Declan Melia > Declan 's Quotes

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
― Stephen King

“Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Life is too long to say anything definitely; always say perhaps.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both. Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it… Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

“Is it possible, in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another?
We can invest enormous time and energy in serious efforts to know another person, but in the end, how close can we come to that person's essence? We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone?”
― Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

“Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Back, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart. People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice.”
― Charles Bukowski, Women

“You will last a lot longer, if you don't try to sing.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

“May I ask you a highly personal question?"

"It's what life does all the time.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

“Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

“Blessed are the forgetful; for they get over their stupidities, too.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

“Why, is it such a bad thing to die?”
― Han Kang, The Vegetarian

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.”
― Anton Chekhov

“I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“We are all migrants through time.”
― Mohsin Hamid, Exit West

“The past had shown him many times that the future would be its own solution.”
― Ian McEwan, Solar

“Fate would not have the reputation it has, if it simply did what it seemed it would do.”
― Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow

“What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET: Words, words, words.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“There is nothing more orderly than a cemetery.”
― Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

“I'm always happy," Sasha said. "Sometimes I just forget.”
― Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad

“You said you were a fairy princess
You said you were a shooting star
You said we'd go to Bora Bora
Now look at where the fuck we are”
― Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad

“There are books so alive that you're always afraid that while you weren't reading, the book has gone and changed, has shifted like a river.”
― Marina Tsvetaeva

“Who are you then?"
"I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

“God help us -- for art is long, and life so short.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

“I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, First Part

“While Man's desires and aspirations stir, He cannot choose but err.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

“The one good thing about national anthems is that we’re already on our feet, and therefore ready to run. The truth is one nation, under drugs, under drones.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“In a world myriad as ours, the gaze is a singular act: to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“The cruelest walls are made of glass.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

“The next time you try to seduce anyone, don't do it with talk, with words. Women know more about words than men ever will. And they know how little they can ever possibly mean.”
― William Faulkner