Top 100 But Instead Quotes

#1. As she sustained wound after wound ... the fairy should have fallen, but instead, she danced. This was Titania, the Fairy Queen.

Hiro Mashima

#2. (The new boyfriend) knows I write every day for hours but has no idea that all I'm writing about is me. It seems wiser to let him think I'm an aspiring novelist instead of just an alcoholic with a year of sobriety who spends eight hours a day writing about the other 16.

Augusten Burroughs

#3. But I came to see that Las Vegas is not a freak but is, instead, deeply integrated with the rest of the country, and the world beyond. It is symptom, mirror, metaphor.

Timothy O'Grady

#4. In the myopic world of the liberals, guns are responsible for evil instead of the perpetrator of evil. But criminals are not bound by our laws. That's what makes them criminals.

Rick Perry

#5. The curse should no longer rest upon the world itself, but upon that which is sinful in it, and instead of monastic flight from the world the duty is now emphasized of serving God in the world, in every position in life.

Abraham Kuyper

#6. When Theolyn died, the humans had built an enormous pyre and placed his body at the center. How was [Veka] supposed to know humans cremated their dead instead of cooking them? She had figured it out quickly enough, but not before Jimar and his ilk had spotted her standing at the pyre, fork in hand.

Jim C. Hines

#7. The doctrine of foreordination is not a doctrine of repose; instead, it is a doctrine for second- and third-milers, and it will draw out of them the last full measure of devotion. It is a doctrine for the deep believer but it will bring only scorn from the skeptic.

Neal A. Maxwell

#8. But thats not love, he thought, thats not what she wants, nor what any of them want, they do not want you to find yourself in them, they want instead that you should lose yourself in them. And yet, he thought, they are always trying to find themselves in you.

James Jones

#9. I once wrote deduceable instead of deducible in a book, though nobody then or since has taken me up on it. A small point as they go, perhaps, but Rule I of writing acceptably is to get everything right as far as you can, and in this case I had neglected to.

Kingsley Amis

#10. [ ... ]but instead of apologizing, I said, 'It's your own fault for playing tennis.

Karin Slaughter

#11. But if you instead ask, "Can I make a great pitch?" the research has found that you provide yourself something that reaches deeper and lasts longer

Daniel H. Pink

#12. Las Vegas, Nevada: A city where oddities don't make you lame, But instead bring you riches and fortune and fame.

Walter Wykes

#13. The primary theory embraced by the Bush administration to justify its War on Terror policies was that the 'battlefield' is no longer confined to identifiable geographical areas, but instead, the entire globe is now one big, unlimited 'battlefield.'

Glenn Greenwald

#14. The key to happiness is not to get more, but to enjoy what we have and to fill the empty frame of our lives instead of enlarging it.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

#15. The heart of grief, its most difficult challenge, is not "letting go" of those who have died but instead making the transition from loving in presence to loving in separation.

Thomas Attig

#16. I trust my makeup artist to apply dark lipstick, but I get nervous about reapplying it, so I'll just use gloss instead. The last time I tried to reapply dark lipstick, I dropped it on my dress and it left a spot.

Jessica Biel

#17. It's not like I didn't think I had any demons. I did, but I could name them- and even provide an address and telephone number for each. As far as I was concerned, those demons could go to therapy instead of me.

Lisa Lutz

#18. We're in the business not so much of being contrarians deliberately, but rather we like to take perceived risk instead of actual risk. And what I mean by that is that you get paid for taking a risk that people think is risky, you particularly don't get paid for taking actual risk.

Wilbur Ross

#19. Diet cola is my absolute favorite drink in the world; I used to drink four cans a day. But to help me cut down, I've turned it into a treat. Now, instead of having dessert, I'll have a can of diet soda. Putting a limit on how often I can drink it has helped me appreciate it more.

Kaley Cuoco

#20. My weapon has always been language, and I've always used it, but it has changed. Instead of shaping the words like knives now, I think they're flowers, or bridges.

