Quotes about well
page 23

“Well, I didn't need them.
I didn't need anyone. I was Lola Rose.
I just wished I looked more like my idea of Lola Rose.”

Jacqueline Wilson book Lola Rose

Source: Lola Rose

Idea

“I left her there crying as I walked toward the gate. A piece of my soul had died when Dimitri had fallen. Turning my back on her now, I felt another piece die as well. Soon there wouldn't be anything left inside me.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

Soul, Cry

“Well let's face it, who on earth besides antique dealers and gay couples actually still give dinner parties?”

Nigel Slater (1958) English food writer, journalist and broadcaster

The Guardian, London, In this month's OFM, Nigel, Slater, 2005-11-13, 2010-05-20 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,1637598,00.html,

“You snuck up on me,” she said. “I guess I’m not much of a Shadowhunter, huh?”
Simon shrugged. “Well, in your defense, I do move with a silent, pantherlike grace.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“It's good to be just plain happy, it's a little better to know that you're happy; but to understand that you're happy and to know why and how and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss.”

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist

Happiness, Understanding

“Take it from me, there's nothing like a job well done. Except the quiet enveloping darkness at the bottom of a bottle of Jim Beam after a job done any way at all.”

Hunter S. Thompson book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Source: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Way

“He that hath truth on his side is a fool as well as a coward if he is afraid to own it because fo other mens's opinions.”

Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) English trader, writer and journalist

Men, Truth, Fools

“How the hell do you think I feel?" I don't want to end up inside a woman!" He paused. "Well, at least not that way”

Karen Chance book Touch the Dark

Source: Touch the Dark

Way, Feeling, Hell, Thinking

“He understood well enough how a man with a choice between pride and responsibility will almost always choose pride--if responsibility robs him of his manhood.”

Stephen King The Running Man

Source: The Running Man

For Men

“You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you.”

Nick Hornby (1957) English novelist

Life, People, Feeling

“O Shepherd. You said you would make my feet like hinds' feet and set me upon High Places".

"Well", he answered "the only way to develop hinds' feet is to go by the paths which the hinds use.”

Hannah Hurnard book Hinds' Feet on High Places

Source: Hinds' Feet on High Places

Way

“I'm always so glad I have no idea what you're vacantly chatting about," said Jace. It fills me with a sense of peace and well-being.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

Peace, Idea, Sense

“This was a big storm and he might as well enjoy it. It was ruining everything, but you might as well enjoy it”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

Source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

“Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.”

Karen Joy Fowler (1950) American novelist, short story writer, editor

“Soon someone would say the fatal words, "Well, I think it’s time for me to go to bed.”

Evelyn Waugh book Vile Bodies

Source: Vile Bodies

Thinking, Time

“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

“A woman, especially if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.”

Jane Austen book Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey (1817)
Works, Northanger Abbey

“Of course they didn't give us this much, Sage. But I had to make sure I nailed my first assignment. Takes a lot of tries before you hit perfection." He paused to reconsider that. "Well, except for my parents. They got it on the first try.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Parent, Perfection

“if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“We are all unkind from time to time. We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Variant: We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.
Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Change, Time, Parting

“Please, Achimou? (Tory)
You are the only being who’s ever called me that. (Acheron)
Well, I’d call you babycakes, but I think that might offend you even more. (Tory)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

Thinking

“I'm Irish!… When I feel well I feel better than anyone, when I am in pain I yell at the top of my lungs, and when I am dead I shall be deader than anybody.”

Morgan Llywelyn (1937) Irish writer

Pain, Feeling, Dead

“I suddenly understood that if every moment of a book should be taken seriously, then every moment of a life should be taken seriously as well.”

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

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

Life, Books

“When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

Source: [As attributed by Alastair Reid in, The New Yorker, June 24, 1996; as well as in, The New Yorker, July 7, 1986]

Books

“Each of us, face to face with other men, is clothed with some sort of dignity, but we know only too well all the unspeakable things that go on in the heart.”

Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) Italian dramatist, novelist, short story writer, and poet, Nobel Prize for Literature laureate

Source: Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays

Men, Heart, Clothes

“No," said Luis, "You can't date the Lord of the Night Court."
"Well, I'm not, he dumped me."
"You can't get dumped by the lord of the night court."
"Oh, yes, you can. You so completely can.”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Ironside

Night

“I decided it was well past time to take him home and place him in bosom of his family. If you had rather I put him in an orphanage, I fully understand.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Midnight Heir

Family, Home, Understanding, Time

“Yes, well, life is a folly. If you live long enough, nothing is surprising.”

Tracy Chevalier book Girl with a Pearl Earring

Source: Girl with a Pearl Earring

Life

“Peeta?" I creep along the bank.

"Well, don't step on me.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“We'll all grow up someday, Meg, we might as well know what we want.
~Amy March~”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

“Except, now that I don’t have a car, I can’t really make good on my birthday promise.”

