Quotes about wish
page 8

“And at that moment Jude thought something that he would never forgive himself for.
He wished that he had never met any of them.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

Forgiveness

“She wished she had a little yellow house of her own, with a flower box full of real flowers and herbs – pansies and rosemary – and a sweet lover who would swing dance with her in the evenings and cook pasta and read poetry aloud.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Source: Violet & Claire

Flowers, Lovers, Reading, Dance

“girls
please give your
bodies and your
lives
to
the young men
who
deserve them

besides
there is
no way
I would welcome
the
intolerable
dull
senseless hell
you would bring
me

and
I wish you
luck
in bed
and
out

but not
in
mine

thank
you.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense

Men, Way, Girl, Hell

“These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.”

Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)

Letter to John Quincy Adams (19 January 1780)
Context: These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues.
Context: These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by the scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.

Life, Time

“I know this is insane, but I somehow wish I had been in Auschwitz with my parents so I could really know what they lived through! I guess it's some kind of guilt about having had an easier life than they did.”

Art Spiegelman (1948) cartoonist from the United States

Source: The Complete Maus

Life, Parent

“I wished for nothing beyond her smile, and to walk with her thus, hand in hand, along a sun warmed, flower bordered path.”

André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist

Smile, Flowers, Sun

“I wish I was close to Jace Herondale," Julie sighted. "He is so gorgeous."
"He is foxier than a fox fur in a fox hole on fox hunting day," Beatriz agreed dreamily.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy

“Though there had been moments of beauty in it, Mariam knew that life for most part has been unkind to her. But as she walked the final twenty paces, she could not help but wish for more of it.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Life, Beauty, Help, Parting

“Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Hero of Ages

“If life is a punishment, one should wish for an end; if life is a test, one should wish it to be short.”

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814) writer and botanist from France

Source: Paul and Virginia by Bernardin de St. Pierre, Fiction, Literary

Life

“Shooting stars are not stars at all. They re just rocks that enter the atmosphere and catch fire under friction. What we wish on when we see one is only a trail of debris.”

Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper

Source: My Sister's Keeper

Star

“Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes.”

Jacques Barzun (1907–2012) Historian

Stupidity

“I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

Fools, Thinking

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

Joanne Harris (1964) British author

Source: The Girl with No Shadow

Horse

“Wish for what you want, work for what you need.
-Carmen's grandmother”

Ann Brashares The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Source: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

“They told us not to wish in the first place, not to aspire, not to try; to be quiet, to play nice, to shoot low and aspire not at all. They are always wrong. Follow your dreams. Make your wishes. Create the future. And above all, believe in yourself. That is the lesson of Babylon 5.”

J. Michael Straczynski (1954) American writer and television producer

From the Babylon 5 Calendar (1998).

Dreams, Future

“I wish you all a long and happy life”

Alice Sebold book The Lovely Bones

Source: The Lovely Bones

Goodbye, Life, Happiness

“It is not possible to control the outside of yourself until you have mastered your breathing space. It is not possible to change anything until you understand the substance you wish to change.”

Jeanette Winterson book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Understanding, Change

“I wish I could stop being in love with Sam. I really do.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Love

“i wish the whole world was dead serious about food instead of silly rockets and machines and explosives using everybody's food money to blow their heads off anyway.”

Jack Kerouac book The Dharma Bums

Source: The Dharma Bums

Money, World, Food, Dead

“He felt that he was himself and did not wish to be anyone else. He only wished now to be better than he had been formerly”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence…”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

1770s, Boston Massacre trial (1770)
Variant: Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
Source: The Portable John Adams

Passion

“I wished she'd been smart enough, or loving enough, to realize everybody has burdens that crush them, only they don't give up their children.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Love, Children

“The fact that the market is not doing what we wish it would do is no reason to automatically assume that the government would do better.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

“I wished that love could be simple, that it was always given and returned in the same measure, equally and at the same time, that all the planets aligned in a perfect way to dispel all doubts, that it was easy to understand and never painful.”

Mary E. Pearson (1955) young-adult fiction writer

Source: The Heart of Betrayal

Love, Pain, Way, Understanding

“Had you but seen it, I promise you, your high-minded principles would have melted like candle wax. Never would you have wished such beauty away.”

