Quotes about well
page 25

“If I were rain,
That joins sky and earth that otherwise never touch,
Could I join two hearts as well?”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: Bleach, Volume 01

“I was thanking him for… well, for something I'm not sure I can explain even now. For showing me that something besides cruelty could be found in the world, I suppose.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

World

“Well," I said finally, knowing he was waiting, "you make me laugh."
He nodded. "And?"
"You're pretty good-looking."
"Pretty good-looking? I called you beautiful."
"You want to be beautiful?" I asked him.
"Are you saying I'm not?”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

Beauty, Waiting

“Well, I make that one murder victim, one police interrogation and one conversation with a ghost,” George said. “Now that’s what I call a busy evening.”
Lockwood nodded. “To think some people just watch television.”

Jonathan Stroud book The Whispering Skull

Source: The Whispering Skull

People, Business, Thinking

“It’s fairly standard. Also, I’m fourteen. Also, your
beard’s stupid.”
“Isn’t this fun?” Skulduggery said brightly. “The three of us
getting along so well.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: The Faceless Ones

Stupidity

“Gaps don't/just happen./There is a/generative element/inside them,/a welling motion/
as when cold/waters shoulder/up through/warmer oceans./And where gaps/choose to widen,/coordinates warp,/even in places/constant since/the oldest maps.”

Kay Ryan (1945) American poet

Water

“Well…… That's what you always forget, isn't it? I mean, you forget to pay attention to what's happening. And that's the same as not being here and now.”

Aldous Huxley book Island

Source: Island

Forgetting

“People ask, How did you get in there? What they really want to know is if they are likely to end up in there as well. I can't answer the real question. All I can tell them is, It's easy. Most people pass over incrementally, making a series of perforations in the membrane between here and there until an opening exists. And who can resist an opening?”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted (1994)

People, Question

“You don't have to love me but you damn well have to respect me.”

Toni Morrison book God Help the Child

Source: God Help the Child

Love

“She's sent the crows out to blind the guests coming for dinner!"

What?"

She's BLINDING THE GUESTS COMING FOR DINNER!"

Well, that's one way to avoid having to dust, I suppose.”

Gregory Maguire (1954) Novelist

Way

“Kaname: Ichijou… about Aido…
Ichijou: Hmmm?
Kaname: He's beginning to get on my nerves…
Ichijou: Well, he's in love with you.”

Matsuri Hino Japanese manga artist

Love

“What was the self-sacrifice?"
I jettisoned half of a much-loved and I think irreplaceable pair of shoes."
Why was that self-sacrifice?"
Because they were mine!" said Ford, crossly.
I think we have different value systems."
Well mine's better.”

Douglas Adams book Mostly Harmless

Source: Mostly Harmless

Love, Shoe, Thinking

“Well, I can't leave Mags behind," says Finnick. "She's one of the few people who actually likes me.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

People

“It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.”

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-British writer

Life, Support

“there is nothing bad to fear; once you have crossed that threshold, all is well. Another world, and you do not have to speak”

Franz Kafka Letter to His Father

Source: Letter to His Father

World, Fear

“Regrets and apologies are all very well, but there's things that happen in a person's life that are so scorched in the memory and burned into the heart that there's no forgetting them. They're like brands.”

John Boyne (1971) Irish novelist, author of children's and youth fiction

Source: Mutiny on the Bounty

Life, Memory, Heart, Personality

“To know a thing well, know it's limits; Only when pushed beyond it's tolerance will it's true nature be seen.
-The Amtal Rule”

Frank Herbert book Children of Dune

Source: Children of Dune

Nature

“This is just my way of pointing out that we people who leap without looking are not stupid. We know damn well we might be headed for a fall. But we also know that, sometimes, it's the only way out.”

Jodi Picoult book Lone Wolf

Source: Lone Wolf

People, Stupidity, Way

“Don't you love Jesus?' Well, I thought an' I thought an' finally I says, 'No, I don't know nobody name' Jesus. I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

Source: The Grapes of Wrath

Love, People

“You come to me for advice, but you can't cope with anything you don't recognize. Hmmm. So we'll have to tell you something you already know but make it sound like news, eh Well, business as usual, I suppose.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Source: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Business

“You need me as much as I need you. That makes us equal partners in my book.
Well, your book is just wrong.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

Books

“I will not waste my life! I will finish my course and finish it well. I will display the Gospel of the grace of God in all I do. I will run my race to the end.” - Paul”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Source: Don't Waste Your Life

Life, God

“Don't worry, I won't bite. Well, at least not in the way you're afraid of." He chuckled at his own joke.
- Christian Ozera.”

