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Might Have Been Quotes

Browse 488 quotes about Might Have Been.

Might Have Been Quotes

“People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been an angel.”

People Men Wells Looks Has Beens Might Turns Enemy Teaching Fool Angel Average Treated Indifference Might Have Been Contemptuous

Author:Andre Maurois

“One night Roger was in a foul mood and he threw his entire bloody drumset across the stage. The thing only just missed me - I might have been killed.”

Has Beens Might Night Stage Mood Bloody Might Have Been One Night Foul Roger

Author:Freddie Mercury

“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.”

Littles Has Beens Might Attention Mistake Learning Advice Experience Paid Valuable Saved Glad Life Experience Might Have Been Good Advice

Author:Edna St. Vincent Millay

“This world crisis came about without women having anything to do with it. If the women of the world had not been excluded from world affairs, things today might have been different.”

Ifs World Has Beens Different Might Today This World Crisis Affair Might Have Been Excluded World Affairs

Author:Alice Paul

“It's defeatist to harp on what might have been, and yet, it's hard to resist considering what might have been.”

Has Beens Hard Might Considering Might Have Been Harps

Author:Christopher Reeve

“Most start-up companies fail and it is smart public policy to help entrepreneurs increase their odds of succeeding. But, the biggest loss to our economy is not all the start-ups that didn't make it: It's the ones that might have been created but weren't.”

Has Beens Helping Might Loss Company Economy Failing Policy Succeed Smart Increase Entrepreneur Odds Might Have Been Public Policy

Author:Eric Ries

“I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.”

Ifs Love Has Beens Inspiration Might Motivation Stars Goal Inspiring Encouragement Reaching Encouraging Might Have Been

Author:Milton Berle

“If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.”

Ifs Persons Has Beens Might Motivational Success Dies Business Courage Knowing Anxiety Might Have Been Overcoming Fear Self Empowerment Great Person

Author:Robert H. Schuller

“The Jersey Shore is the kind of place where the policeman has a little cottage that might have been in the family for years and many other people call home.”

People Years Kind Littles Has Beens Home Might Shore Might Have Been Jersey Policemen Cottages Jersey Shore

Author:Bruce Springsteen

“There might have been a period around 'Tango & Cash' when I was nearly fashionable. My problem is that my weight's always been changing for the movies I'm in.”

Has Beens Problem Might Periods Weight Cash Might Have Been Fashionable Tango

Author:Sylvester Stallone

“If I had known what it would be like to have it all - I might have been willing to settle for less.”

Ifs Has Beens Might Would Be Funny Known Willing Settling Sarcastic Might Have Been Eyeglasses

Author:Lily Tomlin

“One of the greatest features of science is that it doesn't matter where you were born, and it doesn't matter what the belief systems of your parents might have been: If you perform the same experiment that someone else did, at a different time and place, you'll get the same result.”

Ifs Has Beens Different Matter Might Belief Parent Born Results Experiments Features Might Have Been Belief Systems Different Times

Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Every minute you are thinking of evil, you might have been thinking of good instead. Refuse to pander to a morbid interest in your own misdeeds. Pick yourself up, be sorry, shake yourself, and go on again.”

Thinking Inspirational Has Beens Might Evil Interest Minutes Perspective Goes On Picks Sorry Refuse Shakes Apology Might Have Been Morbid Misdeeds Pick Yourself Up

Book:The Making of a Mystic: New and Selected Letters of Evelyn Underhill

Source: The Making of a Mystic: New and Selected Letters of Evelyn Underhill

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.”

“Just because I'm talking about something that might have been a sad or painful situation doesn't mean that I'm sad or tortured 24 hours a day any more than anybody else is.”

Mean Has Beens Might Hours Talking Situation Painful Might Have Been I'm Sad Painful Situations

Author:Lucinda Williams

“As a kid, I might have been psycho, I guess, but I used to throw golf balls in the trees and try and somehow make par from them. I thought that was fun.”

