Pauses Quotes

1. "I was young at Myna, that first time. When had the change come? He had retreated to here, to Collegium, to spin his awkward webs of intrigue and to lecture at the College. Then, years on, the call had come for action. He had gone to that chest in which he stored his youth and found that, like some armour long unworn, it had rusted away.He tried to tell himself that this was not like the grumbling of any other man who finds the prime of his life behind him. I need my youth and strength now, as never before. A shame that one could no husband time until one needed it. All his thoughts rang hollow. He was past his best and that was the thorn that would not be plucked from his side. He was no different from any tradesman or scholar who, during a life of indolence, pauses partway up the stairs to think, This was not so hard, yesterday."
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

2. "Mom, how do you know if the guy is the guy?"You mean if he'll be a good husband?" She pauses, then says "The ticket is for the man to love the woman more than she loves him."Shouldn't it be equal?"Mom cackles. "It can never be equal."But what if the woman loves the man more?"A life of hell awaits her. As women, the deck is stacked against us because time is our enemy. We age, while men season. And trust me, there are plenty of women out there looking for a man, and they don't mind staking a claim on somebody else's husband, no matter how old, creaky, and deaf they are."
Author: Adriana Trigiani

3. "Was [Sisyphus] from your province?'I don't know. I don't know if he's real,' Ky says. 'If he ever existed.''Then why tell his story?' I don't understand, and for a second I feel betrayed. Why did Ky tell me about this person and make me feel empathy for him when there's no proof that he ever lived at all?Ky pauses for a moment before he answers, ...'Even if he didn't live his story, enough of us have lived lives just like it. So it's true anyway."
Author: Ally Condie

4. "The fastest and easiest way to accomplish any task is to do it with minimum breaks and pauses."
Author: Amit Kalantri

5. "Other than his ex-wife and despite appearances with a series of cultivated blondes, Edward de Bono has never publicly aligned himself with a woman. 'I'm looking for a fat, cross-eyed hunchback,' he explains, stifling a giggle. 'A prosthetic hump would do.' His delight evaporates when asked about his three grandchildren. 'Am I a doting grandfather?' He pauses. 'I'm a … something grandfather, yes.' The fact that De Bono remains unperturbed by this lack betrays an emotionally austere childhood, and his passions for play, toys, and bad jokes tell of the same deprivation."
Author: Antonella Gambotto Burke

6. "I don't think I handle the notes much differently from other pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, there is where the artistry lies!!"
Author: Artur Schnabel

7. "Her blood-curdling snoring, with its gargling and squawking and its terrifying pauses is like the sound the devil might make if he were alternately relishing and strangling on a pound of human flesh."
Author: Bailey White

8. "Somehow during their aimless but oh-so-significant conversation with its delicious pauses and thrilling undercurrents of emotion, they came to know that they loved each other passionately."
Author: Betty Smith

9. "Do you have no sense of decency?"He pauses, seems to think about this, then turns and walks out the door."
Author: Carolyn Crane

10. "It's the most beautiful thing in the world." he says, "I just..." He pauses and looks back into the fire. "I just kept walking. Wrapped in this white nothingness."
Author: Carrie Ryan

11. "I know that to you everything has changed for the worse over the last weeks. But for me..." Elias pauses. rests his forehead into the curve of my neck. "Before you my life was nothing but wandering and solitude and death. Now with you there's possibility." He pulls back until we're looking into each other's eyes. "I'm falling inn love with you, Gabrielle. Not with the person you used to be, but you."
Author: Carrie Ryan

12. "Mina held her breath as Jared's eyes flickered between them, the longest pause in the history of long pauses."
Author: Chanda Hahn

13. "A lover finds his mistress asleep on a mossy bank; he wishes to catch a glimpse of her fair face without waking her. He steals softly over the grass, careful to make no sound; he pauses -- fancying she has stirred: he withdraws: not for worlds would he be seen. All is still: he again advances: he bends above her; a light veil rests on her features: he lifts it, bends lower; now his eyes anticipate the vision of beauty -- warm, and blooming, and lovely, in rest. How hurried was their first glance! But how they fix! How he starts! How he suddenly and vehemently clasps in both arms the form he dared not, a moment since, touch with his finger! How he calls aloud a name, and drops his burden, and gazes on it wildly! He thus grasps and cries, and gazes, because he no longer fears to waken by any sound he can utter -- by any movement he can make. He thought his love slept sweetly: he finds she is stone dead.I looked with timorous joy towards a stately house: I saw a blackened ruin."
Author: Charlotte Brontë

