W Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with W. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“What well-bred woman would refuse her heart to a man who had just saved her life? Not one; and gratitude is a short cut which speedily leads to love.”
“What Wendy felt was a spray of something that could only be described as golden. Light, effervescent, slightly dry. Fuzzy, like the horrible mineral waters Mother sometimes made Father take to aid his digestion. But not with the terrible metallic taste. For the brief moment she could taste anything at all, it was sweet- or no, maybe sour like lemons. No, not that, either- more like sparks from a fire.”
Source: Straight On Till Morning
“What went away was never yours
Why whine and shed tears?
If you loved it so much
Hide it in your heart as souvenir…”
“What went down well?" Mum asks, coming back to the table.
"Nothing," I say.
"The Titanic," Elliot says.”
Source: Girl Online
“What went on between you and my mom? Did you seduce all the Liddell women? Did you tell them the same pretty words you told me?” I curl my legs beneath my dress, feeling small and vulnerable for even asking.
Morpheus scoots aside some glass with his boot and kneels. He takes my hand in his. “I’ve known but three generations of Liddell women. Counting the ones in London, there’s been twenty or so. Most were oblivious and unreachable—they didn’t hear the nether-call. The others weren’t strong enough to face their lineage without losing their minds. As for Alison, she and I were business partners. There has never been more than that between us. There’s only one Liddell I desire, only one who earns my undying devotion.” He works a fingertip into the lace at my elbow and drags off the glove. “The one who was my truest friend … who took my place and braved the attack that was meant for me.””
Source: Unhinged
“What went on in that head of his? I would soon come to understand that he gave voice to only a fraction of the thoughts that swam behind his eyes. It was not nearly so clean and smooth in there as it seemed. Other lives were housed in that mind, parallel worlds. Maybe we’re all built a little bit that way. But most of us drop hints. Most of us leave clues. My father was more careful.
When I think now of that moment in the kitchen, an almost unbelievable thought comes to my mind: There was a time when those two people - that man hunched at the table and that woman shouting in a bathrobe - were young. The proof was in the pictures that hung on the living room walls, a pretty girl and a bookish guy, a studio apartment in a crumbling Hollywood building overlooking a courtyard and a kidney-shaped pool. This was the mythical period before I was born, when my mother was not a mother and was instead an actress who might make it someday/. How much sweeter life would be if it all happened in reverse, if, after decades of disappointment, you finally arrived at an age when you had conceded nothing, when everything was possible. I like to think about how my parents’ lives once shimmered in front of them, half hidden, like buried gold. Back then the future was whatever they imagined - and they never imagined this.”
Source: The Age of Miracles
“What went wrong is we had tremendous concentration in the sense we put a lot of our money to work against U.S. real estate. We got here by lending money, and putting money to work in the U.S. real estate market, in a size that was probably larger than what we ought to have done on a diversification basis.”
“What went wrong? Nothing and everything.”
Source: High Fidelity
“What were all of them, really, but bits of something else? Bits of stars?”
Source: Rapture
“What were all the world's alarms To mighty Paris when he found Sleep upon a golden bed That first dawn in Helen's arms?”
“What were good and evil, really, but stupid categories? Stupid categories that restricted people and punished or rewarded them based on how they responded to their own natures, natures they really didn't have any way to control.”
Source: Succubus Blues
“What were love stories but dreams of worlds where the sun and moon could linger beside one another long enough to learn the language of the other’s heart?”
Source: The Heartless Divine
“What were numbers other than abstract concepts we used to describe reality? I felt that using numbers to describe people was as silly as using technical language to describe spinach dip. Humans, I imagined, were not meant to be predictable, and if they were, nothing new or innovative would ever be accomplished.”
Source: Corners Untouched by Madness: A Personal Journey of Overcoming Mental Illness
“What were once felt to be defects-isolation, institutional simplicity, primitiveness of manners, multiplicity of religions, weaknesses in the authority of the state-could now be seen as virtues, not only by Americans themselves but by enlightened spokesmen of reform, renewal and hope wherever they may be-in London coffeehouses, in Parisian salons, in the courts of German princes.”
Source: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
“What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass.”
“What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today.”
“What were once vices are the fashion of the day.”
“What were several fewer species of animals compared with a hundred-mile advance and another medal on another general?”
“What were the bodies like on the beach? Ugly and white and ruined by offices.”
Source: The Favourite Game
“What were the glories of the sun, if we knew not the gloom of darkness?”
