c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Running is an effort to escape from comfort zone.
— Tumpal Sihombing
It [Foucault's Pendulum] can be very comforting for people of my generation, who ate disappointment for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
— Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
Ava sang to remind them of what was important – the things that mattered in their lives. She sang about the love of hearth and home
—  the fire at night in the fireplace
Well, I miss my wife, you know," I said. "But I also miss the feeling of, I don’t know, comfort. The sense you’re where you’re supposed to be, with someone you’re supposed to be with.
— John Scalzi, Old Man's War
He was really trying to be my friend, without all the emotional baggage we both carried - mine still with me, but carefully folded in vacuum bags so they'd occupy as little room as possible and his, hangin on his shoulders like lead armor, making him slouch sometimes. And yet, as pinned down as he was, he was the one comforting me, supporting not only his weight but mine, too. It wasn't fair.
— Diana T. Scott, Our Demons, Best Friends
I froze in place, bracing myself for the coming panic attack. Ben had said he was falling for me. That sounded serious, and whenever past relationships had approached “serious,” I had promptly freaked out. I sat in trepidation, waiting for the heart palpitations, the shallow breathing, the sweaty palms, and worst of all, the feeling of dread.But by some miracle, none of those things came. Instead, in that moment with Ben, I fell into a great calm. I felt comforted and warmed, like I was sitting by a campfire on a cold night. Ben’s words called to my heart, and instead of responding with terror, it opened up like a fist uncurling, as though it had been waiting twenty-six years just to hear his voice.
— Anise Eden, All the Broken Places
When you’re kind to people, and you pay attention, you make a field of comfort around them, and you get it back—the Golden Rule meets the Law of Karma meets Murphy’s Law.
— Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
And, as for the oil, it is a masterpiece. You’ll see.”Before dinner that night, we tested it, dripping it onto slices of bread that had been rubbed with the flesh of tomatoes. It was like eating sunshine.
— Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence
Strangers should meet in unfamiliar areas. It's comforting.
— Robert Ludlum, The Matlock Paper
The literature has only these words of comfort for a patient and her family at this stage. Remember, there is still a living spirit inside this diminished person, the spirit of someone you love.
— Dan Gasby, Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer's
She understood about the comfort you can get from a small separate world, whether it's a theatre or a basketball team or the inside of a book.
— Susan Cooper, King of Shadows
There was something about Maria Graham that you could believe in – a slice of home. If not unique in her travelling, she was at least extraordinary.
— Sara Sheridan, On Starlit Seas
When she first moved to Brighton, the flat on the Lawns had felt luxurious and it had seemed as if she was settling down, sleeping in the same bed every night, the darkness uninterrupted by any hint of emergency. It had felt as if all her difficulties were over.
— Sara Sheridan, Operation Goodwood
The way of painful duty is the way of fullest comfort. Christ carrieth all our comforts in his hand : if we are out of that way where Christ is to be met, we are out of the way where comfort is to be had (312).
— Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest
All right," she said. "Give me the books that are kind to me, and to hell with the men who don't give a damn about me.
— Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
You must have traveled all night,” she heard herself say. “I had to come back early.” She felt his lips brush her tumbled hair. “I left some things unfinished. But I had a feeling you might need me. Tell me what’s happened, sweetheart.” Amelia opened her mouth to answer, but to her mortification, the only sound she could make was a sort of miserable croak. Her self-control shattered. She shook her head and choked on more sobs, and the more she tried to stop them, the worse they became. Cam gripped her firmly, deeply, into his embrace. The appalling storm of tears didn’t seem to bother him at all. He took one of Amelia’s hands and flattened it against his heart, until she could feel the strong, steady beat. In a world that was disintegrating around her, he was solid and real. “It’s all right,” she heard him murmur. “I’m here.” Alarmed by her own lack of self-discipline, Amelia made a wobbly attempt to stand on her own, but he only hugged her more closely. “No, don’t pull away. I’ve got you.” He cuddled her shaking form against his chest. Noticing Poppy’s awkward retreat, Cam sent her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, little sister.” “Amelia hardly ever cries,” Poppy said. “She’s fine.” Cam ran his hand along Amelia’s spine in soothing strokes. “She just needs…” As he paused, Poppy said, “A shoulder to lean on.” “Yes.” He drew Amelia to the stairs, and gestured for Poppy to sit beside them. Cradling Amelia on his lap, Cam found a handkerchief in his pocket and wiped her eyes and nose. When it became apparent that no sense could be made from her jumbled words, he hushed her gently and held her against his large, warm body while she sobbed and hid her face. Overwhelmed with relief, she let him rock her as if she were a child. As Amelia hiccupped and quieted in his arms, Cam asked a few questions of Poppy, who told him about Merripen’s condition and Leo’s disappearance, and even about the missing silverware. Finally getting control of herself, Amelia cleared her aching throat. She lifted her head from Cam’s shoulder and blinked. “Better?” he asked, holding the handkerchief up to her nose. Amelia nodded and blew obediently. “I’m sorry,” she said in a muffled voice. “I shouldn’t have turned into a watering pot. I’m finished now.” Cam seemed to look right inside her. His voice was very soft. “You don’t have to be sorry. You don’t have to be finished, either.” She realized that no matter what she did or said, no matter how long she wanted to cry, he would accept it. And he would comfort her.
