Quotes

Some of my favourite quotes from books, films, television shows and songs. Most of them are in English, but some of them in Dutch.

“Just under 100 years ago women weren’t allowed to vote, now they can become Ghostbusters. We have really advanced as a society. ‘What next?’ the scared men screamed, ‘WOMEN LAWYERS. WOMEN CATS. WOMEN LEARNING TO READ. WHERE WILL IT END?’ It won’t end. Soon women will be everywhere; in our supermarkets, our workplaces. Scientists say that in 20 years they might even be in our homes.”
– Aaron Gillies, Life-abet: An A to Z of Existence

“Dinsdagmiddag op een grindpad, het weekend geweest.
Men maakt zich op voor de wandeling, als ging men naar een feest.
En Herman mag voorop, heeft het als enige niet koud.
Want hij gaat strak gekleed in een kist van gevoerd vurenhout.”
– Acda & De Munnik, Als Vuur Gedoofd Is

“Sometimes words are all that allow me to feel like I’m a part of the world, a part of life. If I don’t have words, then I’m alone. […] Words are my friends.” 
– Alan Shore, Boston Legal

“Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness. Nothing more.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“Verliezen is niet eerlijk, maar verlies is wel oprecht.
Want verlies blijft bij je, verlies is eeuwig trouw.
Want wat je hebt verloren kleeft voor altijd aan jou.
Wie je hebt verloren hoort voor altijd bij jou.
Nergens is meer leven dan vlakbij de dood.
Verliezen maakt je ziel zacht en je hart groot.
Dit is een toost op de verliezers, proost nog maar een keer.
Eens zullen we winnen, want wij zijn met meer.”
– Claudia de Breij, Proost op de Verliezers

“The mark of a great artist is knowing when to stop. The same might be said of life. We should all be allowed to choose when to stop. The problem is that when the moment is perfect we never do choose to stop, just in case things get more perfect. We only ever choose to stop when things are far from perfect, and stopping then is easy. But that sort of stopping leaves a bad taste in the heart.”
– David Thewlis, The Late Hector Kipling

“Kindness is magic. It’s more important to be kind than clever or good looking.”
– Derek Noakes, Derek

“Your mind is a galaxy. More dark than light. But the light makes it worthwhile. Which is to say, don’t kill yourself. Even when the darkness is total. Always know that life is not still. Time is space. You are moving through that galaxy. Wait for the stars.”
– Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive

“Every hour wounds, the last one kills.”
– Neil Gaiman, Orphee

“The clocks whispered time which they caught in their gears
They crept and they chattered, they chimed and they chewed.
She fed them on minutes. The old ones ate years.”
– Neil Gaiman, Witch Work

“My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.”
– Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

“They’re currently in alien terrain surrounded by millions of the most vicious creatures on the planet. Humans.”
– Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

“I like hearing myself talk. It is one of my greatest pleasures. I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Remarkable Rocket

“We become who we are. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can by its first few chapters and most certainly by its last.”
– Raymond Reddington, The Blacklist

“If you can laugh in the face of adversity, you’re bulletproof.”
– Ricky Gervais, Humanity

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
– Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

“i’d be lying if i said
you make me speechless
the truth is you make my
tongue so weak it forgets
what language to speak in”
– Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

“the very thought of you
has my legs spread apart
like an easel with a canvas
begging for art”
– Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

“i live for that first second in the morning
when i am still half-conscious
i hear the hummingbirds outside
flirting with the flowers
i hear the flowers giggling
and the bees grow jealous”
– Rupi Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
– Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“Incuriosity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is.”
– Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles

“Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?”
– Twelve, Doctor Who

“I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”
– W.B. Yeats, He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven