and it keeps doing it anyway, does that mean your mind has a mind of its own? And if it does, then who's in charge here, anyway?”

Jane Yolen book Armageddon Summer

Source: Armageddon Summer

“You are not trying to find the answer to a question, you are simply trying to confirm something you desperately want to believe; That everyone is evil. ” Chantal”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

Question, Evil

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor

Motivational, Deep, Inspirational, Leadership

“People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.”

George Bernard Shaw Mrs. Warren's Profession

Vivie, Act II
Source: 1890s, Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893)

People, World

“I don't care whether I really exist or don't, whether I'm real or fictional. What I want right now is to be the person who decides my own fate.”

John Scalzi book Redshirts

Source: Redshirts

Fate, Personality

“That is the most common excuse, and the most foolish of all. Love has never prevented a man from following his dreams. If she truly loves you, she will want the best for you.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Warrior of the Light

Love, Dreams

“Kat laughed. 'Who wants to live forever?'
Kish put his hand up. 'For the record, I do.'
Sin scowled at him. 'Then why do you irritate me so often?'
Suicidal tendencies are inherent in my species?”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Devil May Cry

Suicide

“The non-fiction bestseller lists frequently prove that we all want to know more about everything, even if we didn't know that we wanted to know - we're just waiting for the right person to come along and tell us about it.”

Nick Hornby (1957) English novelist

Waiting, Personality

“You never want to look in a mirror," Lula said. "Men love mirrors. They look at themselves doing the deed and they see Rex the Wonder Horse. Women look at themselves and think they need to renew their membership at the gym.”

Janet Evanovich book Seven Up

Source: Seven Up

Love, Women, Men, Thinking

“Well, you never knew exactly how much space you occupied in people's lives. Yet from this fog his affection emerged--the best contacts are when one knows the obstacles and still wants to preserve a relation.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

People

“Yeah, okay. But, Nico, youchoose how to live your life. You want to trust somebody? Maybe take a risk that I'm really your friend and I'll accept you. It's better than hiding.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Life

“It was a kingdom of dreams — a place where things would be just the way I wanted them to be.”

Judith McNaught book A Kingdom of Dreams

Source: A Kingdom of Dreams

Dreams, Way

“Why wouldn’t we run to God. He’s sooo good. God’s not mad at anybody. He just wants to help us be the best that we can be.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

God, Help, Madness

“I know now that I don’t want to love or be loved in half measures. I want it all, and to have it all, you have to risk it all.”

Jenny Han book P.S. I Still Love You

Source: P.S. I Still Love You

Love

“Sorry, I've had enough of running away, Sophie. Now I've got something I want to protect. It's you.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“But you hate poetry!
Yes, but you make me want to write it.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Hate

“That thing that looks like me but isn't? He'll burn down the world if Sebastian wants him to, and laugh while he's doing it. That's what you're saving, Clary.. Don't you understand? I'd rather be dead”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

World, Understanding, Dead

“I know I don't need him, but I think I want him.”

Charles Frazier book Cold Mountain

Source: Cold Mountain

Thinking

“The wheel of fortune […] tells us that we all only want victory. We all want to triumph. But we all have to learn to endure what comes. We have to learn to treat misfortune and great fortune with indifference. That is wisdom.”

Philippa Gregory book The Lady of the Rivers

Source: The Lady of the Rivers

Wisdom, Learning, Victory, Indifference

“Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said, constantly in the darkness,
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar.”

Joni Mitchell (1943) Canadian musician

Love, Star

“He strode to the wall and tore aside one of the velvet hangings. “You want to tell me what this is?” he demanded.
“It’s a door, Jace,” said Clary.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“So I lied to you last night. I said that I just wanted one night with you. But I want every night with you.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Night

“I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Love, Way, Understanding, Thinking

“I want to see the thirst
inside the syllables
I want to touch the fire
in the sound:
I want to feel the darkness
of the cry. I want
words as rough
as virgin rocks.” - Verb.”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Feeling, Cry

“All God wants of man is a peaceful heart.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

As translated in The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose (1991) edited by Stephen Mitchell, p. 115
Variant: God wants nothing of you but the gift of a peaceful heart.

God, Peace, Heart

Quotes about want page 46

Quotes about want
page 46