— Lisa Kleypas, Mine Till Midnight
Having her favorite breakfast always made her feel cozy, like a warm blanket was being wrapped around her.
— Jessica Haight and Stephanie Robinson
Pat wanted to comfort him for something she did not understand. She slipped her little hand into his...he had a warm pleasant hand. They walked home together so.
— L.M. Montgomery, Pat of Silver Bush
Travel was a species of warfare.
— E.M. Forster, A Room with a View
No matter the life-shattering circumstance that delivers the devastating blow to our spirit, God is bigger. He is faithful and unchanging, merciful and consistent with His offer to us, that through it all, we will be comforted, we will be loved, we will be HELD.
— Henri J.M. Nouwen
The young... are full of hope and discontent... And the old are those who were once discontented, but who have successfully smothered that flame and have found security and comfort in various ways.
— Krishnamurti
There's comfort in a life lived in circles and its careful, sloping lines.
— Jared Shaffer
If our hearts are full of our own wretched 'I ams' we will have no ears to hear His glorious, soul-satisfying 'I am'. We say, 'Alas, I am such a poor week creature,' or 'I am so foolish,' or 'I am so good-for-nothing,' or 'I am so helpless' and we give these pitiful 'I ams' of ours as the reason of the wretchedness and discomfort of our religious lives, and even feel that we are very much to be pitied that things are so hard for us. While all the time we entirely ignore the blank check of God's magnificent 'I am,' which authorizes us to draw upon Him for an abundant supply for every need.
— Hannah Whitall Smith
Salty tears stream down my face—coating my lips as I mutter senseless apologies for so many things. So many irreversible things.Morpheus peels the vines off and lifts me, cradling me to his chest.
— A.G. Howard, Ensnared
I hold on to the nape of Morpheus’s neck, burying my face in his jacket. Nikki and Chessie burrow into my hair. I inhale Morpheus’s scent. It’s the only thing I recognize, the only thing that’s safe.He carries me back to the well-lit room and sets me gently on the table. I can’t stop trembling. My throat aches from holding back sobs.
— A.G. Howard, Ensnared
If you ever doubt anything here, if you ever not know what to think or who to trust, you trust Todd, okay? You remember that.
— Patrick Ness
But even the longest day wears to sunset.
— Marion Zimmer Bradley
Most are inclined to recline into a reclining position, in order to enjoy the decline.
— Justin K. McFarlane Beau
It comforted her, in the confused unhappy welter of her emotions, to see the mountains always tranquil, remote, in their lonely splendour; untouchable, serenely inviolate. It was an obscure comfort to her to know that man's hectic world wasn't the only one — that there were others, where agitation and passion and bewilderment had no place. When her love turned into a chaotic fever-dream, in which she was tossing, hallucinated, frightened and miserable, she had longed to escape to the cold, austere, changeless beauty and peace of the snow.
— Anna Kavan
The river was very real; it held him comfortably and gave him the time at last, the leisure, to consider this month, this year, and a lifetime of years.
— Ray Bradbury
Everybody loves comfort, but that is an illusion my friends.
— Sunday Adelaja
What the advertisements are telling us on TV is not the truth. Life is not about comfort.
— Sunday Adelaja
Some of us fast so that we can have less discomfort in life. The reason is not far-fetched – God is not interested in your comfort. He is more interested in your purpose.
— Sunday Adelaja
Some of us read the Bible to quote God’s words back to Him so as to get Him to make us live a discomfort free life. The reason is not far-fetched – God is not interested in your comfort. He is more interested in your purpose.
— Sunday Adelaja
You OK?''Yeah,'He didn't believe me, I guess, because he put his arms around me, and we did an awkward sort of hug. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, with the snow falling harder around us, and the early winter wind picking up, until I melted, and let my head rest on his shoulder, and closed my eyes to the beautiful, terrible world.
— Steve Watkins, What Comes After
Ridiculous, that Finn had to be the one giving comfort. But it had been this way with Tom too. Arguments were tricky things for both sides to win if no one ever gave way first. There was something terribly domestic about the small sacrifice of ego, of first place. Sure, sex was a fine thing, but a fight at the end of which the pair of you were more lovingly entangled than ever, that was closer to being one flesh, one soul, than anything else.
— Alex Beecroft, Trowchester Blues
Of all the comforting objects in this world, few things are as reassuring and accepting as books.
— Drea Damara, The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane
She knew every single one of us. Gave us the chance to share in her bed. We all took comfort that she was here and we were not alone. The princess had nothing but love to give.
— James W. Bodden, The Red Light Princess
A woman will feel emotionally secure when you can listen to her stories. Then she will learn to love you.
