Misheard Quotes

Where's your dog?" Peter's voice came from within the gushing stream of water. Justin thought he must have misheard.
"Pardon?"
"Your dog."
"Yes?"
"Isn't he with you today?" Justin looked at Peter.
"Ha bloody ha." Peter stuck his head out of the stream of water, features dripping. He smiled shyly.
"I love greyhounds." Justin stared.
"My dog is imaginary."
"Oh." Peter looked interested. "That's unusual." Justin put his head under the water. When he emerged, Peter was still looking at him.
"Less work," Peter offered, cheerily. "If the dog's imaginary, I mean. Not so much grooming, feeding, et cetera. ~ Meg Rosoff

Your gift for euphemism continues to thrive. But I think I have heard of such modern relationships. There is a colloquialism for them, yes? They are boogie calls." "Boogie? Oh! Nice try. You were very close. They're known as booty calls." "That's what I said. Booty calls." "You said boogie - " The Morrigan's eyes flashed red for the briefest moment, and I cleared my throat. "Pardon me. I must have misheard you. Quite right. ~ Kevin Hearne

Hodge says he's on his way and he hopes you can both manage to cling to your flickering sparks of life until he gets here," she told Simon and Jace. "Or something like that."
"I wish he'd hurry," Jace said crossly. He was sitting up in bed against a pair of fluffed white pillows, still wearing his filthy clothes.
"Why? Does it hurt?" Clary asked.
"No. I have a high pain threshold. In fact, it's less of a threshold and more of a large and tastefully decorated foyer. But I do get easily bored." He squinted at her. "Do you remember back at the hotel when you promised that if we lived, you'd get dressed up in a nurse's outfit and give me a sponge bath?"
"Actually, I think you misheard," Clary said. "It was Simon who promised you the sponge bath."
Jace looked involuntarily over at Simon, who smiled at him widely. "As soon as I'm back on my feet, handsome. ~ Cassandra Clare

Lena." Alex's voice is stronger, more forceful now, and it finally stops me.
He turns so that we're face-to-face. At that moment my shoes skim off the sand
bottom, and I realize that the water is lapping up to my neck. The tide is coming
in fast. "Listen to me. I'm not who - I'm not who you think I am."
I have to fight to stand. All of a sudden the currents tug and pull at me. It's
always seemed this way. The tide goes out a slow drain, comes back in a rush.
"What do you mean?"
His eyes - shifting gold, amber, an animal's eyes - search my face, and
without knowing why, I'm scared again. "I was never cured," he says. For a
moment I close my eyes and imagine I've misheard him, imagine I've only
confused the shushing of the waves for his voice. But when I open my eyes he's
still standing there, staring at me, looking guilty and something else - sad,
maybe? - and I know I heard correctly. He says, "I never had the procedure."
"You mean it didn't work?" I say. My body is tingling, going numb, and I
realize then how cold it is. "You had the procedure and it didn't work? Like what
happened to my mom?"
"No, Lena. I - " He looks away, squinting, says under his breath, "I don't
know how to explain. ~ Lauren Oliver

A promise is a gift and a gift is a symbol of a social relationship. The donor is aware that it creates a link and the recipient identifies it as a mutual bond. A gift, however, is tangible and a promise is not. Eventually, a promise can be expounded as misunderstood, or misheard or it is simply over and done. If misheard, the social bond is to be put into question. If forgotten, it can be reminded but this is embarrassing. If elapsed, it is one of those broken promises that infest countless relationships. ( "Promised me a breeze of freedom" ) ~ Erik Pevernagie

Laurel wondered whether perhaps a person reached an age when so much was kept from them, so many details of life discussed and decided elsewhere,misheard or misunderstood, that to be surprised was no longer disconcerting. ~ Kate Morton

Let me introduce you. These are my friends: Ronan, Adam Parrish, and Jane."
Adam's expression focused. Became Adam-like. He blinked over to Gansey.
"Blue," Blue corrected.
"Oh, yes, you are blue," Malory agreed. "How perceptive you are. What was the name? Jane? This is the lady I spoke to on the phone all those months ago, right? How small she is. Are you done growing?"
"What!" Blue said. ~ Maggie Stiefvater

Martha had come up with the nickname Godbee by accident when she was younger than Lucy. Dorothy Boyle had been referred to as Grandma Boyle or Grandma B, for short, to distinguish her from Martha's other grandmother, Anne Hubbard. As a toddler, Martha couldn't pronounce Grandma B correctly, or had misheard it, and had, for as long as she could remember, called her favorite grandmother Godbee. For some reason, it had caught on. Not only with everyone in Martha's family, but with some of Godbee's friends and neighbors, too. ~ Kevin Henkes

Are you Magnificent Bane?"
"Sure," said Magnus. "Let's go with that. ~ Cassandra Clare

Love's language is hyperbole, but whispered,
sibilant similes and promises sotto voce.
It's easy to imagine you've misheard, ~ Richard Hoffman

In love, as in life, one misheard word can be tremendously important. If you tell someone you love them, for instance, you must be absolutely certain that they have replied "I love you back" and not "I love your back" before you continue the conversation. ~ Lemony Snicket

Thus, from admiration of one wise and innocent child, and from a misheard remark, the process that not even Aristotle could codify was triggered.
Where do you get your ideas?
I purposely mishear things. ~ Harlan Ellison

Lobsters," Aithinne says again, just in case I misheard her, and I rather hoped I had. "I hear they're biologically immortal," she explains, "and exempt from greed. And they're funny looking, so I've decided they're my favorite... what do you think of a lobster for a pet?" Aithinne asks suddenly, as if she's thought long and hard about this. ~ Elizabeth May

