Riki > Riki's Quotes

“I'm not going to be murdered,' Harry said out loud.

'That's the spirit, dear,' said his mirror sleepily.”
― J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

“Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
― Henry Miller

“A species in which everyone was General Patton would not succeed, any more than would a race in which everyone was Vincent van Gogh. I prefer to think that the planet needs athletes, philosophers, sex symbols, painters, scientists; it needs the warmhearted, the hardhearted, the coldhearted, and the weakhearted. It needs those who can devote their lives to studying how many droplets of water are secreted by the salivary glands of dogs under which circumstances, and it needs those who can capture the passing impression of cherry blossoms in a fourteen-syllable poem or devote twenty-five pages to the dissection of a small boy’s feelings as he lies in bed in the dark waiting for his mother to kiss him goodnight.… Indeed the presence of outstanding strengths presupposes that energy needed in other areas has been channeled away from them.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“A species in which everyone was General Patton would not succeed, any more than would a race in which everyone was Vincent van Gogh. I prefer to think that the planet needs athletes, philosophers, sex symbols, painters, scientists; it needs the warmhearted, the hardhearted, the coldhearted, and the weakhearted. It needs those who can devote their lives to studying how many droplets of water are secreted by the salivary glands of dogs under which circumstances, and it needs those who can capture the passing impression of cherry blossoms in a fourteen-syllable poem or devote twenty-five pages to the dissection of a small boy's feelings as he lies in bed in the dark waiting for his mother to kiss him goodnight...”
― Allen Shawn

“the unexpected moment [is] always sweeter.”
― Julia Quinn, The Viscount Who Loved Me

“When my father grew ill, he had so many regrets. There were so many things he washed he'd done, he told me. He'd always assumed he had more time. That's something I've always carried with me. Why on earth do you think I decided to attempt the flute at such an advanced age? Everyone told me I was too old, that to be truly good at it I had to have started as a child. But that's not the point, really. I don't need to be truly good. I just need to enjoy it for myself. And I need to know I tried.”
― Julia Quinn, The Viscount Who Loved Me

“She did not seem to want to speak, or perhaps she was not able to, but she mad timid motions toward Neville, holding something in her outstretched hand.
"Again?" said Mrs. Longbottom, sounding slightly weary. "Very well, Alice dear, very well- Neville, take it, whatever it is..."
But Neville had already stretched out his hand, into which his mother dropped an empty Droobles Blowing Gum wrapper.
"Very nice, dear," said Neville's grandmother in a falsely cheery voice, patting his mother on the shoulder. But Neville said quietly, "Thanks Mum."
His mother tottered away, back up the ward, humming to herself. Neville looked around at the others, his expression defiant, as though daring them to laugh, but Harry did not think he'd ever found anything less funny in his life.
"Well, we'd better get back," sighed Mrs. Longbottom, drawing on her long green gloves. "Very nice to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now..."
But as they left, Harry was sure he saw Neville slip the wrapper into his pocket.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

“I have schizophrenia. I am not schizophrenia. I am not my mental illness. My illness is a part of me.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally the whole school knows.”
― J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

“What exactly are you so happy about?' Harry asked her.
'Oh Harry, don't you see?' Hermione breathed. 'If she could have done one thing to make absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it!”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

“Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right,” said Hermione. “I heard him telling your mum, Ron.” “Sounds like the sort of mental thing Dumbledore would say,” said Ron.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.”
― Edith Wharton, Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verses

“This life will hit you--hard. In the face! It'll wait for you to get back up, just so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you, is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.”
― Sarah Kay poet

“I strongly object to wrong arguments on the right side. I think I object to them more than to the wrong arguments on the wrong side.”
― G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Volume 32: The Illustrated London News, 1920-1922

“Remember, if people talk about you behind your back, it only means you are two steps ahead of them.”
― Fannie Flagg, Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man

“If you can’t beat fear, just do it scared.”
― Glennon Doyle Melton

“You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do no bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.”
― Victor Hugo, Choses vues 1849-1885

“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
― Winston Churchill

“If your book doesn't keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.”
― James Michener

“Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods,

‘And for the tender mother
Who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses
His baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens
Who feed the eternal flame,
To save them from false Sextus
That wrought the deed of shame?

‘Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?

Then out spake Spurius Lartius;
A Ramnian proud was he:
‘Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,
And keep the bridge with thee.’
And out spake strong Herminius;
Of Titian blood was he:
‘I will abide on thy left side,
And keep the bridge with thee.’

‘Horatius,’ quoth the Consul,
‘As thou sayest, so let it be.’
And straight against that great array
Forth went the dauntless Three.
For Romans in Rome’s quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old.

Then none was for a party;
Then all were for the state;
Then the great man helped the poor,
And the poor man loved the great:
Then lands were fairly portioned;
Then spoils were fairly sold:
The Romans were like brothers
In the brave days of old.

Now Roman is to Roman
More hateful than a foe,
And the Tribunes beard the high,
And the Fathers grind the low.
As we wax hot in faction,
In battle we wax cold:
Wherefore men fight not as they fought
In the brave days of old.”
― Thomas Babington Macaulay, Horatius

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston S. Churchill

“Proust called these moments of unity between writer and reader “that fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
― Maya Angelou

“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
― Seneca

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
― Henry Ford

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
― Babe Ruth

“If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't.”
― Ian Stewart, The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World