Jennifer Donnelly book Revolution

Source: Revolution

Beauty

“I wish people had half the honor of dragons.”

Terry Goodkind book Wizard's First Rule

Source: Wizard's First Rule

People

“Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first call promising.”

Cyril Connolly book Enemies of Promise

Source: Enemies of Promise (1938), Part 2: The Charlock’s Shade, Ch. 13: The Poppies (p. 109-110)
Context: Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first call promising.
Young writers if they are to mature require a period of between three and seven years in which to live down their promise. Promise is like the mediaeval hangman who after settling the noose, pushed his victim off the platform and jumped on his back, his weight acting a drop while his jockeying arms prevented the unfortunate from loosening the rope. When he judged him dead he dropped to the ground.

God

“We hit the sidewalk, and dropped hands. How I wished, right then, that the whole world was a street.”

Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

World

“It's good to see you, little one." He (Uncle Eddie) scanned her short skirt. "I only wish I were not seeing quite so much of you.”

Ally Carter book Heist Society

Source: Heist Society

“We even make ourselves up, fusing what we are with what we wish into what we must become. I'm not sure why it must be so, but it is.”

Robert Fulghum (1937) American writer

Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things

“It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale.”

Annie Dillard book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Source: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Books, Night, Happiness

“I wish you way more than luck.”

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

Source: This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

Way

“I suppose now I'm obliged to wish you happiness in your new life. Although happiness in the absence of indoor plumbing is a debatable concept.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Mine Till Midnight

Life, Happiness

“I wish I could care what you do or where you go but I can't… My dear, I don't give a damn.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

“"You disappear so completely into your head sometimes. I wish I could follow you."
You do. You live in my head all the time.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Jace and Clary, pg. 354
Variant: You disappear so completely into your head sometimes," he said. "I wish I could follow you.
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Time

“I didn't feel empty. I wished I'd felt empty…. I wanted to be empty like an overturned pitcher. But I was full like a stone.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Feeling

“Whereever you end up;" Jack whispered into my ear."I wish you clear skies. Always”

Wendy Mass book Every Soul a Star

Source: Every Soul a Star

“If fate is a millstone, we are the grist. There is nothing we can do. So I wish for strength. If I cannot protect them from the wheel, then give me a strong blade, and enough strength, to shatter fate”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Fate, Strong

“That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Time

“… there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Truth, Heart

“I wish," he said, "I had known at eighteen what I know now - that there are some things on which one does not compromise.”

Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist

Source: Simply Perfect

“Nobody knows you as well as our spouse. And that means no one will be quicker to recognize a change when you deliberately start sacrificing your wants and wishes to make sure his or her needs are met.”

Stephen Kendrick book The Love Dare

Source: The Love Dare

Change

“When I read a good book, I wish my life were three thousand years long.”

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

Life, Books, Reading

“Often I wish this would all be over, Liesel, but then somehow you do something like walk down the basement steps with a snowman in your hands.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

“somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence.
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you always open petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously)her first rose or if it be your wish to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly
as the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending; nothing we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries
rendering death and forever with each breathing”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

W [ViVa] (1931) LVII

Life, Death, World, Travel

“There are too many things we do not wish to know about ourselves. People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal (equal, after all, to what and to whom?) but they love the idea of being superior.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Love, People, Idea

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true.
You may have to work for it, however.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
Variant: You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true.
Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

World, Heart

“i wish i could freeze this moment, somehow delay my final decision, and just hang here in the balance between two places, two worlds, two loves.”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Source: Love the One You're With

Love, World, Decision

“Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds, I am not a sacrifice on their altars.”

Ayn Rand book Anthem

Anthem (1937)

“"Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to…to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games," says Peeta.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Peeta Mellark to Katniss Everdeen, p. 142
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)

Way, Game, Thinking

“Do you really wish to disobey me, Marbas? Do you wish to anger my father?”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Anger

“I was no hero. The dearest wishes of my heart were for safety and tranquility. The world was a perilous place, wrong for the likes of me.”