Sandra Cisneros

#21. There was this about vampires : they could never look scruffy. Instead, they were ... what was the word ... deshabille. It meant untidy, but with bags and bags of style.

Terry Pratchett

#22. I try to do something good, but when it doesn't go good, then I go like too much into myself, what I'm doing right, wrong, instead of thinking more what I have to do with the ball,

Dinara Safina

#23. As long as quick numerical growth remains the primary indicator of church health, the truth will be compromised. Instead, churches must once again begin measuring success not in terms of numbers but in terms of fidelity to the Scriptures.

Mark Dever

#24. Two did not become one, but rather two came together - each one strong, healthy, and resilient, making the whole steadfast and true. They didn't lose themselves in each other, but found themselves in each other instead.

Jennifer Lane

#25. I wish I could tell him that we're going through the same thing. I wish I could speak to him like I want to instead of like I'm supposed to. But the idea of admitting that I need help is too much to bear, so I turn away.

Veronica Roth

#26. We weren't going anywhere, Nick said with a smile. He was trying to sound charming, but instead wound up sounding heavily sedated.

Neal Shusterman

#27. I have no great urge to be minister of this or minister of that, but instead would feel incredible blessed to have the opportunity to be a champion for a constituency and fight for their cause.

Adam Rickitt

#28. Would men but generously snap our chains, and be content with rational fellowship instead of slavish obedience, they would find us more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more faithful wives, more reasonable mothers - in a word, better citizens

Mary Wollstonecraft

#29. It is glorious fun racing down the Hump, but you can't do it on windy days because then you are not there, but the fallen leaves do it instead of you. There is almost nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf.

J.M. Barrie

#30. It's easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of making a life. It's not the hours you put in, but what you out into the hours that count. Learn to express rather than impress. Expressing evokes a me too attitude while impressing evokes a so what attitude.

Jim Rohn

#31. But there is something delusional nonetheless in his optimistic certainty that human beings will wish to choose altruistic values without invoking transcendent principles. They may do so; but they may also wish to build death camps, and may very well choose to do that instead. For

David Bentley Hart

#32. I sometimes feel I would like to do crazy things with 'Endgame,' where someone says something, but the words, instead of being spoken, are written words projected out of their mouth.

Simon McBurney

#33. You've heard about the knitter's handshake? Two hands go in for the grab-and-shake, but at the last minute, they veer to the closest sleeve or band and grab it instead while we ask, "Did you knit this?

Clara Parkes

#34. All right, all right," Avery said and rolled Kane onto his back. There was a time they would have gone again, making sure Kane knew who the real boss was, but not so much anymore. Instead, he looked down at his smiling love. "But I believe I burned a few calories, so can I have my snack now, please?

Kindle Alexander

#35. But victimhood was seductive, a release from responsibility and caring. Fear would be transmuted into weary resignation; failure would no longer generate guilt but, instead, would spawn a comforting self-pity.

Dean Koontz

#36. The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in copyright, produces.

Lawrence Lessig

#37. People mess up, you know? But you can't see past it. It's like you choose one thing about them - the worst thing - and say, 'That's who they are,' and ignore the rest of it. Why not choose the best thing about them instead? Or the thing they do the most?

Sarah Skilton

#38. We were sent to Vietnam to kill Communism. But we found instead that we were killing women and children.

John F. Kerry

#39. It's harder to score well in a slow round. The tendency is to overthink shots while you're waiting and become mentally exhausted. Instead, chat with your playing partners about anything but golf. Concentrate on each shot for no more than a minute. You'll stay fresh.

Rickie Fowler

#40. The cost in terms of liberties lost and the unnecessary exposure to terrorism are difficult to determine, but in time it will become apparent to all of us that foreign interventionism is of no benefit to American citizens, but is instead a threat to our liberties.

Ron Paul

#41. I like both potatoes and rice. You can do a lot with both of them. But if I could eat only one carbohydrate for the rest of my life, I wouldn't choose bread, potatoes or even noodles. I'd go for rice instead; I eat more of that than anything else.

Nobu Matsuhisa

#42. There are very few who can think, but every man wants to have an opinion; and what remains but to take it ready-made from others, instead of forming opinions for himself?

Arthur Schopenhauer

#43. In the past, before the physiology of abdominal training was well understood, bodybuilders used to do a lot of "conventional" abdominal exercises such as Sit-Ups and Leg Raises. Unfortunately, those are not primary abdominal exercises but instead work the iliopsoas muscles - the hip flexors.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

#44. If there were a map of the solar system, but instead of stars it showed people and their degrees of separation, my star would be the one you had to travel the most light-years from to get to his. You would die getting to him.

Miranda July

#45. That's the way love sounds, my mother told me. You think it should feel like honey, but instead it cuts like a knife.

Alice Hoffman

#46. Consider the perverse effect cap and trade has on altruistic actions. Say you decide to buy a small, high-efficiency car. That reduces your emissions, but not your country's. Instead it allows somebody else to buy a bigger S.U.V. - because the total emissions are set by the cap.

James Hansen

#47. This same system could condemn injustice, but instead it chooses to condemn something as simple and fundamental as the search for the second half. We are all born wanting this. Why does it matter what shape this second half takes, provided it is the thing both sides seek?

Martha Brockenbrough

#48. I actually studied engineering in school - I have a degree in mechanical engineering. But, when I got out of school, instead of going to work as an engineer, I was in a band.

Mark Frauenfelder

#49. Before I met Mr. Shoaff, I used to ask, "How much does it cost?" But he taught me to ask, "What is it worth?" When I started to base my life on value instead of price, all kinds of things began to happen.

Jim Rohn

#50. When leaders become focused on the fruit instead of the root and worry about the outcome instead of the process of developing team members, they may survive in the short run, but they will not thrive in the long run.

Jon Gordon

#51. I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.

Steve Maraboli

#52. Francesca couldn't say anything, because that would just make her mother feel even worse, and so
instead they stood there as they always did, thinking the same thing but never speaking of it, wondering
which of them hurt more.

Julia Quinn

#53. Composers and lyricists are not responsible for storyline and casting. One can imagine actors shouldering this responsibility, since they charge for half the film. But producers never ask actors to share the losses. Instead, they train their guns on composers and lyricists.

Shaan

#54. Almost all the other fellows do not look from the facts to the theory but from the theory to the facts; they cannot get out of the network of already accepted concepts; instead, comically, they only wriggle about inside.

Albert Einstein

#55. mama, you taught me to look pretty but i can't anymore, and i am learning that's okay. i am learning to sharpen my teeth and rule kingdoms, instead.

Arlen C.

#56. Perhaps the ultimate test of a leader is not what you are able to do in the here and now - but instead what continues to grow long after you're gone

Tom Rath

#57. Instead of doubting yourself, have faith in yourself. Instead of doubting the truth, doubt the lies. Be skeptical, but learn to listen.

Miguel Ruiz

#58. Too fearful to intervene and hold back the tormenter, she was pleading instead with the victim to be more submissive. It was a solution that would resolve the conflict while entrenching the problem. Aedan didn't have the words to understand, but he could feel the wrongness of it.

Jonathan Renshaw

#59. Maybe time didn't heal wounds exactly, but it gave you a kind of armor, or a new perspective. A way to remember with a smile instead of a sob.

Kristin Hannah

#60. Like the muscles knew from the beginning that it would end with this, this inevitable falling apart ... It's sad, but a relief as well to know that two things so closely bound together can separate with so little violence, leaving smooth surfaces instead of bloody shreds.

Julie Powell

#61. It was by design that we mostly used pictures that you could not necessarily see what was going on, and that didn't really focus in on the band, but instead focused in on a theme.

Mike McCready

#62. What if our better nature wasn't better after all? But was instead, well, just nature?

