Having A Hard Time Quotes

I'm having a hard time writing about Sunday. Getting the long hollow feeling of Sundays. No mail and faraway lawn mowers, the hopelessness. ~ Lucia Berlin

If you are having a hard time sorting through your emotions, perhaps you are spending too much time thinking about yourself and not enough time thinking about… well, everyone else. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

Let me tell you what I do know: I am more than one thing, and not all of those things are good. The truth is complicated. It's two-toned, multi-vocal, bittersweet. I used to think that if I dug deep enough to discover something sad and ugly, I'd know it was something true. Now I'm trying to dig deeper. I didn't want to write these pages until there were no hard feelings, no sharp ones. I do not have that luxury. I am sad and angry and I want everyone to be alive again. I want more landmarks, less landmines. I want to be grateful but I'm having a hard time with it. ~ Richard Siken

U.N. officials said today they desperately need $7 billion to help people cope with disasters, but they're having a hard time getting people to send rescue money. Here's what the UN should do: Invest in bad mortgages, run a bank into the ground, give yourself a bonus, get some spa treatments and, in no time, the government will send you $750 billion. ~ Jay Leno

Action that is inspired from aligned thought is joyful action. Action that is offered from a place of contridicted thought is hard work that is not satisfying and does not yield good results. When you really feel like jumping into action, that is a clear sign that your vibration is pure and you are not offering contridicting thoughts to your own desire. When you are having a hard time making yourself do something, or when the action you offer does not produce the results you are seeking, it is always because you are offering thoughts in opposition to your desire. ~ Esther Hicks

She was having a hard time managing her feelings at this point, mostly because she hadn't felt them in so long-they confused her... After you've been numbed for a while, disorientation is a natural reaction as you come back around. It's like waking up from anesthesia and not knowing exactly where you are. ~ Danielle LaPorte

Because I've been having a hard time since before the day we met. She never walked away from me because of it. Her feelings for me weren't contingent on how easy or hard it was to be in my life. She doesn't have to be sunny for me. That's not how it works. ~ Emery Lord

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to say things. I'm a little exhausted by the process. ~ Eddie Vedder

We're seeing an epidemic of people who are having a hard time making the transition to work - kids who had too much success early in life and who've become accustomed to instant gratification, ... Ready or Not, Here Life Comes. ~ Mel Levine

His eyes were hot and angry as they burned into hers. "I talked to Madison, and that's it. I didn't agree to go on a date; I didn't agree to get back together. In fact, after a certain point in the conversation, I was having a hard time even paying attention to her."

She swallowed.

"Why do you think that is, Mollie?" he asked quietly. "What do you think was distracting me?"

Oh God, why does he have to be so beautiful?

"You, Mollie," he said, pulling her closer. "You were distracting me. You were all I could think about. All I've been thinking about."

Her heart thudded. "Yeah?"

His thumb touched her lip. "You know when you texted me today? Something dumb about whether or not we needed more paper towels? Seeing your name on my cell phone did a hell of a lot more for me than my entire meeting with Madison. Are you hearing me? It was the mere sight of your name that did it for me. That's it, Mollie. Seeing your name undoes me. ~ Lauren Layne

She couldn't help but grin at him. "It is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. Even more exciting than being abducted by you.
"Galen and Rose got married that summer," she went on. "It was terribly romantic." She shrugged again. "Honestly? I'm having a hard time believing that it won't happen like that again. Galen will work some magic. We'll seal the gate and go home. Poppy and Daisy will have a beautiful wedding."
Oliver got up from his chair and came over to the bed. He sank down beside her and put his arm around her waist. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
"It will be alright," he told her "You shouldn't be afraid. ~ Jessica Day George

I never faked anything. I never played the Disney game of smiling and being a princess and then suddenly having a hard time, saying, 'That isn't who I really am.' ~ Miley Cyrus

Matias frowned. Damn, he'd had a vision of this gorgeous woman naked? He hadn't thought he could despise his memory loss any more than he did, but the hits kept on coming. Wait. The blonde had said vision... as in the future? "We're fated to have sex?"
"No!" Quinn shook her head so quickly and vehemently that her teeth all but rattled.
"You sure? You can't seem to stay away from me." He looked down at their close proximity.
"I knew I should have left you to rot in the psych ward strapped to that bed."
Matias frowned. He was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. "Kinky. Or is that another dream you had starring yours truly? ~ Jane Cousins

