Could Have Been Quotes - Page 4

• He who could have been a torch and stoops to being a pair of jaws is a deserter.

  Jose Marti

  Torches, Pairs, Stoops

  "Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos" edited by Carlos Ripoll, 1994.

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• I could have been a cult writer if I'd kept writing surrealistic novels. But I wanted to break into the mainstream, so I had to prove that I could write a realistic book.

  Haruki Murakami

  Book, Writing, Realistic

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• Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

  Flannery O'Connor

  Education, Teacher, Women

  Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose "The Nature and Aims of Fiction" (1969)

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• We were in the Arabian Desert for nine months. And I was having the time of my life. It could have been an archeological expedition, a military expedition.

  Peter O'Toole

  Travel, Military, Nine

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• A sold-out house my first night back. Do you have any idea what kinda pressure that is? I could have been at home in my warm bed, playing Nintendo.

  Richard Pryor

  Home, Night, Ideas

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• The Human Species could have been great but instead we became satisfied with lights on our tennis shoes.

  George Carlin

  Light, Shoes, Tennis

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• He'd woken up the next day in the city hospital with Magnus Bane staring down at him with an odd expression--it could have been deep concern or merely curiosity, it was hard to tell with Magnus.

  Cassandra Clare

  Expression, Cities, Next Day

  Cassandra Clare (2010). “Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series (3 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass”, p.1216, Simon and Schuster

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• Grandma frowned and yelled something in Russian. She could have been saying, 'Open up, your best friend is here.' On the other hand, it could have been, 'America is a great country because of canned ravioli.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Country, Grandma, Hands

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2006). “Prom”, p.36, Penguin

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• Sometimes you imagine that everything could have been different for you, that if only you had gone right one day when you chose to go left, you would be living a life you could never have anticipated. But at other times you think there was no other way forward--that you were always bound to end up exactly where you have.

  Kevin Brockmeier

  Thinking, Way Forward, One Day

  Kevin Brockmeier (2008). “The View from the Seventh Layer: Stories”, p.123, Vintage

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• Don't "pole-vault over mouse truds" - by the time you've discussed the many options available to you, the problem itself could have been long behind you had you simply disposed of those rodent droppings with a simple tissue and dumped them into the garbage!

  Wayne Dyer

  Simple, Long, Rodents

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• When the music stopped, it could have been forever since we'd begun. My grandfather took a step back, and the light grew yellow at his back. 'I'm going,' he said. 'Where?' I asked. 'Don't worry, sweetheart. You're so close.' He turned and walked away, disappearing rapidly into spots and dust. Infinity.

  Alice Sebold

  Light, Dust, Yellow

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• They found out about him in July and stayed angry all through August. They tried to kill him in September. It was way too soon. They weren't ready. The attempt was a failure. It could have been a disaster, but it was actually a miracle. Because nobody noticed.

  Lee Child

  July, August, Miracle

  Lee Child (2001). “Echo Burning: A Jack Reacher Novel”, p.292, Penguin

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• What if she was meant to be, or could have been, someone important in my life? I think that's what scares me: the randomness of everything. That the people who could be important to you might just pass you by. Or you pass them by.

  Peter Cameron

  Thinking, Walking Away, People

  "Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You".

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• But that quickly faded, and he frowned. "You're bleeding," he said. "What happened?" Claire sighed and held up her wrist to show him the bandage. "Man, you would be so embarrassed if I said it was something else." Michael looked blank. "I'm a girl, Michael, it could have been all natural, you know. Tampons?

  Rachel Caine

  Girl, Men, Bleeding

  Rachel Caine (2007). “Midnight Alley: The Morganville Vampires”, p.84, Penguin

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• She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.

  Jane Austen

  Should, Darcy, Happy With Him

  Jane Austen (1813). “Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. : In Three Volumes”, p.149

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• I'm from Louisiana, and that's where I got my start, in Cajun music. There's a huge music scene down there centered around our culture. Those are people that are not making music for a living. They are making music for the fun of it. And I think that's the best way I could have been introduced to music.

  Hunter Hayes

  Fun, Thinking, People

  "Hunter Hayes, 20, on 16-year career". Interview with Ed Masley, usatoday30.usatoday.com. April 5, 2012.

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• On some planet, I probably could have been a lawyer. On some planet, I could have been somebody in advertising.

  Stone Gossard

  Advertising, Lawyer, Planets

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• I liked the banana-seat bikes with the high handlebars - maybe a card in the wheel could have been part of it.

  Stone Gossard

  Wheels, Cards, Bananas

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• What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.

  Joseph Campbell

  Inspirational, Life, Unique

  Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers (1988). “The Power of Myth”, Harmony

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• If I could have been a marine biologist I would have, but I didn't have that kind of intelligence. Numbers were never my strong point.

  Nicolas Cage

  Strong, Marine, Numbers

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• Not that I regret saying what I believed to be the truth, but I regret anything that I might have written or spoken that could have been used in a way to help to foster that atmosphere out of which came the loss of life of Brother Malcolm.

  Louis Farrakhan

  Brother, Regret, Loss

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• I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.

  Nikki Giovanni

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Nikki Giovanni (1988). “Sacred cows-- and other edibles”, William Morrow & Co

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• I've been a sports fan all my life, and like most other actors, I'm convinced I could have been a pro athlete if Hollywood hadn't come calling.

  Jamie Foxx

  Sports, Athlete, Hollywood

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• They're the bigots and they're the intolerant ones. There is a way for them, if they wanted to convey a message to the new administration, there was a way to do it that they probably could have been hailed and applauded, but doing it the way they did it totally backfired because it's what you say, it didn't show respect, it seemed taking advantage of an opportunity and so forth. And it wasn't effective.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Opportunity, Way, Messages

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• Bryce Zabel and I went down the road of revising the Kennedy historical record together on the NBC seriesDark Skies. This time instead of giving new meaning to the established JFK chronology, hes created a brand new one altogether.Surrounded by Enemiesis an exhilarating ride, full of twists and turns that never were, but surely could have been.

  Melissa Rosenberg

  Nbc, Sky, Giving

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