Source: A few days in Athens: being the translation of a Greek manuscript discovered in Herculaneum
“What were the Mechanic's elders like? She had said they were like his own, strange though that sounded. Did they listen to her? Had she passed on the warning, only to have her elders dismiss her words as Alain's elders had dismissed his?
He suddenly felt certain that this Mechanic had no choice but to go onward to danger. Once again, he knew how she must feel. A strange sensation, worrisome. How to make it go away? How to release the hold she had placed upon him?
She had saved his life. Alain almost smiled before he caught himself. That was it. Several times she had "helped" him. The Mechanic had used that to influence him. No wonder the elders warned against helping. How to cancel it out? Like cancelled like. Power could defeat power. She had saved him, she had helped him. He would help her, perhaps even save her life. That would cancel whatever the Mechanic had done to him. He would be free of her.
The logic had no flaws.”
Source: The Dragons of Dorcastle
“What were the odds that she'd turn away at the same instant the ball came flying her way? And that she'd be holding a soda in a crowd at a volleyball game she didn't even want to watch, in a place she didn't want to be? In a million years, the same thing should probably never happen again. With odds like that, she should have bought a lottery ticket.”
“What were the phenomena of the world today? If I knew little else, I knew the answer - war, and the preparations for new war.”
“What were the politics of my family? They were mainstream moderate politics.”
“What were the present and future to him, he who did not fear the sandstorm? Did he know what fortune and misfortune mean, and what our tortured hearts called hope?”
Source: All the Roads Are Open: The Afghan Journey
“What were the relations between the Jews and the secret societies? That is not easy to elucidate, for we lack reliable evidence. Obviously they did not dominate in these associations, as the writers, whom I have just mentioned, pretended; they were not necessarily the soul, the head, the grand master of masonry as Gougenot des Mousseaux affirms. It is certain however that there were Jews in the very cradle of masonry, kabbalist Jews, as some of the rites which have been preserved prove.”
“What were they now but cerements shaken from the body of death—the fear he had walked in night and day, the incertitude that had ringed him round, the shame that had abased him within and without—cerements, the linens of the grave?
His soul had arisen from the grave of boyhood, spurning her graveclothes.”
Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
“What were they now but cerements shaken from the body of death—the fear he had walked in night and day, the incertitude that had ringed him round, the shame that had abased him within and without—cerements, the linens of the grave?
His soul had arisen from the grave of boyhood, spurning her graveclothes. Yes! Yes! Yes! He would create proudly out of the freedom and power of his soul, as the great artificer whose name he bore, a living thing, new and soaring and beautiful, impalpable, imperishable.”
“What were they thinking? 'It's an alien apocalypse! Quick, grab the beer!”
Source: The 5th Wave
“What were we doing here? Traveling hundreds or thousands of light-years, to break our hearts?”
“What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of himself.”
“What were we spending so much time doing if not getting to know each other?”
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel
“What were we talking before I was so rudely interrupted by a flying citrus ?”
Source: Finding Sky
“What were you before you met me?"
"I think I was drowning"
"And what are you now?"
"Water”
Source: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
“What were you chanting when you gave me your blood?” “More of my vampire magic. I cast a healing spell to aid the powers of my blood.” She sniffled, her nose stuffy. “It was better than Vicodin.” “Vicodin?” “A painkiller from my world.” “A killer of pain. Did you love him?” The words were growled.A burst of unexpected humor gave her strength. “No. In fact, he was hard to shake. He, uh, stalked me, that kind of thing. I had to pretend he didn’t exist.” Nicolai kissed her temple and relaxed against her.”
Source: Royal House of Shadows: Part 2 of 12
“What were you doing fighting with me at Kirov, knowing all this was stacked against us?
Raging against my fate.”
Source: The Bronze Horseman
“What were you doing? This lot said you were over there," he growled, pointing to the section of the library he'd just searched.
Rosa batted her lashes. "I went to see how Plunger was getting on. He's slowing down our work by trying to use his dick as a paintbrush."
Plunger shrugged like that wasn't unusual behaviour. "It is the way of my crea-tiv-it-ai."
“It’s creativit- tee ,”
Source: Alpha Wolf
“What were you doing to it in my bed?”
“Touching it.”
“How? Show me.”
Source: Mine
“What were you doing tonight anyway?'
'What makes you ask?' His tone clearly insinuates that I shouldn't.
Too bad.
