Deb > Deb's Quotes

“I read; I travel; I become”
― Derek Walcott

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
― Maya Angelou

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.”
― Zora Neale Hurston

“Listen, if you choose to believe nothing else that transpires here, believe this: your body does not have a soul; your soul has a body, and souls never, ever die.”
― Bernice L. McFadden, Gathering of Waters

“A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones who need advice.”
― Bill Cosby

“It’s as if something else takes over when I sing—a divine energy, a creative force, call it what you will—and it fills me from top to toe . . .”
― Gill Paul, Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas

“Her hair was backcombed but she applied only the subtlest of makeup, her mother’s voice ringing in her ears: “Men want to see a pretty face, not a painted mannequin.”
― Gill Paul, Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas

“You look like a startled deer emerging from a wood and seeing its first ever human being,” he said. Those were his first words to her.”
― Gill Paul, Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas

“Why do I read?
I just can't help myself.
I read to learn and to grow, to laugh
and to be motivated.
I read to understand things I've never
been exposed to.
I read when I'm crabby, when I've just
said monumentally dumb things to the
people I love.
I read for strength to help me when I
feel broken, discouraged, and afraid.
I read when I'm angry at the whole
world.
I read when everything is going right.
I read to find hope.
I read because I'm made up not just of
skin and bones, of sights, feelings,
and a deep need for chocolate, but I'm
also made up of words.
Words describe my thoughts and what's
hidden in my heart.
Words are alive--when I've found a
story that I love, I read it again and
again, like playing a favorite song
over and over.
Reading isn't passive--I enter the
story with the characters, breathe
their air, feel their frustrations,
scream at them to stop when they're
about to do something stupid, cry with
them, laugh with them.
Reading for me, is spending time with a
friend.
A book is a friend.
You can never have too many.”
― Gary Paulsen, Shelf Life: Stories by the Book

“But a man will only make you happy for a while, while a skill, an occupation – learning something – will always satisfy you.”
― Daisy Goodwin, The Fortune Hunter

“To show you were wounded from battle was to loose the war”
― Susie Yang, White Ivy

“He cannot be fully seen by those who look at him, nor can he be fully touched by those who embrace him.”
― Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities

“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”
― Bob Marley

“Never lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away”
― Will Smith

“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice.”
― Will Smith

“Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.”
― Will Smith

“Basic principles: no matter what, no matter when, no matter who... any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet. He just needs the right broom.”
― Will Smith

“Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, godlike feature that only the special among us will ever taste, it's something that truly exists in all of us.”
― Will Smith

“To place the responsibility for your happiness on anybody other than yourself is a recipe for misery.”
― Will Smith, Will

“If you are unwilling or unable to pivot and adapt to the incessant, fluctuating tides of life, you will not enjoy being here. Sometimes, people try to play the cards that they wish they had, instead of playing the hand they’ve been dealt. The capacity to adjust and improvise is arguably the single most critical human ability.”
― Will Smith, Will

“Once I heard my mother say that each of us lives in a separate universe, one we have dreamed into being. We love pople when their dream coincides with ours, the way two cutout designs laid one on top of the other might match. But dream worlds are not static like cutouts; sooner or later they change shape, leading to misunderstanding, loneliness and loss of love.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Queen of Dreams

“Sometimes,” Iris began, “I don’t think we know what we’re made of until the worst moment possible happens. Then we must decide who we truly are and what is most important to us. I think we’re often surprised by what we become.”
― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows

“If my words have bewitched your son, then know that his possess the same magic for me,” she said, reflexively touching her wedding band again.”
― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows

“do we live by our past, or do we live by what is to come? Do we choose to waste time looking behind to things that have already happened and cannot be changed, or do we keep our sight forward on what we can see?”
― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows