Top 100 Rather Be Quotes
#1. One must rather ask how much could be produced if competition among producers were abolished.
Ludwig Von Mises
#2. I'd rather argue with you, angel, than laugh with anyone else."
Jesus. It took me a minute to be able to swallow the last bite in my mouth.
"You know ... I love you madly."
He smiled. "Yes, I know.
Sylvia Day
#3. Just really be passionate and stick to your creative vision. Because it's competitive, and there are so many mind games and so many things that could get in the way. But success is the best revenge, so build yourself up rather than knock others down.
Tavi Gevinson
#4. I would rather be arrested as a traitor than fight a war for Wall Street.
Eugene V. Debs
#5. One damn sure thing! - he wasn't going to let them be rough with that Smith lad. He was a nuisance, granted, but he was a nice lad and rather appealing in a helpless, half-witted way.
Robert A. Heinlein
#6. A person's heart should be what she was judged by, rather than whose blood ran in her veins.
Melanie Dickerson
#7. Fall in love with me, Gary! She thought. Please. Please sit here holding me and think there's nowhere on earth I'd rather be than here, and no girl I'd rather have in my lap than Beth Rose Chapman!
Caroline B. Cooney
#8. It's all very Italian (and decidedly un-American): to insist that doing the right thing is the most pleasurable thing, and that the act of consumption might be an act of addition rather than subtraction.
Michael Pollan
#9. I would rather be politically dead than hypocritically immortalized.
Davy Crockett
#10. I would rather be an opportunist and float than go to the bottom with my principles around my neck.
Stanley Baldwin
#11. I'd rather be called a N*gger than a Slave.
Roger Ebert
#12. I was allowed to have an imagination rather than a need to be entertained all the time by television or computers or anything like that. So, I think it's helpful to try and give your kids.
Kirsten Dunst
#13. From a rational standpoint, it might be expected that man should be far more willing to express financial confidence in his skills rather than risking his earnings on the mindless meanderings of chance. Experience, however, has strongly indicated the reverse proposition to hold true.
Richard Arnold Epstein
#14. On the other hand, there is a certain advantage in traveling with someone who has a reputation for shooting rather than being shot: as Keram said, in a self-satisfied way, they might kill me, but they would know that, if I was with him, there would be unpleasantness afterwards.
Freya Stark
#15. It's nice sometimes to be the river rather than the rock.
Jo Beverley
#16. I've worked every day since I was 10. I don't know how to do anything else. There is nothing else I'd rather be doing.
Daniel Radcliffe
#17. [Nonviolence] is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing the evil. It is evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the persons victimized by evil.
Martin Luther King Jr.
#18. I mean, I always think when you're an actor you have to be the guy running into the burning building rather than running out of it, if you want to make some noise as an actor.
Dylan McDermott
#19. The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival, which is God, in that transcendent fullness where the risen Christ embraces and illumines all things.
Pope Francis
#20. As a street artist, I'm used to sharing my stuff with the public. It's a communal experience. I've learned not to be so precious, but rather to enjoy the process.
Shepard Fairey
#21. People in the eastern regions [of Ukaraine] are talking about federalisation, and Kiev has at long last started talking about de-centralisation. Order in the country can only be restored through dialogue and democratic procedures, rather than with the use of armed force, tanks and aircraft.
Vladimir Putin
#23. The Internet, and the computers that made it possible, came from a rather dark place, much more missile than ballet, and they might yet return there. This book is about how and why that could happen, and what might be done about it.
Scott Malcomson
#24. I think I would rather be a man than a god. We don't need anyone to believe in us. We just keep going anyhow. It's what we do.
Neil Gaiman
#25. Anger always involves projection of separation, which must ultimately be accepted as one's own responsibility, rather than being blamed on others.
Foundation For Inner Peace
#26. What's important is the work that you're doing, not the country that you're in. I would much rather be in a play at the Royal Court than in Los Angeles making 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.'
James Corden
#27. Wisdom is being able to see the world for what it is, rather than what you want it to be.
Patrick F. Rooney
#28. I'd rather sink trying to be different, than stay afloat like everyone else
Shah Rukh Khan
#29. 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
#31. The issue isn't
nor should it ever be
how weak our child is, but rather how strong our God is.
Tim Kimmel
#32. When I was younger I knew I could do anything - I could be the president if I wanted to, but that was a stupid idea - I'd rather be a rock star.
Kurt Cobain
#33. It's not good enough to just keep producing technology with no notion of whether it's going to be useful. You have to create stuff that people really want, rather than create stuff just because you can.
Genevieve Bell
#34. He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms that it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near, but rather he who, whether it be far off or near, awaits it with sincere faith, steadfast hope, and fervent love.
Augustine Of Hippo
#35. I guess I'd rather be lucky than good.
Mark Martin
#36. Education is not to be viewed as something like filling a vessel with water but, rather, assisting a flower to grow in its own way
Bertrand Russell
#37. We would rather be anywhere, as long as we are somewhere. We would rather be anyone, as long as we are someone.
Fred Wah
#38. The problems of philosophy and the systems designed to solve them are formulated in terms which tend to refer, not to the realm of actuality, but to the realms of possibility and necessity: to what might be and what must be, rather than to what is.
Roger Scruton
#39. We have an obligation to ourselves to foster the environment that allows for our self-actualization. Rather than my gifts serving me, I must serve them. I want to be a steward of the best aspects of my character and assist them in their fulfillment through proper discipline and habits.
Chris Matakas
#40. Indeed, one of the most frightening consequences of the Holocaust may well be that rather than serving as a warning to preserve humanity at all cost, it has provided a license to privilege physical survival over moral existence.
Omer Bartov
#41. If we fulfill our responsibility to the Constitution, the Supreme Court will be filled with superior legal minds who will pursue the one agenda that our founding fathers intended in writing the Constitution: justice, rather than political or personal goals.
Chuck Grassley
#42. I know what it's like to be distracted. To seek out distractions. To exhaust yourself doing every other little thing rather than face a blank page
Rainbow Rowell
#43. I'd rather look a fool than be right and fail to act.
Terry Goodkind
#44. I am failing as a woman. I am failing as a feminist. To freely accept the feminist label would not be fair to good feminists. If I am, indeed, a feminist, I am a rather bad one. I am a mess of contradictions.
Roxane Gay
#45. Indeed, cousine, I should rather you were a sincere Satanist than a pretend one; for the former recognizes God's majesty, and may be reformed, while the latter is an atheist, and doomed to the Lake of Fire.
Neal Stephenson
#46. You are afraid of hell. But that's all religion is, really. Fear of a place we'd rather not be, and where there's no such a thing as suicide to steal us away.
Patrick DeWitt
#48. It's always better to deliver the news yourself rather than allow your boss to be surprised.
Mary Cheney
#49. Doctrines, scriptures, sutras, essays, are not to be regarded as systems to be followed. They merely contribute to understanding. They should be for us a source of stimulation, and nothing more ... Adopted, rather than used as a stimulus, they are a hindrance
Wei Wu Wei
#50. I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.
Abraham Lincoln
#51. We're always pitching ideas and being told "no thank you." No offense taken, because I would so much rather be told the truth that they're not interested and be able to find the right show for that network down the line.
J.J. Abrams
#52. I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.
Julius Caesar
#53. Learn to follow the quiet voice within that speaks in feelings rather than words; follow what you 'hear' inside, rather than what others may be telling you to do.
Bob Proctor
#54. I suppose I would be wiser to adjust my attitude rather than to expect the universe to change reality.
David Drake
#55. There is no need to run outside for better seeing ... Rather abide at the center of your being; For the more you leave it the less you learn. Search your heart and see ... The way to do is to be.
Laozi
#56. I've always stayed on the periphery of things. When I used to go to the punk clubs and things like that, I was never up front. I always wanted to be in the back, or on the side, because I wanted to get the whole view, rather than be staring up at someone's nostrils.
James Wolcott
#57. People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.
Ned Vizzini
#58. Whether we athletes liked it or not, the 4-minute mile had become rather like an Everest: a challenge to the human spirit, it was a barrier that seemed to defy all attempts to break it, an irksome reminder that men's striving might be in vain.
Roger Bannister
#59. The true effect of genuine politeness seems to be rather ease than pleasure.
Samuel Johnson
#60. When I was younger, I never thought there could be anything better than the glory of battle. (Sparhawk)
And now? (Taryn)
Now I would much rather coax a smile from your face. (Sparhawk)
Sherrilyn Kenyon
#61. Naturally one would rather be a broad artist with power to evoke beauty from every phase of experience
but when one unmistakably isn't such an artist, there's no sense in bluffing and faking and pretending that one is.
H.P. Lovecraft
#62. Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.
Anonymous
#63. Nonmonogamous folks recognize that during a lifetime you can and will be attracted to other people even if you are in a wonderful, fulfilling relationship; they make room in their relationship for these attractions rather than allow them to cause anxiety, jealousy, and unreasonable expectations.
Tristan Taormino
#64. You have to know yourself and know what you can carry. If you're not comfortable, no matter how well dressed you are, you're not going to look right. I'd rather be happy and feel comfy.
Iris Apfel
#65. Trout might have said, and it can be said of me as well, that he created caricatures rather than characters. His animus against so-called mainstream literature, moreover, wasn't peculiar to him. It was generic among writers of science fiction.
Kurt Vonnegut
#66. Men are distinguished from women by their commitment to do violence rather than to be victimized by it.
Andrea Dworkin
#67. A successful Christian life will not be based on how much work we have done, but rather, on how close to the Lord we have become and how obedient we have been.
Rick Joyner
#68. Reading a book should not be a passive exercise, but rather a raucous conversation.
Studs Terkel
#69. You don't have to push or pull or fight or win, the struggle is illusory. Sometimes or rather, all times, you just have to be.
Andrew McMahon
#70. The bravest thing you'll ever do is walk into a booth every few years, where no one can see you, and press a button, to say which of two slave-masters you'd rather be owned by.
Larken Rose
#71. There are many people who will stay in negative situation because it is familiar, rather than go where there is promise of something good, because that would be something unfamiliar
Stormie O'martian
#72. Any mature, spiritually sensitive view of marriage must be built on the foundation of mature love rather than romanticism. But this immediately casts us into a countercultural pursuit.
Gary L. Thomas
#73. I have the feeling you would much rather be on the front than in Adopest trying to win over the snakes in politics. At least here you're allowed to shoot your enemies.
Brian McClellan
#74. Adultery is the ultimate deal-breaker for me. I would rather be alone than in a relationship that doesn't honor me.
Garcelle Beauvais
#76. The moment I felt my life return was when I took a breath and said to him, No thank you. Were I as perfect as you are demanding, life would be rather boring.
Paula Heller Garland
#77. School taught me how to do a 9-5 job rather than be a person who wants to start a business.
KSI
#78. I'd rather be the bloke laughing at other people. I don't need to make people laugh. I surround myself with funny people. I laugh all the time.
Jennifer Garner
#80. At the outset, I think that one should be natural, not just when it comes to writing but in every area of life. If you try to be something that you are not just to impress others, then it's a rather sad life.
Amish Tripathi
#81. I'd Rather Be an Old Man's Sweetheart (Than a Young Man's Fool).
Candi Staton
#82. I am rather observant, and have a habit of putting things together. I tell you that so that you may be careful when you don't want me to know a thing.
Ethel Lilian Voynich
#83. If God were to eradicate all evil from this planet, He would have to eradicate all evil men. Who would be exempt? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" [Romans 3:23 NIV].
God would rather transform the evil man than eradicate him.
Billy Graham
#84. I sometimes wish taste wasn't ever an issue, and the sounds of instruments or synths could be judged solely on their colour and timbre. Judged by what it did to your ears, rather than what its historical use reminds you of.
Jonny Greenwood
#85. It must be remembered that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed as epic tales and not as historical texts. To use Shakespeare's Macbeth as a source for 11th-century Scottish politics would rather miss the point of the play, and the same is true of the Homeric epics.
Nic Fields
#86. Most voters would rather have their purse or wallet stolen than be audited by the IRS.
Frank Luntz
#87. The whole thing means such a great deal for me, and hopefully one day it will be there. But my friends and my family mean a little more. I would rather be helping them, even if it hurts that.
Michael Irvin
#89. There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness; ... and, to know, rather consists in opening out a way where the imprisoned splendor may escape, then in effecting entry for a light supposed to be without.
Robert Browning
#90. The grid is going to be a very different system in 2020, 2030. We keep thinking that we want it to be there and provide power when we need it ... Families will have to get used to only using power when it was available, rather than constantly.
Steve Holliday
#91. Be guided by the love of enjoyment, rather than the fear of making a mistake, when things are perfect, in a way, nothing has been learned.
Josephine Araldo
#92. If it's a romantic holiday, the only thing I need is my wife. We love quiet and calm places where we can't be disturbed. Neither of us likes being in busy places; we would much rather stay in our hotel room and enjoy each other's company.
Jean Reno
#93. There is no quality I would rather have, and be thought to have, than gratitude. For it is not only the greatest virtue, but is the mother of all the rest.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
#95. I took an acting class. After the first day, the teacher quit, so they said take another. When I saw 'How to be a Stand-up Comedian,' it resonated. I realized I'd rather make 200 people laugh than make one person cry.
Wendy Liebman
#96. It is better to be making the news than taking it, to be an actor rather than a critic.
Winston Churchill
#97. Look for people in your life that who will help calm the storms in your soul rather than challenge it to a battle. Peace should always be your first priority.in your life.
Timothy Pina
#98. Rather than allowing subway and bus fares to rise while service erodes, we need to be lowering prices and expanding services - regardless of the costs. Public
Naomi Klein
#99. Yes, it's rather funny, really, that next to no-one realized the snake that Harry set free in Philosopher's Stone turned out to be Voldemort's final Horcrux, Nagini
J.K. Rowling
#100. There's as much crookedness as you want to find. There was something Abraham Lincoln said - he'd rather trust and be disappointed than distrust and be miserable all the time. Maybe I trusted too much.
John Wooden
