Don T Tell Quotes

Books. It's always easier to tell people that a character is funny rather than attempt to hit the punchline of a joke that character would've said. But if we all simply told, books would cease to exist. And so would empathy. And feeling. ~ Joyce Rachelle

Storytellers don't show, they tell. I'm sticking with that. ~ Ashly Lorenzana

I've sweated and grunted and pushed myself until I thought it would be easier to give up and die. '

- Caroline ~ Karen Rose

[Referring to passage by Alice Munro] Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers
namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, many great novelists combine "dramatic" showing with long sections of the flat-out authorial narration that is, I guess, what is meant by telling. And the warning against telling leads to a confusion that causes novice writers to think that everything should be acted out
don't tell us a character is happy, show us how she screams "yay" and jumps up and down for joy
when in fact the responsibility of showing should be assumed by the energetic and specific use of language. ~ Francine Prose

Are you lost?"
I turned around. "Excuse me?"
Two guys were sprawled on a bench close to the sidewalk. The one who had spoken wore tattered shorts and a colonial three-cornered hat-nothing else. He had wide shoulders and long, muscular legs. He stretched dramatically, then lay his tanned arm along the back of the bench. "You look lost," he said. "Can I help you find something?"
"Uh, no, thanks. I was just looking."
He grinned. "Me too."
"Oh?" I glanced around, thinking I'd missed something. "At what?"
He and his friend burst out laughing.
Way to go, Lauren, I thought. He had been looking at me! ~ Elizabeth Chandler

I stopped walking and wrapped my arms tightly around him. "You know I can hear your heart."
"Could you hear it breaking when I accused you of getting my cartoon pulled?" he asked.
I held my head back so I could look him directly in the eye. "I didn't pull it."
"You couldn't have," he replied, "because I did. ~ Elizabeth Chandler

I say fuck the old advice 'show, don't tell.' It's called story TELLING for a reason, and I'll stick to it! ~ Ashly Lorenzana

Good dog," Nick said. "That's one of the tricks I've taught him, shaking water on girls so they back into my arms."
"Really! How smart of Rocky - and you, of course."
"That's another thing I've been wanting to tell you," he said, turning me to face him. "I'm tired of getting jealous of my dog. I mean, he has nice eyes, but so do I."
I looked from Rocky's golden eyes to Nick's laughing green ones.
"I didn't enjoy the way Rocky got to stick close to you while I played Holly's boyfriend. He's going to have some competition from now on."
"Oh, yeah? Are you good at retrieving sticks?"
"I'm good at stealing kisses," Nick said, then proved it. ~ Elizabeth Chandler

Now the second common characteristic of fiction follows from this, and it is that fiction is presented in such a way that the reader has the sense that it is unfolding around him. This doesn't mean he has to identify himself with the character or feel compassion for the character or anything like that. It just means that fiction has to be largely presented rather than reported. Another way to say it is that though fiction is a narrative art, it relies heavily on the element of drama. ~ Flannery O'Connor

Hey, does my stupidity give you the right to bruise a tender heart?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm bruising a heart made of Play-Doh. ~ Elizabeth Chandler

People think too much when they're alone. ~ Juleen Brantingham

In 2004, the FDA urged drug companies to adopt a 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy with respect to their clinical-trial data showing that antidepressants are not better than placebos for depressed children. If the data were made public, they cautioned, it might lead doctors to not prescribe antidepressants. The FDA believed that the jury was still out on antidepressants for children. Even if the clinical trials show negative results, an FDA spokesperson was reported to have said to a Washington Post reporter, it doesn't mean that the drugs are ineffective. The assumption seems to have been that doctors should prescribe medications that have not been shown to work, until it has been proven that they don't work. ~ Irving Kirsch

I tell you if there's anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman... S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There's nothing worse, I'm telling you. They don't weaken, no matter what. ~ Edith Bouvier Beale

You don't believe He knows what's best for you: that rest will make you more productive and more spiritually healthy. ~ Craig Groeschel

Before your reach your destination, you'll find yourself going through the wilderness. There's some survival skills that you'll need master through the wilderness journey. While in the wilderness, your faith will be tried and tested. You'll become humble. Your vision for your life will get clearer. You're in training for your purpose. You'll lose some friends, because there's some folks who are only with you because of where they think your journey will lead THEM. Don't worry, they're a little confused ... but it was meant for them to get lost during this phase. Walk on. Continue on your journey. Soon, you'll be approaching the mountain. Get ready to climb! ~ Yvonne Pierre

These hushed years. These secrets of the body. To whom did they belong first. I want to find where it began and say, I'm here now, listening. I want to reach through the years and tell the women I've been lonely. ~ T Kira Madden

And deep down, she felt like maybe she didn't deserve it-that she belonged with the petty thieves and guys who drank Pabst Blue Ribbon for breakfast ~ Jennifer McMahon

