Quotes from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women

282 pages

Rating: (5.1K votes)


“In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn't been good vs. evil. It's hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good vs. doing nothing. -Deirdre Sullivan”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Beliefs are choices. No one has authority over your personal beliefs. Your beliefs are in jeopardy only when you don't know what they are.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“I believe in the absolute and unlimited liberty of reading. I believe in wandering through the stacks and picking out the first thing that strikes me. I believe in choosing books based on the dust jacket. I believe in reading books because others dislike them or find them dangerous. I believe in choosing the hardest book imaginable. I believe in reading up on what others have to say about this difficult book and then making up my own mind. - Rick Moody”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“I am not the lonely human, plunked down on earth to aimlessly wander. I am a part of that earth and not going anywhere- just like the spider up in the corner, the dust on the sill, and the cat I buried in the backyard. -Jamaica Ritcher.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Presence is a noun, not a verb; it is a state of being, not doing. States of being are not highly valued in a culture that places a high priority on doing. Yet, true presence or "being with" another person carries with it a silent power.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women



“Love is primal. It is comprised of compassion, care, security, and a leap of faith.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Soon, a national and international feminist movement was challenging the idea that what happened to men was political but what happened to women was cultural; that the first could be changed but the second could not. - Gloria Steinem”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“I believe in the pursuit of happiness. Not its attainment, nor its final definition, but its pursuit. I believe in the journey, not the arrival; in conversation, not monologues; in multiple questions rather than any single answer. I believe in the struggle to remake ourselves and challenge each other in the spirit of eternal forgiveness, in the awareness that none of us knows for sure what happiness truly is, but each of us knows the imperative to keep searching. I believe in the possibility of surprising joy, of serenity through pain, of homecoming through exile.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“I BELIEVE IN THE 50-PERCENT THEORY. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“You only have what you give. It’s by spending yourself that you become rich.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women



“IF I HAVE ONE OPERATING PHILOSOPHY ABOUT LIFE, it is this: “Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it’s good luck.” Four principles guide the pizza dude philosophy.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Everything potent, from human love to atomic energy, is dangerous;”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn’t been good versus evil. It’s hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing. In going”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Leaving Identity Issues to Other Folks”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Action is what separates a belief from an opinion. Beliefs are imprinted through actions.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women



“So, my credo consists of the pursuit and the act. One without the other is self-indulgence.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“I believe in the pursuit of happiness. Not its attainment, nor its final definition, but its pursuit. I believe in the journey, not the arrival;”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“To see what must be done and not to do it, is a crime.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


Popular quotes

“Lists are a form of power.”
― A.S. Byatt, quote from The Virgin in the Garden


“[...] Но вот что слишком немногими испытано, что очаровательность, которую всему дает любовь, вовсе не должна, по-настоящему, быть мимолетным явлением в жизни человека, что этот яркий свет жизни не должен озарять только эпоху искания, стремления, назовем хотя так: ухаживания, или сватания, нет, что эта эпоха по-настоящему должна быть только зарею, милою, прекрасною, но предшественницею дня, в котором несравненно больше и света и теплоты, чем в его предшественнице, свет и теплота которого долго, очень долго растут, все растут, и особенно теплота очень долго растет, далеко за полдень все еще растет. Прежде было не так: когда соединялись любящие, быстро исчезала поэзия любви. Теперь у тех людей, которые называются нынешними людьми, вовсе не так. Они, когда соединяет их любовь, чем дольше живут вместе, тем больше и больше озаряются и согреваются ее поэзиею, до той самой поры, позднего вечера, когда заботы о вырастающих детях будут уже слишком сильно поглощать их мысли. Тогда забота более сладкая, чем личное наслаждение, становится выше его, но до той поры оно все растет. То, что прежние люди знали только на мимолетные месяцы, нынешние люди сохраняют в себе на долгие, долгие годы.

Отчего это так? А это уж секрет; я вам, пожалуй, выдам его. Хороший секрет, славно им пользоваться, и не мудрено, только надобно иметь для этого чистое сердце и честную душу, да нынешнее понятие о правах человека, уважение к свободе того, с кем живешь. Только, - больше и секрета нет никакого. Смотри на жену, как смотрел на невесту, знай, что она каждую минуту имеет право сказать: "я недовольна тобою, прочь от меня"; смотри на нее так, и она через девять лет после твоей свадьбы будет внушать тебе такое же поэтическое чувство, как невеста, нет, более поэтическое, более идеальное в хорошем смысле слова. Признавай ее свободу так же открыто и формально, и без всяких оговорок, как признаешь свободу твоих друзей чувствовать или не чувствовать дружбу к тебе, и тогда, через десять лет, через двадцать лет после свадьбы, ты будешь ей так же мил, как был женихом.”
― Nikolai Chernyshevsky, quote from What Is to Be Done?


“Forgive me....I called you an idiot. I spoke too hastily. You are not. Had I given it more thought, I would have called you a scoundrel.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from Westmark


“The page on which I wrote is the second page in section 19 of the Doctrine and Covenants, in the old edition of the triple combination. On the bottom of the page, in capital letters, is written the word REPENTANCE. And then an arrow leads to a notation that reads: "Greek word. To have a new mind.”
― Henry B. Eyring, quote from To Draw Closer To God: A Collection Of Discourses


“Lady Constance's lips tightened, and a moment passed during which it seemed always a fifty-fifty chance that a handsome silver ink-pot would fly through the air in the direction of her brother's head.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, quote from Summer Lightning


Interesting books

Don't...
(1.1K)
Don't...
by Jack L. Pyke
First Touch
(6.8K)
First Touch
by Laurelin Paige
Moral Letters to Lucilius Volume 1
(316)
Moral Letters to Luc...
by Seneca
The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
(2.3K)
Sword of Destiny
(32.4K)
Sword of Destiny
by Andrzej Sapkowski
The Annotated Alice
(401.8K)
The Annotated Alice
by Lewis Carroll

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.