14. "If for instance the sentiment possessing for the moment the empire of our mind is sorrow, will not the genius sharpen the sorrow and the sorrow purify the genius? Together, will they not be like a cut diamond for which language is only the wax on which they stamp their imprint? I believe that genius, thus awakened, has no need to seek out details, that it scarcely pauses to reflect, that it never thinks of unity: I believe that the details come naturally without search by the poet, that inspiration takes the place of reflection and as for unity, I think there is no unity so perfect as that which results from a heart filled with a single idea...The nature of genius is related to that of instinct; it's operation is both simple and marvelous."
Author: Charlotte Brontë

15. "Nature seems to take advantage of the simple mathematical representations of the symmetry laws. When one pauses to consider the elegance and the beautiful perfection of the mathematical reasoning involved and contrast it with the complex and far-reaching physical consequences, a deep sense of respect for the power of the symmetry laws never fails to develop."
Author: Chen Ning Yang

16. "A veteran, calm and assured, he pauses for a well-measured moment in the doorway of the office and then, boldly, clearly, with the subtly modulated British intonation which his public demands of him, speaks his opening line, 'Good morning!'And the three secretaries - each of them a charming and accomplished actress in her own chosen style - recognise him instantly, without even a flicker of doubt, and reply 'Good morning' to him. (There is something religious here, like responses in church; a reaffirmation of faith in the basic American dogma, that it is, always, a Good Morning. Good, despite the Russians and their rockets, and all the ills and worries of the flesh. For of course we know, don't we, that the Russians and the worries are not real? They can be unsought and made to vanish. And therefore the morning can ve made to be good. Very well then, it is good."
Author: Christopher Isherwood

17. "Achilles pauses, looks over his shoulder at the masses of men behind him, turns back, looks past Zeus toward Olympos and the masses of gods in front of him, and then crooks his neck to look up again at towering Zeus."Surrender now", says Achilles, "and we'll spare your goddesses' lives so they can be our slaves and courtesans."
Author: Dan Simmons

18. "The cracks in old friendships are measured in awkward pauses."
Author: Darin Strauss

19. "Early on, isaac let me know that he always finds pauses awkward - if too much time went by without me responding, he'd think i was typing something else in another window, or had left the computer, or was IMing twelve other boys besides him. and i had to admit that i felt the same fears. so now we do this thing whenever we're pausing. we just type grayscale: i'm here boundbydad: i'm here grayscale: i'm here boundbydad: i'm here until the next sentence comes."
Author: David Levithan

20. "The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped — it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory, in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him."
Author: Eugene H. Peterson

21. "You will get exactly what you deserve Polly," comes the firm reply, "you can trust me on that… But if you do – trust me I mean – I promise you an unparalleled climax." She pauses, gazing deep into my frightened green eyes. "It's your call Polly, all yours."I allow my aching body to decide for me."Punish me please, mistress," I say in a very small voice."
Author: Felicity Brandon

22. "Strange, that some of us, with quick alternative vision, see beyond our infatuations, and even while we rave on the heights, behold the wide plain where our persistent self pauses and awaits us."
Author: George Eliot

23. "Blessed be the true life that the pauses between its throbs are not death!"
Author: George MacDonald

24. "He pauses, and I know he is about to lie. The worst feeling: when you just have to wait and prepare yourself for the lie."
Author: Gillian Flynn

25. "But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk's head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music. But ere stepping into the cabin doorway below, he pauses, ships a new face altogether, and, then, independent, hilarious little Flask enters King Ahab's presence, in the character of Abjectus, or the Slave."
Author: Herman Melville

26. "I'm never really comfortable at parties. Maybe I'm just not the partying type....I think it's because I'm never sure what to do with myself.I mean, there're drinks, but I don't like being drunk.... There's music, but I never really learned to dance to anything that involved an electric guitar. There are people to talk to...but once you put all the stupid things I do aside, I'm really not that interesting. I like reading, staying home, going on walks with my dog.... Who wants to hear about that? Especially when I would have to scream it over music to which no one dances.So I'm there but not drinking, listening to music but not dancing, and trying to have conversations with near-strangers about anything other than my own stupid life.... Leads to a lot of awkward pauses. And then I start wondering why I showed up in the first place."-- Cold Days (The Dresden Files Book 14), pg. 33"
Author: Jim Butcher

27. "I throw him a smile and pull on my suit jacket and then my hat. "Come on, what would you do?"He pauses for a moment and then lets out a low chuckle. "Just go. Maybe you two can sing in the rain Frank!" he jests, eyeballing my fedora.I throw him a sly smirk. "You may be the better looking brother Kyle, but you know I'm the one with the killer style!"
Author: Joanne McClean

28. "Say goodbye to your mom."Scottie pauses, then keeps going."Scottie.""Bye!" she yells.I grab her arm. I could yell at her for wanting to leave, but I don't. She pulls her arm out of my grasp. I look up to see if anyone is watching us, because I don't think you're supposed to aggressively hold children these days. Gone are the days of spanking, threats, and sugar. Now there are therapy, antidepressants, and Splenda."
Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings

29. "So when you're nervous, you count?" "Not just when I'm nervous," I said. "It's… all the time. I count the seconds during pauses in conversations. I count the minutes when I'm waiting on something. Sometimes, when I'm kind of panicked or anxious, I count my heartbeats. Something about counting makes me feel like… like I have the power. Like knowing how much time has passed or how many steps I've taken from one place to another will somehow keep me in control of the situation."
Author: Kody Keplinger

30. "I go to the rail and shout after her as she descends the stairs, "But that Mrs. Shinn called me a whore! In front of everybody!"She pauses on the middle steps and looks up at me. "Perhaps, Miss Faber, it is because you continually act like one!"
Author: L.A. Meyer

31. "Perhaps in time, Ella, the words we have lost will fade, and we will all stop summoning them by habit, only to stamp them out like unwanted toadstools when they appear. Perhaps they will eventually disappear altogether, and the accompanying halts and stammers as well: those troublesome, maddening pauses that at present invade and punctuate through caesura all manner of discourse. Trying so desperately we all are, to be ever so careful."
Author: Mark Dunn

32. "She stops, pauses, turns to the left to glance at some possible threat or irregularity, and then continues to the north. This motion, so intensely human, transcends time."
Author: Mary Leakey

33. "Nature's music is never over; her silences are pauses, not conclusions."
Author: Mary Webb

34. "And what of the plants in the poison garden?" I ask suddenly. "They are different, aren't they? Is that why they sickened you?"He pauses and looks away. "Yes. They are powerful. Heartless. They wish to possess.""Possess what?""Me. You. Everyone. That is their nature." A crease of disquiet snakes across his brow. "Your father plays with fire to gather them together like that. They are too clever. They form alliances. They develop—ambitions."
Author: Maryrose Wood

35. "The vestibule door opens onto a June morning so fine and scrubbed Classira pauses at the threshold as she would at the edge of a pool, watching the turquoise water lapping at the tiles, the liquid nets of sun wavering in the blue depths. As if standing at the edge of a pool she delays for a moment the plunge, the quick membrane of chill, the plain shock of immersion."
Author: Michael Cunningham

36. "The first week of August hangs at the very top of the summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after."
Author: Natalie Babbitt

37. "We have one of those conversations where every thing clicks, meshes, corresponds, locks, where even our pauses, even our punctuation marks, seem to be nodding in agreement."
Author: Nick Hornby

38. "'Freedom.' He pauses a moment to reflect on the F-word. 'Sometimes I think it's an idea that enslaves us. We're never free from hungering for the notion that we can even have freedom. When perhaps it's the very idea of it that causes us to suffer."
Author: Rachel Cohn

39. "Weren't you scared?" I ask."Yes. But it was a good scared.""There's a good kind?""Oh, yes." Her voice drops so low I have to strain to hear. "Orlin made me scared all the time. Scared I would starve. Scared I would get too cold. Scared he would hurt me again or get so mad he'd throw me to one of the men. That was nasty bad scared." She pauses, scuffing her boots against the floor. "But you never hit me, even though I'm your slave... You always feed me. You call me my true name. Now when I'm scared, it's not because of meanness. And today, I chose my own scared. It's always a good scared, when you get to pick it your own self."
Author: Rae Carson

40. "The most precious things in speech are pauses."
Author: Ralph Richardson

41. "His words slow my pulse. His fingers, square and even, feel nonpareil entwined with mine. He is symmetry. He is color."Never," I tell him. "I will never go away.""You're sure about that?""I'm sure I can't live with a Ram-sized hole in my chest.""That would be a pretty big hole, I think," Ram says."Don't be so sure. You're short.""Hey," Ram protests."I worry for you on carnival rides.""I get on carnival rides just fine, thanks.""The operator doesn't stop you?""Tim," He pauses. "Sometimes."
Author: Rose Christo

42. "Does he tell you that you're allhe thinks about? Does he tell you that he lives for you?That he breathes for you? That he dreams of you everydamn moment, awake and asleep? Does he tell you anyof that?' He pauses to look at me and I try to keep a blankface. ‘No, I didn't think so,' he says quietly."
Author: Sarah Alderson

43. "I make grilled cheeses for lunch, one for me, two for Will. We don't have any chips, but I find a far of pickles in the pantry."This is the best thing I've ever eaten." He pauses for a drink, staring at me over the rim of his glass of juice."It's the provolone," I say, swallowing my last bite."It's the chef."I smile and look away.We listen to music. Talk. Kiss until my flesh glimmers gold-red. Warms to the touch from the deep scald at my core. He stops to watch. Leans his face close to my neck and smells my skin. Like I'm something he might taste. He sweeps his hands along my arms . . . making me burn hotter."Is this what it's like for other fire-breathers?" he asks, winks, holding my hand up in his broad palm. "Or is it just me and my magic hands?"
Author: Sophie Jordan

44. "I know you've been through hell, but you didn't let it eat you up inside." He pauses, hugs me a little closer. "And I know you make me think the hell I've been through was worth it . . . if it's what made me recognize heaven when it jumped into my car."
Author: Stacey Jay

45. "The directness of her question throws me. "I don't know. Sometimes I think there are only so many opportunities...to get together with someone. And we've both screwed up so many times"- my voice grows quiet - "that we've missed our chance.""Anna." Mer pauses. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.""But—""But what? You love him, and he loves you, and you live in the most romantic city in the world."
Author: Stephanie Perkins

46. "You're still home?" I ask. "It's not even curfew.""Thought I'd grace you all with my presence." She pauses to smile."
Author: Suzanne Young

47. "Some of the dairy people, who were also out of doors on the first Sunday evening after their engagement, heard her impulsive speeches, ecstasized to fragments, though they were too far off to hear the words discoursed; noted the spasmodic catch in her remarks, broken into syllables by the leapings of her heart, as she walked leaning on his arm; her contented pauses, the occassional laugh upon which her soul seemed to ride - the laugh of a woman in company with the man she loves and has won from all other women - unlike anything else in nature. They marked the buoyancy of her tread, like the skim of a bird which has not yet alighted."
Author: Thomas Hardy

48. "And yet not a dream, but a mighty reality- a glimpse of the higher life, the broader possibilities of humanity, which is granted to the man who, amid the rush and roar of living, pauses four short years to learn what living means"
Author: W.E.B. Du Bois

49. "A man long accustomed to admire his wife in general, seldom pauses to admire her in a particular gown or attitude, unless his attention is directed to her by the appreciative gaze of another man."
Author: Willa Cather

50. "The true law of the race is progress and development. Whenever civilization pauses in the march of conquest, it is overthrown by the barbarian."
Author: William Gilmore Simms

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