— Tara Estacaan
It’s about needing to feel loved and comforted but feeling unworthy of real love and comfort. It’s about hating having needs and desires. For some of us, needs make us feel greedy and selfish. For some of us, having needs means we can easily get hurt if those needs are not met. For some of us, we don’t believe we deserve to have our needs met. We try to convince ourselves that we don’t need anything by avoiding food, one of our greatest primal needs.
— Emma McEvoy
God knows exactly where we are and precisely where He wants us and He takes an active role in getting us there.
— Linda Irene
I think he's looking for comfort, but I don't have any to give.
— Jasmine Warga, My Heart and Other Black Holes
There was also something about the smell of bookshops that was strangely comforting to her. She wondered if it was the scent of ink and paper, or the perfume of binding, string, and glue. Maybe it was the scent of knowledge. Information. Thoughts and ideas. Poetry and love. All of it bound into one perfect, calm place.
— Alyson Richman, The Garden of Letters
You forget your feet when the shoes are comfortable. You forget your waist when the belt is comfortable. Understanding forgets right and wrong when the mind is comfortable. There is no change in what is inside, no following what is outside, when the adjustment to events is comfortable. You begin with what is comfortable and never experience what is uncomfortable when you know the comfort of forgetting what is comfortable.
— Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
All the means we've been given to stay alert we use to ornament our sleep. If instead of endlessly inventing new ways to make life more comfortable we'd apply our ingenuity to fabricating instruments to jog man out of his torpor!
— René Daumal, Mount Analogue
I joy, that in these straits I see my west;
— John Donne
Integrity is the antithesis of compromise and the sworn enemy of comfort. It bases its decisions not on how much discomfort we might be able to avoid, but on how much we need to avoid the compromise of comfort.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Comfort is a powerful sedative.
— Samantha Garman, Dandelion Dreams
She closed her eyes, and I closed mine, and even though we weren't holding hands, it felt like we were.Because what we had, we knew.
— Kami Garcia, Beautiful Chaos
There’s always books. And the wind through trees.
— Anna Jae
I would warn any minority student today against the temptations of self-segregation: take support and comfort from your own group as you can, but don’t hide within it.
— Sonia Sotomayor, My Beloved World
Life may be scaryBut it’s only temporary.And this is perhaps the most comforting conclusion to be reached if one discounts the possibility of meaning.from: Antinatalism A Thought Experiment
— Quentin S. Crisp
Blessed be the inventor of photography! I set him above even the inventor of chloroform! It has given more positive pleasure to po or suffering humanity than anything else that has "cast up" in my time or is like to--this art by which even the "poor" can possess themselves of tolerable likenesses of their absent dear ones. And mustn't it be acting favourably on the morality of the country?
— Jane Welsh Carlyle, The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle: July 1847-March 1848
I roamed alone;O, barren dreams.My echoed voice,what lonely comfort.Here is my salvation:I hear the triumph drum;the rhythm of the rising,the long-awaited sun.
— Craig Froman, An Owl on the Moon: A Journal from the Edge of Darkness
Life may be scaryBut it’s only temporary.And this is perhaps the most comforting conclusion to be reached if one discounts the possibility of meaning.
— Quentin S. Crisp
I don't think I fully appreciated how relaxing it is having someone I can be really mean to. It's going to be so hard being nice all the time.
— Fiona Wood
Sometimes there is no comfort, only the knowledge that the worst has happened
— Ashley Gardner, The Hanover Square Affair
Has every line inside of you been crossed? Is there anything left unviolated? Are you so comfortable with your imprisonment you feel free?
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
To the mind that could dream and shape our beaconed universe, what is injustice to us may be unfathomable tenderness, and our horror only loveliness misunderstood.
— William Alexander Percy, Lanterns on the Levee:  Recollections of a Planter's Son
Maybe it was wrong to take comfort in Hayden’s arms, but she wouldn’t find comfort anywhere else.
— K.A. Linde, Off the Record
Hey. Know what happened to me today?"He sits back and crosses his arms, smiles. "No. What happened to you today?""Well, I decided to take the bus to work instead of driving? And I got on and I sat behind this woman who started crying. She was very quiet about it, just every now and then she would reach up and wipe away a tear. She had this kerchief on her head, this ratty old flowered kerchief, but it was clean and it was tied very neatly, you know. And she had her purse on her lap and she was holding on to it like it was hands. At first nobody else seemed to notice she was crying, but then everybody around her did. And it got very quiet. And then finally this man got up from the back of the bus, and he came up and sat next to her and put his arm around her, and he didn't say a word, but just stared straight ahead with his arm around her and she kept crying, but it was better now, you could tell, she kind of had a little smile even though she was still crying. And I don't know if he even knew her! I think everybody was wondering the same thing: Does he even know her? I guess he must have known her; otherwise she probably would have leaped up and started screaming or something, but you never know! You just never know, it might have been someone whose heart went out to her because she was crying. And he decided he would comfort her. And she let him. And I think it was a kind of miracle. A living parable or something.
