
Top 100 Know Not Why Quotes
#1. If what you mean by the word "matter" be only the unknown support of unknown qualities, it is no matter whether there is such a thing or no, since it no way concerns us; and I do not see the advantage there is in disputing about what we know not what, and we know not why.
George Berkeley
#2. Cradle of Solitude
For we know not why our tribulations
are given as such
our fragile forms
created from the dust ...
Muse
#3. Of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate is that of party-spirit; of men, who, being numbered, they know not why, in any party, resign the use of their own eyes and ears, and resolve to believe nothing that does not favor those whom they profess to follow.
Samuel Johnson
#4. We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, We Poets of the proud old lineage Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why What shall we tell you? Tales, marvellous tales Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest.
James Elroy Flecker
#5. John Adams, by then one of the country's founding fathers, wrote to a friend: I know not why we should blush to confess that molasses was an essential ingredient in American independence. Many great events have proceeded from much smaller causes.
Tom Standage
#6. In sooth I know not why I am so sad.
It wearies me, you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn; ...
William Shakespeare
#7. N sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.
William Shakespeare
#8. I cannot love as I have loved, And yet I know not why; It is the one great woe of life To feel all feeling die.
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
#9. If they love they know not why, they hate upon no better ground, they hate upon no better a ground
William Shakespeare
#10. ...At that moment, our fates entwined, Roses. I know not why, but I know it to be true - I am bound to you forevermore. There is nothing to regret.
Juliette Miller
#11. Drink! for you know not whence you came nor why: drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.
Omar Khayyam
#13. Truth I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me: you say it wearies you; But how I got it
came by it.
J. Sheridan Le Fanu
#14. What am I, Life? A thing of watery salt Held in cohesion by unresting cells, Which work they know not why, which never halt, Myself unwitting where their Master dwells?
John Masefield
#15. I know not why there is such a melancholy feeling attached to the remembrance of past happiness, except that we fear that the future can have nothing so bright as the past.
Julia Ward Howe
#16. And yet I love this false, this worthless man,
With all the passion that a woman can;
Dote on his imperfections, though I spy
Nothing to love; I love, and know not why.
Ephelia
#17. But it seems that something has happened that has never happened before: though we know not just when, or why, or how, or where.
T. S. Eliot
#18. He [God] chooses not to intervene in the world. Why not? Because he figures he's done enough and the rest is up to us? Or he wouldn't know where to begin? Or because he's in awe of his own miracle? That's how I picture him, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Jon Cohen
#19. As Gansey led the way out, Noah said to Ronan, "I know why you're mad."
Ronan sneered at him, but his pulse heaved. "Tell me then, prophet."
Noah said, "It's not my job to tell other people's secrets.
Maggie Stiefvater
#20. The word Palestine always brought to my mind a vague suggestion of a country as large as the United States. I do not know why, but such was the case. I suppose it was because I could not conceive of a small country having so large a history.
Mark Twain
#21. But shall we be happy, to say that we live in the dusk rather than in the full night? Shall we rejoice that we shall only suffer, while your offspring will be the ones to know the torments of the damned? Shall this be why we do not act?
Robin Hobb
#22. I remember my first lecture on my first day in evolutionary biology, how populations and species change. I sat thinking, 'Why doesn't everyone know this?' I look back on it almost in horror: I came so close to not knowing how exciting our world is.
Elise Andrew
#23. The idea is to become an old wizard; to live a long and fruitful life and have family and be healthy and enjoy the ride. And speaking of the ride, why not let it rip, at least a little bit? Everyone I know who's really stoked about getting out of bed in the morning does that to some extent.
Laird Hamilton
#24. ..love is as complex an emotion as exists. There are many reasons why love does not prosper.
.. the waters are perilous, and you would do well to know that, because unlike your novels, not every story has a happy ending.
Mary Lydon Simonsen
#25. Sign your work ... If you're not proud of it, don't ship it. If you are, sign your work and own the results. We'll know who to thank. If you work for a place where work goes unsigned (internally, in particular) it's worth asking why.
Seth Godin
#26. Talk about not knowing other people - why, when you came right down to it, you didn't even know yourself!
Robert Bloch
#27. Sir Thomas More: Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one.
Richard Rich: If I was, who would know it?
Sir Thomas More: You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.