Trying Has Beens Might Kids Used Fun Sports Tree Training Balls Golf Preparation Might Have Been Psycho Golf Ball

Author:Tiger Woods

“My heart hath often been deeply afflicted under a feeling that the standard of pure righteousness is not lifted up to the people by us, as a society, in that clearness which it might have been, had we been as faithful as we ought to be to the teachings of Christ.”

People Heart Has Beens Feelings Might Christ Teaching Ought My Heart Pure Standards Faithful Righteousness Might Have Been Clearness

Book:A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of that Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ

Source: A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of that Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ

“Be what you would seem to be - or, if you'd like it put more simply - never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.”

Ifs Has Beens Seems Might Imagination Imagine Identity Might Have Been Wonderland Alice Adventures In Wonderland Duchess Alice In Wonderland Alice Alice In Wonderland Tea

Book:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

World Life Has Beens Might Numbers Half Growing Effects Ill Dependent Might Have Been Tombs Obscurity Owing Middlemarch

Book:Middlemarch - A Study of Provincial Life -

Source: Middlemarch - A Study of Provincial Life -

“We yearn for tomorrow and the progress that it represents. But yesterday was once tomorrow, and where was progress in it? Or we yearn for yesterday, for what was or what might have been. But as we are yearning, the present is becoming the past, so the past is nothing but our yearning for second chances.”

Has Beens Might Past Chance Progress Becoming Tomorrow Yesterday Yearning Might Have Been Second Chance

Book:Brother Odd: An Odd Thomas Novel

Source: Brother Odd: An Odd Thomas Novel

“Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.”

Has Beens Might Left Emotion Pieces Torn Might Have Been

Book:Memories, dreams, reflections

Source: Memories, dreams, reflections

“What is, is, and what might have been could never have existed.”

Has Beens Might Might Have Been

Book:Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey : Interviews

Source: Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey : Interviews

“And what an example of the power of dress young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar;—it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have fixed his station in society. But now he was enveloped in the old calico robes, that had grown yellow in the same service; he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once—a parish child—the orphan of a workhouse—the humble, half-starved drudge—to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all, and pitied by none.”

“Apart from the faint odor of ink that pervaded the scene, it might have been real.”

Has Beens Real Might Scene Might Have Been Ink Odor Been Real

Author:Jasper Fforde

“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.”

Source: The Alchemist - 10th Anniversary Edition

“There are certain people in whom you can detect the seeds of madness - seeds that have remained dormant only because the people in question have lived relatively comfortable, middle class lives. They function perfectly well in the world, but you can imagine, given a nasty parent, or a prolonged bout of unemployment, how their potential for craziness might have been realized.”

“... swept into the giddy vortex which keeps so many young people revolving aimlessly, till they go down or are cast upon the shore, wrecks of what they might have been”

People Has Beens Might Young Casts Shore Might Have Been Wrecks Giddy Vortex Revolving

Book:The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott (Illustrated): Novels, Short Stories, Plays & Poems: Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo's Boys, A Modern Mephistopheles, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Jack and Jill, Behind a Mask, The Abbot's Ghost…

Source: The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott (Illustrated): Novels, Short Stories, Plays & Poems: Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo's Boys, A Modern Mephistopheles, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Jack and Jill, Behind a Mask, The Abbot's Ghost…

“I remember the feeling. Whenever my father got so absorbed in a book that we might have been in visible I felt like taking a pair of scissors and cutting it up.”

Has Beens Book Feelings Might Remember Father Felt Cutting Visible Pairs Might Have Been Scissors

Book:Inkheart

Source: Inkheart

“I really believe that if I were not a writer, not a creator, not an experimenter, I might have been a very faithful wife. I think highly of faithfulness. But my temperament belongs to the writer, not to the woman”

Ifs Thinking Believe Has Beens Might Wife Creator Faithful Might Have Been Temperament Faithfulness Faithful Wife

Author:Anais Nin

“Harry looked around; there was Ginny running toward him; she had a hard blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him. And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her. After several long moments, or it might have been half an hour-or possibly several sunlit days- they broke apart.”