— Elizabeth Berg, Once Upon a Time, There Was You
After American titan and presidential father Joseph P. Kennedy suffered a stroke that impacted one side of his body, guests pretended not to notice the impact. Jackie Kennedy, however, held the impacted hand and kissed the affected side of his face, facing his disability and giving him the courage to do so.
— Sally Bedell Smith, Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House
Sometimes, things happen that you would always wonder "Why did it happen?" Well sometimes you must remember that God always has a plan for the better and its our choice whether to accept it in two ways. As a bitter person or a better person.
— Jerald Ooi
The comfort was peculiarly chilling.
— Shannon A. Thompson, Seconds Before Sunrise
Heavenly comfort, rather, is truth, which blows away human fantasies that we can live forever, control everything, or fake our lives before God.
— Sara  Miles, City of God: Faith in the Streets
Khalid?” It was dark now, and she couldn't see his face, but she knew he was right there, an inch or two from their last kiss. “What was that look? Earlier, after we'd finished?”There was a long silence in the dark before Khalid finally spoke.“It is only that it has been a long time since I have made love.” There was another long quiet. She waited for him. “Of course, I love Galen. But you know already, we are only tender when we are not f****ing. And you and I, we were tender, before, but we did not feel then as we feel now.”“No.”“I had forgotten how big that feeling is.”Vanka pulled Khalid to her, cradling his naked body against hers.
— Varian Krylov, Hurt
Each one of us has a comfort zone. The problem comes when we are unwilling to leave it.
— Bill Courtney, Against the Grain: A Coach's Wisdom on Character, Faith, Family, and Love
If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.
— John Bunyan
Walking next to Talent, she felt the singular, cozy comfort that steals upon one who is with a good friend.
— Kristen Callihan, Shadowdance
As I go off into the big black abyss of my future, I have to admit that I am terrified and also a bit insecure in my decisions. But, I also realize that anyone who has ever gone off into uncharted waters must have felt similar to the way I feel now, which gives me a small ounce of comfort. I don’t know how to do what I am doing, I have no way of knowing if this is the right way or not. But I guess I’ll never know until I get there. So, this is me, being a pioneer.
— Leigh Hershkovich
How long he stood he did not know, but there was a foolish and yet delicious sense of knowing himself as an animal come from the forest, drawn by the fire. He was a thing of brush and liquid eye, of fur and muzzle and hoof, he was a thing of horn and blood that would smell like autumn if you bled it out on the ground. He stood a long time, listening to the warm crackle of the flames.
— Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Taylor, listen to me. I could tell you that it’s okay. That she wasn’t a wonderful person, or I didn’t love her. I could tell you that she’s happier now, and her life would’ve been sad and filled with pain and longing to see her love again. I could say that I’m not struggling with her death, as well as the death of the hope that she could once again be part of my life. But instead I’ll just say that I’m sad, too, sweetheart. That way I can spare you the struggle of detecting the lie in my words.
— Embee, Tess Embers
At the root of the tree at the heart of the world,With a chain round his neck, the Wolf lies curled. His gleaming teeth and jaws are furled,And the sun shall rise in the morning. His chain, it is forged of the nerve of a bear,Of the voice of a fish, and a girl's chin-hair. His chain, it is light and strong and fair,And the sun shall rise in the morning. With a mountain's root, and a cat's foot-fall,And the spit of a bird, he is held in thrall, Though iron could bind him never at all, And the sun shall rise in the morning. The sun shall rise, the stars shall fade,For the binding which the good gods madeStill loops the Wolf in its lovely braid, And the sun shall rise in the morning.
— Maculategiraffe, Jesse's Story
The man who has many answersis often foundin the theaters of informationwhere he offers, graciously,his deep findings.While the man who has only questions,to comfort himself, makes music.
— Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings
Let go with me. Let me comfort you with my body...there's no shame in forgetting for a night even if you know you'll remember in the morning.
— Tiffany Reisz, The Mistress
By comparison with other less hectic days, the city is uncomfortable and inconvenient; but New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience- if they did they would live elsewhere.
— E.B. White, Here Is New York
To be comforted by God is a promise that few of us ever receive, because we are consumed with controlling our situations to avoid being vulnerable.
— E'yen A. Gardner, Humbly Submitting to Change - The Wilderness Experience
Hannah's magic cure for every ill," he teased. "Blueberry cake and a kitten.
— Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
In my view, there are many different kinds of hugs. There are the ones you give to huggers, people who hug all the time. These, to me, are by far the least special of all hugs. I see the outstretched arms for the third time in as many days-the expectation of an embrace- and I am drawn in by a feeling of good manners rather than sincere closeness. It's like shaking hands. There are also those I hug only once in a great while because I hardly ever see then, but who I don't necessarily feel that close to. Those kinds of hugs are probably the most awkward. I'm expected to hug so I do it, even if I'm not sure I want to. Hugs like these are brief, and I am always left wondering what sort of look the other person had on their face where I couldn't see. And then there are HUGS. Like the hugs my parents give me when I'm having a bad day, any sort of hug from Armon the giant, or a hug like the one with Yipes right now. Yipes and I are not apt to embrace each other unless there's a good reason to do it, but when there is a good reason, it's a hug that feels like it ought to.