I've never believed in fairy tales. One day, the fairies will tell this story. There will be a valiant prince, a part no doubt played in history by the brave Vartan who journeys to rescue his bride from a dragon. There will be fairies. There will be horse-birds and there will be an enchanted blade. But, I will no doubt be stricken from the tale, a cursed blemish on a shining story. Happy endings don't always happen in the real world. ~ T.T. Escurel

The world is one Matrix, you don't realise it but it's the truth. It's well shown in the films like Matrix 1,2,3 and Inception! ~ Deyth Banger

I am going to pull the music
from your mouth and furthermore

I'll take the orange aching light that splits
your ribs when I or any
beautiful things come at you. ~ Mark Bibbins

How do you tell someone it's surprisingly easy to surrender to horror once you accept there's no way out? Survival is simply the art of suffering gracefully when we're up against forces out of our control. I lost my fear of dying because I expected it every minute of every day.
Tomorrows only exist in our minds. ~ J.T. Geissinger

Frederick?
Had she really spoken? Certainly she'd tried, but her voice had failed to materialize and all she heard was the sound of her nightgown ripping as Frederick pulled it over her head and threw it aside.
He was kneeling now between her ankles, pushing at her, forcing her knees apart and then her arms until she was entirely splayed on the bed beneath him.
Nothing was said. Not a word.
Ede felt his hand between her legs, forcing the way for the rest of him. Stop, she wanted to tell him. Stop. I don't understand what you're doing. But nothing - still nothing was said.
He seemed to be raging inside her, moving his hips in a circular fashion, all the weight of his upper body help above her, resting on his arms, his hands pushing down into the mattress.
Stop! But he didn't.
Don't! But he did.
Nothing. Not one word.
The only sound he made was a choking noise in his throat at the end, as tough he might be going to strangle. But when he rolled away from her onto his back, she felt the shudder of his first free breath and she heard him sigh. It was over. Tonight. It was done.
Ede could not bare the thought of seeing him, or of being seen. Still without speaking, she rose from the bed and through the dark, found her way to the bathroom. She had brought the torn nightgown wit her, but when she turned on the light and saw it, she threw it down in the corner. Ruined. Spoiled. Everything.
When at last, she returned to t ~ Timothy Findley

Don't be afraid to be the person who loves the most ~ Seth Adam Smith

I closed my lips around his thumb and sucked, swirling my tongue around the tip and across the pad.
He groaned. "Your mouth feels so good. I can't wait to fill it with my c*ck."
My breath caught. "Dirty talk?" I managed. "That's new."
"Yes, well, I'm full of surprises. ~ Skye Warren

A clever person can tell them the truth in a way that they want to hear. ~ T.J. Kirk

Tarot is a card-game that you don`t play to win or lose.
If there is a winner,it`s the player who discovers the value of play itself ~ Philippe St Genoux

He desperately wants you to know Him. So many people believe in God, but they don't really know Him. And because they don't really know Him, they are lukewarm. The truth is, if you truly knew Him, you couldn't be lukewarm or halfhearted. If you remain lukewarm, maybe it's because you don't know who God really is. ~ Craig Groeschel

You will struggle. You will fall down. You will be hated. You will face many defeats. You will be mocked. You will be alone. The world will not give you recognition. The world will not give you, your due. Against all odds, if you still persist and create your art, it will be a victory! It will be your victory. Finally, you would win. ~ Avijeet Das

The next level of your growth will demand a deeper version of you; but depth is a sensual process. ~ Lebo Grand

Thank God for good genes and cocoa butter! ~ Habeeb Akande

As it happens" said my uncle," I intended to make an appearance at the met today anyway. Inspector Lestrade has been bumbling through another investigation, and I decided it would be best to offer my assistance before he travels too far down an incorrect deductive path- and note that I use the term deductive liberally. I don`t belive Lestrade could deduce in which direction a horse crossed the street even if he came upon a pile of its dung!"
Sherlock Holmes, The Chess queen enigma ~ Colleen Gleason

Never play a blame game. Your feet are aching because you put them into a tight shoe ... Nobody has it on; it's you who have it on! Your aims will help you to get out of trouble games, but not your blames! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Never worry about what others have; worry about what you have and refuse to use. Someone else will also worry about what you have when you begin to make use of it! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Wow," Wesley said. We were lying in his bed only a few minutes after we'd finished, with a foot or more space between our bodies. "I definitely wasn't expecting that."
God, he ruined everything when he talked. Annoyed, and still wading through the emotional repercussions, I sneered. "What? Ashamed that you screwed the Duff?"
"No." I was surprised by how serious he sounded. "I'm never ashamed of anyone I sleep with. Sex is a natural chemical reaction. It always happens for a reason. Who am I to dictate who experiences the joy of sharing my bed?" He didn't see me roll my eyes as he continued. "No, I just meant that I'm shocked. I was honestly starting to believe that you hated me."
"I do hate you," I assured him, kicking off the covers and moving to pick up my clothes.
"You must not hate me too much," Wesley said, rolling onto his elbow and watching me dress. "You did pretty much throw yourself at me. Generally, hatred doesn't inspire that kind of passion."
I pulled on my T-shirt. "Believe me, Wesley, I definitely hate you. I was just using you. You use people all the time, so I'm sure you understand." I buttoned my jeans and grabbed my alligator clip from the nightstand. "This was fun, but if you ever tell anyone, I swear I'll castrate you. ~ Kody Keplinger

