Quotes about whole page 12
“Good in Crisis; Sucks at Normal.’ That about sums up my whole life, doesn’t it?”
Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist
Source: UnSouled
“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
April 20, 1840
Journals (1838-1859)
Source: https://www.walden.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Chapter4.pdf#page=13
“What profit it a man if he gain the whole world but in this enterprise lose his soul?”
Philip K. Dick book The Man in the High Castle
Source: The Man in the High Castle
David Eddings book Belgarath the Sorcerer
Source: Belgarath the Sorcerer
“Don't get trapped into thinking people are halves instead of wholes.”
David Levithan (1972) American author and editor
Source: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story
Variant: You can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.
Source: For One More Day
Tim Dorsey book Triggerfish Twist
Source: Triggerfish Twist
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
Translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii.
“Give me the baby,” Maryse said jealously. “You’ve had him for four whole minutes, Clarissa.”
Cassandra Clare (1973) American author
Source: Born to Endless Night
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Burns
“And in that one grey hair I saw my whole life and I said "I think I need a hair.”
Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker
Source: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
“The Gunman is useless. I know it. He knows it. The whole bank knows it.”
Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author
Source: I Am the Messenger
Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore
Source: Kafka on the Shore (2002), Chapter 30, Colonel Sanders
Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer
Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
“My whole life has been one big broken promise.”
Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer
Source: How to Save a Life
“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.”
Morris West (1916–1999) Australian writer
Source: The Clowns of God (1981), Ch. II (ellipses in original) <!-- p. 35 -->
This statement begins with a quotation from Horace, Odes, Book I, Ode ix, line 13.
Context: "Forbear to ask what tomorrow may bring" … If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.
H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer
In Defense of Women (1918)
1910s
Variant: The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
Source: In Defense Of Women
Context: Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) American journalist
“The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious dreamer, that is all.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher
“You can live your whole life not realizing that what you're looking for is right in front of you.”
David Nicholls book One Day
Variant: You can live your whole life not realising that what you're looking for is right in front of you.
Source: One Day
“Why don't they make the whole plane out of that black box stuff?”
Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author
“There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.”
Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor
Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure
Hagakure (c. 1716)
Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
Context: There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.
Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else.
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
Lynsay Sands Canadian writer
Source: Love Bites
“Beware of allowing a tactless word, a rebuttal, a rejection to obliterate the whole sky”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
" Notebook N http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/vanWyhe_notebooks.html" (1838) page 36 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=25&itemID=CUL-DAR126.-&viewtype=text <br class="br">quoted in [Darwin's Religious Odyssey, 2002, William E., Phipps, Trinity Press International, 9781563383847, 32, http://books.google.com/books?id=0TA81BTW3dIC&pg=PA32] <br class="br">also quoted in On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection (1996) edited by Thomas F. Glick and David Kohn, page 81 <br class="br">Other letters, notebooks, journal articles, recollected statements <br class="br">Source: Notebooks
“Now I know that if you wait until you think you are ready, you'll wait your whole life”
John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower
Source: Erak's Ransom
“Travel light. She extended her arms to embrace her house, maybe the whole world.”
Junot Díaz book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Source: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure
As translated by William Scott Wilson. This first sentence of this passage was used as a military slogan during the early 20th century to encourage soldiers to throw themselves into battle. Variant translations:
Bushido is realised in the presence of death. In the case of having to choose between life and death you should choose death. There is no other reasoning. Move on with determination. To say dying without attaining ones aim is a foolish sacrifice of life is the flippant attitude of the sophisticates in the Kamigata area. In such a case it is difficult to make the right judgement. No one longs for death. We can speculate on whatever we like. But if we live without having attaining that aim, we are cowards. This is an important point and the correct path of the Samurai. When we calmly think of death morning and evening and are in despair, We are able to gain freedom in the way of the Samurai. Only then can we fulfil our duty without making mistakes in life.
By the Way of the warrior is meant death. The Way of the warrior is death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. It means nothing more than this. It means to see things through, being resolved.
I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.
The way of the Samurai is in death.
I have found the essence of Bushido: to die!
Hagakure (c. 1716)
Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
Context: The Way of the Samurai is found in death. When it comes to either/or, there is only the quick choice of death. It is not particularly difficult. Be determined and advance. To say that dying without reaching one's aim is to die a dog's death is the frivolous way of sophisticates. When pressed with the choice of life or death, it is not necessary to gain one's aim.
We all want to live. And in large part we make our logic according to what we like. But not having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice. This is a thin dangerous line. To die without gaining one's aim is a dog's death and fanaticism. But there is no shame in this. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai. If by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.
Don DeLillo (1936) American novelist, playwright and essayist
Source: White Noise: Text and Criticism
“Love is the whole and more than all.”
E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet
Source: 100 Selected Poems
“I'd shut the whole world down just to tell you”
Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist
Source: Love Is a Mix Tape
George Gordon Byron book The Bride of Abydos
Canto I, Stanza 6; this can be compared to: "The bloom of young Desire and purple light of Love", Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy I. 3, line 16; also: "Oh, could you view the melody / Of every grace / And music of her face", Richard Lovelace, Orpheus to Beasts; "There is music in the beauty, and the silent note which Cupid strikes, far sweeter than the sound of an instrument", Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, Part ii, Section ix.
The Bride of Abydos (1813)
“the whole world is caught in her glance
and at last
the universe is
magnificent.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author
Travels in Alaska http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/travels_in_alaska/ (1915), chapter 1: Puget Sound and British Columbia <br class="br">1910s
“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
1770s, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
Source: A Summary View of the Rights of British America: Reprinted from the Original Ed.,
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …
As quoted in Philosophy on the Go (2007) by Joey Green, p. 222
General sources