People Thinking Looks Long Has Beens Hard Moments Facts Might Running Faces Hours Half Worry Arms Planning Broke Fifty Might Have Been Blazing

Author:J. K. Rowling

“All at once we were madly, clumsily, shamelessly, agonizingly in love with each other; hopelessly, I should add, because that frenzy of mutual possession might have been assuaged only by our actually imbibing and assimilating every particle of each other's soul and flesh; but there we were, unable even to mate as slum children would have so easily found an opportunity to do so.”

Should Children Has Beens Soul Might Found Opportunity Add Possession Flesh Mutual Mates Might Have Been Particles Frenzy Slums Imbibing

Book:Lolita

Source: Lolita

“Life is too short to dwell on what might have been.”

Has Beens Might Success Life Is Succeed Might Have Been Too Short Life Is Too Short

Author:Hillary Clinton

“We need be careful how we deal with those about us, when every death carries to some small circle of survivors, thoughts of so much omitted, and so little done- of so many things forgotten, and so many more which might have been repaired! There is no remorse so deep as that which is unavailing; if we would be spared its tortures, let us remember this, in time.”

Ifs Needs Littles Has Beens Done Might Would Be Remember Deals Forgotten Careful Circles Torture Carrie Survivor Be Careful Remorse Might Have Been

Book:OLIVER TWIST (Illustrated Edition): Including

Source: OLIVER TWIST (Illustrated Edition): Including

“Mr Lorry asks the witness questions: Ever been kicked? Might have been. Frequently? No. Ever kicked down stairs? Decidedly not; once received a kick at the top of a staircase, and fell down stairs of his own accord.”

Has Beens Might Asks Witness Kicks Might Have Been Stairs Accord Courtroom Staircases Lorry

Book:A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Oprah's Book Club): Two Novels

Source: A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Oprah's Book Club): Two Novels

“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been.”

Men Inspirational Has Beens Might Novel Regret Sad Words Novelists Phrases Mice Might Have Been Cradle Saddest Hindsight Cats Cradle

Book:Cat's Cradle: A Novel

Source: Cat's Cradle: A Novel

“My own feeling about JJ, without knowing anything about him, was that he might have been a gay person, because he had long hair and spoke American. A lot of Americans are gay people, aren’t they? I know they didn’t invent gayness, because they say that was the Greeks. But they helped bring it back into fashion. Being gay was a bit like the Olympics: it disappeared in ancient times, and then they brought it back in the twentieth century. Anyway, I didn’t know anything about gays, so I just presumed they were all unhappy and wanted to kill themselves.”

“Marc’s hand tightened visibly around Kevin’s fingers, his digits going white. Again. Both men clenched their jaws, Kevin in pain, and Marc in an obvious effort to control his temper and keep from breaking Kevin’s hand. Off. Why couldn’t guys find a more original way to test each other’s manly prowess? Arm wrestling might have been more subtle. Or maybe comparing the length of their…canines.”

Men Way Has Beens Hands Might Pain Guy White Effort Arms Tests Originals Fingers Obvious Compare Subtle Length Wrestling Temper Might Have Been Manly Kevin Canine Prowess

Book:Rogue

Source: Rogue

“Oncoming death is terrible enough, but worse still is oncoming death with time to spare, time in which all the happiness that was yours and all the happiness that might have been yours becomes clear to you. You see with utter lucidity all that you are losing.”

Has Beens Stills Enough Might Clear Terrible Losing Spares Might Have Been Spare Time Lucidity

Book:Life Of Pi, Illustrated

Source: Life Of Pi, Illustrated

“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail. Mind! I don't mean to say that, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a doornail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a doornail.”