— Patrick Carman, Stargazer
Each day is a new chance to improve your life, and that of your family, friends and colleagues. Be positive in your outlook, honest in your dealing and determined in your efforts. You will succeed
— Arthur Crandon, Deadly Election
Dream about things that envelop your being like a comfortable blanket.
— Truth Devour, Wantin
Forget the beauty, comfort, love and enjoyment. You must to be enough tough on yourself to be strong on others.
— M.F. Moonzajer
Love comforts, it is gentle, it is warm and you can feel it within your entire being.
— Ellen J. Barrier
I wouldn't be comfortable, but at least I'd have marginal protection against pointy steel objects that went stab in the night.
— Lisa Shearin, Magic Lost, Trouble Found
So love is rest? The cosy corner? The little nook?Sometimes it ought to be. Sometimes it is.
— Doris Lessing, Play With A Tiger
I work in my pajamas most of the time. No matter what you’re wearing, you can sound businesslike on the phone.
— Juliet Blackwell, Secondhand Spirits
In misery it is great comfort to have a companion.
— John Lyly, Euphues the Anatomy of Wit: Euphues & His England
I throw my arms around her without even thinking first, the way I used to with Daddy when he came home from a trip. "Thank you," I say into her waist. Her clothes smell so good. I feel her hand resting on my head, and for that second I feel like nothing could ever go wrong. Not when there's Miss Mary to hug.
— Elizabeth Flock, Me & Emma
Most of us lie because it is our last resort to get out of any uncomfortable situation.
— Bria Guishard
He stretched out on the bed and was suddenly struck by how utterly lonely he was.
— Tim LaHaye, Tribulation Force
I’m with you
—  it’s only me.
It’s going to be okay, Eric," Urte said, helping me sit up. I shook my head. "Lying is my forte, Urte, not yours.” (Eric.)
— Shannon A. Thompson, Minutes Before Sunset
And all I want is to hold her and make the rest of the world go away.
— Mary E. Pearson, The Fox Inheritance
I need more than anything right now what is, of course, most impossible, someone to love me, to be with me at night when I wake up in shuddering horror and fear of the cement tunnels leading down to the shock room, to comfort me with an assurance that no psychiatrist can quite manage to convey.
— Sylvia Plath, The Journals of Sylvia Plath
... one may live in a big house and yet have no comfort.
— Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Pack is for comfort when you hurt, I thought, putting my head back down. And for the first time in a long time, maybe the first time ever, I appreciated being a part of one.
— Patricia Briggs, Silver Borne
Have you strayed from the path leading to heaven? Then call on Mary, for her name means "Star of the Sea, the North Star which guides the ships of our souls during the voyage of this life," and she will guide you to the harbor of eternal salvation.
— St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret Of The Rosary
Let us agree that we are marrying so we can go on quarreling in the greatest comfort and convenience. Oh, please, Althea, look at me. Do say yes.
— Patrice Kindl, Keeping the Castle
There are few things less comforting than a tiger who's been up too late.
— Bill Watterson, Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
I find a certain comfort," confesses Marinus, "in humanity's helplessness.
— David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
I'm not at all contemptuous of comforts, but they have their place and it is not first.
— E.F. Schumacherm
I know it's beyond what you can bear, child. You must not try to carry this alone.
— Rosslyn Elliott, Lovelier Than Daylight
I just want to make sure Mama. Sometimes I don’t even know what I want. A lot of times I’m just tired.” Mama reached up and smoothed Liza’s curls away from her face. “Well darlin’, that’s the sign of a life being lived. I think we’re all tired when we’re giving it our best.
— Gwenn Wright, Katherine's Journal
In suiting the action to the words, however, I perceived that the stars were all wrong.That was my undoing. I had looked up unthinkingly, anticipating the familiar, and, finding it gone, began to cry like a baby. Whereupon Peter stopped the gig and took me in his arms, kissing me so that my face was soon sore both from kissing and crying.
— Jennifer Paynter, Mary Bennet
I found I could listen without envy to Letty's singing, and afterwards when the applause came, I did not mind that Mrs Knowles was heaping praises upon her. Peter's hands were on my chair, and when I leaned back I could feel them against my shoulders.
— Jennifer Paynter, Mary Bennet
Smoking had become my favorite thing in the world to do. It was like having instant comfort, no matter where or when.
— Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors
Needs? I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people... I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked, "Must I really have this?" I guess most of the extras are chalked up to comfort or saving time.Funny thing about comfort - one man's comfort is another man's misery. Most people do't work hard enough physically anymore, and comfort is not easy to find. It is surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain.
— Richard Proenneke, One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey
Dear Beloved woman,Time… so much time has passed since my love wrote his last words for me.And yet I remember it as if it were yesterday. I remember writing back and for the first time since I had left home I told my love what kind of darkness surrounded me here. I forgot all the sweet things my father had said to my mother when he was away. I forgot how they got her through all those long and lonely nights.
