Top 100 If I Must Quotes
#1. If I Must Go
If I must go to heaven's end
Climbing the ages like a stair,
Be near me and forever bend
With the same eyes above me there;
Time will fly past us like leaves flying,
We shall not heed, for we shall be
Beyond living, beyond dying,
Knowing and known unchangeably.
Sara Teasdale
#2. I was born to fight devils and factions. It is my business to remove obstacles, to cut down thorns, to fill up quagmires and to open and make straight paths. If I must have some failing let me rather speak the truth with too great sincerity than once to act the hypocrite and conceal the truth.
Martin Luther
#3. If I must be faithful to someone or something, I have, first of all, have to be faithful to myself.
Paulo Coelho
#4. Suddenly I think that if I must retire from city life I might just as well live in France, where I would be happy, and I put the thought away as a private dream. - Elizabeth Pepys
Sara George
#5. The whole crowd interrupted and told him, 'No, we won't let you go. You have worked hard for our rights and you can't quit now.'
'Then,' said Riel, 'if I must, I will desert.'
'If you desert, we will desert with you.
Gabriel Dumont
#6. If I must go to hell to find my mother again, so be it: I will be another embodied disaster. But I will be a beautiful disaster.
Lyndsay Faye
#7. If I must fall, may it be from a high place.
Paulo Coelho
#8. But if I must be alone, I refuse to be alone as if it were something weak and distasteful, like convalescence.
Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher
#9. Verily, I do not like them, the merciful who feel blessed in their pity: they are lacking too much in shame. If I must pity, at least I do not want it known; and if I do pity, it is preferably from a distance.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#10. I do not seek it or desire it. If I must, I will accept the punishment for all my sins.
Mario Puzo
#11. All I ask, is the privilege for my masculine part the poet in me ... If I must not, because of my sex, have this freedom ... I lay down my quill and you shall hear no more of me.
Aphra Behn
#12. If I must start somewhere, right here and now is the best place imaginable.
Richelle E. Goodrich
#13. For this, Love is enraged with me;
Yet kills not. If I must example be
To future rebels, if the unborn
Must learn by my being cut up and torn,
Kill and dissect me, Love; for this
Torture against thine own end is:
Racked carcasses make ill anatomies
John Donne
#14. O Solitude! If I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap of murky buildings
John Keats
#15. Do not mistake me. I am not yet weak enough to yield to fearful imaginings, which are almost as absurd as illusions of hope, and are certainly harder to bear. If I must deceive myself, I should prefer to stay on the side of confidence, for I shall lose no more there and shall suffer less.
Marguerite Yourcenar
#16. I want to climb up the blank blue dome as a man would storm the inside of a circus tent, wildly, dangling, and with a steel knife claw a rent in the top, peep, and, if I must, fall.
Annie Dillard
#17. If I must know something in order to believe in it, what I am able to believe in will be severely limited. If I choose to believe in something in order to know it, then what I believe in can be boundless.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
#18. Take care. -If you do not speak- I shall claim you as my own in some presumptuous way. -Send me away at once, if I must go; -Margaret!-
Elizabeth Gaskell
#19. How do I explain a life that has lasted for billions of years? It is almost as if I must start with an apology for being alive when everyone I once knew is dead.
Christopher Pike
#20. No one has ever seen anything like it; but the sight may cost us dear. And, if I must say all, I think we are seeing here things which God never intended man to see.
Jules Verne
#21. If I must face this new trial, I would do it with my past fisted in my palm like a talisman reminding me if I could breathe it, I could write it, and when I wrote it, I would find freedom from it. Now,
Pepper Winters
#22. I've been diagnosed as being bi-polar but so have Florence Nightingale and King David ... which kinda leaves me in pretty dam good company ... if I must say so.
Timothy Pina
#23. If I must die, then I will die boldly, as I have lived.
Carolyn Meyer
#24. If I must choose between healthy and tasty, I go for the second: having only one life to waste, it might as well be a pleasurable one.
Yotam Ottolenghi
#25. If I must have pity, then I do not want to be called such; and if I do have pity, then rather from a distance.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#26. If I must choose, I'd rather be tuned in than 'turnt up'.
T.F. Hodge
#27. If I must fight, I'll fight; but I prefer not to spit at my enemy beforehand.