If you have doubts about someone, lay on a couple of jokes. If he doesn't find anything funny, your radar should be screaming. Then I would say be patient with people who are negative, because they're really having a hard time. ~ Michael J. Fox

When Superman was originally created, by Siegel and Shuster, they were two Jewish immigrants that were desperately trying to assimilate into America. They were having a hard time because they were Jewish. They wanted to get in to mainstream publishing but they couldn't. That's why they, and a lot of Jewish guys, went into comic books. ~ David S.Goyer

Be sure to set your goals so high that you can't possibly accomplish them in one lifetime. That way you'll always have something ahead of you. I made the mistake of setting my goals too low, and now I'm having a hard time coming up with new ones. ~ Ted Turner

There's a beautiful forgiveness practice I love which is quite simple. It's called "Ho'oponopono" (pronounced: ho-o-pono-pono) and it's a lot easier to do than it is to say. It's a Kahuna Hawaiian technique, which involves repeating four phrases internally toward yourself or the person whom you're having a hard time forgiving. ~ Marci Shimoff

I wanted them," Fudge whined.
"I know you did. But we can't buy everything you want." [Mom told him]
"Why"
"We don't have the money to buy ... " I could tell Mom was having a hard time explaining this. She thought for a minute before she finished. " ... just for the sake of buying. Money doesn't grow on trees."
"I know it doesn't grow on trees," Fudge said. "You get it at the ATM."
"You can't just go to the ATM whenever you want money," Mom told him.
"Yes you can," Fudge said. "You put in your card and money comes out. It works every time."
"No. You have to deposit money into your account first," Mom said. "You work hard and try to save part of your salary every week. The cash machine is just a way to get some of your money out your account. It doesn't spit out money because you want it. It's not that easy."
"I know, Mom," Fudge said. "Sometimes you have to stand on line."
Mom sighed and looked at me. "Got any ideas Peter? ~ Judy Blume

God seemed to be having a hard time killing him, and he'd be damned if he was going to make the job easy for mere mortals ~ Mario Puzo

I think that sometimes our souls must tell us they are having a hard time trying to keep up with all of our worldly festivities and plans. Quiet moments, such as when we weave, or in times of sleep, are when we hear what our inner selves have to say. ~ Meghan Nuttall Sayres

It's really funny - when I'm depressed or I'm having a hard time, I'll write really fun stuff. And then when I'm really happy, I write really depressing stuff. ~ Kathleen Hanna

I'm trying to photograph an old offshore oil city that is lying in decay in the Caspian Sea, but I've been having a hard time getting there. ~ Edward Burtynsky

No girl has ever had this effect on me! She's taking up so much of my attention, I'm having a hard time smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey! ~ James Marshall

A lot of people love Marco Rubio but they're gonna have - they also love Jeb Bush. They are having a hard time trying to figure out how they gonna - you know, figure that one out. ~ Eric Bolling

It does not say, 'Blessed are those who are persecuted because they are objectionable.' It does not say, 'Blessed are those who are having a hard time in their Christian life because they are being difficult.' It does not say, 'Blessed are those who are being persecuted as Christians because they are seriously lacking in wisdom and are really foolish and unwise in what they regard as being their testimony. ~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

It's so hard for me to sit back here in this studio, looking at a guy out here, hollering my name! - When last year I spent more money, on spilled liquor, in bars from one side of this world to the other, than you made! You're talking to the Rolex wearing, diamond ring wearing, kiss stealing, whoa! wheelin dealin', limosuine riding, jet flying son of a gun and I'm having a hard time holding these alligators down! ~ Ric Flair

We're having a hard time understanding where jazz is going. What happened to jazz? ~ Ken Burns

Young people are having a hard time with what's reality and what's fantasy these days ... We created discussion. It wasn't to create controversy for sale's sake, but rather it was my obligation to use the medium for discussion. Nobody's discussing the grown-up topics; they are faking and fronting. ~ Chuck D

