Honest Quotes - Page 19

• We are more inclined to regret our virtues than our vices; but only the very honest will admit this.

  Holbrook Jackson

  Regret, Integrity, Vices

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• I felt excited to go to school, and that scared me. I knew it wasn't the simulating learning environment I was anticipating, or seeing my new set of friends. If I was being honest with myself, I knew I was eager to get to school because I would see Edward Culllen. And that was very, very stupid.

  Stephenie Meyer

  Stupid, School, Scared

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• Brand a man as a thief and no one will ever hire him for honest labor - he will be a hardened robber within weeks. The brand does not reveal a person's nature, it shapes it.

  Frances Hardinge

  Men, Thieves, Doe

  Frances Hardinge (2011). “Fly By Night”, p.104, Pan Macmillan

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• They believe that if they do get published, a wonderful new life is in store. It will turn out that deep down they are really valuable people and will have lots of money from now on and really cool people like Ethan Hawke will be dropping by all the time. But it's a lie. Being a published writer will make them long to be ONLY as mentally ill as they are now. Their current level of obsession and doubt and self-loathing will look like the good old days. Honest.

  Anne Lamott

  Lying, Believe, Self

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• If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

  William Shakespeare

  Good Night, Dream, Liars

  'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595-6) act 5, sc. 2, l. 54

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• In my arms is a woman who has given me a Skywatcher's Cloud Chart, a woman who knows all my secrets, a woman who knows just how messed up my mind is, how many pills I'm on, and yet she allows me to hold her anyway. There's something honest about all this, and I cannot imagine any other woman lying in the middle of a frozen soccer field with me - in the middle of a snowstorm even - impossibly hoping to see a single cloud break free of a nimbostratus.

  Matthew Quick

  Soccer, Lying, Clouds

  Matthew Quick (2010). “The Silver Linings Playbook”, p.189, Pan Macmillan

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• If Melissa Miller were an artist, she would have painted the world in vicious streaks of red. Nothing like Picasso's rose period, all soft and cheerful and so optimistic that it made you want to puke. Missy's red phase would have been brutal and bright enough to cut your eyes. Missy's art would have been honest.

  Jackie Morse Kessler

  Art, Eye, Optimistic

  Jackie Morse Kessler (2011). “Rage”, p.9, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Failure is not fatal. Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments, not pull us to new depths of despair. From honest failure can come valuable experience.

  William Arthur Ward

  Motivational, Teacher, Accomplishment

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• Nobody asks you to love the whole world, only to be honest, ehrlich. Don't have a loud mouth. The more you love people the more they'll mix you up. A child loves, a person respects. Respect is better than love.

  Saul Bellow

  Children, People, World

  Saul Bellow (1984). “The Adventures of Augie March”

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• The most revolutionary thing anybody can do is to raise good, honest and generous children who will question the answers of people who say the answer is violence. That's what the schools should be doing.

  Colman McCarthy

  Children, School, People

  "Former reporter pushes peace studies". www.cnn.com. December 19, 2002.

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• The poor dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend, Whose honest heart is still the master's own, Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone, Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth, Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth, While man, vain insect hopes to be forgiven, And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

  Lord Byron

  Dog, Fall, Heart

  George Gordon Byron, “Epitaph To A Dog”

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• [A writer] must try to think clearly, to feel deeply, to write honestly. If he is fortunate he will make a living, but his work will never be anymore essentially clear and deep and honest than he himself is, and he will be judged finally not for how many copies his books have sold, but for what they have done to enrich the lives of their readers, now and in time to come.

  Lawrence Clark Powell

  Book, Writing, Thinking

  Lawrence Clark Powell (1985). “Books are basic: the essential Lawrence Clark Powell”, Univ of Arizona Pr

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• There is evidence for the deity of Jesus -- good, strong, historical , cumulative evidence; evidence to which an honest person can subscribe without committing intellectual suicide.

  John Stott

  Suicide, Jesus, Strong

  John Stott, Rick Warren (2012). “Basic Christianity, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition”, p.14, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.

  Mary Ellen Mark

  Photography, Thinking, People

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• "Only with effort can the camera be forced to lie: basically it is an honest medium: so the photographer is much more likely to approach nature in a spirit of inquiry, of communion, instead of with the saucy swagger of self-dubbed "artists"."

  Edward Weston

  Photography, Lying, Artist

  Edward Weston, Nancy Newhall (1990). “The daybooks of Edward Weston”

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• Weapons may be carried by creatures who are evil, dishonest, violent or lazy. The true warrior is good, gentle and honest. His bravery comes from within himself; he learns to conquer his own fears and misdeeds. —Matthias

  Brian Jacques

  Warrior, Evil, Bravery

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• More good has been accomplished by simple people seeking their own honest ends than by all the philanthropists in history.

  Robert Breault

  Life, Simple, People

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• It is often sadly remarked that the bad economists present their errors to the public better than the good economists present their truths. It is often complained that demagogues can be more plausible in putting forward economic nonsense from the platform than the honest men who try to show what is wrong with it.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Philosophy, Men, Errors

  Henry Hazlitt (2010). “Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics”, p.14, Crown Business

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• It is not surprising that honest and well-informed experts can disagree about facts. But beyond the disagreement about facts, there is another deeper disagreement about values.

  Freeman Dyson

  Experts, Facts, Global Warming

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• Being so honest in my writing is cathartic.

  Brian Molko

  Writing, Songwriting, Cathartic

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• Sebastian just smiled. “I could hear your heart beating,” he said softly. “When you were watching me with Valentine. Did it bother you?” “That you seem to be dating my dad?” Jace shrugged. "You’re a little young for him, to be honest.” “What?” For the first time since Jace had met him, Sebastian seemed flabbergasted.

  Cassandra Clare

  Dad, Valentine, Heart

  Cassandra Clare (2009). “City of Glass”, p.436, Simon and Schuster

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• An honest lie is better than a boring truth.

  Marcel Wanders

  Lying, Boring

  Marcel Wanders, Yvònne G. J. M. Joris (1999). “Wanders wonders: design for a New Age”

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• One of the main purposes of laws in a democratic society is to put burdens upon intelligence and reduce it to impotence. Ostensibly, their aim is to penalize anti-social acts; actually their aim is to penalize heretical opinions. At least ninety-five Americans out of every 100 believe that this process is honest and even laudable; it is practically impossible to convince them that there is anything evil in it. In other words, they cannot grasp the concept of liberty.

  H. L. Mencken

  Business, Believe, Law

  "Liberty and Democracy". Baltimore Evening Sun (April 13, 1925) as quoted in "A Second Mencken Chrestomathy: A New Selection from the Writings of America's Legendary Editor, Critic, and Wit" edited by Terry Teachout (p. 35), 1994.

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• I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I.

  William Shakespeare

  Memorable, Men, Thank God

  'Much Ado About Nothing' (1598-9) act 3, sc. 5, l. [15]

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• It was a very strange, disappointing race in that no one wanted to take it out. That's why I took the lead. I wanted some people to run the real distance and that was frustrating. So I took the pace around the second lap, which in some ways is suicidal...but I wanted the pace to be honest.

  Marla Runyan

  Running, Real, Distance

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