Charles Lindbergh
#28. Ach, lass. Nae matter what happens, I will find you. Even if I must travel through time to a thousand different places, I promise you, I will find you.
Dawn Marie Hamilton
#29. My child died last night - and now I shall be alone again, if I must really go on living. They will come tomorrow, strange, hulking, black-clad men bringing a coffin, and they will put him in it, my poor boy, my only child.
Stefan Zweig
#30. Let me fall if I must fall. The one I become will catch me." Slowly,
Sheryl Sandberg
#31. If I must consort with rogues [ ... ] I own I like them to be in the grand manner.
Georgette Heyer
#32. If I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits.
Og Mandino
#33. When it all comes down to dust I will kill you if I must , I will help you if I can. When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can.
Leonard Cohen
#34. If I must do wrong to save someone I love, it is right. I will not murder anyone, Ari...but I will kill to save you.
Cat Mann
#36. I cannot live without you, Gwendolyn, nor can I believe the gods have brought us through so much only to tear us apart again. If I must face the possibility of death, then so be it.
Miriam Minger
#37. Well, if I must, fine. I'll guard the retreat," said Alexia. "Buy us some time." "What, in a clock shop?
Gail Carriger
#38. If I must be ruled by larcenous bullies, I much prefer that they be located far away. Local bullies know far more about me and my doings than faraway bullies sitting in offices in Washington, and can oppress me far more effectively.
Henry Spencer
#39. I would not exchange my freedom from old superstition, if I were to be burned at the stake next month, for all the peace and quiet of orthodoxy, if I must take the orthodoxy with peace and quiet.
Harriet Martineau
#40. I'll carry you over my shoulder if I must, just as I did last night. If I'm forced to do it, however, I cannot guarantee you'll make it out of this cell with your clothes on. Understand?
It appears I am the one who will not
make it out of here with my clothes on.
Gena Showalter
#41. The fear comes back but I don't listen to it. I decide the fear itself is nothing of merit, a few little chemicals in my brain, dripping the wrong way. I walk right over and if I must I will walk right through.
Mat Johnson
#42. if I must encode either the interface or the implementation, I choose the implementation. Calling it ShapeFactoryImp, or even the hideous CShapeFactory, is preferable to encoding the interface.
Robert C. Martin
#43. If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride, and hug it in mine arms.
William Shakespeare
#44. If I can't - then I must. If I must - then I will.
Tony Robbins
#45. If I must die, then I will die for the ones I love, for my compassion will be passed onto them and they will have the ability to do the same. That's what makes love so powerful.
Serena Winter
#46. When we have no families, we must find support elsewhere. Sometimes in strangers. We're all alone on this earth. We must take any hand that's offered us. I offer you mine...I'll be your friend, if you wish. The faithful kind.
- Elva
Paul Fleischman
#47. For God, who is in heaven, is in man. Where else can heaven be, if not in man? As we need it, it must be within us. Therefore it knows our prayer even before we have uttered it, for it is closer to our hearts than to our words.
- Opus paramirum, I:ix
Paracelsus
#48. Even when I did my Broadway show, I did 15 minutes no one had seen before, because that was the night that Michael Jackson protested about Al Sharpton bailing on him. I said, "Wow, if that man bails on you, this must be really a lost cause."
Robin Williams
#49. The fact that I made a special movie with an old-fashioned style - even if it's a mix between with modern and old-fashioned things - must mean I feel both ways about change. In a way I'm resisting, but in a way adapting myself to the times.
Michel Hazanavicius
#50. It was long before I got at the maxim, that in reading an old mathematician you will not read his riddle unless you plough with his heifer; you must see with his light, if you want to know how much he saw.
Augustus De Morgan
#51. I must learn to be as the bear in a cage with the stick that pokes it always, through the bars. The bear acts as if the stick is made of air, and takes no notice of it, even when it is sharpened and draws blood. I must do the same.
Ned Hayes
#52. My mom was always pretty supportive. She saw me do plays and she'd always act out the parts I did. My aunt, who played a big part in my life, was a little bit more reserved, because if they don't see you on TV every week they think you must be starving.
Angela Bassett
#53. You must always be puzzled by mental illness. The thing I would dread most, if I became mentally ill, would be your adopting a common sense attitude; that you could take it for granted that I was deluded
Ludwig Wittgenstein
#54. I don't care if I'm loved back, I still want to love someone.Someone, from the bottom of my heart ... Straightforward, unwavering ... It seems like such a simple thing, so then why ... Must it be so incredibly hard?