Robert Bolt
#28. Unfortunately, we have warring in the world, so the youngest minds, the brilliant minds, are sent off to war. I think that, you know, you have brilliant people with great possibilities and that's why I really am not really for war. I really am not.
Stevie Wonder
#29. If you ever want to know why I'm not on a record label, look at 'The X Factor!' Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.
John Lydon
#30. Moreover, if we could show, on general logical grounds, that the scientific quest is likely to succeed, one could not understand why anything like success has been so rare in the long history of human endeavours to know more about our world.
Karl R. Popper
#31. My so-called faith went up in flames Till I believed in all your lies, For the life of me I don't know why. They got you wrong , You're not that strong. I don't belong here!
Alicia Witt
#32. I was never able to analyze my own performance that way I can now. I've realized why certain actors work. I think I'm very in control of what I do in there now. I know how to listen, how to make it real and how not to go to jokes, but to go for a sense of reality.
Steve Dildarian
#33. I'm game to stay in bed if you are." "We can't." "Why not?" "Because we don't even know each other." "Hi, my name is Daryl, and I think you're fucking crazy, but hot." More than hot, she totally made his inner kitty wish it could purr.
Eve Langlais
#34. Some would know
Why I so
Long still doe tarry,
And ask why
Here that I
Live, and not marry?
Thus I those
Doe oppose;
What man would be here,
Slave to Thrall,
If at all
He could live free here?
Robert Herrick
#35. Why are people afraid of getting older? You feel wiser. You feel more mature. You feel like you know yourself better. You would trade that for softer skin? Not me!
Anna Kournikova
#36. To be faithful, to be creative, we need to be able to change. To change! And why must I change? So that I can adapt to the situations in which I must proclaim the Gospel. To stay close to God, we need to know how to set out; we must not be afraid to set out.
Pope Francis
#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. There's nothing I dislike more than being in a photo shoot where they say, 'Be yourself.' That's not why I became an actress. That's what I find so funny: that you become an actor, and all of a sudden, everyone wants to know about you. But I didn't become an actor so I could show you me.
Margot Robbie
#39. The reason why rappers are living in - you know, driving in Mercedes-Benz's and living in neighborhoods is because they're selling their music, not just to the black community, but to the white community.
Eric Bolling
#40. I'm NOT used to it! But ... I'm not as scared as I was before. Getting rejected is painful, but there are also people who accept me. We aren't alone, you know. And that's why we have nothing to be afraid of.
Sakura Tsukuba
#41. But, my dear, if you should be caught out in the storm!"
"Why, I don't know but I should like it! What harm could it do? I'm not soluble in water - rain won't melt me away! I think upon the whole I rather prefer being caught in the storm," said Cap, perversely.
E.D.E.N. Southworth
#42. Those words had been the bane of my childhood, a constant reminder that nothing turned out right, not just for me but for anyone, and that's why someone had invented a saying like that. So we'd all know that we'd never have what we needed.
Gillian Flynn
#43. You know why I like to talk to you, Delia? You never interrupt with your experiences. Not jiggling your foot till you get a chance to jump in with your life history.
Anne Tyler
#44. I don't know why I felt so closed and bitter and threatened by the things I did not like.
Peter Cameron
#45. People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on marketing research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.
Steve Jobs
#46. I always really liked magicians. I'm not even sure why - except that they know things other people don't, and they live in untidy rooms full of strange objects.
Susanna Clarke
#47. Coquettes know how to please, not love, and that is why men love them SO much.
Pierre De Marivaux
#48. The worst part about pregnancy would definitely have to be my nausea. I don't know why it's just called morning sickness because morning sickness never just happened in the morning for me and it's not happening just in the morning for my sister.
Tia Mowry
#49. Robin did not know why the announcement that Strike was off to meet Elin should lower her spirits.
Robert Galbraith
#50. Do I want to know why you're so informed about spyware?" she asked.
Nikolaos gave her a charming, dazzling smile. "No, my dear. You do not.
Molly Ringle
#51. I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought there aren't a lot of rap groups that can say they have a documentary done about them, so my attitude was like, 'Shoot, why not?' I'm sure there are a lot of people that would like to take our place. I felt like we should all embrace it.