Kevin Dutton

#63. But that does not mean I do not wish to possess you."
"What if I want to possess you instead?"
He flashed her a grin, warm and wicked and laced with something more that Reggie couldn't quite define.
"Dushka," he murmured, lowering his mouth to hers. "You already do.

Christine Warren

#64. What is marriage but prostitution to one man instead of many?

Angela Carter

#65. Maybe I am a bit unusual here, but I am less stressed if I have my phone with me. Because I can spend like an hour in the morning taking care of everything instead of I sit there and wonder what I missed or wonder what's happening. So it's way less stressful for me to just answer my phone.

Sam Altman

#66. I always thought it was a question of achieving some permanent state of tranquillity ... but it's not. It's more like learning to surf. The waves keep rolling in, each different from the last, and you have to ride them, instead of getting pounded to bits.

Lisa Alther

#67. My father was and is a great father. My father always wanted to do stand-up. He wanted to be an actor. But instead he did two jobs. He did customer service at a hospital and he worked as a waiter at night. He pretty much sacrificed everything for his daughters.

Sherri Shepherd

#68. I think Princess Diana enjoyed it here in Pakistan immensely. She had a good time. But she never came to my family home. She came to my home in Lahore instead.

Hasnat Khan

#69. The God we serve does not seek out the perfect, but instead uses our imperfections and our shortcomings for his greater good. I am humbled by my own limitations. But where I am weak, He is strong.

Rick Perry

#70. A state attacked by another which renews an old claim rarely yields it without a war: it prefers to defend its territory, as is always more honorable. But it may be advantageous to take the offensive, instead of awaiting the attack on the frontiers.

Antoine-Henri Jomini

#71. Workers on the edge of poverty are essential to America's prosperity, but their well-being is not treated as an integral part of the whole. Instead, the forgotten wage a daily struggle to keep themselves from falling over the cliff. It is time to be ashamed.

David K. Shipler

#72. In brief, we have no explicit family policy but instead have a haphazard patchwork of institutions and programs designed mostly under crisis conditions, whether the crisis is national in scope (such as a recession ) or personal (such as a break-up of a particular family).

Kenneth Keniston

#73. The current climate change is an outer mirror of our inner consciousness. It is an outer mirror of our attitude to try to conquer nature, instead of being in harmony with nature, but in the end the part can never conquer the whole.

Swami Dhyan Giten

#74. As Halloran parachuted over Tokyo, the Zero that had shot him down sped toward him, and Halloran was certain that he was going to be strafed, as so many falling airmen were. But instead of firing, the pilot saluted him. After the war, Halloran and that pilot, Isamu Kashiide, became dear friends.

Laura Hillenbrand

#75. Most "original" ideas aren't completely original, but instead are the result of two basic methods for generating ideas: problems in search of solutions and solutions in search of problems.

Barry Nalebuff

#76. School is not like church.
I know a lot of people in my school are happy about this,
but I think that's because they've known the wrong kind
of churches, the ones that hold back instead of lifting up.

David Levithan

#77. Before my accidents, there were ten thousands things I could do. I could spend the rest of my life dwelling on the things that I had lost, but instead I chose to focus on the nine thousand I still had left.

W. Mitchell

#78. It was in her nature to love and to nurture; she would not leave those feelings within herself to fester and sour, but instead she chose someone who would receive her gifts gladly. She did not hold herself to be so special that only one special person could she find satisfactory.

Sena Jeter Naslund

#79. We try to be formed and held and kept by him, but instead he offers us freedom. And now when I try to know his will, his kindness floods me, his great love overwhelms me, and I hear him whisper, Surprise me.

Ron Hansen

#80. The church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college-trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles.

Leonard Ravenhill

#81. My version of an Irish exit has an air of deception to it, because it includes my asking loudly, "Where's the bathroom?" and making theatrical looking-around gestures like a lost foreign tourist. But then, instead of finding the bathroom, I sneakily grab my coat and leave.

