Top 100 Why We Do Quotes
#1. 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
#2. When I get home and people ask me,'Hey, Hoot, why do you do it, man? What are you? Some kind of war junkie? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you. And that's it. That's all it is.
Black Hawk
#3. If we ignore our death, we end up just going around completely oblivious to why we do the things we do!
Caitlin Doughty
#4. What we read and why we do so defines us in a profound way. You are what you read, I suppose. Browsing through someone's library is like peeking into their DNA
Guillermo Del Toro
#5. I think creative people need to do a bit of, you know, tuning into every radio station - you just do, otherwise you don't know much about other people. You kind of have to learn a bit about yourself so you can work out how we all behave and why we do the things we do.
Anne-Marie Duff
#6. It is not what we do that is important. It is why we do it.
Nicola Morgan
#7. I love storytelling and I love just relating directly to an audience. That's why we do theatre, it's because we love contact with the audience. We love the fact that the audience will change us. The way the audience responds makes us change our performance.
Simon Callow
#8. It's a difficult job to do, but that is why we do it. Only so many people can do it. But it, it enables you to ... for a brief period of time to kind of get away. You have to go back and deal with, but it's a good escape.
Brett Favre
#9. It's just about asking why. We as cooks historically have been very, very technically proficient but not technically informed as to why we do what we do. Modernist cuisine is about that knowledge.
Wylie Dufresne
#11. Motives reveal why we do what we do, which is actually more important to God than what we're doing.
Joyce Meyer
#12. We may not always know exactly why we do what we do, choose what we choose, or feel what we feel. But the obscurity of our real motivations doesn't stop us from creating perfectly logical-sounding reasons for our actions, decisions, and feelings.
Dan Ariely
#13. The apparently bottomless gulf between what we say we want and why we do want, between what we officially admire and secretly desire, between, in the largest sense, the people we marry and the people we love.
Joan Didion
#14. The establishment uses that rationale all the time, and that's why we do what we do. But leadership requires some understanding that you can say no. People have base instincts, but the transcendent also appeal to them.
Norman Lear
#15. I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from.
Paul Bloom
#16. We live in constant danger of coming apart. The mystery of why we do not always come apart is the animating tension of all art.
Virginia Woolf
#17. Humans can only toil endlessly for so long. Every now and then we need to taste the sweeter things in life, to remember why we do the work in the first place.
Drew Hayes
#18. Being a songwriter or a painter you're definitely facing your fears. You're facing your fears because you're speaking your truth; you're speaking from your heart. That's something that's not easy to do, you set yourself up for all sorts of criticism or vulnerability but that's why we do it.
Brett Dennen
#19. There are no excuses," he said at last. "But there are reasons. Reasons why we are what we are. Reasons why we do not have to stay that way.
Mercedes Lackey
#21. We're on tour to kind of explain why we do what we do, how its done and how we put it together.
Eric San
#23. Understanding motivation is one of the most important things we can do in our lives, because it has such a bearing on why we do the things we do and whether we enjoy them or not.
Clayton Christensen
#24. Who knows why we do it? And when we've done it, nobody wants it. Still we keep doing it. That's what makes a writer a writer.
Chloe Thurlow
#25. I don't know why we do it. But sometimes we just swim straight for the net.
Deb Caletti
#26. Happiness, if you think about it, is the biggest conundrum we face. The pursuit of it is why we do basically everything that we do, and yet, none of that effort is necessary: it's the simplest choice of changing our state of mind.
Brianna Wiest
#27. Freedom. That's the core of why we do what we do. Peace is a fallacy in itself. Personally, I only know of two forms of peace - peace in death and the peace of slavery." He snorted in amusement. "And I'm not certain about death.
Evan Currie
#28. Difference is always the biggest challenge for humans. That's why we do enjoy reading or watching movies or watching TV. It's a personal challenge to get close to people that we never get close to.
