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

“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

“When a person is so irresponsible and self-centered that they can’t look out for the basic needs of their own family and they actually cause irreparable harm to their own children, that’s totally unacceptable. And when they treat other people like they exist only to serve them, that’s not only rude and offensive, it’s completely wrong. No one on this earth should be allowed to step on other people just to build themselves up.”
― Angie Stanton, quote from Snapshot

“Everything in the room is like that: unnecessarily solid, abnormally heavy and dangerously sharp.”
― Christopher Isherwood, quote from Goodbye to Berlin

“Can they love without a word for it?”
― George R.R. Martin, quote from Dying of the Light

“W tej właśnie komnacie przyszedłem na świat. Z odmętów długiej nocy, która miała pozór, lecz nie była nicością, wyłoniłem się po to, aby wkroczyć nagle w krainę baśni, w pałacowe przepychy fantazji, w dziwaczne dziedziny myśli i wiedzy klasztornej. Nie dziw tedy, że przerażonym a płomiennym wzrokiem badałem świat dookolny, że dzieciństwo spędziłem wśród ksiąg, a młodość roztrwoniłem na marzeniach; lecz zastanawia ta okoliczność, że gdy lata upływały i południe dojrzałego wieku zastało mnie jeszcze żywcem w gnieździe mych przodków — zastanawia, powtarzam, ta okoliczność, że bijące źródła mojego życia zaprawiły się nagłym zastojem, że w kierunku najwłaściwszego mi myślenia stał się przewrót zupełny. Zjawiska rzeczywistości potrącały o mnie jak sny i tylko jako sny, podczas gdy szaleńcze pomysły z krainy snów stały się w zamian nie tylko strawą mego codziennego istnienia, lecz stanowczo jedynym i całkowitym istnieniem w samym sobie.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from Berenice

“If you don't have compassion you won't be compelled to help.”
― Mark Helprin, quote from Freddy and Fredericka

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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.

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