Not Knowing Quotes - Page 25

• What is literature, and why do I try to write about it? I don’t know. Likewise, I don’t know why I go on living, most of the time. But this not knowing is precisely what I want to preserve. As readers, the closest way we can engage with a literary work is to protect its indeterminacy; to return ourselves and it to a place that precludes complete recognition. Really, when I’m reading, all I want is to stand amazed in front of an unknown object at odds with the world.

  M. John Harrison

  Reading, Writing, Knowing

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• Many are whispering that Voldemort must be behind it. However, that is the point: They whisper. They daren’t confide in each other, not knowing whom to trust; they are scared to speak out, in case their suspicions are true and their families are targeted. Yes, Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion: Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear.

  J. K. Rowling

  Clever, Knowing, Speaks Out

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• As much as I feel sad, I think that not knowing is what really bothers me.

  Stephen Chbosky

  Thinking, Knowing, I Feel Sad

  Stephen Chbosky (2013). “The Perks of Being a Wallflower YA edition”, p.12, Simon and Schuster

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• Knowing is better than not knowing. Every time.

  Cassandra Clare

  Knowing

  Cassandra Clare (2010). “Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series (3 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass”, p.1098, Simon and Schuster

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• I always thought the joy of reading a book is not knowing what happens next. (Leonard Shelby, Memento)

  Christopher Nolan

  Book, Reading, Knowing

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• Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? “I’m not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I’m just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I’d like to cut your chest open.” The crowd cheers.

  Tina Fey

  Dream, Witty, Jobs

  "Bossypants". Book by Tina Fey, April 5, 2011.

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• The unknown is scary the Unknown can also be exciting. Your life could change in an instant anytime. But sometimes, that change is the best thing that will ever happen to you.Maybe I don’t have to know what my fate is to know that everything will be okay. Maybe the not knowing is how we move forward. Wherever I’m headed, I know it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.

  Susane Colasanti

  Moving, Fate, Knowing

  Susane Colasanti (2010). “Something Like Fate”, p.159, Penguin

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• I am blind and limited. I would be a fool think myself wise. And so, not knowing what the universe means, I can only try to be responsible with the knowledge, the strength, and the time given to me. I must be true to my heart.

  Jim Butcher

  Wise, Heart, Mean

  Jim Butcher (2010). “The Dresden Files Collection 1-6”, p.1685, Penguin

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• My mate Karl once told me he’d been looking after this five-year-old boy who – not knowing enough to have an ironic inflection to his words – said, ‘I want something.’ He didn’t know what it was. Not ‘I want sweets’, or ‘a can of Coke’, or ‘to watch the Tweenies’, or whatever it is they’re into now (I like Bagpuss), but ‘I want something.’ All of us, I think, have that feeling. And what heroin does when you first start taking it is tell you what that something is.

  Russell Brand

  Sweet, Boys, Thinking

  Russell Brand (2008). “My Booky Wook”, p.168, Hachette UK

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• I hate not knowing what to believe anymore. I hate not knowing what's real.

  Jay Asher

  Hate, Real, Believe

  Jay Asher (2011). “Thirteen Reasons Why”, p.134, Penguin

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• We're right here on this very spot. Besides, being lost is never a matter of not knowing where you are; it's a matter of not knowing where you aren't - and I don't care at all about where I'm not.

  Norton Juster

  Knowing, Care, Matter

  Norton Juster (2011). “The Phantom Tollbooth”, p.98, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• It was like looking at a knot, knowing it was a knot, but not knowing how to untie it. I had no map for this life.

  Laurie Halse Anderson

  Knowing, Maps, This Life

  Laurie Halse Anderson (2011). “Chains”, p.49, Simon and Schuster

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• California is like a beautiful wild kid on heroin, high as a kite and thinking she's on top of the world, not knowing she's dying, not believing it even if you show her the marks.

  S. E. Hinton

  Beautiful, Believe, Kids

  S. E. Hinton (1995). “The Outsiders: That was Then, this is Now ; Rumble Fish”

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• I don’t think it should be socially acceptable for people to say they are “bad with names.” No one is bad with names. That is not a real thing. Not knowing people’s names isn’t a neurological condition; it’s a choice. You choose not to make learning people’s names a priority. It’s like saying, “Hey, a disclaimer about me: I’m rude.

  Mindy Kaling

  Real, Thinking, Names

  Mindy Kaling (2011). “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)(Enhanced Edition)”, p.4, Crown/Archetype

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• ...not everyone is willing to defend a position of 'not knowing.' There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake.

  B. F. Skinner

  Ignorance, Knowing, Sake

  B.F Skinner (2012). “Science And Human Behavior”, p.5, Simon and Schuster

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• She's just playing a trick on us. This is just an Alaska Young Prank Extraordinaire. It's Alaska being Alaska, funny and playful and not knowing when or how to put on the brakes.

  John Green

  Alaska, Knowing, Pranks

  John Green (2008). “Looking for Alaska”, p.106, Penguin

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• So he lived, not knowing and not seeing any chance of knowing what he was and for what purpose he had been placed in the word.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Knowing, Purpose, Chance

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• ... there is no shame in not knowing. The problem arises when irrational thought and attendant behavior fill the vacuum left by ignorance.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Ignorance, Knowing, Mind Blowing

  Neil Degrasse Tyson (2010). “The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist”, p.38, Prometheus Books

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• To sense the peace of extinguished passion Happiness in not knowing the ultimate knowledge

  Dejan Stojanovic

  Passion, Knowing, Ultimate

  "The Sign and Its Children". Book by Dejan Stojanovic, "The Over-Sky Sign" (p. 5), 2000.

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• Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story.

  François Lelord

  Knowing, Stories, Sometimes

  François Lelord (2011). “Hector and the Secrets of Love”, p.189, Gallic Books

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• That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal sufferring, "No future bliss can make up for it" not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.

  C. S. Lewis

  Agony, Knowing, Heaven

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• And it seemed hard to believe that these people who were so close to me couldn’t see how desperate I was, or if they could they didn’t care enough to do anything about it, or if they cared enough to do anything about it they didn’t believe there was anything they could do, not knowing—or not wanting to know—that their belief might have been the thing that made the difference.

  Elizabeth Wurtzel

  Believe, Differences, Knowing

  Elizabeth Wurtzel (2014). “Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America”, p.84, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• So far Kat has been through all the Wa's she could think of, but Hale hadn't admitted to being Walter or Ward or Washington. He'd firmly denied both Warren and Waverly. Watson had prompted him to do a very bad Sherlock Holmes impersonation throughout a good portion of a train ride to Edinburgh, Scotland. And Wayne seemed so wrong she hadn't even tried. Hale was Hale. And not knowing what the W's stood for had become a constant reminder to Kat that, in life, there are some things that can be given but never stolen. Of course, that didn't stop her from trying.

  Ally Carter

  Thinking, Scotland, Knowing

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• Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of ‘not knowing.

  Mark Z. Danielewski

  Acceptance, Maturity, Knowing

  Twitter post from May 26, 2011

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• I liked AC/DC," Lee said. "If you were going to shoot someone, you'd really want to do it while you were listening to them." "What about the Beatles? Did you feel like shooting anyone listening to them?" Lee considered seriously for a moment, then said, "Myself." At the same time he was laughing, Ig was distressed. Not liking the Beatles was almost as bad as not knowing about them at all.

  Joe Hill

  Knowing, Laughing, Listening

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