I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“i learned that predators don't intentionally choose the weak or old or sick. they kill what they can, which means the slow members of the pack. thus, they strengthen the very gene pool they're feeding from. the threshold for what is weak, old or sick gets raised, and the strength, speed and instincts of new generations of hunters grow. a beautiful, self-perpetuating system where evolution is the antithesis of entropy.”
Source: The Contortionist's Handbook
“I learned that pretending you don't have feelings makes you feel unhappy and unfulfilled and, ultimately, is what really makes you vulnerable because you are hiding from the truth.”
“I learned that real happiness doesn’t come from getting but from giving.”
Source: May Cause Miracles: A 6-week Kick-start to Unlimited Happiness
“I learned that realism can come in all shapes and sizes. The world is big
enough for different values to coexist.”
Source: The Folklore of Our Times
“I learned that ruling poor men's hands is nothing. Ruling men's money's a wedge in the world. But after I'd split it open a crack I looked in and saw the trick inside it, the filthy nothing, the fooled and rotten faces of rich and successful men.”
Source: The Selected Poetry
“I learned that sex was not a question of victory or defeat, of pleasure or profit: of a hand's manipulation and a physical response: I learned that in its purest pleasure it belongs to neither of those who practise it, in the same way as a child belongs to neither parent: it is a free spirit: it simply exists.”
“I learned that some fears are legitimate. We are scared when we can’t do something. Courage shouldn’t push us to do what we are not skilled at. That’s the gift of fear. It saves us from dying.”
Source: Unforgettable: Living a Life That Matters
“I learned that strength is a matter of the made-up mind.”
“I learned that strength, like height, is measured by who you're standing next to.”
“I learned that surrounding myself with people who are able to help me is like being surrounded by tangible godliness.”
“I learned that telling the truth was a big part of loving yourself.”
Source: Yesterday, I Cried: Celebrating the Lessons of Living and Loving
“I learned that the American people are pretty great people. And they are just poorly served by their leadership, and Washington's very much out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Americans. My hope is that we'll have a Democratic Administration, and then we'll hold their feet to the fire so they start performing for people who put them there.”
“I learned that the day "The Viper's Drag" slipped from between my fingers. But whatever might be lost or broken or forgotten is nothing compared to the miraculous rebirth that occurs every time the needle hits the groove. Here is Fats Waller Himself, not dead but present, so present that he overwhelms the well-ordered precincts of the living room. The sound sprawls. What vibrates here has more life than any room.”
Source: Sonata For Jukebox: An Autobiography of My ears
“I learned that the greatest camouflage of all is consistency. If you do something often enough and at the same time in the same way, you become invisible.”
Source: The Power of One
“I learned that the hardest party to pull off successfully is Saturday night dinner. This meal is expected to be elaborate: appetizers, first course, dinner, dessert, and coffee. People arrive at 7:30 or 8 p.m. and stay for hours - definitely past my bedtime - and they all go home exhausted.”
“I learned that the Holy Water better be fresh, that I need practice throwing the spheres, and that someone has to watch my back so asshats don't steal my demons.”
Source: Demon Trappers 1-3: Forsaken, Forbidden, Forgiven
“I learned that the interior of life was as rewarding as the exterior of life, and that my richest moments occurred when I was absolutely still.”
“I learned that the moment you want to slow down is the moment you should accelerate.”
“I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you're a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you'll win - if you don't, you won't.”
“I learned that the people who have the cards are usually the ones who talk the least and the softest; those who are bluffing tend to talk loudly and give themselves away.”
“I learned that the political is above the legal, that's why when my advisors tell me, Evo, what you are doing is illegal, I say, if it is illegal, then do it legal, you have studied for that".”
“I learned that the problems that we have are not solved by blaming somebody else, and that our hope is not in who governs us as a nation. It's not in Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or Ron Paul. Our hope is in the power of God and his gospel working in the hearts of people.”
“I learned that the purpose of the Twelve Steps is to do the will of God.”
“I learned that the resentment, the anger, is impersonal. It is the disease of women in our time. I can see it in women's faces, their voices, every day, or in the letters that come to the office. The woman's emotion: resentment against injustice, an impersonal poison. The unlucky ones, who do not know it is impersonal, turn it against their men. The lucky ones like me—fight it. It is a tiring fight.”
