Jo > Jo's Quotes

“And once I got old enough for such a thing to be a possibility, he told me that a man must be responsible for any seed he sows, for it's his duty to take care of a woman and protect her. And if I wasna prepared to do that, then I'd no right to burden a woman with the consequences of my own actions.”
― Diana Gabaldon, Outlander

“It is the nature of life. Something unexpected happens. Something goes wrong, and the plan must change.”
― Jim Butcher, Captain's Fury

“It happened to them at a certain age, wives. Twenty-five blameless years, then suddenly they were going off and doing these robotic exercises in pink socks with the feet cut out and they started blaming you for never having had to work for a living. It was hormones, or something.”
― Neil Gaiman, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

“Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft are written by men.”
― Neil Gaiman, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

“all his life, he worked jobs that he didn’t love in order to support our family. But his life was still wonderful and precious, filled with love and joy. The thought occurred to me that if I could find a way to have a similar life, to find love and joy despite it all, then I would still have a pretty spectacular time here on Earth.”
― Susan Fowler, Whistleblower: My Journey to Silicon Valley and Fight for Justice at Uber

“I’d taken all the bad things that had happened to me, and I’d turned them into something good.”
― Susan Fowler, Whistleblower: My Journey to Silicon Valley and Fight for Justice at Uber

“Do you know what happens to lads who ask too many questions?” Mort thought for a moment. “No,” he said eventually, “what?” There was silence.”
― Terry Pratchett, Mort

“In fact it really was amazing what could be done with several ounces of heavy metal, some irritated molluscs, a few dead rodents and a lot of thread wound out of insects’ bottoms. The dress wasn’t so much worn as occupied;”
― Terry Pratchett, Mort

“Running into the Librarian’s arm was like hitting a hairy iron bar.”
― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

“Hogswatchnight came around, marking the start of another year. And, with alarming suddenness, nothing happened.”
― Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

“Ninety percent of true love is acute, ear-burning embarrassment.”
― Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

“The castle was full of people standing around in that polite, sheepish way affected by people who see each other all day and are now seeing each other again in unusual social circumstances, like an office party.”
― Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

“I’m more into the destruct testing of axioms,” he said. “The chap you need is Pthagonal. A very acute man with an angle.”
― Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

“I dare say it’s because there’s such a lot o’ blacks there instead o’ respectable white people. When I heard you was”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“How does tha’ like thysel’?” she inquired, really quite as if she were curious to know.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“Now you are a great deal fatter and better looking.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“respect is like manure. Use it where needed, and growth will flourish. Spread it on too thick, and things just start to smell.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“To be honest, ‘arrogant’ doesn’t feel like quite the right word. It’s not specific enough.” “And what would be the right word, then?” “I don’t know. ‘Errorgant,’ perhaps.” Jasnah raised a skeptical eyebrow. “It means to be twice as certain as someone who is merely arrogant,” Shallan said, “while possessing only one-tenth the requisite facts.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“And if I spend all of my energy worrying about what they might do, I won’t be able to solve the problems we’re facing right now.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“He’d become the wretch, not caring—but also not despairing. It had seemed better not to feel at all, as opposed to feeling pain.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“Given two works of artistic majesty, otherwise weighted equally, we will give greater acclaim to the one who did it first. It doesn’t matter what you create. It matters what you create before anyone else.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“And yet, what Jasnah said worked. The way Shallan acted created something in the eyes of Tozbek. An illusion?”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“You say I have authority as the sister of a king. I do. And yet, the men of this ship would treat me exactly the same way if I were a beggar who had convinced them I was the sister to a king. In that case, my authority is not a real thing. It is mere vapors—an illusion. I can create that illusion for them, as can you.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“When you’ve got an arrow stuck in you, it’s sometimes best to just yank it out in one pull.” Actually, when you had an arrow in you, the best thing to do was leave it there until you could find a surgeon. Often it would plug the blood flow and keep you alive. It was probably best not to speak up and undermine the highprince’s metaphor,”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“Expectation wasn’t just about what people expected of you. It was about what you expected of yourself.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“Comments like that one from the king were not going to help his men get along with Dalinar’s soldiers.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“What is a leg? Only as it is defined by you. Without a perspective, there is no such thing as a leg, or a table. There is only wood.” “You’ve told me the table perceives itself this way.” “Because people have considered it, long enough, as being a table,” Pattern said. “It becomes truth to the table because of the truth the people create for it.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“This was the mark of humankind: to take the wild, unorganized world and make something logical of it. You could get so much more done when everything was in its place, when you could easily find what or whom you needed.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance