I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“I thought of New York as a free city, like one of those prewar nests of intrigue and licentiousness where exiles and lamsters and refugees found shelter in a tangle of improbable juxtapositions. I had never gotten around to changing my nationality from the one assigned me at birth, but I would have declared myself a citizen of New York City had such a stateless state existed, its flag a solid black.”
“I thought of nothing but her. I expected everything from her. I was ready to lay everything at her feet. I was not in the least in love with her. Yet I had only to imagine that she might fail to keep the appointment, or forget it, to see where I stood. Then the world would be a desert once more, one day as dreary and worthless as the last, and the deathly stillness and wretchedness would surround me once more on all sides with no way out from this hell of silence except the razor.”
Source: Steppenwolf
“I thought of nothing else but rock 'n' roll; apart from sex and food and money--but that's all the same thing, really.”
“I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth, and of London as a big freckle.”
Source: The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson: Social, political, and literary essays
“I thought of Paulie, Brie, Nelia, Rae, Kole and the others. All of whom i'd disappointed and who deserved to live their lives. A tear rolled down my cheek. I wouldn't go out this way. For them, I'd fight. My eyelids flew open. Gritting my teeth, I forced my legs beneath me and rose.”
“I thought of Pericles' speech to the families of the Athenian war dead, in which he said, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Source: The Heart and the Fist: The education of a humanitarian, the making of a Navy SEAL
“I thought of rap I thought of Grand Master Flash and I thought of about what they went through.”
“I thought of reaching out for progressive Israelis, progressive Americans, progressive American Jews - this was probably my main mission.”
“I thought of rhyme alone,
For rhyme can beat a measure out of trouble
And make the daylight sweet once more.”
Source: The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition
“I thought of several alec smart remarks, but you should humor crazy people when you're at their mercy; it's a rule.”
“I thought of Shelley in the hospital, how she said sometimes sadness only looked like anger and judgment. Maybe fear did too.”
Source: Tell Me a Secret
“I thought of singing and acting as a living-making. I was able to take care of myself and a few of my friends.”
“I thought of something my old coach at Staunton had often said: 'We win some, we lose some, and some get rained out; but we always suit up.'”
Source: With No Apologies
“I thought of such Christian inventions as the ghetto and the Jewish badge of shame. The Nazis didn't have to go very far to pick up their know-how.”
“I thought of telling him that if it wasn't for Oklahoman cowboys and Mexican whores having a bit of fun, there would've been no Texans, but that would be counterproductive.”
Source: Magic Bites: A Special Edition of the First Kate Daniels Novel
“I thought of that merry face, that flippant laughter, the female that did not care who approved. Perhaps because she had seen the ugliest her kind had to offer. And had survived.”
Source: A Court of Mist and Fury
“I thought of that while riding my bicycle.”
“I thought of the analyst Winnicott's observation: 'It is a joy to be hidden but disaster not to be found'.”
“I thought of the bowl of water my mother taught me to look into. It was true, everything a person ever needed to know was right there in a single bowl small enough to fit in the palm of one hand.”
Source: Incantation
“I thought of the boy I had been, his murderous, pent-up hatred, of his strange, silent green glass maelstorm of wrath.”
Source: The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth
“I thought of the character being real, a living person, not a drawing.”
“I thought of the cool, fresh air of the city I'd always dreamed of living in. The art museums and trolleys and the mysterious fog that blanketed it. I could almost smell the cappuccinos I'd planned to drink in bohemian cafes or hear the indie music in the bookstores I would spend my free time in. I pictured the friends I'd make, my kindred art people, and the dorm room I was supposed to move into.”
Source: I'll Meet You There
“I thought of the dress
that she wore last time
When we stood 'neath
the cypress-trees together
In that lost land, in that soft clime
In the crimson evening weather”
Source: Poems
“I thought of the fate of Descartes’ famous formulation: man as ‘master and proprietor of nature.’ Having brought off miracles in science and technology, this ‘master and proprietor’ is suddenly realizing that he owns nothing and is master neither of nature (it is vanishing, little by little, from the planet), nor of History (it has escaped him), nor of himself (he is led by the irrational forces of his soul). But if God is gone and man is no longer master, then who is master? The planet is moving through the void without any master. There it is, the unbearable lightness of being.”
Source: The Art of the Novel
“I thought of the fifteen years I lived 'sans papiers' in France and how Paris had belonged to me. I was like a king in France. And now that suddenly I was French, Paris was gone for me. I had abdicated the throne the French people had given to me. All those people were gone. The whole city had changed. I left for five years: three spent wandering in Europe, while two years I spent living in Muslim Morocco; and now Paris had changed and there was no going back.”
“I thought of the future, and spoke of the past.”
Source: Breakfast at Tiffany's
“I thought of the girl in the photo in Ronnie's studio, the one on layaway. She was probably waiting for him this very moment, somewhere downtown. Checking the clock, applying lipstick, concentrating herself into an arrow pointed at Ronnie. Doing the various things women did when they had to wait for something they wanted.”
Source: The Flamethrowers
“I thought of the great spectrum of The Mecca--black people from Belize, black people with Jewish mothers, black people with fathers from Bangalore, black people from Toronto and Kingston, black people who spoke Russian, who spoke Spanish, who played Mongo Santamaría, who understood mathematics and sat up in bone labs, unearthing the mysteries of the enslaved. There was more out there than I had ever hoped for, and I wanted you to have it. I wanted you to know that the world in its entirety could never be found in schools, alone, nor on the streets, alone, nor in the trophy case. I wanted you to claim the whole world, as it is. I wanted "Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus" to immediately be obvious to you.”
“I thought of the idea of Summly in March or April 2011. I was 15 years old and I was revising for some kind of history exam. The problem was I was trying to find information that was useful to me. When you type into Google an esoteric term, you get quite a lot of stuff that's not relevant.”
“I thought of the infinitely many points that can divide the space between two human hearts.”
“I thought of the lives stacked in crevices of the city, unraveling at every moment.”
Source: White on White
“I thought of the nameless inventor of the bathtub. I was somehow sure it was a woman. And was the inventor of the bathtub plug a man?”
Source: Fear of Flying: 40th Anniversary Edition
“I thought of the one thing about home that I missed, my dad's study with its built-in, floor-to-ceiling shelves sagging with thick biographies and the black leather chair that kept me just uncomfortable enough to keep from feeling sleepy as I read.”
Source: Looking For Alaska Special 10th Anniversary Edition
“I thought of the parable of the prodigal son. We had made merry for the beloved child's return too - but what happens when the beloved child doesn't say she's sorry? The parable doesn't talk about that. Jesus figures of course you're sorry. Jesus, I thought, you blew it. Not everybody is sorry.”
Source: Don't Blame the Music
“I thought of the past and how one should have respect for it, like the elderly.”
Source: I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays
“I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it--it, the physical act. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine.”
“I thought of the people on the roof and wondered how they managed to stay up there as there was nothing to hang on to but, thinking back, I think they had either been shot or had fallen off the train many miles back as we left Strausberg.”
Source: Uncle Hitler: A Child's Traumatic Journey Through Nazi Hell to the Safety of Britain
“I thought of the pieces of me I'd left behind, a piece here, a piece there, scattered like bread crumbs. How much of me was left?”
Source: American Blonde
“I thought of the pillowcases as a symbol of love and loss, of retaining the memory of your loved one.”
“I thought of the priest who'd told me that many religions hold that it is easier to be closely connected to people we love after death than before.”
“I thought of the scene while writing scenes with Rebecca [Hall] and wrote it like an opening montage of showing where someone works. If you see a film about a car mechanic, you'd show the place they work and what they do. So, that's what I set out to do with Rebecca's character. I thought it probably wouldn't even make it into film but I ended up liking it.”
“I thought of the soul as resembling a castle, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent crystal, and containing many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.”
Source: The Interior Castle: or the Mansions
“I thought of the structure as musical. The first piece, for instance, contains the names/subject matter of every person to come in the book. Like a piece of music with themes, etc.”
“I thought of the things that had happened to me over the years, and of how little I had made happen.”
Source: The Sense of an Ending
“I thought of the wilderness we had left behind us, open to sea and sky, joyous in its plenitude and simplicity, perfect yet vulnerable, unaware of what is coming, defended by nothing, guarded by no one.”
Source: Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside
“I thought of the words of the Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne. "If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.”
“I thought of the words the old witch had used to summon the sword on previous occasions. While stepping backwards with the intent of putting the table between Thaddeus and myself, I voiced the spell aloud.
“Grim dettarias, ee Duvalla swen areir!”
My trusted weapon appeared from out of nowhere, the hilt grasped tight within my fingers. Without delay, I pointed the tip of the blade at my enemy.
“Move away from the door and let me leave this place.”
“Oh, Catherine…”
“Don’t breathe that wicked name again!” I angrily ordered. Thaddeus closed his mouth, and his eyes scrunched the slightest bit, never shifting from me.
“I’ll cut out your tongue if you mutter that awful name one more time,” I threatened. I interpreted his frown as a sign that he believed I would make every effort to carry out that threat.”
Source: The Tarishe Curse
“I thought of To Kill a Mockingbird. I had finished reading it one night in a bunker, my knees bent and hunched together while mortars hit the ground, the glow of a cigarette and the moon as my only light. Standing there now, chain-smoking, I felt like I finally understood the ending.”
Source: Civilianized: A Young Veteran's Memoir
“I thought of what might be, if only the people who have too much money would help those who have too little!”
“I thought of writing a summary about you, but when I finished it was a book.”
Source: I Love You Too