Sydney thought about it for several moments. “Well. I’ve got a car.”

An hour later, I vowed I’d never make fun of that Mazda again.”

Richelle Mead book The Fiery Heart

Source: The Fiery Heart

Cars, Birthday

“Well, I hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be……. really nice.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Hope

“You want to take me to a movie?" I asked.
"Well, not really," he said. "What I really want is for you to be my girlfriend. But I thought saying that might scare you off.”

Sarah Dessen book What Happened to Goodbye

Source: What Happened to Goodbye

“She's kind of a, well, you know, a B with an itch.”

Alyson Nöel book Evermore

Source: Evermore

“Name three types of olives."

"Olives! I wouldn't know one type!"

"Well, there are three. You can get green ones, you can get black ones, or you can get stuffed.”

John Marsden book Tomorrow, When the War Began

Source: Tomorrow, When the War Began

“It's so dark," she said lamely.

"You want me to hold your hand?"

Clary put both her hands behind her back like a small child.

"Don't talk down to me."

"Well, I could hardly talk up to you. You're too short.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

“Above literature?' said the Queen. 'Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.”

Alan Bennett book The Uncommon Reader

Source: The Uncommon Reader

Literature

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.”

Herman Melville book Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs

Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs (1854)

Housing

“Rose never would have done anything like that,' he countered. He paused to reconsider, and I could've sworn there was a hint of a smile there. 'Well at least not in such a public setting.'- Dimitri Belikov”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

Smile

“I'd like to say I took the news well.
The truth was, I wanted to strangle the Hunters of Artemis one eternal maiden at a time.
--Percy Jackson”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Truth, Time

“Guess that's thirty-one pieces of silver you've got now, huh? Sleep well, Judas.”

Mark Millar (1969) Scottish comic book writer

Source: Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event

Sleep

“It is important to keep in mind that our bodies must work pretty well, or their wouldn't be so many humans on the planet.”

Ina May Gaskin (1940) American midwife

Source: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

“Me: “Ngh”
Cal: “Well put.”
…… Every Boy's Got One”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Boy

“They know they’ve won,” Carter guessed. “They’re making a show of it.”
“Yes,” Amos said.
“Well, let’s blow up the boats or something!” I said.
Amos looked at me. “Is that your strategy, honestly?”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”

John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist

Secret, Success, Success, Life

“People always tell me "Have a nice day." Well what if I don't want to? What if I want to have a crappy day?”

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

People

“Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

For Men

“Who you get, and how it works out - there's so much luck involved, as well as the million branching consequences of your unconscious choice of mate, that no one and no amount of talking can untangle it if it turns out unhappily.”

Ian McEwan book Enduring Love

Page 82.
Source: Enduring Love (1997)

“Mom's eyes blazed. "Are you sleeping with her?"

Oh, god. Did we have to do this here? Now? "Well, actually," I smirked, "we don't get a lot of sleep.”

Julie Anne Peters book Keeping You a Secret

Source: Keeping You a Secret

God, Moms, Sleep

“Big brothers are the ones who are supposed to pull their punches. Little sisters—well, we should be able
to hit as hard as we like, shouldn’t we?”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Sister

“We were not a hugging people. In terms of emotional comfort it was our belief that no amount of physical contact could match the healing powers of a well made cocktail.”

David Sedaris Naked

Source: Naked

People

“So I want to ask you a hypothetical question.

My favorite kind. Next to rhetorical ones. I can nap equally well through either kind.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Shadow

Source: Ender's Shadow

Question

“A mouth of no distinction but well practiced, before I entered my teens, in irony. For what is irony but the repository of hurt? And what is hurt but the repository of hope?”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Source: Faithless: Tales of Transgression

Hope, Hurt

“Annabeth smiled. “I don’t know the ocean very well, but my boyfriend does. I think it’s time you met Percy.”

Rick Riordan book The Hammer of Thor

Source: The Hammer of Thor

Smile, Thinking, Time

“Well, I don't want you to die," Tessa said. "I don't know why I feel it so strongly -- I've just met you -- but I don't want you to die."

"And I trust you," he said. "I don't know why -- I've just met you -- but I do.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Feeling

“And you can tell Darroc that Ms. Lane is mine. If he wants her, he can bloody well come and get her”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Dreamfever

“Congratulations, love. You traded up. Does he treat you well?'
'He's a teddy bear,' I said.
Teddy bear looked like he was suffering from murder withdrawal.

(Rene and Kate on Jim!)”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

Love, Suffering

“What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean.”

Agatha Christie book The Body in the Library

Source: The Body in the Library

Feeling, Housing

“Well then," Faye said. "Now that you've heard our story, we have just one question to ask you." She fixed Cassie with an odd half smile and said in a sweet, false voice, "Are you planning to be a good witch or a bad witch?”