— Talon P.S., Dear Soldier, With Love
I've tried praying. It gives me comfort. But not as much as a cup of tea and a ginger nut biscuit.
— Steven Herrick, Cold Skin
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself
—  but talent instantly recognizes genius.
YOU COULD LOCK the Gasman in a padded cell with some dental floss and a bowl of Jell-O, and he'd find a way to make something to explode.
— James Patterson, Max
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.
— Stephen King
Our talents are the gift that God gives to us... What we make of our talents is our gift back to God
— Leo Buscaglia
Be led by your talent, not by your self-loathing; those other things you just have to manage.
— Russell Brand, My Booky Wook
One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
— Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
I know I have a pretty good sense for music, but she was better than me. I used to think it was such a waste! I thought, ‘If only she had started out with a good teacher and gotten the proper training, she’d be so much further along!’ But I was wrong about that. She was not the kind of child who could stand proper training. There just happen to be people like that. They’re blessed with this marvelous talent, but they can’t make the effort to systematize it. They end up squandering it in little bits and pieces. I’ve seen my share of people like that. At first you think they’re amazing. Like, they can sight-read some terrifically difficult piece and do a damn good job playing it all the way through. You see them do it, and you’re overwhelmed. you think, ‘I could never do that in a million years.’ But that’s as far as they go. They can’t take it any further. And why not? Because they won’t put in the effort. Because they haven’t had the discipline pounded into them. They’ve been spoiled. They have just enough talent so they’ve been able to play things well without any effort and they’ve had people telling them how great they are from the time they’re little, so hard work looks stupid to them. They’ll take some piece another kid has to work on for three weeks and polish it off in half the time, so the teacher figures they’ve put enough into it and lets them go to the next thing. And they do that in half the time and go on to the next piece. They never find out what it means to be hammered by the teacher; they lose out on a certain element required or character building. It’s a tragedy.
— Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Talent is an accident of genes, and a responsibility.
— Alan Rickman
…because talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.
— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.
— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
You can have tons of talent, but it won't necessarily keep you fed. If you have sharp instincts, through, you'll never go hungry.
— Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 BOOK 1
Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Fransisco, you're some kind of very high nobility, aren't you?" He answered, "Not yet. The reason my family has lasted for such a long time is that none of us has ever been permitted to think he is born a d'Anconia. We are expected to become one.
— Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
But then if you lied to a man about his talent just because he was sitting across from you, that was the most unforgivable lie of them all, because that was telling him to go on, to continue which was the worst way for a man without real talent to waste his life, finally. But many people did just that, friends and relatives mostly.
— Charles Bukowski, Women
It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.
— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Talent is useful, but always keep your dagger sharp.
— Amanda Quick, Quicksilver
Talent is its own expectation, Jim: you either live up to it or it waves a hankie, receding forever.
— David Foster Wallace
Not many people can lay claim to having broken Time, and we did it purely by accident.
— James A. Owen, The Search for the Red Dragon
Life is entrusted to man as a treasure which must not be squandered, as a talent which must be used well.
— John Paul II
A familiar name on its own, however, does not carry its bearer far unless the talent is there, and the will to work.
— Daphne du Maurier, The "Rebecca" Notebook: And Other Memories
Listen," Mac interrupted, "you still have to knock it out of the park. But it's a degree-of-difficulty thing. You're doing a triple lutz and she's skating. You're the Sasha Cohen here.
— Zoey Dean, Almost Famous
I had no ability, but I was determined to show heart.
— Evan Handler, It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive
Talent without enthusiasm is likea Ferrari without fuel.
— Sebastyne Young
Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time.
— Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
But Aunt Habiba said not to worry, that everyone had wonderful things hidden inside. The only difference was that some managed to share those wonderful things, and others did not. Those who did not explore and share the precious gifts within went through life feeling miserable, sad, awkward with others, and angry too. You had to develop a talent, Aunt Habiba said, so that you could give something, share and shine. And you developed a talent by working very hard at becoming good at something. It could be anything - singing, dancing, cooking, embroidering, listening, looking, smiling, waiting, accepting, dreaming, rebelling, leaping. 'Anything you can do well can change your life', said Aunt Habiba.
— Fatema Mernissi, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood
I wasn't good enough. I had a little talent but not enough. There is nothing more discouraging than having just a little talent.
— Rosamunde Pilcher, Wild Mountain Thyme
"Crazy," he muttered softly, "how much I need you."Crazy, how something like that can feel like a kick in the chest, can hurt that much, can suck all the air right out of your body for a moment. And at the same time, settle over you, around you, so soft and warm and sweet, that you think nothing can ever be as good as this one m
— Susan Bischoff, Heroes 'Til Curfew
A great ancient poet was blind. A great classical composer was deaf. Many of us are dumb. What have we to show for it?
— Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
Talent is nothing without persistence.
