Numbers Quotes - Page 24

• I mean that two of any thing is a most uncomfortable number. One may do as he pleases. Six may get along well enough. But two must always struggle for mastery. Two must always watch each other. The eyes of all the world will be on two, uncertain which of them to follow.

  Susanna Clarke

  Struggle, Mean, Eye

  Susanna Clarke (2009). “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell”, p.542, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• …I hate myself for not being able to go downstairs naturally and seek comfort in numbers. I hate myself for having to sit here and be torn between I know not what within me.

  Sylvia Plath

  Hate, Comfort, Able

  Sylvia Plath (2013). “The Journals of Sylvia Plath”, p.18, Anchor

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• You know," I said, holding my ground. "I gotta tell you. The goatee thing? Yeah, way over. And you know a little jewelry really does go a long way. Just something you might want to consider. I'm actually glad you stopped by, because I have a couple things I've been meaning to say to you. Number one, about your wife? Yeah, she's a skank. And number two, you know that whole thing where you killed Jesse and then buried his remains out back there? Yeah, way un-cool.

  Meg Cabot

  Couple, Two, Wife

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• There... Poor little things. You see them? Standing with their numbers on their blank, indifferent faces, Nuremberg in miniature, the ranks of painted wooden men... Poor dominoes. Your pretty empire took so long to build, now, with a snap of history's fingers down it goes.

  Alan Moore

  Men, Long, Littles

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• The only use for military service is that it reveals the number of morons in the population," he would remark. "And that can be discovered in the first two weeks; there's no need for two years. Army, Marriage, the Church and Banking: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Yes, go on, laugh.

  Carlos Ruiz Zafon

  Military, Army, Years

  Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2005). “The Shadow of the Wind”, p.99, Penguin

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• The day is made up of 24 hours and an infinite number of moments. We need to be aware of those moments and make the most of them regardless of whether we're busy doing something or contemplating life.

  Paulo Coelho

  Inspiring, Needs, Busy

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• And then of course the music sprang up, lousy rock as bold and dull as a giant potato. "Love this song," Todd said, like it was unusually brave to like what was number one on the radio.

  Daniel Handler

  Song, Rocks, Brave

  Daniel Handler (2012). “Why We Broke Up”, p.70, Egmont UK

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• I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need. I wished to come here and say that I am a man who does not exist for others." - Howard Roark

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Energy, Doe

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.78, Penguin

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• I see Nick's number. I debate whether to assign a name to his number. If I commit to that, then I will truly be heartbroken if he never calls me again; my heart will knot each and every time I use this phone and see his name in there. I would probably end up having to trash the phone entirely.

  David Levithan

  Heartbroken, Names, Phones

  Rachel Cohn, David Levithan (2014). “Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist”, p.107, Egmont UK

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• Accept that environment compromises values far more than values do their number on environment.

  Sidney Poitier

  Nature, Compromise, Environment

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• Generally speaking, our prisoners were capable of loving animals, and if they had been allowed they would have delighted to rear large numbers of domestic animals and birds in the prison. And I wonder what other activity could better have softened and refined their harsh and brutal natures than this. But it was not allowed. Neither the regulations nor the nature of the prison made it possible.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Animal, Bird, Regulation

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• Talking of the local Sheriff, Jake Valentine, tall and skinny and his wife Myra, "She was a short woman, maybe five feet tall in her socks, the top of her head not quite reaching Jake's chest. What she lacked in height she made up for in girth. Jeffrey guessed she was at least a hundred pounds overweight. Standing side by side, the Valentines looked like the living embodiment of the number ten.

  Karin Slaughter

  Valentine, Feet, Talking

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• We were masters of nature, masters of the world. We had forgotten everything--death, fatigue, our natural needs. Stronger than cold or hunger, stronger than the shots and the desire to die, condemned and wandering, mere numbers, we were the only men on earth.

  Elie Wiesel

  Night, Men, Desire

  Elie Wiesel (1985). “Night ; Dawn ; Day”, Jason Aronson

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• I imagine John Watson thinks love’s a mystery to me, but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive. When we first met, you told me that a disguise is always a self portrait, how true of you, the combination to your safe – your measurements. But this is far more intimate. This is your heart, and you should never let it rule your head. You could have chosen any random number and walked out of here today with everything you worked for. But you just couldn’t resist it, could you? I’ve always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage. Thank you for the final proof.

  Mark Gatiss

  Heart, Thinking, Simple

  "Sherlock (TV Series) - A Scandal in Belgravia". www.imdb.com. 2012.

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• Look out for number one and try not to step in number two.

  Rodney Dangerfield

  Two, Trying, Looks

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• Evidence indicates that cats were first tamed in Egypt. The Egyptians stored grain, which attracted rodents, which attracted cats. (No evidence that such a thing happened with the Mayans, though a number of wild cats are native to the area.) I don't think this is accurate. It is certainly not the whole story. Cats didn't start as mousers. Weasels and snakes and dogs are more efficient as rodent-control agents. I postulate that cats started as psychic companions, as Familiars, and have never deviated from this function.

  William S. Burroughs

  Dog, Cat, Thinking

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• I keep thinking they’re gonna call me. I keep thinking they’re gonna crunch the numbers and think, oh, we can make money with this! And they don’t.

  Joss Whedon

  Thinking, Making Money, Crunch

  "Nerd king Joss Whedon loves you, too" by Helen A.S. Popkin, www.today.com. March 11, 2012.

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• Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

  J. K. Rowling

  Perfectly Normal, People, Four

  J.K. Rowling (2015). “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone”, p.9, Pottermore

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• And yet we have what purports, or professes, or is claimed, to be a contract—the Constitution—made eighty years ago, by men who are now all dead, and who never had any power to bind us, but which (it is claimed) has nevertheless bound three generations of men, consisting of many millions, and which (it is claimed) will be binding upon all the millions that are to come; but which nobody ever signed, sealed, delivered, witnessed, or acknowledged; and which few persons, compared with the whole number that are claimed to be bound by it, have ever read, or even seen, or ever will read, or see.

  Lysander Spooner

  Men, Years, Three

  Lysander Spooner (1971). “The collected works of Lysander Spooner”

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• In a world without love, this is what people are to each other: values, benefits, and liabilities, numbers and data. We weigh, we quantify, we measure, and the soul is ground to dust.

  Lauren Oliver

  Dust, Data, People

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• The unions might be good for the people who are in the unions but it doesn't do a thing for the people who are unemployed. Because the union keeps down the number of jobs, it doesn't do a thing for them.

  Milton Friedman

  Jobs, People, Unions

  Interview with Brian Lamb on "In Depth Book TV", 2000.

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• Perhaps the depth of love can be calibrated by the number of different selves that are actively involved in a given relationship.

  Carl Sagan

  Self, Depth, Different

  Carl Sagan (1997). “Contact”, p.151, Simon and Schuster

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• Luce: But I thought you said I should stay away from the hard cases. Arriane: Rule number two — don't listen to me!

  Lauren Kate

  Two, Should, Said

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• Maybe that's what growing up means, in the end - you go far enough in the direction of - somewhere - and you realise that you've neutered the capacity of the term home to mean anything. [...] We don't get an endless number of orbits away from the place where meaning first arises, that treasure-house of first experiences. What we learn, instead, is that our adventures secure us in our isolation. Experience revokes our licence to return to simpler times. Sooner or later, there's no place remotely like home.

  Gregory Maguire

  Growing Up, Home, Adventure

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• I was like a clock that had exploded- my springs were hanging out, my hands were cockeyed, and my numbers were falling off.

  Anthony Kiedis

  Spring, Fall, Hands

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