H Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with H. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Had I a hundred hands, I could employ them all. The harvest is very great. I am ashamed I can do no more for him who has done so much for me.”
Source: The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield ...: Containing All His Sermons and Tracts which Have Been Already Published ; with a Select Collection of Letters Written to His Most Intimate Friends, and Persons of Distinction, in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, from the Year 1734, to 1770 ; Including the Whole Period of His Ministry ; Also, Some Other Pieces on Important Subjects, Never Before Printed
“Had I accepted the pickle juice, I would be drinking pickle juice right now.”
“Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistopheles!”
Source: Doctor Faustus and Other Plays
“Had I become a priest, the sermons would've been electric!”
“Had I been a dictator, I would still be governing.”
“Had I been a great athlete, I'm not sure I would have even gone into coaching. I may have turned out feeling that my life ended when my athletic career ended, as happens so many times with various athletes.”
“Had I been a man I might have explored the Poles or climbed Mount Everest, but as it was my spirit found outlet in the air. . . .”
“Had I been a witness to a memory of hers so terrible that it could only be said to me, an eleven-year-old, half delirious with fever, lying in bed between darkness and light? My grandmother had spoken so emphatically that day, in clipped, deliberate speech, as if to say, 'This is a moment to listen.”
Source: Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past
“Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write.”
“Had I been brighter, the ladies been gentler, the Scotch been weaker, had the gods been kinder, had the dice been hotter, this could have been a one-sentence story: Once upon a time I lived happily ever after.”
“Had I been chosen President again, I am certain I could not have lived another year.”
Source: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
“Had I been crested, not cloven, my Lords, you had not treated me thus.”
“Had I been educated by my employers as to how hazardous mercury filled spectral lamps were, I would never have taken an obsolete mercury filled spectral lamp home.”
“Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly.”
Source: Jane Austen: 8 Books in 1
“Had I been in Toronto, I would certainly have been killed in this attack. In the room where I normally sleep, the flames and the smoke and the soot is such that the gases would have killed me.”
“Had I been less firmly resolved upon settling down definitively to work, I should perhaps have made an effort to begin at once. But since my resolution was explicit, since within twenty-four hours, in the empty frame of the following day where everything was so well-arranged because I myself was not yet in it, my good intention would be realized without difficulty, it was better not to start on an evening when I felt ill-prepared. The following days were not, alas, to prove more propitious. But I was reasonable. It would have been puerile, on the part of one who had waited now for years, not to put up with a postponement of two or three days. Confident that by the day after tomorrow I should have written several pages, I said not a word more to my parents of my decision; I preferred to remain patient and then to bring to a convinced and comforted grandmother a sample of work that was already under way. Unfortunately the next day was not that vast, extraneous expanse of time to which I had feverishly looked forward. When it drew to a close, my laziness and my painful struggle to overcome certain internal obstacles had simply lasted twenty-four hours longer. And at the end of several days, my plans not having matured, I had no longer the same hope that they would be realized at once, and hence no longer the heart to subordinate everything else to their realization: I began once again to keep late hours...”
Source: Within a Budding Grove, Part 2
“Had I been more responsible I might have made something of myself as a junk bond trader, long-haul trucker or perhaps a plumbing contractor.”
“Had I been placed among those nations which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws, I assure you I should very gladly have portrayed myself here entire and wholly naked.
Thus, reader, I am myself the matter of my book; you would be unreasonable to spend your leisure on so frivolous and vain a subject.”
Source: The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters
“Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.”
“Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. Remarking on the complexity of Ptolemaic model of the universe after it was explained to him. Footnote: Carlyle says, in his History of Frederick the Great, book ii. chap. vii. that this saying of Alphonso about Ptolemy's astronomy, 'that it seemed a crank machine; that it was pity the Creator had not taken advice,' is still remembered by mankind, - this and no other of his many sayings.”
“Had I been screaming, screaming, in some way? I with my life so separate and well-ordered in the company of my green things and my sky and the animals of the hillside? I shouted - it was a demand - I shouted and shook him: "Godbody!" And as usual he understood me perfectly: 'You was lonesome,' he said.”
Source: Godbody
“Had I been successful in smashing into an abutment and killing myself, my death would not have been listed as a suicide, and certainly not as a gambling related suicide. I did have several beers that night so it likely would have gone down as drunk driving.”
Source: Gambling Addiction: The complete guide to survival, treatment, and recovery from gambling addiction.
“Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant,
There's nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys; renown, and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.”
“Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.”
“Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary.”
“Had I catalogued the downsides of parenthood, "son might turn out to be a killer" would never have turned up on the list. Rather, it might have looked something like this:
1. Hassle.
2. Less time just the two of us. (Try no time just the two of us.)
3. Other people. (PTA meetings. Ballet teachers. The kid's insufferable friends and their insufferable parents.)
4. Turning into a cow. (I was slight, and preferred to stay that way. My sister-in-law had developed bulging varicose veins in her legs during pregnancy that never retreated, and the prospect of calves branched in blue tree roots mortified me more than I could say. So I didn't say. I am vain, or once was, and one of my vanities was to feign that I was not.)