— Dean  Crawford
Vocation is different from talent. One can have vocation and not have talent
—  one can be called and not know how to go.
He wanted to tell her, from the greater perspective he had, that to own only a little talent, like his, was an awful, plaguing thing; that being only a little special meant you expected too much, most of the time, and liked yourself too little. He wanted to assure her that she had missed nothing
— Mary Robison
The trouble in life is not that you are extraordinarily or ordinarily talented but you are read posthumously.
— Santosh Kalwar
Skills are common. Talent is rare.
— Colin Clark, My Week With Marilyn
I also wish I'd been born with a clearly defined talent for something, or else stupid.
— James Hamilton-Paterson, Cooking with Fernet Branca
One of the talents of the [late] great Steve Jobs is that he [knew] how to design Medusa-like products. While every Macintosh model has had flaws (some more than others), most of them have has a sexiness and a design sensibility that has turned many consumers into instant converts. Macintosh owners upgrade far more often than most computer users for precisely this reason.” (p.98)
— Seth Godin, Unleashing the Ideavirus: Stop Marketing AT People! Turn Your Ideas into Epidemics by Helping Your Customers Do the Marketing thing for You.
You know, you guys have been dancing around each other for so long you could cut the sexual tension with a knife. It's a wonder you didn't rip each other's clothes off the minute you got over yourselves and got together.""For crissakes, Heather.
— Susan Bischoff, Heroes 'Til Curfew
Just think of a safe location.""Are there tennis balls in the soup?""Come on, be serious.""A pear camping highway fire mask," he said, more intensely.My heart rate, which had finally started slowing, sped up again.
— Susan Bischoff, Heroes 'Til Curfew
Be careful what you get good at doin', cuz you'll be doin' it for the rest of your life.
— Gabrielle Hamilton, Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
But here was where the question of talent became slippery, for who could say whether Spirit-in-the-Woods had ever pulled incipient talent out of a kid and activated it, or whether the talent had been there all along and would have come out even without this place.
— Meg Wolitzer, The Interestings
To sparkle its enough to be a Star, but to shine you have to be at Sky.
— Zeeshan Ahmed
If it [talent] isn’t strong enough to take the gaff of real training, then it’s not worth much.
— Andrew Wyeth
Talent is part of the equation, but when you combine talent with accountability and authenticity, it is tough to beat.
— David Ross, Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages
if somebody doesn't have any talent, get off the stage! you're wasting my time.
— Elaine Stritch
Talent is unfair and undemocratic
—  it's also inarguable.
Talent is something you bloom, Instinct is something you polish.
— Oikawa Tooru, Haikyūu
Do not hide who you are. These are a nurturer's hands. Cooking is hard and sometimes painful work, but you do it to share your gift with us. Your cooking improves our lives. Don't ever be ashamed of who you are.
— Amy E. Reichert, The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
There is a need to evaluate the performance of employees in a more objective and continuous way.
— Pearl Zhu, Performance Master: Take a Holistic Approach to Unlock Digital Performance
Having a talent is not all that a matter
—  bearing noble and lasting fruits with your talent is the real matter
She herself had short red hair and a face which was not so much freckled as one big freckle with occasional areas of white
— Terry Pratchett and/or Neil Gaiman
Talent is nothing more than a pursued interest.
— Bob Ross (https://youtu.be/L5bXkI0-pEg?t=21m)
Brevity is a sublime talent.
— Javier Enríquez Serralde
Anyone can act if he has the will to do so, and anyone who says he wants to but doesn't have the knack for it suffers from a lack of will, not a lack of talent.
— Melissa Bruder, A Practical Handbook for the Actor
There was never talent, only hard work.
— Yixing Zhang, 而立·24
If self-employment is the opposite of employed-by-other, than a job is outsourcing your freedom (time and talent) to a boss.
— Richie Norton
Talent is a word lazy people use to explain why they can’t do things.
— Edmund McMillen
Don’t keep your greatness; exhibit it to the admiration of all but note however also to keep your precious something hidden for discovery. When it is discovered, it shall win awe and admiration, and it shall be an inspiration!
— Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
Everyone has a talent, and gifts shouldn't be judged by their glory factor
— Laura Peyton Roberts, Queen B
Creativity is an inherent ability that cannot be taught, only developed.
— Pearl  Zhu, Unpuzzling Innovation: Mastering Innovation Management in a Structural Way
If a great mansion is located in a wrong environment, it loses its real value! So it is, when a great and true genius fails to get the right stage, its real value is least seen!
— Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
We all have our own loves, insecurities, strengths, weaknesses, and unique capabilities. And we have to take those into account in figuring out where our talents and desires intersect. That intersection is what I call your "blue flame" -- where passion and ability come together. When that blue flame is ignited within a person, it is a powerful force in getting you where you want to be.
— Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Religious Leader Petra Cecilia Maria HermansThe Religion Of The Blue CircleAll my talents are already given to our worldbecause God gave me all the talents of the world.November 16, 2016
— Petra Hermans
To be prosperous you must discover your gifting’s, potentials and talents
— Sunday Adelaja
Use the capacity and talent given to you by God to go and subdue the world given to you by Him
— Sunday Adelaja
My talent is that I do not appreciate money in the waythe world appreciates money.The Religion Of The Blue CircleReligious Leader Petra Cecilia Maria HermansNovember 16, 2016
— Petra Hermans, Voor een betere wereld
What is your talent? What are your interests? What resources do you have at your disposal? What can you do? What would you like to do? What can you do? You could apply your outrage to activism. Get involved. Do something.
— Christina Engela, Blachart
What you love is a clue to your calling and talent.As you assume the responsibilities of the present, take time to enjoy the privileges available to you now. Today's action will speak better of tomorrow and more.
— Prince Akwarandu
If only one person can do it, you cannot do it, if two people can do it, you can do it too.
— M.F. Moonzajer
In the last twenty years the colleges have been emphasizing creative writing to such an extent that you almost feel that any idiot with a nickel's worth of talent can emerge from a writing class able to write a competent story. In fact, so many people can now write competent stories that the short story as a medium is in danger of dying of competence. We want competence, but competence by itself is deadly. What is needed is the vision to go with it, and you do not get this from a writing class.
— Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
Unprofessionalism damages the business reputation and tarnishes the trust of society.
— Pearl Zhu, Talent Master: 199+ Questions to See Talent from Different Angles
What my business partner says is, if the Lord gives you a talent or a skill, you have the obligation to use it as best as you can. Don’t you agree?
— Neil Gaiman, American Gods
Higher income either indicates higher intelligence or lesser morals!
— Ramana Pemmaraju
Early in life we recognize certain talents in ourselves, and we focus on those to the exclusion of others. It's not that nothing else is possible, but that nothing else was nurtured.
— Ransom Riggs, Library of Souls
I think that writers are made, not born or created out of dreams of childhood trauma—that becoming a writer (or a painter, actor, director, dancer, and so on) is a direct result of conscious will. Of course there has to be some talent involved, but talent is a dreadfully cheap commodity, cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work and study; a constant process of honing. Talent is a dull knife that will cut nothing unless it is wielded with great force—a force so great the knife is not really cutting at all but bludgeoning and breaking (and after two or three of these gargantuan swipes it may succeed in breaking itself…which may be what happened to such disparate writers as Ross Lockridge and Robert E. Howard). Discipline and constant work are the whetstones upon which the dull knife of talent is honed until it becomes sharp enough, hopefully, to cut through even the toughest meat and gristle. No writer, painter, or actor—no artist—is ever handed a sharp knife (although a few are handed almighty big ones; the name we give to the artist with the big knife is “genius”), and we hone with varying degrees of zeal and aptitude.
— Stephen King, Danse Macabre
I don't think about a role as positive or negative. If I can play it convincingly, then I feel satisfied as an actor
— Kunal Karan Kapoor
Different things drive me at different points in time. Hopes, the things you envision, and even things that pull you down" - Kunal Karan Kapoor
— Kunal Karan Kapoor
You start off with a little spark, and it's whether or not you nurture that spark. You have to expand it and work on it
— Ed Sheeran
The ability to be emotive comes from within...it's innate".
— Kunal Karan Kapoor
Picture sometimes says something that connects with people. Connection, that is what it is all about in the end".
— Kunal Karan Kapoor
He kept seeing the brains dribbling down the wallpaper. It wasn’t the killing that stayed on his mind, it was the spilled talent. A lifetime of honing and shaping torn apart in less than a second. All those stories, all those images, and what came out looked like so much oatmeal. What was the point?
— Stephen King, Finders Keepers
You seek to torment. But I am not a witch. Trial me
—  I will not confess to the craft.”“I don’t blame you for being a witch. I condemn you for not accepting the burden of your talent. Now open that door.
my talent is my pride
— Jesustibab
Talented person is talented everywhere.
— Lion Feuchtwanger
when you help a child develop their talents, you are creating a better tomorrow.
— Jesustibab
Practice begins when you get it right.
— Kimberly Meier-Sims
Straight As might improve chances for a job but talent improves chances of a promotion.
— Grant McLachlan
Perfectionism, of course, was something which even as a young man he had come to see as the innermost essence of talent.
— Thomas Mann
It's no good writing if God hasn't given you talent. People will just laugh.
— Ivan Turgenev
If we're talented at music, that talent is of god.  If something makes our heart sing, that's god's way of telling us its a contribution he wants us to make.  Sharing our gifts is what makes us happy. We're most powerful and god's power is most apparent on the earth when we're happy. A course in miracles teaches that we are only truly happy when we're doing god's will.  The only thing to be saved from is our own negativity and fear.  The crux of salvation in any area is a shift in our sense of purpose.  That shift is a miracle, as always we consciously ask for it:  'Dear god, please give my life some sense of purpose. use me as an instrument of your peace.  Use my talents and abilities to spread love.  I surrender my job to you. Help me to remember that my real job is to love the world back to health.
— Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"