Source: The Golden Notebook
“I learned that the richness of life is found in adventure. . . . It develops self-reliance and independence. Life then teems with excitement. There is stagnation only in security.”
“I learned that the search for God is a Dark Night, that Faith is a Dark Night. And that’s hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”
Source: Brida: A Novel
“I learned that the story has no beginning, and no story has an end. That the story is all muddle, all middle. That the story is never true, but that the lie is indeed a child of silence.”
Source: The Birthday of the World and Other Stories
“I learned that the world didn't see the inside of you, that it didn't care a whit about the hopes and dreams, and sorrows, that lay masked by skin and bone. It was as simple, as absurd, and as cruel as that.”
Source: And the Mountains Echoed
“I learned that the world doesn't want to be saved, and it will f**king punch you in the face if you try.”
“I learned that there are two things that kids really like: movement and love. Happy kids move; unhappy, they don't move.”
“I learned that there is good in this world, if you look hard enough for it. I learned that not everyone is disappointing, including me, and that a 1,257 bump in the ground can feel higher than a bell tower if you're standing next to the right person.”
Source: All the Bright Places
“I learned that there is healing in expressing the ugly ... Sometimes the only way to pull the weeds inside your soul is to vomit out your vitriol.
The exorcism of deeply harbored pain eased my feelings of anxiety. It tempered the physical illnesses bred by emotional pain and taught me just how tied one's mental and emotional health is to their physical state.
There is a lot of unseen optimism beyond the murky depths of my darker musings. Smiles and laughter and joy and intimacy have grown in the empty spaces left by things long-held but finally released. And while the tsunamis and the waves still sometimes break against the quieting waters of my soul, I am learning to ride them with more grace and less water in my lungs.”
“I learned that there were two ways I could live my life: following my dreams or doing something else. Dreams aren't a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. When I dream, I believe I am rehearsing my future.”
“I learned that there's no reason why people decide they like music when they do.”
“I learned that things are never as complicated as we imagine them to be. It is only our arrogance which seeks to find complicated answers to simple problems.”
Source: Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
“I learned that time manages the most painful partings for us. One has only to set the date, buy the ticket, and let the earth, sun, and moon make their passages through the sky, until inexorable time carries us with it to the moment of parting.”
Source: The Road from Coorain
“I learned that to be amusing was not to be frivolous and that language - always the language - was the magic key as much to prose as to poetry.”
Source: Long Live Hitch: Three Classic Books in One Volume
“I learned that to harden your heart was not the same as not caring.”
“I learned that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. Even as a boy, I defeated my opponents without dishonoring them.”
Source: Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
“I learned that true forgiveness includes total acceptance.”
“I learned that true forgiveness includes total self-acceptance. And out of acceptance wounds are healed and happiness is possible again.”
“I learned that true love turns the other cheek, does not take a wrong into account, loves all people regardless of their indifference or hostility.”
Source: Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
“I learned that unemployment can be the great educator.”
“I learned that unless you start working, if you're frozen out of work, you will never learn the habits, the discipline, the values of cooperation and improvement unless you get a job, and that's what statistic show. It's, unless you get a job and keep it, you will not get out of poverty. If you do, you have a very good chance of working out of poverty.”
“I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.”
“I learned that victims come in all image - some raped, some witnessing an act of violence, some losing loved ones. I learned that the solutions come by both listening to the people impacted by the crisis and by learning from historical experiences in other places.”
“I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything.”
Source: Living on Purpose: Straight Answers to Universal Questions
“I learned that we may meet a true love and that our lives may be transformed by such an encounter even when it does not lead to sexual pleasure, committed bonding, or even sustained contact. The myth of true love-that fairy-tale vision of two souls who meet, join, and live happily ever thereafter-is the stuff of childhood fantasy. Yet many of us, female and male, carry these fantasies into adulthood and are unable to cope with the reality of what it means to either have an intense life-altering connection that will not lead to an ongoing relationship or to be in a relationship. True love does not always lead to happily ever after, and even when it does sustaining love still takes work.”
Source: All About Love: New Visions
“I learned that what happened to me did not have to define who I was. My past could not control my future unless I allowed it to.”
Source: Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don't Control You
“I learned that when something just has to be said to move the discussion along, or broaden it or deepen it, if I can just keep my mouth shut for five minutes a student will say it. So for me a lot of teaching is about keeping my mouth shut.”