Ai Yazawa
#55. Words define us,' Mom continued, as I struggled to make my clumsy marks look like her elegant script. 'We must protect our knowledge and pass it on whenever we can. If we are ever to become a society again, we must teach others how to remain human.
Julie Kagawa
#56. It always seemed to me," she said at last, "that it must require a great deal of courage to be an artist, if only because the creative process is such a lonely one. I should imagine it must be all the more difficult for a woman.
Richard Yates
#57. I think if you believe in past lives, I must have been an extremely deprived being. I must have been mistreated, beaten, and forced into indentured servitude because this life has just been phenomenal.
Bryan Cranston
#58. I don't believe for one moment that I killed him [ ... ] But if I didn't, somebody else did. I must appoint myself Investigator. I must catch this malefactor, this pig. And if at any time it looks as if I am going to catch myself, I can always accept my resignation.
Pamela Branch
#59. I believe with every cell in my body that every cell in yours must not, must never, die, and if it does have to die, let it die inside my body.
Andre Aciman
#60. And I found out about the wonderful world of sign language. I suddenly realized: If we as a society recognize Jewish culture, gay culture and Latino culture, we must recognize that this is a coherent culture, too. I think deafness is a disability for social constructionist reasons.
Andrew Solomon
#61. Something was nagging at me that I was trying to resist. Was it then or was it later that the thought came to me: if God really does exist, and is not just a myth, it must have a consequence for the whole of life. It was not a comfortable thought.
Jennifer Worth
#62. I know that if I am to move forward like the professional that I am, I must first see the past with mature eyes. And that means acknowledging that others have caused all my problems and blaming them for it.
Stephan Pastis
#63. I remember saying to myself, those things are very, very important to hear, but there must be another way to say them so that they will truly be heard. I mean, that's what art is. Art is about being provocative; art is also about beauty and if you leave the latter out, the former doesn't matter.
Nikky Finney
#64. Must be wicked, sexy thoughts about what I'd do with Toby Dawson if I could just peel those jeans off his body and jump his bones, then.-
Carolyn Brown
#65. You must understand that it is not in the nature of Man to be grateful. So in whatever you or I do for others we must never expect gratitude. If we do, we will only be disappointed.
S R Nathan
#66. Child of the kindly West, I have come to know, if more of us valued your ways - food and cheer above hoarded gold - it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell.
J.R.R. Tolkien
#67. I have dreamed of our bed as if it were a shore where we would be washed up, not this striped mattress we must cover with sheets. [from "After an Absence"]
Linda Pastan
#68. I am one who believes that we are, in fact, engaged in a worldwide war against terrorism. We must have the serenity to accept the fact that war is not going to go away if we ignore it.
Robert Foster Bennett
#69. If people are looking forward to my films, then I am happy, and I must be doing something right.
Abhishek Bachchan
#70. I fain would follow love, if that could be;
I needs must follow death, who calls for me;
Call and I follow, I follow! let me die.
Alfred Tennyson
#71. If I want to be free from any other man's dictation, I must understand that I can have no other man under my control.
William Graham Sumner
#72. It was a time before Facebook and Instagram and texting. I imagine it must be easier now, for college students. Home must not feel so far away anymore. But how do you cut the apron strings if the strings are virtual?
Kirstie Collins Brote
#73. I wouldn't ever say if you're having tough times then there must be something wrong with you or your attitude. Life's a fight. It's a good fight of faith. I encourage people to stay up, stay hopeful, stay faith-filled.
Joel Osteen
#74. Is it my fault if I do not look like an English girl and I do not talk like a Nigerian? Well, who says an English girl must have skin as pale as the clouds that float across her summers? Who says a Nigerian girl must speak in fallen English ... ?
Chris Cleave
#75. But I'm ravenous for news, any kind of news; even if it's false news, it must mean something. We
Margaret Atwood
#76. The use of cases is to establish principles; if the cases decide different from the principles, I must follow the principles, not the decisions.
Sherrilyn Kenyon
#77. I must be ever so careful to remember that my pain is a precious salve that when used in the service of others can heal a thousand wounds and more. And I must likewise remember that if I do not use it as such, I have done nothing more than wound myself yet again.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
#78. If it be love indeed, tell me how much.
