Tense Quotes - Page 3

I love you present tense.

John Green

Love You, Present Tense, Hazel Grace

John Green (2012). “The Fault in Our Stars”, p.270, Penguin

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...I crave a shawl." He was tense with anger but his hands remained gentle at her waist. He said, "I can make you a shawl." She cocked her head. "You knit? Well. That's an unusual accomplishment in a soldier.

Laini Taylor

Hands, Accomplishment, Soldier

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My upbringing did not create a healthy affection for confrontation. I'd love it if everyone always got along, and nothing ever got tense.

Trisha Yearwood

Healthy, Affection, Confrontation

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I've always had that knack for staying pretty even keel and the more the situation gets tense the more I see things clearly and I think that's just a knack that I've always had.

Tiger Woods

Thinking, Knack, Keel

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Each time I see a split infinitive, an inconsistent tense structure or the unnecessary use of the passive voice, I blister.

Sonia Sotomayor

Passive Voice, Use, Splits

"Sotomayoralities" by William Safire, www.nytimes.com. June 15, 2009.

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She was--I keep using the past tense; I ought to say she is--one of those people who, at first sight, look plain, are quiet, unassertive, unmemorable even. But who, when they start to talk and you get to know them, become more and more attractive and impressive, and you see that in fact they are beautiful. Not conventionally beautiful, not celebrity beautiful, but beautiful all through.

Aidan Chambers

Beautiful, Past, Sight

Aidan Chambers (2012). “Dying to Know You”, p.192, Abrams

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Live in the present tense, facing the duty at hand without regret for the past or worry over the future.

William DeWitt Hyde

Regret, Past, Hands

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Religion is not a result of something that you practice. Religion enters in you any moment you relax. Religion is a flowering of relaxation, not a result of practicing. Remember the difference because when you practice you become more tense.

Rajneesh

Differences, Practice, Relaxation

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What choices are you making in your perception of the events around you? We choose how we view our times. There is a pinch of pessimism in our culture now. Counter it with small acts of optimism. Pick up a piece of litter that isn't yours. Show some extra grace on the freeway. Give to your food bank. Smile at a child who is in your way. Help someone you know. Help someone you don't know. The accumulation of small, optimistic acts produces quality in our culture and in your life. Our culture resonates in tense times to individual acts of grace. What's your choice?

Jennifer James

Children, Optimistic, Views

Jennifer James (1986). “Success Is the Quality of Your Journey”, William Morrow Paperbacks

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Witness also that when we talk about literature, we do so in the present tense. When we speak of the dead, we are not so kind.

John Green

Literature, Kind, Speak

"The Fault in Our Stars". Book by John Green, January 10, 2012.

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As Marcus considered various ways to open the subject of Daisy, Swift surprised him with a blunt statement. “My lord, there is something I would like to discuss with you.” Marcus adopted a pleasantly encouraging expression. “Very well.” “It turns out that Miss Bowman and I have reached an…understanding. After considering the logical advantages on both sides, I have made a sensible and pragmatic decision that we should—” “How long have you been in love with her?” Marcus interrupted, inwardly amused. Swift let out a tense sigh. “Years,” he admitted.

Lisa Kleypas

Love, Expression, Years

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I heard someone walk out of the alley behind me, and my body went tense and tight, despite my weariness. Then a young woman's voice said, in a passable British accent, "The Little People are easily startled, but they'll soon be back. And in greater numbers." I sagged in sudden, exhausted relief. The bad guys hardly ever quote Star Wars.

Jim Butcher

Stars, War, Voice

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Try to relax, and you will find out that you feel more tense than ever. Try harder and you will feel more tense and more tense. Relaxation is not a consequence, is not a result of some activity; it is the glow of understanding. This is the first thing I would like to relate to you: life is purposeless. It is very hard to accept it. And why is it so hard to accept that life is purposeless? It is hard because without purpose the ego cannot exist. It is hard to conceive that life has no goal because without any goal being there, there is no point in having a mind, in having an ego.

Rajneesh

Goal, Understanding, Ego

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Remember, don't start trying to relax; that is the most absurd thing in the world. And there are many stupid people writing books about relaxation. I have come across one book - the name of the book is YOU MUST RELAX! Now that very word 'must' is enough to keep you tense. Relaxation cannot be a "must," it cannot be an effort.

Rajneesh

Stupid, Book, Writing

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We had to be to the stadium at six o'clock for home games, and traffic was so bad it would take us an hour and fifteen or an hour and thirty minutes to drive. So now I'm sitting in a car for almost an hour and a half and I'm very tense. I'm worried about the traffic. So I started smoking a cigar going to the games.

Michael Jordan

Stress, Home, Games

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In our early youth we sit before the life that lies ahead of us like children sitting before the curtain in a theatre, in happy and tense anticipation of whatever is going to appear. Luckily we do not know what really will appear.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Children, Lying, Theatre

Arthur Schopenhauer (2004). “On the Suffering of the World”, p.14, Penguin UK

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The body is consuming energy when tense, and restoring energy when it is relaxed.

Ronnie Lott

Body, Energy, Relaxed

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His vision, from the constantly passing bars, has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to him there are a thousand bars, and behind the bars, no world. As he paces in cramped circles, over and over, the movement of his powerful soft strides is like a ritual dance around a center in which a mighty will stands paralyzed. Only at times, the curtain of the pupils lifts, quietly. An image enters in, rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles, plunges into the heart and is gone.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Powerful, Heart, Circles

Rainer Maria Rilke, Walter W. Arndt (1989). “The Best of Rilke: 72 Form-true Verse Translations with Facing Originals, Commentary, and Compact Biography ; Translated by Walter Arndt ; Foreword by Cyrus Hamlin”, p.161, UPNE

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...I also know - and this won't alter the course of history or your personal view of me - that you will die with a clenched fist and a tense jaw, the epitome of hatred and struggle, because you are not a symbol (some inanimate example) but a genuine member of the society to be destroyed; the spirit of the beehive speaks through your mouth and motivates your actions. You are as useful as I am, but you are not aware of how useful your contribution is to the society that sacrifices you.

Che Guevara

Struggle, Sacrifice, Views

Che Guevara, Ernesto Guevara (2009). “Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara”, p.16, Ocean Press

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Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It's so easy in the past tense.

Sarah Dessen

Life, Past, Easy

Sarah Dessen (2006). “The Truth About Forever”, p.19, Penguin

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The silence of a shut park does not sound like country silence: it is tense and confined.

Elizabeth Bowen

Country, Nature, Silence

"The Death Of The Heart".

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Play me something that makes me feel; This soul inside me is made of steel. Brain is breathing, but heart’s not beating And, babe, I need you to make things real. Walk inside me without silence, Kill the past and change the tense. Empty gnawing and the ache is soaring; Take me places that make more sense.

Melina Marchetta

Real, Heart, Past

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Without using the word, everyone started forgiving each other again. Just like that, from the no of all nothingness: you have a big tense mess and out of it comes some joy. It must be magic.

Anne Lamott

Joy, Magic, Forgiving

Anne Lamott (2000). “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith”, p.193, Anchor

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For me, the best time to pray is the very moment a tense situation or an unspiritual attitude overtakes me. God the Holy Spirit is always there, ready to help me gain victory in the spiritual battles I face-big or small.

Billy Graham

Spiritual, Attitude, Victory

Billy Graham (2011). “The Holy Spirit: Activating God's Power in Your Life”, p.156, Thomas Nelson Inc

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As soon as you have a language that has a past tense and a future tense you're going to say, 'Where did we come from, what happens next?' The ability to remember the past helps us plan the future.

Margaret Atwood

Past, Next, Helping

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