If you are having a hard time being content, make a list of everything you have that you don't deserve, and then make a list of everything you deserve that you don't have. When you and I realize how kind and gracious God has been with us, we're able to see things in a proper perspective. ~ Erik Raymond

One of the biggest things I learned was that it's OK to be nervous and admit that you're having a hard time. ~ Samuel Larsen

I really loved Kelsey [Grammer]. It wasn't a romantic love, but there was something about him. It's very difficult to see someone you care about having a hard time. ~ Bebe Neuwirth

Everett Walsh!" Chloe exclaimed. I fell off the bed laughing.
Liz folded her arms and tried to scowl at us, but I could tell she was having a hard time keeping a straight face. "What's wrong with Everett Walsh?" she sputtered."I didn't know when she wrote this in seventh grade that Hayden would hook up with him later.I saw him first."
"He's so straitlaced," Chloe said. "Not exactly the ideal hero of a romance."
"Watch out for his mama," I advised Liz.
"I was answering the question you asked," Liz told Chloe self-righteously. "If your family threatened you with an arranged marriage in the 1800s,you'd want someone on your side who was very mature and organized,who could approach the situation logically and help you out of it.In the 1800s, Everett Walsh would have been a barrister.He'd be perfect for the job."
"I'd rather have the evil viscount," I said. ~ Jennifer Echols

Affirm for yourself that you are a success. Affirm that you are successful in getting rid of your clutter. If you are having a hard time getting started, be grateful that you are such a successful clutterer. Who else could have amassed such a collection of stuff? ~ Emmet Fox

If you are walking on a path thick with brambles and rocks, a path that abruptly twists and turns, it's easy to get lost, or tired, or discouraged. You might be tempted to give up entirely. But if a kind and patient person comes along and takes your hand, saying, "I see you're having a hard time- here, follow me, I'll help you find your way," the path becomes manageable, the journey less frightening. ~ Elyn R. Saks

He was really having a hard time with this. He was not a seductive kind of guy, and if he tried to be sexy, he was going to sound like Romeo, the porn version. ~ Erin McCarthy

Then I looked right at Mama, for the first time in what seemed like forever, and she wasn't looking at me, but into me. She was pulling me to her with her eyes, like she used to do. All of a sudden I could see the light that was Mama's shining out of her eyes. I couldn't help smiling at it.
'Be careful,' my heart warned me.
But I was having a hard time remembering that there as anything to be careful about. Because if I just looked at Mama's eyes ... I could tell that the part of her I thought had gone away forever was still there and glowing, only from deep down inside her. ~ Katherine Hannigan

Take the time to define yourself and define your value. If you're having a hard time doing that, ask yourself: What is something I would say to someone I love? ~ Beyonce Knowles

The man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive ... To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending ... The man who is truly meek never pities himself, he is never sorry for himself. He never talks to himself and says, You are having a hard time, how unkind these people are not to understand you. ~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

You're having a hard time and lately you don't feel so good; You're getting a bad reputation in your neighborhood. It's alright, it's alright; Sometimes that's what it takes. You're only human, you're allowed to make your share of mistakes. ~ Billy Joel

I often turn to my books when my own writing is having a hard time. ~ Bob Mayer

A curtain of stars, miles of them, are scattered, glowing, across the sky and their multitude humbles me, which I have a hard time tolerating. She shrugs and nods after I say something about forms of anxiety. It's as if her mind is having a hard time communicating with her mouth, as if she is searching for a rational analysis of who I am, which is, of course, an impossibility: there ... is ... no ... key. ~ Bret Easton Ellis

The story was writing itself and I was having a hard time keeping up with it. ~ Ernest Hemingway,

What are you working on?" Mr. K. was asked. Mr. K. replied: "I'm having a hard time; I'm preparing my next mistake. ~ Bertolt Brecht

