Fred > Fred's Quotes

“In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will regain control of his vehicle.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“If there is something you take away from these pages, let it be that God is passionately, personally concerned with every small hurt or inconvenience in your life, and you should talk to him about whatever you want, whether it is a real estate deal or a broken washing machine. What happens, though—what certainly happened to me—is that in thinking about how God cares about the humdrum business of your day, you start to fall more in love with him and less in love with the thing you started praying about in the first place. That’s the best possible scenario, if for no other reason than you are a little less stressed out.”
― Elizabeth Passarella, It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway: And Other Thoughts on Moving Forward

“The miracle of letting yourself need and be needed is that you always get something out of it, either way. Neuroscientists talk about the dopamine and oxytocin hit you get from performing altruistic acts. I call it God’s mercy for my inherently selfish character. It is also, in my experience, an antidote to bitterness. When I keep my distance, I am more likely to compare and judge, and bitterness sets in. Communing is the only thing that dissolves it. We have to be in each other’s lives in uncomfortable ways to realize that the shiniest among us don’t have it all together, and the most annoying are still human.”
― Elizabeth Passarella, It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway: And Other Thoughts on Moving Forward

“Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work—a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you—especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards.”
― Rick Riordan, The House of Hades

“Inevitably, he said, “What is the meaning of this?” It is the precise question and the precise wording thereof that has been put to the atmosphere on such occasions by an incredible variety of men since humanity was invented. It is not recorded that it has ever been asked for any purpose other than dignified effect.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Empire

“Want,’ she told her, in a measured tone, ‘is an interesting word. It means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely. Maybe you have a lack problem rather than a want problem. Maybe there is a life that you really want to live.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“But,” she said, “this is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for a future that only He can see.”
― Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

“You haven’t really been anywhere until you’ve got back home.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

“curiosity not only killed the cat but threw it in the river with weights tied to its feet.”
― Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

“And all lives were exactly the same length. Even the very long and very short ones. From the point of view of eternity, anyway.”
― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

“There’s nothing wrong with happy endings,” said Magrat hotly. “Listen, happy endings is fine if they turn out happy,” said Granny, glaring at the sky. “But you can’t make ’em for other people. Like the only way you could make a happy marriage is by cuttin’ their heads off as soon as they say ‘I do’, yes? You can’t make happiness…” Granny Weatherwax stared at the distant city. “All you can do,” she said, “is make an ending.”
― Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

“So I had to learn. All my life. The hard way. And the hard way’s pretty hard, but not so hard as the easy way.”
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

“Because some stories end, but old stories go on, and you gotta dance if you want to stay ahead.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

“The real battle for your own soul isn’t about falling from a great height; it’s about descending, or not, one choice at a time.”
― Jim Butcher, Battle Ground

“Trauma does that, I thought. It’s an explosion with your heart at the center. It changes everything all at once.”
― Matt Dinniman, The Butcher's Masquerade

“But he hadn’t had the time. No, that wasn’t true. He could have found the time; he could have made it. He hadn’t had the will. He had been oddly content in his melancholy slump. It wasn’t a good life, but it was consistent. It was safe. And while it hadn’t been easy, it had been habit, which was like easy but a lot more dangerous.”
― James J. Butcher, Dead Man's Hand

“Ideas are frictional, factional entities which wilt when pinned to flowcharts. Ideas have to cause problems before they cause solutions.”
― Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time

“Always remember, although the unimaginative see life as a thread stretched from one point to another, birth to death, a life truly lived is a glorious tangle. One is never lost. And if one is lucky, one is never found, either.”
― Travis Baldree, Brigands & Breadknives

“I’ve tried to make a habit of never talking about what I do until I’m out of anything else to talk about. In my experience, it’s a terrible way to get to know somebody—at least if you want to know anything worthwhile. I want to learn what you laugh at, what makes you roll your eyes, what gets you upset, or passionate, or puts you at ease. Work is just…” He flapped a paw as they ducked under the eaves in front of the mercantile. “The stuff that holds the rest of it together. It’s like describing a house by talking about the nails.”
― Travis Baldree, Brigands & Breadknives