Phife Dawg
#52. Given that I don't know anything, when I am making up stories about the future, why not make it a good story instead of a scary one?
Sharon Weil
#53. Hat up, go kill her. Problem solved." "Bob," I said. "You can't just go around killing people." "I know. That's why you should do it." "No, no. I can't go around killing people, either." "Why not? You've done it before. And you've got a new gun and everything.
Jim Butcher
#54. For all the secret societies lunatics out there who think they know anything, why don't you chill..We're ALL guests on Earth, not Management.
Ziad K. Abdelnour
#55. Cause i really always knew that my little crime would be cold thats why i got heater for your thighs and i know i know its not your time but bye bye and word to the wise when the fire dies you think its over but its just begun
Avenged Sevenfold
#56. I am now quite sure that Tragedy and Hope was suppressed although I do not know why or by whom
Carroll Quigley
#57. You know why it didn't work out with him?" "Why?" "Because God made you for me." Not
Penelope Ward
#58. I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad...
Pink Floyd
#59. Don't. Please don't say it."
I search his eyes. For what, I don't know. "Why?"
"Because I don't want you to. I need you to come back to me. Not to help me. Or to help my father. I'm done with that. I don't want your help. It all boils down to you. I just want you.
M. Leighton
#60. In real life, you don't know what's going to happen to you, so why would your character know? It's liberating to play the emotion your character is feeling at the time and not know what's coming up. I like it.
Erin Richards
#61. It explains why people come home from work or school and immediately switch on the television. They are not interested in the program much of the time, they do not even know what is on. But they are desperate for the sound of another human voice in their lives
Harold S. Kushner
#62. If the prior distribution, at which I am frankly guessing, has little or no effect on the result, then why bother; and if it has a large effect, then since I do not know what I am doing how would I dare act on the conclusions drawn?
Richard Hamming
#63. Know why certain foods, such as truffles, are expensive. It's not because they taste best.
Marilyn Vos Savant
#64. I don't know why we're not interested in seeing good people. I think we like seeing good people, but only if bad things happen to them. Which is weird, isn't it?
James McAvoy
#65. For this gospel I was appointed w a herald, apostle, and teacher, x 12 and that is why I suffer y these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me C, z until that day. a
Anonymous
#66. For some reason, people find me funny. It's quite hard to define why a thought is funny. It's even harder to define why a person would be funny. It's a word that I can't define at all. But whether I know quite what it is or not, I seem to be it.
Wallace Shawn
#67. I just want us to be together," he said. "I mean, know it's not possible. But why not? [ ... ] Don't you want us to be together? -Oliver
Melissa De La Cruz
#68. The overture began. God! Strings! Oboes! Timpani! Are you fucking kidding me? Why, when we know what human beings are capable of doing, do we not turn our collective heads in shame at the sight of rich housewives screaming at each other on television?
Meg Howrey
#69. The men of the press, who despised their own profession, did not know why they were enjoying it today. One of them, a young man with years of notorious success behind him and a cynical look of twice his age, said suddenly, 'I know what I'd like to be: I wish I could be a man who covers news!'
Ayn Rand
#70. We do not admire their president.
We know why the White House is white.
We do not find their children irresistible;
We do not agree they should inherit the earth.
Alice Walker
#71. Those who know the marvels of chess and wonder why this game of all games does not enjoy greater popularity may also ask why Pepsi-Cola is consumed by more people than Chateau Lafite, or the Beatles are more familiar than Beethoven.
Gregor Piatigorsky
#72. Who made these laws? That's what I want to know. So that's why I wear two crosses now. I call it double cross. I believe in God-not religion.
Ja Rule
#73. What, are you doing? Aside from getting your sandwich cold." "I'm making a snow angel. Don't you know what that is?" "Yes, I know. But why? You must be freezing." "Not so much, actually. My face is a little, I guess.
Richelle Mead
#74. I don't know why it's anyone's business! People do what they need to do. I did it, and it was nowhere near as traumatic as being raped. I was so numb for so long that sex work for me was not a big deal.
Margaret Cho
#75. Ah well. You know what they say. Progress, not perfection. That's why it's called training. Shall we begin again?
Claire Thompson
#76. You may well ask me why ... I took the time to write [books]. I can only reply that I do not know. There was no why about it. I had to: that was all.