...you make it sound like this is work. I'm having a hard time thinking about sex as a project to manage."
He barely touched the cheeks of her ass, just a little tickle on her flesh, and her muscles clenched. "Only because you don't take it seriously."
"I take it very seriously," she shot back.
"No, you take the choice of your partner seriously, but not the sex itself. The sex itself you view as something you have to give up to get to what you really want, and that's companionship and affection. You can't buy those with sex, Avery. Those will come or not, and it doesn't mean a damn thing to any man. Not really. He'll take sex from you even if he doesn't particularly like you. He'll take it because you offer it up so easily. Again - not the relationship, but the sex. You're offering me easy sex. Sex where I don't have to work, but I want to work because I do like you and I do feel affection for you. Do you understand?"
"You think I should ask for more."
"No, I think you should demand more."
"That doesn't sound very submissive... ~ Lexi Blake

Babe," Ranger said, "you need to make some decisions." "I made decisions. I'm just having a hard time sticking to them. ~ Janet Evanovich

The Supreme Court is having a hard time integrating schools. What chance do I have to integrate audiences? ~ Nat King Cole

If you are drawing a blank, or are having a hard time drawing a certain thing, then it is because you have not studied it enough. ~ Glen Keane

I saw you having a hard time getting across the grass to your car.' He whispers it, like he's telling me secrets.

'You saw that?'

He turns a slight shade of pink, rubs the back of his neck, and stares out of the kitchen window.

'I wasn't spying.' For a moment he looks ten years younger. 'I was hoping to get your attention. You see, I thought we were flirting.'

'Hang on a second.' I'm confused. It's like being introduced to Advanced Calculus all over again. 'You mistook an anxiety attack for flirting? How?' Trying to figure out which part of my harpooned-squid impression could be considered anything other than tragic. ~ Louise Gornall

Friends. Strange indeed. There's just so much at risk, including my heart and mental stability - which are both still extremely fragile. I'm getting better but my heart still aches for you. I'm also having a hard time dealing with the fear. I don't want to be sad anymore. I don't want to cry, worry, or be scared anymore. I just wish I could feel free and happy again. If I can't talk to you at all, it's unbearable. If I talk to you too much, it's unbearable. It doesn't leave much. I want us both to be happy. I just want everything to be okay for you and me. I don't want anyone else to hurt. I feel like I've hurt enough for everyone. I've cried enough tears to fill everyone's bucket. ~ Elizabeth Scott

Many times, when I was having a hard time with one of my children, God would always remind me that He was having a harder time with me than I was with them ~ Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

Even though there is rampant unemployment in many parts of the world, there are still large numbers of jobs that are going unfilled because employers are having a hard time identifying people with the right set of skills. ~ Daphne Koller

If you're having a hard time being compassionate to or forgiving of yourself or others, you repeat these four phrases directed to yourself or the other person: "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you." And just by saying and feeling those phrases, you will find your heart starts to melt. ~ Marci Shimoff

Hearing that people read my books when they were sick, or that the books helped them find an escape when they were having a hard time ... stuff like that makes all the hard work pay off. ~ Sarah J. Maas

I wouldn't care if he lost both his legs and was in a wheelchair. But it he's having a hard time ... Then I won't see him. ~ Na Hae Ryeong

Prior to my father's death, I was having a hard time committing to a career as an artist, but that's not because of who he was - it was because of who I am. It's true, though, that I felt I shouldn't compete with him, and that those feelings went away after he died. ~ Kiki Smith

I want to thank my mom, Brenda Rose. My heart, the reason I play the way I play, just everything. Just knowing the days I don't feel right, going to practice, having a hard time, I think about her when she had to wake me up, go to work and make sure I was all right. Those were hard days. ~ Derrick Rose

I'm having a hard time finding a date. I don't trust any women I meet. I'm very skeptical. ~ Alex Rodriguez

He was having a hard time with Aodhan so far out of reach, the two yet struggling to come to a balance in their relationship - Illium had become used to being the stronger one in the partnership, the one who looked after a badly traumatized Aodhan. But Aodhan was coming out of his shell, and the man he'd become wasn't the boy Illium remembered. ~ Nalini Singh

Find someone who is having a hard time, or is ill, or lonely, and do something for him or her. ~ Thomas S. Monson

You're not the one having a hard time in the battlefield. The enemy's also having a hard time - the only question is who breaks down first. ~ Rafael Eitan

