W Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with W. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Why did the generals who have been so ready to term me a complaisant and incompetent yes-man fail to secure my removal? Was that all that difficult? No, that wasn't it; the truth was that nobody would have been ready to replace me, because each one knew that he would end up just as much a wreck as I.”
“Why did the Germans and Japanese keep fighting after 1943 when every rational hope of victory had disappeared?”
“Why did the god of the Western Bible get annoyed when the people were united, speaking the same language, and building a high tower together — and with zero hatred?
The god of the Western Bible divided the people and caused confusion among them ...dividing them into small tribes or groups. Just like how the West did to the African continent and its people.
History is mind-blowing.”
“Why did the god of the Western Bible got annoyed when people were united, speaking the same language, and building a high tower together with zero hatred?
The god of the Western Bible divided the people and caused confusion amongst themselves ...dividing them into small tribes. Just like how the West did to the African continent.
History is mind-blowing.”
“Why did the Holy Ghost descend on the Jewish Pentecost?
Because on their Pentecost the Jews celebrated the anniversary of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and God would show by sending the Holy Ghost on this day, that the Old Law had ceased and the New Law commenced. God also chose this time, that the Jews who on this day came together from all countries to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pentecost, might be witness of the miracle, and hear the New Law announced by the apostles. (Feast of Pentecost)”
Source: The Church's Year
“Why did the king thus rescue Mussolini from a rashly overplayed hand? Mussolini had cleverly confronted the sovereign with a hard choice. Either the government must use force to disperse thousands of Blackshirts converging on Rome, with considerable risk of bloodshed and bitter internal dissension, or the king must accept Mussolini as head of government.
The most likely explanation for the king’s choice of the second option is a private warning (of which no archival trace remains) by the army commander-in-chief, Marshal Armando Diaz, or possibly another senior military officer, that the troops might fraternize with the Blackshirts if ordered to block them. According to another theory, the king feared that if he tried to use force against Mussolini, his cousin, the duke of Aosta, reputed to be sympathetic to the Fascists, might make a bid for the throne by siding with them. We will probably never know for sure. What seems certain is that Mussolini had correctly surmised that the king and the army would not make the hard choice to resist his Blackshirts by force. It was not Fascism’s force that decided the issue, but the conservatives’ unwillingness to risk their force against his. The “March on Rome” was a gigantic bluff that worked, and still works in the general public’s perceptions of Mussolini’s “seizure of power.”
Source: The Anatomy of Fascism
“Why did the Lord give use so much quickness unless it was to avoid responsibility?”
“Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?”
Source: The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson
“Why did the mushroom go to the party?
Because he's a fungi!”
“Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.”
Source: Moby Dick
“Why did the people think [Vietnam war] was fundamentally wrong and immoral? The guys who ran the polls, John E. Rielly, a professor at the University of Chicago, a liberal professor, he said what that means is that people thought too many Americans had being killed. Another possibility is they didn't like the fact that we were carrying out the worst crime since the Second World War. But that's so inconceivable that wasn't even offered as a possible reason.”
“Why did the regime put me in prison in the first place? I was put in prison for six years and it has been all illegal.”
“Why did the scarecrow win the Nobel Prize?"
"Why?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.
"For being outstanding in his field.”
Source: The Geography of You and Me
“Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Soviet Communist Party collapse? An important reason was that their ideals and beliefs had been shaken.”
“Why did the stories I knew best never end well?
But why too did I feel at home among them?
I could never give up the myths, the maps, the ship that had shaped me.
Blake’s home might be paradise, but my home was the Temptation.”
Source: The Girl from Everywhere
“Why did the strategy document go to therapy? It had too many issues!”
“Why did the two most important things in her life have to require her attention at exactly the same time?”
Source: Heart of the Game
“Why did the warrior cross the road? [Koldo] That’s easy. To kill the guy on the other side. [Nicola] A bud of amusement had her smiling. Knock, knock. [Koldo] Who’s there? [Nicola] Donut. Donut who? Donut run from me, puny girl.”
“Why did the wise guys always accuse other people of being wise guys?”
“Why did the world go on being so beautiful in spite of the ugliness he had experienced? The lake was beautiful, serenely beautiful. The forest was beautiful, greenly beautiful. Lake and forest, the whole shimmering world was painfully beautiful. He loved this world, but he was too hurt to enjoy it.”
Source: The Real Thief
“Why did these men fight? The answer is simple. We were ordinary people molded into Marines. The same can be said of those who served in the army. We all had the proper upbringings of common folk, when you have a task to do, you work hard, give it your best and get the job done. We came from different backgrounds; however, we became a team, moving and fighting as if we had known each other all of our lives. All of us have bonded for life and still keep in touch by phone, letters, and visits. If anyone of the second squad needs help you can be sure the rest of the squad would be there. All of those I have kept in touch with have been successful in the life endeavors they chose.
"Not one of them is bitter about giving up two years of their life to 'Serve Their Country'"
-George E. Krug”
Source: Why Marines Fight
“Why did they believe? Because they saw miracles. Things one man took as chance, a man of faith took as a sign. A loved one recovering from disease, a fortunate business deal, a chance meeting with a long lost friend. It wasn't the grand doctrines or the sweeping ideals that seemed to make believers out of men. It was the simple magic in the world around them.”
Source: The Hero of Ages: Book Three of Mistborn
“Why did they come billions of miles just to stare at us? It's rude.”
Source: The 5th Wave
“Why did they continue to enter Lodges until they had the rule of them? There must have been something more in their association, for they had their clubs, societies, and learned fellowships.”
Source: The Builders: A Story and Study of Masonry
“Why did they do it? Beats the hell out of me. I was just a scared kid from Kentucky, and these guys had been up in the majors for a while. I guess it was because I was just such a helluva nice kid - if you'll accept that.”
“Why did they go away, do you think? If there ever were such things."
"Who knows? Times change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?"
"No, but I wonder if any man before us ever thought his time a good time for unicorns.”
Source: The Last Unicorn
“Why did they insulate us from criticism? Why didn't they load us up with useful tools? Why didn't they teach us to satisfy an audience? I realized I had been scammed. They wanted us to feel as good as possible for as long as possible in order to get as much money out of us as they could. The way to do that was to assure us we were already geniuses.”
Source: The Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers
“Why did they keep changing guitars and amplifiers when they were perfect? They did the same things with cars, if you ask me. They forgot how to make them right, because they focused on style and bells and whistles.”
“Why did they kill it? Man can't stand to let something beautiful and pure, a thing on wings, pass over him. He hates everything that soars, and everything that sings. It seemed to me this swan is the very image of my dream, and my dream is dead.”
Source: In the Sky
“Why did they make babies so damn small? And loud. Surely better arrangements could be made for the propagation of the human race.”
Source: Blue Smoke
“Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel?”
Source: The Old Man and the Sea
“Why did things have to get so backwards in our house? Since she couldn’t be the adult, I knew that it had to be me. But that didn’t stop me from hating it--from wishing it was just over. I’d give anything to be a kid again and not to be the responsible one in the house. It was like I was trapped in a horrible virtual-reality game, except there was no way for me to quit.”
Source: I Wish
“Why did this disease choose me? I cannot carry it, if its just for the word: Fate.”
Source: 1 Litre of Tears
“Why did this have to happen? So many innocent lives have already been lost and there were still so many more to go. It was difficult knowing there were still people, who were home asleep, that had no idea what terrors awaited them when they finally started their days. It was a tragedy.”
Source: The Manhattanville Incident: An Undead Novel
“Why did this keep happening? Why her? Perhaps there was some pheromone certain people omitted, perceivable only on a wavelength unique to those individuals who preyed on them.”
Source: Terrorscape
“Why did this music move her? Was it really a signal of some kind? They had all been so musical-both her grandfathers, Alexander and Jacob—and Genrikh … Genrikh … And from her heart a deep lament rose up and choked her, and it was as though it wasn't she crying, but Genrikh in her. Little Genrikh, intolerable little child who threw himself on the floor and thrashed his arms and legs, who wanted to fly a glider or an plane, whom they barred from his beloved profession of aviation—yes, of course, because his father, was an enemy of the people and ruined everything. He was robbed of his dreams, his hopes, his shining, beckoning future. Oh, poor Genrikh!
Nora cried together with him, this boy, her future and former father, who had not been given the chance to live the life he dreamed about. He sobbed
and gasped for then grew tired and moaned quietly, then howled again, and started throwing a tantrum. Nora just wiped away the tears. How awful! Would his grief never end? Would it never burn out, never die? Would it torment him, and Nora, and the newborn who had only just arrived and was not guilty of anything at all? Is it possible that the evil we commit never dissipates, but hangs above the head of every new child that emerges out of this river of time?”
Source: Лестница Якова
“Why did trust feel like a mountain to climb?”
“Why did we always say we were going to shoot emails?"
"I don't know. I've wondered that, too."
"Why couldn't we just say we were going to send them? We were just pressing a button, were we not?"
"Not even a real button. A picture of a button on a screen.”
Source: Station Eleven
“Why did we become blind, I don't know, perhaps one day we'll find out, Do you want me to tell you what I think, Yes, do, I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.”
“Why did we create a society that not only forces most people to work to live but also makes even the most privileged feel like they have to work desperately hard all the time? We created a mythology that regards the need to reach the top of the mountain because it’s there as a measure of human worth, but when we get there, there’s always another mountain, and another one after that. Most of us live our whole lives either struggling to stay on solid ground or climbing mountain after mountain.”
Source: Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better
“Why did we divorce? I guess you could say we had trouble synchronizing. You know that carnival ride where two cages swing in opposite directions, going higher and higher until they go over the top? That was us. We passed each other all the time, but we never actually stopped in the same place until it was time to get off the ride.”
Source: Hannah's Dream
“Why did we do that to Pluto? We had it good with Pluto.”
Source: A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story
“Why did we get together? Because God wanted us to do it. We were just trying to do what God wants us to do. We didn't feel like we had much of a choice.”
“Why did we not know that heads of state were being eavesdropped on, spied on? We are the intelligence committee and we didn't know that.”
“Why did we so consistently look at the West through the sights of a rifle?”
Source: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains
“WHY did we start doing WHAT we’re doing in the first place, and WHAT can we do to bring our cause to life considering all the technologies and market opportunities available today?”
Source: Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action
“Why did we take away your artwork? Why did we do that? You said an interesting thing earlier, Tommy. When you were discussing this with Marie-Claude. You said it was because your art would reveal what you like. What you were like inside. That's what you said, wasn't it? Well, you weren't far wrong about that. We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.”
Source: Never Let Me Go
“Why did women always believe that talking about a problem would fix it? Some issues were corpses. Hot air made them fester and rot and spread their disease to everything else. Better to bury it and move on.”
“Why did ye ask to ride with Hamish?" Conall growled as she decided the baby fox was fine and let it sleep. "Do ye no' like riding with me?"
Claray debated making up something that would be less embarrassing to her, but felt her earlier behavior had already put her soul in jeopardy. Lying didn't seem the way to help save it. Humiliating as it was, she supposed she'd have to tell him the truth.
"I like riding with ye very much."
"Then why ask to ride with Hamish?"
"Because I like riding with ye very much," she repeated simply, and then her voice going husky, she admitted, "And I liked yer kisses and caresses in the river. I ken I responded most wantonly to them and have given ye a disgust o' me. I apologize fer that, m'laird, but much as I ken these feelings and desires and me own behavior will surely land me in hell, I can no' stop wanting ye, and would no doubt act the very same way did ye touch or kiss me like that again." She paused to take a breath after blurting that all out, and then added, "So it did seem better to ride with Hamish, who seems nice but does no' make me tingle with just a glance and threaten me soul with damnation by his very existence.”
Source: Highland Wolf
“Why did you act in this way, you pitiable ones? Make a bow of repentance, recognize your fault, be sorry for your nakedness. Neither one of them could blame himself, neither of them had the least bit of humility.”