Richelle Mead Vampire Academy

Source: Vampire Academy

Way

“Nothing else has any efficacy, I might as well be myself.
- But your yourself sucks!
- It is, lamentably, all I have.”

Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“You have someone in your life whom you honor and revere so much that every hurt on them is inflicted on you as well. And the closer they are to you, the greater the pain.”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Life, Pain, Hurt

“That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Time

“Well sure, who doesn't need a boyfriend? but realistically, those exotic creatures are hard to come by. At least a quality one.”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

“This word: Thou shalt not be overcome, was said full clearly and full mightily, for assuredness and comfort against all tribulations that may come. He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome. God willeth that we take heed to these words, and that we be ever strong in sure trust, in weal and woe. For He loveth and enjoyeth us, and so willeth He that we love and enjoy Him and mightily trust in Him; and all shall be well.
And soon after, all was close and I saw no more.”

Julian of Norwich book Revelations of Divine Love

The Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 68
Source: Revelations of Divine Love

Love, God, Strong, Affliction

“Well", Fang said, mimicking a thick Southern drawl. "I must say its mighty nice of them Daimons to clean up after themselves when you kill them" He held his hands up to them. "Look Ma, no mess."

"Does Fang have an off switch?" Talon asked Vane.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Night Embrace

Source: Night Embrace

“Well, most grown-ups forget what it was like to be a kid. I vowed that I would never forget.”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Forgetting

“That's pretty hot," he said.
"Punching me in the eye?"
"Well, no. Of course not. I meant the idea of getting rough with you is hot. I'm a big fan of full-contact sports."
"I'm sure you are.”

Richelle Mead book Frostbite

Source: Frostbite

Idea, Sport

“In your twenties you're becoming who you're going to be and so you might as well not be an asshole.”

Cheryl Strayed (1968) author, memoirist, blogger

“Have you ever heard of the expression, ladies first"
"Yes"
"Well, it's truer in bed than it is anywhere else.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Fire

“Speaks well of a man to need a little something in this world. I wouldn't trust a man who could git through it cold sober.”

Harry Crews (1935–2012) Novelist, short story writer, essayist

Source: Blood and Grits

World

“Well you can go ahead and hand your head out the window if you feel like it"

"I'm a werewolf not a golden retriever”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Clary and Luke, pg. 415
Variant: "Well, you can go ahead and hang your head out of the car window if you feel like it."
Luke laughed. "I'm a werewolf, not a golden retriever."
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)

Feeling

“Sir Beldevere: What makes you think she's a witch?
Peasant 3: Well, she turned me into a newt!
Sir Beldevere: A newt?
Peasant 3: [meekly after a long pause]… I got better.
Crowd: [shouts] Burn her anyway!”

Graham Chapman (1941–1989) English comedian, writer and actor

Source: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book): Mønti Pythøn Ik Den Hølie Gräilen

Thinking

“I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you. A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Time

“People go on marrying because they can't resist natural forces, although many of them may know perfectly well that they are possibly buying a month's pleasure with a life's discomfort.”

Thomas Hardy book Jude the Obscure

Source: Jude the Obscure

Life, People, Pleasure, Nature

“He could build a city. Has a certain capacity. There’s a niche in his chest
where a heart would fit perfectly
and he thinks if he could just maneuver one into place –
well then, game over.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

Game, Thinking, Heart

“That really was NOT fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? NOT fun.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Parting

“He insisted that stars were people so well loved, they were traced in constellations, to live forever”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Love, People, Star

“I think now that being free is not being powerful or rich or well regarded or without obligation but being able to love. To love someone else enough to forget about yourself even for one moment is to be free.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Passion

Source: The Passion

Love, Thinking, Forgetting

“I have won important things for myself, but I'm going to destroy them, because I tell myself they have lost their meaning. I know that is not true. I know they are important, and that if I destroy them, I'll be destroying myself, as well.”

Paulo Coelho book The Valkyries

Source: The Valkyries

“Well, let me leave it at this: if God does exist, He would have a great deal be sad about. And if He doesn’t exist, then that too would make Him quite sad, I imagine. So to answer your question, God must be sad.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

God, Sadness, Imagination, Question

“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.”

Studs Terkel (1912–2008) American author, historian and broadcaster

Life, Search

“If I can't joke about imminent death, then I might as well just resign.”

James A. Owen The Search for the Red Dragon

Source: The Search for the Red Dragon

Death

“I hoped they couldn't run very fast with those stubby little legs and flippers, but they waddled along pretty well.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Hope

“When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it - or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don't suppose many people try to do it.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

People, Books, Imagination, Reading

“Man, you cannot be real," the human said softly.
"Why not?"
"You just can't."
She laughed a little. "Well, I am." He cleared his throat again. Offered her a lopsided grin.
"Mind if I ask you to prove it?"
"How?"
"Can I touch your hair?”

Jessica Bird book Dark Lover

Source: Dark Lover

“Hurry ruins saints as well as artists.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Source: Seeds of Contemplation

“But he knew well enough that any man in the right circumstances could be dehumanised by panic.”

Arthur C. Clarke book 2001: A Space Odyssey

Source: 2001: A Space Odyssey

“When you live in the dark for so long, you begin to love it. And it loves you back, and isn’t that the point? You think, the face turns to the shadows, and just as well. It accepts, it heals, it allows. But it also devours.”

Raymond Carver (1938–1988) American short story author and poet

Love, Thinking

“Well, it's nice to have a dream. But it's even nicer when there's a remote possibility of it coming true.”

Alyson Nöel book Blue Moon

Source: Blue Moon

Dreams

“Well, see, there's this cave in Switzerland I really need to find.' She slipped on her sunglasses; was already in the middle of the street when she turned and looked back at Hale and Gabrielle. 'You coming?”

Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: Uncommon Criminals

“Yeah, Atatsuki, don't call him by that name. It's rude! Kuran-sama is handsome, well-behaved, and a perfect honor student. Calling him "gang leader" would ruin his image!! At least call him "SUPREME GANG LEADER!!”

Matsuri Hino Japanese manga artist

Perfection

“If you don't want to have sex, I don't want to talk about our feelings."
He scrubbed his hand through his hair, looking confused. "Well, that's for damn sure the first time a woman's ever said that to me.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Blue-Eyed Devil

Sex, Feeling, Time

“What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it.”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Thinking

“People long to go backward in their imagination as well as forward. We don't wish simply to exist forever in some future; we wish to have existed in some distant past.”

Gloria Whelan (1923) British children's writer

Source: Parade of Shadows

People, Imagination, Distant, Past

“And I guess you judge how well you're doing by how well you sleep at night… and what your dreams are like.”

Stephen King book Different Seasons

Source: Different Seasons

Dreams, Sleep, Night

“A girl calls and asks, "Does it hurt very much to die?"
"Well, sweetheart," I tell her, "yes, but it hurts a lot more to keep living.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Survivor

Source: Survivor

Girl, Hurt

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

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

Variant: Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.

Motivation, Attitude

“My father tutored me well on amnesia. He always said it was a necessary ingredient for any friendship. (Kiara)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of the Night

Friendship

“Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Emma (1815)
Works, Emma

Nature, Personality

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

Motivation, Attitude

“Men are easy,' he said, fingers tapping on his mahogany desk. 'A man's plumbing is like his mind: simple, very few surprises. You ladies, on the other hand… well, God put a lot of thought into making you.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Source: The Kite Runner

Men, God

“‎"Does all the beauty of the world stop when you die?"

"No," said the Old Oak; "it will last much longer - longer than I can even think of."

"Well, then," said the little May-fly, "we have the same time to live; only we reckon differently.”

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet

Source: The Complete Fairy Tales

World, Beauty, Thinking, Time

“Marry me, Rebecca… You might as well say yes. I'll just talk you into it.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

“it is all very well for you to write simply and the simpler the better. But do not start to think so damned simply. Know how complicated it is and then state it simply.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Thinking

“You’re playing the creepy vibe a little hard,” I said. “Might as well go for broke, put on a black top hat and pipe in some organ music.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

Music

“What kind of shapeshifter has orange fur anyway?" "Weredingo." Now I'd seen everything. Well, at least he didn't steal my baby.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

Baby

“The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it according to his inner self. The words go to the ear, but the true message travels straight to the spirit.”

Juliet Marillier book Son of the Shadows

Source: Son of the Shadows

Fear, Travel

“parenting isn't a noun but a verb--an ongoing process instead of an accomplishment. And that no matter how many years you put into the job, the learning curve is, well, fairly flat.”

Jodi Picoult book House Rules

Source: House Rules

Parent, Learning

“We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

"The Meaning of Life: The Big Picture", Life Magazine (December 1988)
Interviews
Context: For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stonewritten. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

Death, War, Drink, Beer