More than anything I wish he were here with me. "A relationship is an accumulation of shared history," he'd said to me once. And here I was making history without him. It's lonely. And I can't wait to go home. Parts of me are showing through my Aqua, and I'm having a hard time keeping them separate. ~ Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Not many would fault the modern church for being unloving these days, but unloving is exactly what we are. For if we truly loved God, we would obey Him (John 14:21). If we truly loved the church, we would labor to keep it unstained and unmolested by this world (James 1:27). And if we truly loved the lost, we would introduce them to the God of the Bible who is able to save their souls, and not the pitiful god of our own making who is having a hard time saving anything at all (Psalm 50:21). ~ Eric Ludy

Instead of making people victims of people who are successful, we should be telling people, 'Look, you are having a hard time, I feel bad for you. Let's look at what you're doing, let's teach you how to succeed. Let's give you the tools to succeed as opposed to turning everybody into victims. ~ Jon Lovitz

I'm getting my things for class when I feel a pair of hands slide down around my eyes.
"Guess Who."
"Harry Styles?"
"So close it's insane."
"Okay, give me a clue."
"I'm one of your biggest fans."
"I'm having a hard time, because the only thing that's coming to mind other than Harry Styles is the ghost of River Phoenix, and I wouldn't be able to feel his hands. ~ Emily Henry

All this hoping for something- or someone- that's maybe hopeless. I'm having a hard time processing what I am supposed to believe, or if I'm even supposed to. There is too much information, and I don't like a lot of it. ~ David Levithan

Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death. ~ Simone De Beauvoir

That's what you did when someone was having a hard time. You fed them. It was a tradition that crossed all cultures. ~ Nichole Chase

Believe me when I say I won't have sex with you like this. I would never disrespect you so much as to not make love to you like you deserve."
She blinked a few times as if she was having a hard time processing words. "Regardless of what you have going on in that head of yours, you are better than that. You deserve a man who will take his time with you and show you what pleasure through making love really is. ~ Katie Ashley

I'm not having much of a life. It's not awful, just ordinary. I am trying to accommodate the memories of the life I had with the life I am now living, and I just can't do it. After being behind the wheel of a Lamborghini going 140 down Sunset Drive at four a.m., it's hard to get up and put on a polyester shirt and sell books at Barnes and Noble. But I'm not ashamed of it. ~ Robert Goolrick

Was this for real? Andrew had forgotten how to be happy! He suspected that it involved unwarranted feelings of fondness for other people, too much self-esteem, a sort of long-term delusion that manifested as charisma, and a blocking out of certain things, like lonely people, depressed people, desperate people, homeless people, people you've hurt, people you like who don't like you, politics, the nature of being and existence, the continent of Africa, the meat industry, McDonald's, MTV, Hollywood, and most or all of human history, especially anything having to do with the Western Hemisphere between 1400 and 1900, plus or minus 200 years
but he wasn't sure. Why did it involve so many things? Maybe it was just too hard. ~ Tao Lin

Be kind, for everyone is having a hard battle. ~ Plato

Being a woman in music and having kids, it's very hard to do both without neglecting one a bit. ~ Martha Wainwright

The New Testament is an invaluable book, though I confess to having been slightly prejudiced against it in my very early days by the church and the Sabbath-school, so that it seemed, before I read it, to be the yellowest book in the catalogue. Yet I early escaped from their meshes. It is hard to get the commentaries out of one's head and taste its true flavor ... It would be a poor story to be prejudiced against the Life of Christ because the book has been edited by Christians. In fact, I love this book rarely, though it is a sort of castle in the air to me, which I am permitted to dream. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Having been a chef for some many years, I understand what it's like to work really, really hard to get good at something, only to have someone piss all over it. ~ Anthony Bourdain

In 2008, the national Coping with Cancer project published a study showing that terminally ill cancer patients who were put on a mechanical ventilator, given electrical defibrillation or chest compressions, or admitted, near death, to intensive care had a substantially worse quality of life in their last week than those who received no such interventions. And, six months after their death, their caregivers were three times as likely to suffer major depression. Spending one's final days in an I.C.U. because of terminal illness is for most people a kind of failure. You lie on a ventilator, your every organ shutting down, your mind teetering on delirium and permanently beyond realizing that you will never leave this borrowed, fluorescent place. The end comes with no chance for you to have said goodbye or "It's O.K." or "I'm sorry" or "I love you."

People have concerns besides simply prolonging their lives. Surveys of patients with terminal illness find that their top priorities include, in addition to avoiding suffering, being with family, having the touch of others, being mentally aware, and not becoming a burden to others. Our system of technological medical care has utterly failed to meet these needs, and the cost of this failure is measured in far more than dollars. The hard question we face, then, is not how we can afford this system's expense. It is how we can build a health-care system that will actually help dying patients achieve what's most important to them ~ Atul Gawande

The fans in Dallas were hard on me my first year, but after having a great year last year they are now supporting me. It feels great to have my hard work pay off, especially when the fans made it hard for me. ~ Steve Nash

I can't stand THE DEPRESSED. It's like a job, it's the only thing they work hard at. Oh good my depression is very well today. Oh good today I have another mysterious symptom and I will have another one tomorrow. The DEPRESSED are full of hate and bile and when they are not having panic attacks they are writing poems. What do they want their poems to DO? Their depression is the most VITAL thing about them. Their poems are threats. ALWAYS threats. There is no sensation that is keener or more active than their pain. They give nothing back except their depression. It's just another utility. Like electricity and water and gas and democracy. They could not survive without it. ~ Deborah Levy

To deal with the stark reality of having hit or hurt a woman or child, to deal with the initial responsibility you have not to do that and the knowledge you did do it, can be incredibly hard. ~ David Soul

Having certain limits - not too many, but certain limits on an ability to tell a story - makes us work harder, me and my writers. Sometimes I watch a giant movie with a $250 million budget and I think they feel kind of bloated, and that if they'd been leaner and meaner they might've had better storytelling. ~ Vince Gilligan

One thing about beginning writers is that they don't really always know their own strengths and weaknesses - you might think you're bad at characterization, but that might really be because of some issue you're having with another element, which is making it hard for you to express character in a convincing way. ~ Jeff VanderMeer

Going to a major tournament, having that buzz - it's hard to put into words. It's a dream to go there, and to play. It's the biggest thing you can achieve in your career, and to go again would be a dream. ~ Jermain Defoe

In Berkeley and San Francisco, the revolution didn't seem to far away. A lot of white radicals, hippies, Chicanos, Blacks, and Asians were ready to get down. But i hadn't forgotten the hard hats and the red necks and the bible belt and the so called middle amerikans who had elected Nixon. I couldn't imagine how the "new left" was talking to those people, much less organizing and changing their minds. I decided the only way i would come up with answers was to on keep studying and struggling. I didn't know how half of what i was studying would fit in but i figured it would all come in handy some day. I read about guerrilla warfare and clandestine struggle without having the faintest idea that one day i would go underground. It's kind of funny when i think about it because reading that stuff had probably saved my life a million times. ~ Assata Shakur

I want to be the best role model I can be for my family. I want my husband and I to be the ones our kids look to for guidance, to be the great role models that I had with my parents growing up, so for as hard as we work, I want our kids to see us having fun. I want our kids to know that we have to feel our bodies. And nutrition is a huge part of that. ~ Kerri Walsh

But her mother had looked at her curiously, gravely, puzzled by this creature who seemed all contradictions - at one moment so hard, at another so gentle, gentle to tenderness, even. Anna had been stirred, as her child had been stirred, by the breath of the meadowsweet under the hedges; for in this they were one, the mother and daughter, having each in her veins the warm Celtic blood that takes note of such things - could they only have divined it, such simple things might have formed a link between them. ~ Radclyffe Hall

Shame was a powerful demon. It made you feel like everyone was looking at you and judging you and your situation when in reality, half of those people we thought knew our faults really didn't know or even care. But Shame will make us feel that way, and that's how that other demon called Depression would creep in. All they do is feed off of each other and before you know it, they're having a house party in your spirit along with their friends Guilt, Defeat, Hurt, and the big boss Anger. Their "turn up" would be too real, and if there aren't people around who really love and care for you it could be a hard thing to overcome. ~ Denora Boone

