Might Have Been Quotes - Page 4

• Ah, it's my longing for whom I might have been that distracts and torments me!

  Fernando Pessoa

  Might, Longing, Book Of Disquiet

  Fernando Pessoa (2002). “The Book of Disquiet”, p.54, Penguin UK

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• But lost chances are as much a part of life as chances taken, and a story cannot dwell on what might have been.

  Paul Auster

  Taken, Stories, Might

  Paul Auster (2008). “The New York Trilogy”, p.165, Faber & Faber

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• The clock tick-tocked, solemn and profound. It might have been the dry pulse of the decaying house itself, after a while it whirred and cleared its throat and struck six times.

  William Faulkner

  Profound, House, Pulse

  William Faulkner “The Sound and the Fury”, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Silence. How long it lasted, I couldn't tell. It might have been five seconds, it might have been a minute. Time wasn't fixed. It wavered, stretched, shrank. Or was it me that wavered, stretched, and shrank in the silence? I was warped in the folds of time, like a reflection in a fun house mirror.

  Haruki Murakami

  Fun, Reflection, Mirrors

  FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from May 15, 2015

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• If it makes you feel any better, you’re not as bad as Keith. He was here earlier today and was so nervous, he literally kept looking over his shoulder.” Lee paused thoughtfully. “I think it might have been because Adrian kept laughing like a mad scientist at those old black-and-white movies he was watching.

  Richelle Mead

  Black And White, Thinking, Mad

  Richelle Mead (2011). “Bloodlines”, p.72, Penguin

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• Lil had always believed that a person's duty was to make the best of the hand they were dealt. No use wondering what might have been, she used to say, all that matters is what is.

  Kate Morton

  Hands, Use, Might

  Kate Morton (2009). “The Forgotten Garden”, p.228, Simon and Schuster

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• My rest might have been blissful enough, only a sad heart broke it.

  Charlotte Bronte

  Heart, Might, Enough

  Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte (2009). “The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.264, Penguin

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• You might have been paid back enough to suit you" I said, "but I don't know if you've been paid back enough to suit me.

  Charlaine Harris

  Suits You, Might, Enough

  Charlaine Harris (2003). “Club Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel”, p.147, Penguin

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• The truth is I always loved him. From the first time I saw him he was so great. But that time I was hurt. I might have been selfish but I was so hurt. I was afraid I would feel more pain. Now I remember every time I was with Shouji I felt better. You hugged me secretly with your heart, didn't you? Now I want you to embrace me with all that warmth, with all your strength.

  Ai Yazawa

  Hurt, Pain, Selfish

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• Beyond the window, some kind of small, black thing shot across the sky. A bird, possibly. Or it might have been someone's soul being blown to the far side of the world.

  Haruki Murakami

  Sky, Bird, Soul

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• Haven't you ever wished that you could steal back just a few hours of your past?" she asked softly. "That's all I want... just a little taste of what might have been.

  Lisa Kleypas

  Past, Want, Littles

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• In the weeks since I had made the decision to leave my father's house, I had grown up. And I had learned that not every battle can be fought by firing an arrow from a bow. But I would have to face whatever new challenges came my way as bravely as I had faced the Huns. I could not wallow in self-pity, thinking about what might have been. I had to do my duty. It was the only way to stay true to myself.

  Cameron Dokey

  Father, Thinking, Arrows

  Cameron Dokey (2010). “Wild Orchid: A Retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan"”, p.179, Simon and Schuster

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• Every head turned to see two more security guards appear, each holding a Bagshaw by the back of the neck (which might have been considerably less conspicuous had the Bagshaws not been dressed as chimney sweeps). Kat turned back to Hale. 'The Mary Poppins?' 'Seemed like a good idea at the time.

  Ally Carter

  Security Guards, Ideas, Two

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• So much of the deep lingering sadness over President Kennedy's assassination is about the unfinished promise: unspoken speeches, unfulfilled hopes, the wondering about what might have been.

  Marian Wright Edelman

  Sadness, President Kennedy's Assassination, Promise

  "Ask What You Can Do For Your Country" by Marian Wright Edelman, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 22, 2013.

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• There might have been a period around 'Tango & Cash' when I was nearly fashionable. My problem is that my weight's always been changing for the movies I'm in.

  Sylvester Stallone

  Weight, Cash, Might

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• If I had known what it would be like to have it all - I might have been willing to settle for less.

  Lily Tomlin

  Funny, Sarcastic, Eyeglasses

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• One of the greatest features of science is that it doesn't matter where you were born, and it doesn't matter what the belief systems of your parents might have been: If you perform the same experiment that someone else did, at a different time and place, you'll get the same result.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Parent, Different, Might

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• Every minute you are thinking of evil, you might have been thinking of good instead. Refuse to pander to a morbid interest in your own misdeeds. Pick yourself up, be sorry, shake yourself, and go on again.

  Evelyn Underhill

  Inspirational, Sorry, Apology

  Evelyn Underhill, Carol Poston (2010). “The Making of a Mystic: New and Selected Letters of Evelyn Underhill”, p.113, University of Illinois Press

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• As a kid, I might have been psycho, I guess, but I used to throw golf balls in the trees and try and somehow make par from them. I thought that was fun.

  Tiger Woods

  Sports, Fun, Kids

  "Interview With The Big Cat, Tiger Woods". Hurrican Golf Interview, www.hurricanegolf.com. November 20, 2014.

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• My heart hath often been deeply afflicted under a feeling that the standard of pure righteousness is not lifted up to the people by us, as a society, in that clearness which it might have been, had we been as faithful as we ought to be to the teachings of Christ.

  John Woolman

  Teaching, Heart, People

  John Woolman (1840). “A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of that Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ”, p.135

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• But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

  George Eliot

  Life, Numbers, Obscurity

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch - A Study of Provincial Life -”, p.367, Read Books Ltd

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• We yearn for tomorrow and the progress that it represents. But yesterday was once tomorrow, and where was progress in it? Or we yearn for yesterday, for what was or what might have been. But as we are yearning, the present is becoming the past, so the past is nothing but our yearning for second chances.

  Dean Koontz

  Past, Second Chance, Yesterday

  Dean Koontz (2007). “Brother Odd: An Odd Thomas Novel”, p.18, Bantam

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• Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.

  Carl Jung

  Pieces, Might, Emotion

  Carl Gustav Jung (1973). “Memories, dreams, reflections”, Random House Inc

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• What is, is, and what might have been could never have existed.

  Edward Gorey

  Might, Has Beens

  Edward Gorey (2001). “Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey : Interviews”, Houghton Mifflin

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• And what an example of the power of dress young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar;—it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have fixed his station in society. But now he was enveloped in the old calico robes, that had grown yellow in the same service; he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once—a parish child—the orphan of a workhouse—the humble, half-starved drudge—to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all, and pitied by none.

  Charles Dickens

  Children, Humble, Yellow

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