Mindy Kaling

#82. I didn't know a thing about Oxford and had never been to Britain. My father suggested it because in 1939 he had been about to take up a place at Wadham College, but the war broke out, and he joined the Army instead.

Tariq Ali

#83. 'American Idol' is sometimes lumped with reality shows and it has that element - folks-next-door battling it out in a contest. But instead of fighting leeches, bugs, parasites and each other, as on CBS's 'Survivor' and other shows that imitate it, the 'American Idol' contestants, of course, sing.

Tom Shales

#84. He wanted to bring up his plan for a retreat, but something told him not to. "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" he opened instead. "Yes," Grant replied chewing on a cigar. "Lick 'em tomorrow, though."75

Robert L. O'Connell

#85. We see that the world seeks happiness instead of holiness. Therefore, we assume we should do the opposite. But we're wrong.

Randy Alcorn

#86. I want everybody to worship the God of love instead of worshipping the God of hate and torture. But in the meantime, we don't want to force Jesus Christ on anybody and look that we are trying to force our beliefs onto others.

Mosab Hassan Yousef

#87. I can see her, chin to chest, straining to push Junior out, and Junior snagging on her insides, grabbing hold of what he caught on to try to stay inside her, but instead he pulled it out with him when he was born.

Jesmyn Ward

#88. But later that day, the streets of Kweilin were strewn with newspapers reporting great Kuomintang victories, and on top of these papers, like fresh fish from a butcher, lay rows of people - men, women and children who had never lost hope, but had lost their lives instead.

Amy Tan

#89. I dyed my hair about 42 different colours, and kids can be pretty judgmental about people who are different. But instead of breaking down and conforming, I stood firm. That is also probably why I was unhappy.

Christina Hendricks

#90. I press my eyes shut and will the thoughts away. But they refuse to comply, and instead, they lodge themselves in the crevasses of my brain, poking out just enough that I know they're still with me, like a tiny splinter in your baby toe that gnaws away at you with every step you take.

Allison Winn Scotch

#91. The ideal is that your faith not be rigid and unpliable, but instead that it is capable of being stretched and remolded over time, and that your theological and spiritual life grows deeper and more mature with the passing years.

Adam Hamilton

#92. Being healthy in steadfastness is power need in our day of entitlement. Entitlement thinks it deserves what it receives, but steadfastness is instead thankful for what it receives because it teaches appreciation through challenge.

Eric Mason

#93. For who in fact seeks the salvation of souls through indulgences, and not instead money for his coffers? This is evident from the way indulgences are preached . For the commissioners and preachers do nothing but extol indulgences and incite.

Martin Luther

#94. We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps, but we have not done so; instead, we have drifted. And that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.

Bill Clinton

#95. People's name can change throughout their lives the same way people do. They believe nicknames provide insight into not just the individual but how other people perceive that person. People become a double prism, instead of a one-way mirror.

Cecelia Ahern

#96. For most Builders, the journey is like shooting for the moon and instead hitting Mars-perhaps a better, but different outcome than envisioned. Builders are the first to admit (at least, in private) that planning works, but as the adage goes, the plan itself, rarely does.

Jerry I. Porras

#97. If God's masons built real walls, I doubt we'd be able to destroy them. But instead of walls all I see is backdrops, sets. And sets are made to be destroyed.

Milan Kundera

#98. It seemed to me that I, the spirit of so many worlds, the flower of so many ages, was the Church Cosmical, fit at last to be the bride of God. But instead I was blinded and seared and struck down by terrible light.

Olaf Stapledon

#99. wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. - ATTICUS FINCH, FROM HARPER LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Kristin Hannah

#100. And yet, I do believe there is ultimately meaning in the chaos, and also in the doldrums. What I resist is not the truth but when people put a pretty bow on scary things instead of saying, 'This is a nightmare. I hate everything. I'm going to go hide in the garage.'

Anne Lamott

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