George Bernard Shaw
#77. It's one thing to tell a front man to drop off and fill in the hole behind, but if they don't know why they are doing it, it is not an easy thing to teach. But Rooney's just got it.
John Toshack
#78. I realized that journalism was not just about regurgitating the facts but about figuring out the point. It wasn't enough to know the who, what, when, and where; you had to understand what it meant. And why it mattered.
Greg McKeown
#79. This was why he couldn't let Richard know it was the chimes themselves that were loose. Richard would not have accepted what Zedd intended, what Zedd knew he must do.
Terry Goodkind
#80. I think that comedy is a good defense for a child. Because you know childhood is a nightmare as it is. And so why not use comedy and being funny as a defense to get through your life as opposed to drugs, alcohol and good looks? Because those things are dangerous when your young.
Joy Behar
#81. Blessed are the blind, for they know not enough to ask why.
Ernest Renan
#82. I'm not sure what Essiac does to extend cancer survival, and for all we know it may not have this effect. On the other hand, it's not toxic and my patients have reported feeling good while taking it, so why not support them?
Abram Hoffer
#83. I never considered myself a fall guy. I know what I did. I know why I did it. I'm not ashamed of it.
Oliver North
#84. I don't know why I keep saying this, and I don't know why I keep using their names ... And I'm not dogging them. I'm not slandering them. I'm not saying they are bad musicians. But how can Taylor Swift or Justin Timberlake win for R&B and funk? They are pop singers.
Sharon Jones
#85. It's stupid not to communicate what you know to the adults. They're only trying to protect us. And as far as the no-secrets zone, I can't agree to that. I don't even really know you guys, so why would I tell you my secrets? No way.
Cynthia Hand
#86. I do not know why journalists insist on calling their stuff "pieces", when they are in fact little entities, attempting to have beginnings, middles and endings.
James Cameron
#87. If I hear any of you talk," Winston says. "I will personally send Brendan over to kick you in the face."
"I am not going to kick anyone in the face."
"Kick yourself in the face, Brendan."
"I don't even know why we're friends.
Tahereh Mafi
#88. O Perfect One, why do you do this thing? For though we find joy in it, we know not the celestial reason nor the correspondency of it'. And Sabbah answered: 'I will tell you first what I do; I will tell you the reasons afterward.
W.W. Sawyer
#89. I don't understand why some things are talked about and others are not. I don't know why I think I can make any kind of difference. All I know is that I want to.
Angelina Jolie
#90. Why were my visitors so secretive, hiding themselves behind my consciousness. I could only conclude that they were using me and did not want me to know why ... What if they were dangerous? Then I was terribly dangerous because I was playing a role in acclimatizing people to them.
Whitley Strieber
#91. Not that I have anything against music now, but I just hated being an anything. I don't know why.
Charlemagne Palestine
#92. Knowing that an economy is in decline is not enough. We must know why the economy is failing to achieve economic growth if we are to take steps to establish or reestablish it.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
#93. Money, financial matters were to help people, to help them survive, not to have a bigger house or a bigger car and that sort of thing, because I hear that from so many kids, they often don't know why their father won't spend more time with them.
Bernie Siegel
#94. I may not know why, but I do know why not and this is where I stand.
J.R. Rim
#95. You can wait as long as you like, pretty one, it won't make any difference. He will never see you as anything more than some victim he has to protect. Why he thinks it his duty to protect you from the inevitable, I do not know ... unless he knows something we do not ...
Charlotte Munro
#96. Our poets do not write about it; our artists do not try to portray this remarkable thing. I don't know why. Is nobody inspired by our present picture of the universe? The value of science remains unsung by singers ... This is not yet a scientific age ...
Richard P. Feynman
#97. Everybody loves a good sob story, so long as it's not their story.
I don't know why. I'm not sure if people honestly care about other people or they just want a way to confirm that they've got it better than someone else.
John David Anderson
#98. I don't know if I was as ambitious as to change the world, but I do feel like - the reason why I called the album "Our Version of Events" was that I feel a lot of people are not represented in pop music and popular culture.
Emeli Sande
#99. Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.
Will Rogers
#100. Road accidents, psycho killings, plane crashes abound - we don't know which day will be our last, so why not make today the happiest day and be thankful for all that we have?
Maddy Malhotra
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