Literature Quotes

"124 was spiteful."

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment."

"A person's a person, no matter how small."

"A salesman is got to dream, boy."

"A sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth"

"Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in disgust?"

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

"All the turtles are free."

"All this happened, more or less."

"An Oxford man!"

"And I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

"And it'd be our own, an' nobody could can us."

"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."

"And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

"Angry people are not always wise."

"Anything worth dying for...is certainly worth living for."

"As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."

"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

"As long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together."

"Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row."

"Be men, or be more than men."

"Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you"

"Because it is my name!"

"Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are."

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

"But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes. People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore."

"But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men."

"But you just gotta understand that that’s the way it is and keep on steppin'."

"Call me Ishmael."

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents"

"Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

"Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future."

"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."

"Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’."

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

"Fear can't hurt you any more than a dream"

"Flushed with his impassioned gibberish, he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization."

"For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing."

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

"From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition."

"Funny things are everywhere."

"Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn"

"God sees everything"

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world"

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

"He ain't mean," said Slim. "I can tell a mean guy from a mile off."

"He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."

"He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish."

"He was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American"

"He who marches out of step hears another drum."

"He's more myself than I am."

"Her voice is full of money"

"Hey, Stella!"

"Hideous monster!"

"His heart was two sizes too small."

"Human beings can be awful cruel to one another."

"I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time."

"I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man."

"I am an invisible man."

"I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."

"I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination."

"I can still tend the rabbits, George? I didn't mean no harm, George."

"I can't go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."

"I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"

"I did love him once—but I loved you too."

"I do my best to love everybody"

"I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am."

"I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox."

"I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing."

"I don't like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself."

"I done another bad thing."

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

"I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature."

"I have not the pleasure of understanding you."

"I hope, or I could not live."

"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing."

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant."

"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George."

"I sing of arms and the man"

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."

"I would always rather be happy than dignified."

"I'd rather be myself. Myself and nasty."

"If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger."

"If I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble."

"If no one fought except on his own conviction, there would be no wars."

"If one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another."

"If one's different, one's bound to be lonely."

"If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price."

"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

"In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart."

"In the beginning there was faith—which is childish; trust—which is vain; and illusion—which is dangerous."

"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

"Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?"

"Isn’t it pretty to think so?"

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known."

"It is a thousand pities never to say what one feels."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

"It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how."

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

"It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being"

"It loves more readily than it hates."

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."

"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."

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

"It was a pleasure to burn."

"It was as though some huge force were pressing down upon you […] persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words."

"It's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

"It's better to look at the sky than live there."

"James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name."

"Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."

"Kid, you'll move mountains!"

"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in."

"Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead."

"Let's face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short."

"Life is pain. Anybody that says different is selling something."

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

"Logic is no doubt unshakable, but it can't withstand a person who wants to live."

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins."

"Look, George. Look what I done."

"Maman died today."

"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing."

"Man serves the interests of no creature except himself."

"Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing."

"Maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more!"

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue."

"Money often costs too much."

"Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself."

"My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time."

"My dear, I don't give a damn."

"My mother is a fish."

"My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore"

"My precious."

"No, Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, and I ain' now. That's a thing I want ya to know."

"Not all those who wander are lost."

"Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything."

"Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?"

"O Solomon don’t leave me here..."

"Of Man's first disobedience"

"Oh, bother."

"Oh, the places you'll go!"

"Oh, the things you can find if you don't stay behind!"

"Old Sport"

"Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo"

"One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them."

"One man's life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought"

"One must lie under certain circumstances and at all times when one can't do anything about them"

"Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere."

"Real courage is [...] when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

"Right is right, and wrong is wrong."

"Serving on a jury forces a man to make up his mind and declare himself about something. Men don't like to do that. Sometimes it's unpleasant."

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom!"

"She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together."

"So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight."

"So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!"

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

"Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once."

"Sometimes I can feel my bones straining"

"Sorrow only increased with knowledge."

"Stay gold, Ponyboy."

"Stuff your eyes with wonder."

"That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it."

"That is the life of men."

"The average man don't like trouble and danger."

"The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting."

"The creature was a party of boys"

"The curves of your lips rewrite history."

"The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their irises are one yard high"

"The face that launched a thousand ships"

"The hell with the rabbits. That's all you can ever remember is them rabbits."

"The madness came into his eyes again."

"The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness"

"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."

"The modern masters promise very little"

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

"The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience."

"The officer nodded, as if a question had been answered."

"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

"The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day."

"The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on."

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places."

"The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away."

"There are few people whom I really love and still fewer of whom I think well."

"There are just some kind of men who—who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one"

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."

"There is no one alive that is you-er than you!"

"There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried."

"They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

"They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other."

"Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair"

"This fella's a regular Belasco."

"This is a valley of ashes"

"This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom."

"Till this moment I never knew myself."

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one."

"Tomorrow is another day."

"Try them! Try them! And you may!"

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."

"War is not won by victory."

"War is war. The only good human being is a dead one."

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

"We can have lots of good fun that is funny!"

"We can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them."

"We could live offa the fatta the lan'."

"We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep."

"We just got to go on, that's all. That's what grownups would do."

"We speak student."

"We're all damaged somehow."

"We're all mad here."

"We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything."

"What a treacherous thing to believe a person is more than a person."

"What are men to rocks and mountains?"

"What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?"

"What is the point of worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one's life took?"

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

"Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past."

"When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake."

"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

"Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?"

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

"Words can be like X-Rays if you use them properly – they'll go through anything."

"You are one of the lights, the light of all lights."

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."

"You can't live forever; you can't live forever."

"You can't pray a lie—I found that out."

"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not."

"You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change."

"You know it don’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?"

"You may lie."

"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you."

"You'll get back to where you came from."

"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so...get on your way!"

"You're on your own."

"You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."