'You made it to my room within minutes, and you're not exactly dressed for sleeping.' He's strapped with a sword for crying out loud.
'Maybe I sleep in my armour, too.'
'Then you should pick more trustworthy bedmates.'
He snorts, a flash of a smile appearing for a heartbeat. A real one. Not the fake, forced sneer I'm used to seeing or the cocky little smirk. An honest, heart-stopping smile that I'm anything but immune to.”
Source: Fourth Wing
“What were you doing with her?" I ask quietly. "Apart from questioning her about your whereabouts, I was listening to the most intriguing story about my life moonlighting as a kidnapper.”
“What were you dreaming about?" "You." He twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. "I always dream about you." "Oh, yeah? Because I thought you were having a nightmare." He tipped his head back to look at her. "Sometimes I dream you're gone," he said. "I keep wondering when you'll figure out how much better you could do and leave me.”
Source: Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instrument Series (4 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels
“What were you expecting?
This is a transactional world.”
“What were you going to do tonight?" "I was going to listen to the songs of Rachmaninoff." "Who's that?" "A dead Russian.”
“What were you going to do with it?” McCain asked. "I just thought it might come in useful.” "Were you planning to attack me?” "No. But that’s a good idea.”
“What were you going to make for Christmas dinner?” one of my
older children asked in a very reasonable tone. I cleared my throat,
but couldn’t speak. There was no real explanation for my behavior. I’d been so intent on getting through this first Christmas without David. I’d found new rituals to replace the old, wrapped gifts, and even made cutout sugar cookies. I’d modified Christmas in order to endure it. What I hadn’t done was plan on or prepare a Christmas meal. Everyone was looking at me expectantly by this point, including my sweet, hungry grandchildren.
“I forgot all about Christmas dinner,” I finally admitted. No one batted an eye.”
Source: Refined by Fire: A Journey of Grief and Grace
“What were you like," I asked her. "we're you happy? Or were you smiling because they told you to?”
“What were you looking at?"
She pointed to a bright star. "Polaris."
He shook his head, and pointed to another part of the sky. "That's Polaris. You were looking at Vega."
She chuckled. "Ah. No wonder I was finding it unimpressive."
He leaned back and stretched his long legs out. "It's the fifth brightest star in the sky."
She laughed. "You forget I am one of five sisters. In my world, fifth brightest is last." She looked up. "With apologies to the star in question, of course."
"And are you often last?"
She shrugged. "Sometimes. It is not a pleasant ranking."
"I assure you, Pippa. You are rarely last.”
Source: One Good Earl Deserves a Lover
“What were you saying, Agnes?" Taylor said, his smile widening.
"I was saying you're an evil moron whom fate and karma are going to take care of," Agnes said. "Now your line is 'Who's Fate and Karma, and what did I ever do to them?'"
"That's not funny," Taylor said.
Agnes looked at Mr. Harrison. "I thought it was a little funny, didn't you?"
"A little," he said, smiling. Taylor glared at him and he shrugged.”
Source: Agnes and the Hitman
“What were you singing?" Merritt asked. "A lullaby?"
"An old song from the islands, about a selkie." Seeing the word was unfamiliar, he explained, "A changeling, who looks like a seal in the water but takes the form of a man on land. In the song he woos a human maiden, who gives birth to his son. Seven years later, he comes back to take the child." Keir hesitated before adding absently, "But before they leave, the selkie tells the mother he'll give the boy a gold chain to wear on his neck, so she'll recognize him if they meet someday."
"Are she and her son ever reunited?" Merritt asked.
Keir shook his head. "Someone brings her the gold chain one day, and she realizes he's dead. Shot by-" He broke off as he saw Merritt's face begin to crumple. "Och," he exclaimed softly. "No... dinna do that..."
"It's so terribly sad," she said in a watery voice, damning herself for being emotional.
A chuckle broke from Keir as he moved closer. "I won't tell you the rest, then." His hand cupped the side of her face, his thumb wiping an escaping tear. "'Tis only a song, lass. Ah, you've a tender heart." His blue eyes sparkled as he looked down at her. "I warn you, no more tears or I'll have to put you on my shoulder and pat you asleep as I did the bairnie."
It left Merritt temporarily speechless, that he sincerely seemed to believe she would regard that as a threat.”
Source: Devil in Disguise
“What were you supposed to do, talking to a hologram of a dead man, when a younger version of that man was still alive? Should you offer condolences?
Jordan decided that really wasn't necessary.”
Source: Redeemed