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Choice quotes

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“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” Dr. Seuss, “Oh, The Places You'll Go!” - 1990

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” - 1998

“At fifteen, life had taught me that surrender, sometimes, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.” Maya Angelou, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” - 1969

“Kurtz—it was ordered I should never betray him—it was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.” Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness” - 1899

“There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“With every experience, you build your life, thought by thought, choice by choice.” Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know For Sure” - 2014

“The moment we recognize that the self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action, the whole situation clears up.” John Dewey, “Democracy and Education” - 1916

“The wand chooses the wizard, remember.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” - 1997

“A man is as free as he chooses to make himself, never an atom freer” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“every man must have somewhere to turn...” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Crime and Punishment” - 1867

“If I finish a book a week, I will read only a few thousand books in my lifetime, about a tenth of a percent of the contents of the greatest libraries of our time. The trick is to know which books to read.” Carl Sagan, “Cosmos” - 1980

“Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples.” William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew” - 1623

“As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” - 1997

“The useful and the useless must, like good and evil generally, go on together, and man must make his choice.” Mahatma Gandhi, “The Story of my Experiments with Truth” - 1929

“In this world one is seldom reduced to make a selection between two alternatives. There are as many varieties of conduct and opinion as there are turns of feature between an aquiline nose and a flat one.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - 1774

“I never wanted to be in a financially vulnerable position, where I had to take a part I didn’t like.” Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story” - 2012

“People liked to imagine they were free to choose their own lives, but Beth had learned that choice was sometimes illusory.” Nicholas Sparks, “The Lucky One” - 2008

“It was a dream, and in dreams you have no choices: either there are no decisions to be made, or they were made for you long before ever the dream began.” Neil Gaiman, “American Gods” - 2001

“Because complexity inhibits flexibility, early choices are especially crucial.” Henry Kissinger, “Diplomacy” - 1994

“The public life of every political figure is a continual struggle to rescue an element of choice from the pressure of circumstance.” Henry Kissinger, “The White House Years” - 1979

“For moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have a choice.” Henry Kissinger, “The White House Years” - 1979

“What we have not chosen we cannot consider either our merit or our failure.” Milan Kundera, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” - 1984

“It is not my place to judge another person's life. Only for myself, for myself alone, I must decide, I must chose, I must refuse.” Hermann Hesse, “Siddhartha” - 1922

“Whether you flounder or flourish is always in your hands—you are the single biggest influence in your life. Your journey begins with a choice to get up, step out, and live fully.” Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know For Sure” - 2014

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you.” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

“But there are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.” Oscar Wilde, “Lady Windermere's Fan” - 1893

“Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“I didn’t need you, you idiot. I picked you. And then you picked me back.” John Green, “Paper Towns” - 2008

“After all this time, it still seems to me like straight and fast is the only way out — but I choose the labyrinth. The labyrinth blows, but I choose it.” John Green, “Looking for Alaska” - 2005

“Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric...” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” - 2000

“But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that...” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be. Every time you don’t throw yourself down the stairs, that’s a choice. Every time you don’t crash your car, you reenlist.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Survivor” - 1999

“A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a...” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“I always want to know the things one shouldn't do . . . So as to choose” Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady” - 1881

“The truth is, wherever you choose to be, it’s the wrong place.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Diary” - 2003

“when a man has seen the woman whom he would have chosen if he had intended to marry speedily, his remaining a bachelor will usually depend on her resolution rather than on his.” George Eliot, “Middlemarch” - 1872

“Sometimes there is no happy choice, Sam, only one less grievous than the others.” George R. R. Martin, “A Feast for Crows” - 2005

Related topics

life freedom self marriage wisdom courage fate happiness dream language grief suicide reading complexity virtue hypocrisy honor opinion experience need

Related authors

J. K. Rowling (4)
John Green (3)
Henry Kissinger (3)
George R. R. Martin (2)
Chuck Palahniuk (2)
Oprah Winfrey (2)
William Shakespeare (1)
Jane Austen (1)
Oscar Wilde (1)
George Eliot (1)
Dr. Seuss (1)
Maya Angelou (1)
Mahatma Gandhi (1)
Joseph Conrad (1)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
Henry James (1)
George MacDonald (1)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1)
Ulysses S. Grant (1)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1)

Related sources

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2)
The White House Years (2)
What I Know For Sure (2)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1)
The Taming of the Shrew (1)
A Game of Thrones (1)
The Fault in Our Stars (1)
Middlemarch (1)
Oh, The Places You'll Go! (1)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1)
The Story of my Experiments with Truth (1)
Heart of Darkness (1)
The Portrait of a Lady (1)
Lilith (1)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1)
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (1)
Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story (1)
Cosmos (1)
The Lucky One (1)