Gail Carson Levine The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Source: The Two Princesses of Bamarre

World, Heart

“I have no pity for myself either. So let it be veronal. But I wish Hercule Poirot had never retired from work and come here to grow vegetable marrows.”

Agatha Christie book The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Doctor Sheppard
Source: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)

“I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You'd know what a drag it is to see you.”

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

Song lyrics, Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Positively 4th Street
Source: Lyrics, 1962-1985

Shoe, Time

“If he had to have strange powers, Aden wished they could have been more like hers. That voodoo voice would have made his life a lot easier; he could have sent certain people (cough Ozzie cough) away with no memory of him.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: Intertwined

Life, People, Memory

“I wish that there was nothing to hold me here, that gravity was a suggestion I could ignore.”

China Miéville book Perdido Street Station

Source: Perdido Street Station

“As you wish…”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.”

John Paul Jones (1747–1792) American naval officer

Letter to Le Ray de Chaumont (16 November 1778), as quoted in The Naval History of the United States (1890) by Willis John Abbot, p. 82

Way

“For our people, butterflies are a symbol of hope. It's said that if you capture one in your hands and whisper your dreams to it, it will carry them up to the heavens so that the wish can be granted.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Retribution

People, Dreams, Hope

“It is terrible to have to ask for anything ever. We wish we were something that needed nothing, like paint. But even paint needs repainting.”

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

Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You

Painting

“And so sepúlchred in such pomp dost lie,
That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.”

John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet

On Shakespeare (1630)
Source: The Complete Poetry

Lie

“Be you wise and never sad,
You will get your lovely lad.
Never serious be, nor true,
And your wish will come to you--
And if that makes you happy, kid,
You'll be the first it ever did.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Love, Sadness, Happiness

“Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone's feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings.”

Edward Said (1935–2003) Professor of English and literature

Source: Out of Place

Feeling, Memory, Hurt

“She shrieks above the din. "If you wish a battle, I shall give it. I am the last of my kind. I shall not lie down without a fight.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

Lie, Fight

“When two people were in love you had to leave them to it. Especially when you weren't in love and wished that you were. That could embarrass. That could hurt.”

Irvine Welsh book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance

Source: Ecstasy

Love, People, Hurt

“When I was your age… I wish I'd known that I already had everything I needed within myself to be happy, instead of looking for happiness at beauty counters.”

Ilene Beckerman (1935) American journalist

Beauty, Age, Beauty, Happiness

“If you wish, I shall go personally to your City and knock together the heads of Perlith and Galooney.”

Robin McKinley book The Hero and the Crown

Source: The Hero and the Crown

Personality

“If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets.”

Frank Herbert (1920–1986) American writer

Source: The Dune Storybook

Fish

“Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It's no coincidence we call them 'deadlines.”

Tom Robbins Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

Source: Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994)

Death

“So let me end with the wish that you find the same kind of happyiness, and laughter, and love, that I have found, and that you have the wisdon to make them last.”

Sherwood Smith (1951) American fantasy and science fiction writer

Source: Court Duel

Love, Laughter

“When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

Love

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Motivational, Success, Deep, Inspirational

“Weak people believe what is forced on them. Strong people what they wish to believe, forcing that to be real.”

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

Source: Shadow & Claw

People, Strong

“You don't know me, but I know about you… I can't make you live longer. I can't stop you from hurting. But I can give you one wish, as someone did for me.”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer

Source: Sixteen and Dying

Hurt

“An ear can break a human heart
As quickly as a spear,
We wish the ear had not a heart
So dangerously near.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Heart

“Oh, I'm burning! I wish I were out of doors. I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free, and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed?”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Catherine Earnshaw (Ch. XII).
Variant: I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free; and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed? why does my blood rush into a hell of tumult at a few words?
Source: Wuthering Heights (1847)

Girl, Change

“What if it turns out that a life isn't defined by who you belong to, or where you came from, by what you wished for or whom you've lost, but instead by the moments you spend getting from each of these places to the next?”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts (2005)

Life

“There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.”

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

Demonology
1880s, Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883)

“I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free… Why am I so changed? I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

Girl, Change