Nodding Quotes

• You've never had a hamburger before?" asks Christine, her eyes wide. "No," I say. "Is that what it's called?" "Stiffs eat plain food," Four says, nodding at Christina. "Why?" she asks. I shrug. "Extravagance is considered self-indulgent and unnecessary." She smirks. "No wonder you left." "Yeah," I say,rolling my eyes. "It was just because of the food." The corner of Four's mouth twitches.

  Veronica Roth

  Eye, Self, Rolling

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  We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.

  Joan Didion

  People, Attractive, Your Past

  Joan Didion (2006). “We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction”, Everyman's Library

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• Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Genius, Literature, Moderation

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• A woman who can't forgive should never have more than a nodding acquaintance with a man.

  E. W. Howe

  Forgiveness, Men, Forgiving

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• All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn, Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn.

  Robert Burns

  Cheer, Fall, Autumn

  Robert Burns, James Currie (1835). “The Works of Robert Burns: With an Account of His Life, and a Criticism on His Writings”, p.101

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• The nicest thing about quotes is that they give us a nodding acquaintance with the originator which is often socially impressive.

  Kenneth Williams

  Funny, Giving, Impressive

  Acid Drops preface (1980)

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• Press close, bare-bosomed Night! Press close, magnetic,
  nourishing Night!
  Night of south winds! Night of the large, few stars!
  Still, nodding Night! Mad, naked, Summer Night!

  Walt Whitman

  Summer, Stars, Night

  Walt Whitman, Sculley Bradley, Harold W. Blodgett (2008). “Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, 1855-1856”, p.27, NYU Press

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• I know a place where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.

  William Shakespeare

  Summer, Dream, Flower

  1595 Oberon. A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 2, sc.1, l.249-52.

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• When You Are Old" WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

  William Butler Yeats

  Dream, Stars, Book

  "When You Are Old" l. 1 (1893)

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• I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.

  William Shakespeare

  Summer, Dream, Sweet

  'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595-6) act 2, sc. 1, l. 249

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• I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.

  Joan Didion

  Night, Thinking, Doors

  FaceBook post by Joan Didion from Aug 28, 2016

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• Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe reader makes allowances for many rests and nodding-places in a voluminous writer.

  Joseph Addison

  Kindness, Men, Dull

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1853). “The Spectator”, p.160

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• When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.

  William Butler Yeats

  Beautiful, Dream, Retirement

  The Countess Kathleen (1892) "When You Are Old"

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• Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise and thousands of nodding acquaintances.

  William Powell

  Inspirational, Friendship, Real Friends

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• A good meditation, even when it is interrupted by occasional nodding, is much more beneficial than many outward religious exercises.

  Johannes Tauler

  Religious, Exercise, Meditation

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• I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

  Plutarch

  Friendship, Change, Philosophy

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• ...How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face... "When You Are Old And Gray

  William Butler Yeats

  Love, Men, Bending Down

  The Countess Kathleen (1892) "When You Are Old"

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• One man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
  And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

  William Butler Yeats

  Love, Men, Bending Down

  'When You Are Old'

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  We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.

  Joan Didion

  Memories, Never Forget, Your Past

  FaceBook post by Joan Didion from Jun 24, 2011

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• Why I Wake Early Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the nodding morning glories, and into the windows of, even, the miserable and the crotchety – best preacher that ever was, dear star, that just happens to be where you are in the universe to keep us from ever-darkness, to ease us with warm touching, to hold us in the great hands of light – good morning, good morning, good morning. Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.

  Mary Oliver

  Morning, Stars, Kindness

  Mary Oliver (2004). “Why I Wake Early: New Poems”, p.3, Beacon Press

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• Genius abhors consensus because when consensus is reached, thinking stops. Stop nodding your head.

  Albert Einstein

  Thinking, Genius, Consensus

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• We have one of those conversations where every thing clicks, meshes, corresponds, locks, where even our pauses, even our punctuation marks, seem to be nodding in agreement.

  Nick Hornby

  Agreement, Punctuation Marks, Locks

  Nick Hornby (1996). “High Fidelity”, p.128, Penguin

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• Seriously, don't even get me started on my hot bod. You don't want to see me naked, Dave. Seeing me naked actually took Hazel Grace's breath away,' he said, nodding toward the oxygen tank.

  John Green

  Oxygen, Grace, Tanks

  John Green (2012). “The Fault in Our Stars”, p.251, Penguin

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• You think he’s still alive?” Royce asked, nodding his head toward Alric. “Sure,” Hadrian replied without bothering to look. “He’s probably sleeping. Why do you ask?” “I was just pondering something. Do you think a person could smother in a wet potato bag?” Hadrian lifted his head and looked over at the motionless prince. “I really hadn’t thought about it until now.

  Michael J. Sullivan

  Sleep, Thinking, Hadrian

  Michael J. Sullivan (2009). “The Crown Conspiracy”, p.67, Ridan Publishing

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• He says one word, nodding into the daylight. "Look." It's an astounding word. It's a gift.

  Lauren DeStefano

  Looks, Daylight, One Word

  FaceBook post by Lauren DeStefano from May 23, 2012

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