5. Unnatural altruism: being forced to make decisions in accordance with what was best for someone else. (I'm a pig.)
6. Curtailment of my traveling. (Note curtailment. Not conclusion.)
7. Dementing boredom. (I found small children brutally dull. I did, even at the outset, admit this to myself.)
8. Worthless social life. (I had never had a decent conversation with a friend's five-year-old in the room.)
9. Social demotion. (I was a respected entrepreneur. Once I had a toddler in tow, every man I knew--every woman, too, which is depressing--would take me less seriously.)
10. Paying the piper. (Parenthood repays a debt. But who wants to pay a debt she can escape? Apparently, the childless get away with something sneaky. Besides, what good is repaying a debt to the wrong party? Only the most warped mother would feel rewarded for her trouble by the fact that at last her daughter's life is hideous, too.)”
Source: We Need To Talk About Kevin
“Had I children, my utmost endeavors would be to make them musicians.”
“Had I done it sooner, perhaps he might have lived. He was a man of courage and good heart, a proud man. Now he is dead. I saved the signal to use in a worthy cause, and when I found one it was wasted.”
“Wasted?” answered Fflewddur. “I think not. Since you did your best and didn’t begrudge using it, I shouldn’t call it wasted at all.”
Source: Taran Wanderer
“Had I faced all the facts It seemed like I had but actually you never know just by remembering how many there were to have faced.”
Source: A Thousand Acres
“Had I faltered we would have neither the success nor the international reputation we have. Yet when a woman is strong she is strident. If a man is strong, he's a good guy.”
“Had I found the back of the net it would have been a double satisfaction but I've scored many goals and the important thing was for me to play well.”
“Had I gone through two heartbreaks to end up with this? This was the hero of the movie of my life?
Because, hello, I've grown up thinking I'm starring in DDLJ. Or Titanic. Or at least Bride and Prejudice . And all the time it's actually been Dunston Checks In.”
Source: The Zoya Factor
“Had I got a dating profile, it would be like this:
Looks- 6/10: I know
Humor-9/10- you’ll know
I don’t know about my sarcasm score because they haven’t come back to me just to rate me after I have rattled them.”
“Had I had another year, I think I would've beaten [ Harry Carpenter] - and Larry Holmes even said that himself; that if I'd had another year to get ready I'd have beaten him. Me and he are good friends today though, and that fight was a great moment for me. I lost, but then I had to move on and get on with my life.”
“Had I joined a straight rock band, I'm sure my drumming would be a little bit different right now.”
“Had I joined the company that very first night,
fooling myself that I was seeking some purpose, but in
reality only following Frederick? How different was I
really, from those Office Worker Mohitos, those Rat
Race Daquiris, seeking only to partner off and settle
down?”
Source: Puck's Legacy
“Had I just begged for an audience with Death?”
“Had I known but yesterday what I know today,
I’d have taken out your two gray eyes
And put in eyes of clay;
And had I known but yesterday you’d be no more my own
I’d have taken out your heart of flesh
And put in one of stone”
“Had I known but yesterday what I know today, I’d have taken out your two grey eyes and put in eyes of clay. And had I known but yesterday you’d be no more my own, I’d have taken out your heart of flesh and put in one of stone.”
Source: The Dogs of Babel: A Novel
“Had I known how sweet they were
I would have saved more of these memories”
“Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made The Great Dictator, I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis.”
“Had I known that coffee could taste so good, I would have gotten drunk on it every day.”
“Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I would not have lifted a finger.”
“Had I known that the heart breaks slowly, dismantling itself into unrecognizable plots of misery... had I known yet I would have loved you, your brash and insolent beauty, your heavy comedic face and knowledge of sweet delights, but from a distance I would have left you whole and wholly for the delectation of those who wanted more and cared less.”
“Had I known the risks associated with oxygen administration, I would have refused to work atop the biologically hazardous Mauna Kea summit.”
Source: Summit Brain
“Had I known what I now know, I would never have pursued a career in professional astronomy.”
“Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.”
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson
“Had I left some children behind somewhere in the world?”
Source: Framed & Hunted: A True Story of Occult Persecution
“Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.”
Source: Memories, dreams, reflections
“Had I lived in Norman and those bands hadn't existed, who knows where I'd be, I might be doing something awful; I might be a doctor, or a physicist or something. Having those kinds of experiences at 12...the Chainsaw Kittens had a flamboyant homosexual lead singer, and the Flaming Lips were obviously very weird. I had only listened to the radio before that - things like Willie Nelson - so having people say, "These are the bands around here that you should listen to," I was like "Ok, I guess this is what normal music sounds like." That definitely changed things.”