L.J. Smith book The Initiation

Source: The Initiation

Smile, Question, Falseness

“Well, if I can't be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.”

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist

Happiness

“Life among academics had taught me that a well-expressed opinion is usually better than a badly expressed fact, so far as professional advancement goes.”

Diana Gabaldon book Outlander

Source: Outlander

Life

“Well, yes, I call it the Expando-Duck. It's perfect if you need a small metal duck. Or a larger metal duck.”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

Perfection

“520. Living well is the best revenge.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Revenge

“It occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

Men, Intelligence

“Really? That would be a first. I'm the son of, Jason. I might as well be covered in blood or sewage, the way people treat me. I don't belong anywhere. I'm not even from this. But that's not enough to set me apart.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

People, Way

“Check your spam folder
The prophecies might be there
No? Well, I'm stumped. Bye”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

“Live it well and this life can be grand.”

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Hawksong

Source: Hawksong

Life

“It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells… to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin.”

Dave Barry (1947) American writer

Guy

“The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

New England Reformers
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Essays, First Series

“Erlking,” I told her. “Big-time bad guy. Wants to eat me.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Well. I met him,” I said.”

Jim Butcher Proven Guilty

Source: Proven Guilty

Guy, Time

“Mahoney: "Thirty-seven seconds. Great, well done; now we wait."

Mr. Magorium: "No, we breathe, we pulse, we regenerate. our hearts beat, our minds create, our souls ingest. Thirty-seven seconds well used is a lifetime.”

Suzanne Weyn book Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Source: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Soul, Waiting, Heart

“It's been going so well. We have a wonderful time in class, and I can feel the chemistry between you.

- That's because it's chemistry class.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Source: Beastly

Feeling, Time

“Jamie shook his head at me admiringly. “And here I thought I married you because ye had a fair face and a fine fat arse. To think you’ve a brain as well!” He neatly dodged the blow I aimed at his ear, and grinned at me.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

Thinking

“To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one's fling from time to time, smoke one's pipe, and drink one's coffee in peace”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Peace, Coffee, Drink, Time

“You weren't able to talk sense into him?"
Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death."
I see. You tried the diplomatic approach.”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

Death, Sense

“Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.”

Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Love, People

“In the middle of the night, things well up from the past that are not always cause for rejoicing--the unsolved, the painful encounters, the mistakes, the reasons for shame or woe. But all, good or bad, give me food for thought, food to grow on.”

May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist

Source: At Seventy: A Journal

Pain, Food, Past, Night

“Remember, the past need not become our future as well.”

Brandon Sanderson Elantris

Source: Elantris

Past, Future

“If we're all going to hell in a handbasket, we might as well make it a party on the way down”

James St. James (1966) American writer

Source: Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

Way, Hell

“Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is.”

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men

Source: Of Mice and Men

Guy

“It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Inimitable Jeeves

The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)

Alcohol, Food

“No blade can puncture the human heart like the well-chosen words of a spiteful son.”

Abraham Verghese book Cutting for Stone

Source: Cutting for Stone

Heart

“Everything, as you well know… cannot always be sweetness and light.”

Kate DiCamillo book The Tale of Despereaux

Source: The Tale of Despereaux

Light

“God save us from people who mean well.”

Vikram Seth A Suitable Boy

Source: A Suitable Boy

God, People

“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

Soyez réglé dans votre vie et ordinaire comme un bourgeois, afin d'être violent et original dans vos œuvres. To Gertrude Tennant (December 25, 1876)
Correspondence
Variant: Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

Life, Back To Work

“Maybe you're graduating from fireballs to lightning bolts," Adrian suggested. "I bet it'd be a lot like throwing ninja stars. Except, well, you could incinerate people.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

People, Star

“Tell them stories. They need the truth. You must tell them true stories, and everything will be well, just tell them stories.”

Philip Pullman book The Amber Spyglass

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 32 : Morning
Context: One of the ghosts — an old woman — beckoned, urging her to come close.
Then she spoke, and Mary heard her say:
"Tell them stories. They need the truth. You must tell them true stories, and everything will be well, just tell them stories."
That was all, and then she was gone. It was one of those moments when we suddenly recall a dream that we’ve unaccountably forgotten, and back in a flood comes all the emotion we felt in our sleep. It was the dream she’d tried to describe to Atal, the night picture; but as Mary tried to find it again, it dissolved and drifted apart, just as these presences did in the open air. The dream was gone.
All that was left was the sweetness of that feeling, and the injunction to tell them stories.

Truth

“Eating next to a twenty-foot-long crocodile took some getting used to, but Philip was well trained. He only ate bacon, stray waterfowl, and the occasional invading monster.”

Rick Riordan book The Serpent's Shadow

Source: The Serpent's Shadow

Training

“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