Mind Mean Has Beens Country Done Hands Might My Own Pieces Regard Trade Repeats Permit Ancestor Nails Might Have Been Simile Coffins Marley

Book:A Christmas Carol

Source: A Christmas Carol

“Love is fragile -- she was thinking -- but perhaps the pieces are saved, the things that hovered on lips, that might have been said. The new love-words, the tenderness learned, and treasured up for the next lover.”

Thinking Has Beens Said Might Next Love Is Pieces Lovers Lips Saved Fragile Tenderness Might Have Been Treasured

Book:The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: And Other Stories

Source: The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: And Other Stories

“...the air so still it aches like the place where the tooth was on the morning after you’ve been to the dentist or aches like your heart in the bosom when you stand on the street corner waiting for the light to change and happen to recollect how things once were and how they might have been yet if what happened had not happened.”

Ifs Heart Has Beens Stills Light Might Happens Waiting Morning Happened Air Streets Corners Teeth Ache Might Have Been Bosoms Dentist Street Corners Morning After

Book:All the King's Men

Source: All the King's Men

“We can never know what might have been but what is to come is another matter entirely”

Knows Has Beens Matter Might Past Possibility Future Meaningful Might Have Been Past Present Future Meaningfulness Realm Of Possibility

Author:C. S. Lewis

“The merest accident of microgeography had meant that the first man to hear the voice of Om, and who gave Om his view of humans, was a shepherd and not a goatherd. They have quite different ways of looking at the world, and the whole of history might have been different. For sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.”

Men World Way Needs Firsts Humans Has Beens Different Whole Might Voice Views Stupid Intelligent Accidents Driven Different Ways Sheep Might Have Been Goats Shepherds Small Gods

Author:Terry Pratchett

“You can't dwell on what might have been...and it's not fair to condemn him for something he hasn't done.”

Has Beens Done Might Fairs Might Have Been Not Fair

Author:Wendelin Van Draanen

“Things might have been different if she hadn't been able to drift; if she'd had to concentrate on her next meal, instead of dwelling on all the injuries she felt we'd done her. An unearned income encourages self-pity in those already prone to it.”

Ifs Has Beens Different Self Done Might Able Next Felt Income Pity Meals Injury Might Have Been Dwelling Self Pity

Book:The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

“Well, sure, but I don't bring God into it. I think shower massage might have been invented by the devil. God invented the missionary position.”

Thinking Wells Has Beens Might Position Devil Missionary Showers Might Have Been Massage

Author:Janet Evanovich

“The hardest memories are the pieces of what might have been.”

Has Beens Might Memories Pieces Hardest Might Have Been

Book:A Place to Call Home

Source: A Place to Call Home

“Dig deep into its communitarian ethos and it reads more like an America that might have been, an America fervently devoted to the quaint goals of working together and getting along. Of course, this America does exist. It's called Canada.”

Doe Has Beens Might Together America Courses Goal Canada Working Together Devoted Might Have Been Ethos Dig Deep Quaint Getting Along

Book:The Wordy Shipmates

Source: The Wordy Shipmates

“The locker at the end of her bed had no lock, and one of the hinges was busted. She opened it up. There was a thing in it. The thing might have been a sandwich at some point, or an animal, or a human hand...but what it was now was fuzzy and putrid. A minute later, Ginny was down the stairs, out the door, and gone.”

Humans Has Beens Ends Hands Might Animal Gone Doors Minutes Bed Locks Might Have Been Sandwiches Stairs Lockers Hinges Fuzzy Busted Human Hands

Author:Maureen Johnson

“In this whole screwed-up town, you're the only thing that's always been right to me," he whispered. "I love you, Claire." She saw something that might have been just a flash of panic go across his expression, but then he steadied again. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I do. I love you.”

Believe Has Beens I Can Whole Might Fear Saws Love You Expression Towns Panic Flash Might Have Been Screwed Up Claire

Book:Lord of Misrule: The Morganville Vampires

Source: Lord of Misrule: The Morganville Vampires