If you don't love what you're writing, stop right now: it's not worth your time and certainly not the reader's. ~ Don Roff

I can see you hurting, (turn around)
I will be right there
Don't run away (x3)
When I reach out to you, look around
I will be right here
Don't run away (x3)
Tonight ~ David Archuleta

So, Kurt Cobain kills himself at 27 and becomes a legend. People like that are one in a million. I'm just a normal human being. I agonize and suffer, but I also laugh all the time. People all die someday and disappear as if they never existed, but that's natural. I though I wasn't afraid of dying. No, NOBODY is actually afraid of dying itself. The pain of suffering lasts for an instant. What truly agonizes me... Is the thought of your crying face from far far across the entire galaxy. You were always prettiest when you smiled. ~ Inio Asano

It's kinda cool to think about you as a real person, instead of some fetus ghost. ~ Hillary Frank

Many people often ask God for a sign, believing that the sign will be smooth sailing, perfect windspeed, moderate temperatures ... so when the winds dance and the waves sing and the temperatures confuse, they think that God's not there anymore. They believe that God is saying, "Watch out! Don't go there!" But the thing is, when something is good, it's not smooth sailing and perfect windspeed and moderate temperatures that are the signs to look out for! When something is good, it has mountain ranges, precipices, cliffs, eagles, tombstones covered in ivy and lily of the valley, mountain goats and a wind so close to the mouth of God that it shakes your flesh to its very core! So when they begin to hop on the precipices and hear the eagles' call - they think God isn't there! They think God is saying "Watch out!" They too often fail to traverse the ivy-encrusted tombstones, to tremble and quiver in beauty under God's breath. Don't run away. ~ C. JoyBell C.

TIA OR TARA has stopped applying makeup to my wife's face and is looking at Scottie with disapproval. The light is hitting this woman's face, giving me an opportunity to see that she should perhaps be working on her own makeup. Her coloring is similar to a manila envelope. There are specks of white in her eyebrows, and her concealer is not concealing. I can tell my daughter doesn't know what to do with this woman's critical look.

"What?" Scottie asks. "I don't want any makeup." She looks at me for protection, and it's heartbreaking. All the women who model with Joanie have this inane urge to make over my daughter with the notion that they're helping her somehow. She's not as pretty as her older sister or her mother, and these other models think that slapping on some rouge will somehow make her feel better about her facial fate. They're like missionaries. Mascara thumpers.

"I was just going to say that I think your mother was enjoying the view," Tia or Tara says. "It's so pretty outside. You should let the light in."

My daughter looks at the curtain. Her little mouth is open. Her hand reaches for a tumbleweed of hair.

"Listen here, T. Her mother was not enjoying the view. Her mother is in a coma. And she's not supposed to be in bright light."

"My name is not T," she says. "My name is Allison."

"Okay, then, Ali. Don't confuse my daughter, please."

"I'm turning into a remarkable young lady," Scottie say ~ Kaui Hart Hemmings

When anyone abuses you verbally, do not react. Because the very words that they are using against you are the very words that they are defining themselves as! ~ Avijeet Das

Don't quit; keep trying.
Don't stop; keep moving.
Don't despair; keep believing.
There is a way. There is always a way. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

I understand addiction now. I never did before, you know. How could a man (or a woman) do something so self-destructive, knowing that they're hurting not only themselves, but the people they love? It seemed that it would be so incredibly easy for them to just not take that next drink. Just stop. It's so simple, really. But as so often happens with me, my arrogance kept me from seeing the truth of the matter.
I see it now though.
Every day, I tell myself it will be the last. Every night, as I'm falling asleep in his bed, I tell myself that tomorrow I'll book a flight to Paris, or Hawaii, or maybe New York. It doesn't matter where I go, as long as it's not here. I need to get away from Phoenix - away from him - before this goes even one step further.
And then he touches me again, and my convictions disappear like smoke in the wind.
This cannot end well. That's the crux of the matter, Sweets. I've been down this road before - you know I have - and there's only heartache at the end. There's no happy ending waiting for me like there was for you and Matt. If I stay here with him, I will become restless and angry. It's happening already, and I cannot stop it. I'm becoming bitter and terribly resentful. Before long, I will be intolerable, and eventually, he'll leave me. But if I do what I have to do, what my very nature compels me to do, and move on, the end is no better. One way or another, he'll be gone. Is it not wiser to end it now, Sweets, before it gets to t ~ Marie Sexton