My love ... you were insolent to a dragon? Please tell me that I misheard you just now. ~ Aida Jacobs

Colin's chuckles grew more heartfelt. "You really ought to have more faith in your favorite brother, dear sis."
"He's your favorite brother?" Simon asked, one dark brow raised in disbelief.
"Only because Gregory put a toad in my bed last night," Daphne bit off, "and Benedict's standing has never recovered from the time he beheaded my favorite doll."
"Makes me wonder what Anthony's done to deny him even an honorable mention," Colin murmured.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Daphne asked pointedly.
Colin shrugged. "Not really."
"Didn't," she asked through clenched teeth, "you just tell me you promised a dance to Prudence Featherington?"
"Gads, no. You must have misheard."
"Perhaps Mother is looking for you, then. In fact, I'm certain I hear her calling your name."
Colin grinned at her discomfort. "You're not supposed to be so obvious," he said in a stage whisper, purposely loud enough for Simon to hear. "He'll figure out that you like him."
Simon's entire body jerked with barely contained mirth.
"It's not his company I'm trying to secure," Daphne said acidly. "It's yours I'm trying to avoid."
Colin clapped a hand over his heart. "You wound me, Daff." He turned to Simon. "Oh, how she wounds me."
"You missed your calling, Bridgerton," Simon said genially. "You should have been on the stage."
"An interesting idea," Colin replied, "but one that would surely give my mother the vapors." His eyes lit up. "Now ~ Julia Quinn

And for the record, I already know how you feel about fire, so you don't have to be mad that I've witnessed one of your weaknesses. We all have them, you know.'
He turned to look at me, his face completely expressionless. I tensed, waiting for a scathing response, but he mumbled something and looked away.
I left the smithy and headed toward the kitchen to help Brother Peele with dinner preparations, still puzzling over his parting remark. I must have misheard him. It almost sounded like he'd said, I fear you are becoming one of mine. ~ Elly Blake

Kestrel though that Arin was someone who had fallen far.
She couldn't ask if that was true. She remembered his angry response when she had asked why he had been trained as a blacksmith, and that question had seemed innocent enough. Yet it had hurt him.
She did not want to hurt him.
"How did you learn to play Bite and Sting?" she asked. "It's Valorian."
He looked relieved. "There was a time when Herrani enjoyed sailing to your country. We liked your people. And we have always admired the arts. Our sailors brought back Bite and Sting sets a long time ago."
"Bite and Sting is a game, not an art."
He folded his arms across his chest, amused. "If you say so."
"I'm surprised to hear that Herrani liked anything about Valorians. I thought you considered us stupid savages."
"Wild creatures," he muttered.
Kestrel was sure she had misheard him. "What?"
"Nothing. Yes, you were completely uncultured. You ate with your hands. Your idea of entertainment was seeing who could kill the other first. But"--his eyes met hers, then glanced away--"you were known for other things, too."
"What things? What do you mean?"
He shook his head. He made that strange gesture again, lifting his fingers to flick the air by his temple. Then he folded his hands, unfolded them, and began to mix the tiles. "You have asked too many questions. If you want more, you will have to win them. ~ Marie Rutkoski

Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear, misheard words or lyrics, dreams ... Motivation? The memory of the rush I get from a really good writing session - even on a bad day, I know I'll find that again if I keep going. ~ Trudi Canavan

How can a person expect to escape their destiny, Merry? That is the question."
A silence, then a small, practical voice. "There's always the train, I guess."
Juniper thought at first she'd misheard; she glanced at Meredith and realized that the child was completely serious.
"I mean, there are buses, too, but I think the train would be faster. A smoother ride, as well. ~ Kate Morton

I'm glad your father doesn't like you."

"Pardon?" I'd been in the process of lifting my hamburger when she'd spoken. Now I held it suspended, halfway to my mouth, certain I'd misheard her.

She took a bite of pancake, chewed, swallowed a gulp of water and repeated, "I'm glad your father doesn't like you."

"And why is that?"

"He sounds like a tool. If he liked you, I would think there's something wrong with you."

I gave her a sideways look."That . . . sorta makes sense ~ Penny Reid

Here is how to sit through small openings of your father's first art films, surrounded by surly foreign cigarette smoke and conversations so pretentious you literally cannot believe them, you're sure you have misheard them. ~ David Foster Wallace

My eyes had been closed for a few minutes when he said it: "I love you," he muttered, so quiet, like a prayer whispered into my neck.
"Hmm?" I was nearly asleep myself, edges blurring; I was one hundred percent sure I'd misheard.
"I love you." He said it again, clearer this time, right into my ear, breath tickling. I felt like a hydrogen bomb. I tried to be very still, but I knew he could feel my entire body tensing, a runner ready to begin a race --
Get set--
Go.
I opened my mouth, shut it again.
Oh God.
I did love him, is the awfulness of it. I'd loved Sawyer since the seventh grade, when Allie and I began keeping a list of the places we spotted him. I loved his quick, blistered musician hands and the honest soul he kept hidden safe under all his bravado, and I loved how I was still, every day, learning him. I loved his silly, secret goofy side and the way he had of making me feel like I was a tall tree, just from the way he looked at my face. I loved Sawyer LeGrande so much that sometimes I couldn't sit still for the fullness of it, but when I opened up my mouth to tell him so, nothing came out.
I could do anything for him, I realized suddenly. I could give him anything. But not that. If I said that to him, I knew I could never get it back.
"Go to sleep," I whispered, and he didn't say it again. ~ Katie Cotugno