Quotes from Birdy

William Wharton ·  320 pages

Rating: (4.9K votes)


“There's no end to the absurd things people will do trying to make life mean something.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Not many people are interested in what somebody else is thinking, or what they have to say. The best you can hope for is they'll listen to you just so you'll have to listen to them.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“People can't fly because they don't believe they can. If nobody ever showed people they could swim, everybody'd drown if they were dropped into the water.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Ще трябва да свикна да приемам себе си такъв, какъвто съм. Бедата е там, че не се познавам изцяло. През целия си живот съм изграждал личността си, както се изгражда здраво тяло според предписанията на „Сила и здраве“. Само че не съм изградил нищо отвътре, а само отвън, колкото да се браня от едно-друго.
Сега голяма част от тази щурава структура се разпада. Ще трябва да започна всичко отново и аз се вглеждам в себе си, за да разбера какво има там. Не зная дали ще успея. В крайна сметка сигурно ще събера части от някогашния Ал, макар някои от тях да липсват, и ще ги слепя някак.
Трябва да свикна със страха, да живея с него. Той е нещо вродено и няма никакъв смисъл да се бориш срещу него. Да не е страхът, никога не можем да бъдем преуспяващи животни. Човек няма защо да се срамува от страха. Подобно на играта и болката, той е нещо естествено, нещо необходимо. Трябва да свикна с него.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Things come apart much easier than they go together.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy



“Movement is most of what a bird is. When they're dead, they're only feathers and air.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“When brought to meaning, all importance becomes small, as in death, all life seems nothing. Knowing is destroyed by thinking, not destroyed but sterilized; distilled into knowledge. Thinking, the processing of knowing to knowledge.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“The first time I flew, it was being alive. Nothing was pressing under me. I was living in the fullness of air; air all around me, no holding place to break the air spaces. It's worth everything to be alone in the air, alive.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“It occurs to me one evening as I'm feeding the birds that all I did was put two birds in the aviary, some food and water and nothing else and now there are six of them. I know this is perfectly natural, it's one of the things life is all about, but to have it happen in my bedroom, under my own eyes, is magic.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Оо-о, това ще е нещо знаменито! Да се отприщиш и да престанеш да се правиш на такъв-онакъв; да се отпушиш напълно, да ревеш, да виеш, да надаваш тарзански викове, да прескачаш зидове или да ги пробиваш, да плюеш на всеки, да пикаеш на всеки, който посмее да се доближи! Господи, какво по-хубаво от това! И защо още не съм го направил? Страдах достатъчно и ако реша, мога да го направя. Никой не може копче да ми каже. ”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy



“Trzeba się pilnować, bo inaczej ani się człowiek obejrzy, a już zaczyna każdego żałować i w końcu nie ma komu w mordę dać”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Before you know it, if you're not careful, you can get to feeling sorry for everybody and there's nobody left to hate.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Луди сме, понеже не можем да приемем, че нещата възникват без никаква причина и нямат никакво значение. Не можем да гледаме на живота просто като на писта с препятствия, които трябва да се преодолеят някак. Струва ми се, че нормалните, онези, които уж не са луди, точно това правят - гледат да минат някак препятствията. И така си живеят ден след ден, защото винаги идва нов ден, но когато дните им се свършат, те затварят очи и наричат себе си мъртви.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


“Może wariaci to tacy ludzie, którzy wszystko widzą tak, jak jest, tylko udało im się znaleźć sposób żeby z tym żyć.”
― William Wharton, quote from Birdy


About the author

William Wharton
Born place: in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The United States
Born date November 7, 1925
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Whether Neil left today or tomorrow or next week, he'd leave alone. Two, five, ten years from now, if Neil was even still alive, he'd still be alone. He could be anyone, anywhere in the world, but he'd be alone until the day he died. He'd never trust anyone enough to let them in.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Foxhole Court


“I was giving up--being realistic, as people liked to say, meaning the same thing. Being realistic made me feel bitter.”
― Tobias Wolff, quote from This Boy's Life


“And the day we bargained about the betrothal, and you told me I had something you wanted very badly, what you wanted to do with me…was this?
“Among other things,” he agreed, tenderly brushing his knuckles over her flushed cheek.
“If I had known all this,” she said with a rueful smile, “I’m certain I would have asked for additional concessions.”
That startled him-the thought that she would have tried to drive a harder bargain if she’d realized exactly how much and what sort of power she really held. “What kind of additional concessions?” he asked, his face carefully expressionless.
She put her cheek against his shoulder, her arms curving around him. “A shorter betrothal,” she whispered. “A shorter courtship, and a shorter ceremony.”
A fresh surge of tenderness and profound pride swept through him at her sweetness and her candor, and he wrapped his arms tightly, protectively around her, smiling with joyous contentment. He had realized within minutes of meeting her that she was rare; he had known within hours that she was everything he wanted. Passionate and gentle, intelligent, sensitive, and witty. He loved all of her qualities, but he hadn’t discovered the one he particularly admired until much later, and that was her courage. He was so proud of the courage that had enabled he to repeatedly confront adversity and adversaries-even when the adversary was him.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from Almost Heaven


“A pity to survive night flights over St. Georges Channel only to crack my skull falling from a ladder.”
― Eoin Colfer, quote from Airman


“There is no pattern the human mind can devise that does not exist already within the bounds of nature...Everything we do, see, write, notate, all are an echo of the deep seams of the universe. Music is the invisible world made visible through sound.”
― Kate Mosse, quote from Sepulchre


Interesting books

Farewell Waltz
(10K)
Farewell Waltz
by Milan Kundera
Love on the Lifts
(4.8K)
Love on the Lifts
by Rachel Hawthorne
Ethics for the New Millennium
(2.9K)
Ethics for the New M...
by Dalai Lama XIV
When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions
(2.1K)
When the Heart Waits...
by Sue Monk Kidd
The Cheese Monkeys
(5.1K)
The Cheese Monkeys
by Chip Kidd
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
(8K)

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.