Stop worrying about someone taking your spot. God already have it reserved. Do the work to get there and fill it! ~ Yvonne Pierre

A soul-nourishing life is not possible if we neglect our sensuality. ~ Lebo Grand

Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door.
His name, as I ought to have told you before,
Is really Asparagus. That's such a fuss
To pronounce, that we usually call him just Gus.
His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake,
And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake.
Yet he was, in his youth, quite the smartest of Cats -
But no longer a terror to mice or to rats.
For he isn't the Cat that he was in his prime;
Though his name was quite famous, he says, in his time.
And whenever he joins his friends at their club
(which takes place at the back of the neighbouring pub)
He loves to regale them, if someone else pays,
With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days.
For he once was a Star of the highest degree -
He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree.
And he likes to relate his success on the Halls,
Where the Gallery once gave him seven cat-calls.
But his grandest creation, as he loves to tell,
Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell. ~ T.S. Eliot

If you are going to devote your time to do something you claim you love, take this thought; "Can I pursue this till the end? Am I sure I will never give up on it?" This is persistence. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

If you think fully embracing your sensuality is futile or risky imagine reaching the end of your life and realizing you haven't even started living. ~ Lebo Grand

But I'd started believing I couldn't do it. And so I couldn't.
But now I had experienced it.
And so I knew. ~ Jaimal Yogis

On my birthday, every year since I turned eighteen, she called me at twelve twenty in the morning to wish me happy birthday and tell me how much joy I brought her. She'd told me she was sorry she couldn't do it when I turned thirty, and handed me a box filled with little bits of paper. She'd written Happy Birthday to my baby boy on every one. There must have been fifty of them. ~ T.A. Webb

Adult don't know what they say and what they mean once that... other moment something else... it's okay for the kids... they grown they still don't know a lot of stuff but they have excuse!
- BUt what's the adult... excuse?! ~ Deyth Banger

Don't be adamant; don't make up your mind about all the things that don't even have anything at all to do with you. Don't be too quick to define right and wrong. Life has a way of putting the adamant person into the very situations they've made up their minds about, in order to change those very decisions. So, unless you want the things that you judge in others to happen to you, you'd better live and let live. ~ C. JoyBell C.

Don't fear to be unique and reveal your own color. ~ Debasish Mridha

(T)here was a story they used to tell at home about a girl whose punishment was that every time she opened her mouth, snakes and toads came out, snakes and toads with every word. The book didn't say what she did about it, but I've always assumed she probably ended up keeping her mouth shut. ~ Thomas Mann

Jerk, v.
"This has to stop," I say. "You have to stop hurting me. I can`t take it. I really can`t take it."
"I know you can`t take it," you say. "But is that really my fault?"
I try to convince myself that it`s the alcohol talking. But alcohol can`t talk. It just sits there. It can`t even get itself out of the bottle.
"It is your fault," I tell you. But you have already left the room. ~ David Levithan

Every second I spend waiting,
Drags me closer to this grave.
I'm not alone.
No, I'm just on my own. ~ Tegan Quin

I missed you," I said.
"Missed you, too. Welcome home."
We moved in to hug each other, then I sprang back seconds before getting smushed against his still-sopping-wet sweater.
"Ben!"
"Ooh, poor form on my part," he said, and peeled off his sodden sweater. He wore a thin white T-shirt underneath. The coffee spill had left the shirt a bit damp, and it clung slightly to his chest in a way that made me stare and caught my voice in my throat.
That was ridiculous, of course. Ben and I had the kind of friendship where we talked about things like that. I could tease him about his suddenly well-toned body; he'd make some kind of self-effacing joke and parry by bringing up something absurd he'd seen about me in a magazine...
But I didn't say a word. And I didn't stop looking. Clearly I was in a sleep-deprived haze.
"You could still try the coffee," he offered. "There's plenty in the sweater. I can just wring it right into the mug."
I shook off my reverie. "Tempting offer, but no thanks. You really need to give up on the coffee thing. I'm never converting from tea."
"We'll see," he said. He set the wet sweater on the hand towel, then turned to me with his arms out. "Better?"
"Much," I said, and closed the distance between us so he could fold me into his arms.
"Hel-lo! Please tell me I'm interrupting something!" It was Rayna, and at the sound of her voice, Ben and I sheepishly pulled apart. Again, ridiculous. Hugging was nothing unus ~ Hilary Duff

And where does that leave me? ~ Nico Di Angelo(Rick Riordan)