It is hard to believe, but the phrase 'workshop of the world' was originally coined for Britain, which today, according to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has 'no industry'. Having successfully launched the Industrial Revolution before other countries, Britain became such a dominant industrial power by the mid nineteenth century that it felt confident enough to completely liberalize its trade (see Thing 7). In 1860, it produced 20 per cent of world manufacturing output. In 1870, it accounted for 46 per cent of world trade in manufactured goods. The current Chinese share in world exports is only around 17 per cent (as of 2007), even though 'everything' seems to be made in China, so you can imagine the extent of British dominance then. ~ Ha-Joon Chang

Fatness is a byproduct of the leisurely life your hard-working ancestors and the greatest minds of the Western world have been working to create for millennia They wanted you to have a life of plenty, a life without backbreaking work. Your great-great-great-grandfather would weep with joy at the sight of you half-conscious on a couch, having just shoveled a pile of fried noodles straight out of the takeout carton into your mouth after a busy day organizing the office's fantasy football league Surely my descendant has become a king! ~ Martin Cizmar

China's headlong rush to industrialize was pursued with the most Marxist of prejudices - bending nature to man's will. That's a desperately hard trick to pull off when one fifth of humanity, having previously subsisted on 7 percent of the world's freshwater supply, decides that it wants to instantaneously increase its caloric intake. ~ Thomas P.M. Barnett

It's very hard having a career in different continents and two different languages. ~ Kristin Scott Thomas

I guess everything having to do with your background has some influence on how you tell stories but it's hard to parse how growing up in a Jewish community in Minnesota really affected it. ~ Joel Coen

I remember once having to stop performing when I thought an elderly man a few rows back from the front was actually going to die because he was laughing so hard. ~ Adrian Edmondson

Family members provided a variety of support--physical, economic, emotional, and psychological... Parents opened bank accounts for their children, even those who were adult, away from home, married, and employed. And children who left Richmond to search for work elsewhere provided for the money in their savings accounts to be used by other relatives, if needed, during their absence. In all these ways African American women and men testified to the notion of family members as having a mutual and continuing responsibility to help each other and to prepare for hard times. ~ Elsa Barkley Brown

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose. ~ Margaret Thatcher

Depression is a big fucked-up monster. Everyone gets a turn, whether or not they want to own up to it. It's a hard fight that fucks you top to bottom. Drains you hollow. And when you're finally rid of it, there's something about having overcome it that robs you of compassion. ~ Rick Remender

Early in 1955 Flannery completed work on her second book, a collection of these stories which she entitled A Good Man Is Hard to Find. In January we sent it to press, having set publication for June. I remember our amusement at Evelyn Waugh's reaction to the advance proofs we sent him: If these stories are in fact the work of a young lady, they are indeed remarkable. ~ Flannery O'Connor

Once you have a child, that becomes your life, and while that's the way it should be, I sort of have a love affair with my work. Having said that, many of us work far too hard and we don't put enough value in the epicurean, sensual part of life. ~ Kim Cattrall

Our country is failing to live up to its promise of opportunity and fairness. It used to be true that if you went to college and you worked hard, you could count on having a decent middle-class life - but that's just not true anymore. Economic and political changes that have occurred over the past three decades have made the middle-class American dream for today's twenty- and thirtysomethings far less possible than it was for their parents' generation. It's not that we're lazy, that we have no work ethic, or that we have outrageous spending habits. It's that we've been screwed. ~ Camille Perri

How in hell did those bombers get up there every single second of our lives! Why doesn't someone want to talk about it! We've started and won two atomic wars since 2022! Is it because we're having so much fun at home we've forgotten the world? Is it because we're so rich and the rest of the world's so poor and we just don't care if they are? I've heard rumors; the world is starving, but we're well fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why we're hated so much? I've heard the rumors about hate too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I don't, that's sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes! ~ Ray Bradbury

It's hard enough to be in a marriage, and then have a kid, then kids, it changes everything. For me, I'd become more concerned with my children. Not that I ignored Britney, but my kids are always most important ... I mean, we were having complications. I didn't give her an ultimatum, but I was trying to work stuff out with her, and she didn't even talk to me or anything and went behind my back and filed [for divorce]. [I was] completely blindsided. ~ Kevin Federline