There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.
I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd.
Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.
Antony and Cleopatra - Act 1, Scene 1
William Shakespeare
#79. Regretfully, I have decided that if the Saint Saga must remain permanently in print in its entirety, then it can only do so in its original form.
Leslie Charteris
#80. I am a firm believer in education and have worked very hard to tell young Latinos that they must go to college and that, if possible, they should pursue an advanced degree. I am convinced that education is the great equalizer.
Jimmy Smits
#81. If there is any science man really needs it is the one I teach, of how to occupy properly that place in creation that is assigned to man, and how to learn from it what one must be in order to be a man.
Immanuel Kant
#82. Those who cannot see must rely upon what has gone before. If I do not wish to appear so foolish as to drink from an empty glass I must remember whether I have drained it or not.
Cormac McCarthy
#83. I need men to define me: to give me an idea of what I am. If I didn't have boyfriends I don't think I would exist. I would fly apart in all directions. So I must live my life in perpetual pain, if I want to live at all.
Fay Weldon
#84. That's one of the nice things. I mean, part of the beauty of me is that I'm very rich. So if I need $600 million, I can put $600 million myself. That's a huge advantage. I must tell you, that's a huge advantage over the other candidates.
Donald Trump
#85. I say to you that the price of liberty is and always has been blood, human blood, and if our liberties are lost, we shall never regain them except at the price of blood. They must not be lost.
J. Reuben Clark
#86. Yes; but if dryads are foolish they must take the consequences, just as if they were real people," said Paul gravely. "Do you know what I think about the new moon, teacher? I think it is a little golden boat full of dreams.
L.M. Montgomery
#87. Form must never trump function. Some objects are made to look so smooth, you don't know where to pick them up or how to turn them on. If I'm designing a garlic press or cheese grater, I need my hand to fit comfortably on it. I like to know, instinctively, how to use it.
Michael Graves
#88. The practice of thrift is not outdated. We must discipline ourselves to live within our incomes even if it means going without or making do. The wise person can distinguish ... between basic needs and extravagant wants. Some find budgeting extremely painful, but I promise you, it is never fatal.
Marvin J. Ashton
#89. You are the only boss you have. And I want you to be the most demanding boss that you can be. If you really want to make a success of this business, then you must put yourself on a schedule.
Mary Kay Ash
#90. Something I learned from the Serbian tribes. Churches are built where saints were martyred. A bridge requires a child in its foundations if it is to hold. All great works must begin with a sacrifice.
Grady Hendrix
#91. Again, again ... " really means "We must love each other, you and I, if this one story, told and retold, is all we need." Reading again isn't about repeating yourself; it's about offering fresh proof of a love that never tires.
Daniel Pennac
#92. If it is a virtue to love my neighbor as a human being, it must be a virtue - and not a vice - to love myself, since I am a human being too.
Erich Fromm
#93. But what do you think, my lady?'
'I think that she must be cruel if she wants to be loved,' Gertrude explained. ' For once a lady succumbs to the man's desire, he rejects her as unworthy of it.'...Was love like a hunger, easily satisfied by feeding? Or did it grow by what it fed on?
Lisa Klein
#94. If I'm to change my life for you, I've got to have some hope."
"I don't want you to change your life for me. You'll have to make the same decision every day, over and over - it must be for yourself alone.
Lisa Kleypas
#95. If I want to abide in this day, to make my home in it, I must only tear my eyes from tomorrow and look around. For there is a wholeness to this day that I do not want to miss.
Christie Purifoy
#96. I am asking teachers to understand that we must make the education relevant for the children. If they're only working for the tests or they're only working to please us, they're not going to be interested in school.
Rafe Esquith
#97. Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. - It is not fair. - He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people's mouths. - I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it - but fear I must.
Jane Austen
#98. A movie I must have seen 10 times is 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull.' It's an old movie, but still such a beautiful message. If I had only one film I could take on my computer on a desert island, I would take 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull.'
Bertrand Piccard
#99. If Eric thinks I did something right, I must have done it wrong.
Veronica Roth
#100. It must sound, I know, as if I had no pity for him; it wasn't true. I was angry because I was terrified. But there are times when a curse is more bracing than an endearment.
Jacqueline Carey