Franka Potente
#29. We are just here, right? We are just people doing our thing. And the most important aspect of anything we do is our motivation, why we do it.
Krishna Das
#30. Why we do what do matters. When we lose our why, we lose our way. We inevitably get lost when we don't know why we are doing what we are doing.
Michael White
#31. I understand why we do that now. It's a help, not a threat. It's something to remind you how important words are. Ideas are important. Principles are important. Words are important. Your word is the most important of all. Your word is who you are.
Tom Clancy
#32. The reasons why we do the things we do will not always be the ones others will remember. Sometimes I think we have children because we want to leave behind someone who can explain who we were to the world.
Ayobami Adebayo
#33. We say WHAT we do, we sometimes say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do.
Simon Sinek
#34. We're all music fans and we just love being in a band, and that's why we do it.
Joel Madden
#35. The Zach Johnson Foundation, for my wife and I, is very much a part of what we do and why we do what we do. It's a great platform for us to give back to the community that started me in the game and other communities.
Zach Johnson
#36. In truth, it matters less what we do in practice than how we do it and why we do it. The same posture, the same sequence, the same meditation with a different intention takes on an entirely new meaning and will have entirely different outcomes.
Donna Farhi
#37. Success comes when we wake up every day in that never-ending pursuit of why we do what we do.
Simon Sinek
#38. I am persuaded that the chief reason why we do not enjoy religion is that we do not try to enjoy it.
Adoniram Judson
#39. A sad truth is that we don't know what we really believe! We don't know how we operate. We don't know what is holding us back. We don't know why we do what we do.
Maddy Malhotra
#40. But we have to understand why we do what we do, not just do what we do. Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.
Pinball Clemons
#41. Call it swoon, or call it hypnosis--but that it is never absolute, and that all of us sometimes have awareness of our condition, and moments of wondering what it's all about and why we do and think the things that sometimes we wake up and find ourselves doing and thinking. Upon
Charles Fort
#42. And is that why we do what we do? For public approval, for fame? Do we help people because they will be appropriately grateful--or merely because they need help?
Kurt Busiek
#43. We've always idealized youth and then destroyed youth. That has happened since the beginning of time, and I'm fascinated by why we do that.
Drew Goddard
#44. People live their lives thinking that they are forgotten, and that is why we do the most outrageous things, so as not to go unnoticed
Rawi Hage
#45. Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation BY EDWARD L. DECI WITH RICHARD FLASTE
Daniel H. Pink
#46. Almost any American can connect on some level to a family background of having come across some ocean. They say, 'My great-grandparents came from wherever ... this is why we have this last name, why we do this thing at Christmas.' All the details get watered down but don't quite disappear.
Jhumpa Lahiri
#47. Being a sensitive empath is a beautiful thing as an artist, and it fosters a deep burning curiosity about why we do the things we do.
Alanis Morissette
#48. In effect we are, bending and breaking the rules of the language. And if someone were to ask why we do it, the answer is simply: for fun
David Crystal
#49. God is always more interested in why we do something than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements.
Rick Warren
#50. Nature is a big influence on my work. That's where the cosmic element comes in, an awareness of the relevance of what we do as a species, why we do it, and its implications.
Tim Lebbon
#51. Why we do what we do: that moment when you get to see the future on your computer screen before the rest of the world.
Aaron Levie
#52. It's hard sometimes to remember why we do anything in the first place. It's nice to think there's a purpose, or even a real decision that turns everything in one direction, but that's not always true, is it? We just fall into our lives.
Dinaw Mengestu
#53. Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Richard Feynman
#54. Research shows that the pursuit of material wealth and achievements fails to create true happiness and that happiness depends four times as much on why we do things than on what these things bring our way. While
Chris Masi
#55. Perhaps that is the secret. It is not what we do, so much as why we do it.
George R R Martin
#56. The reason why we do maths is because it's like poetry. It's about patterns, and that really turned me on. It made me feel that maths was in tune with the other things I liked doing.
Marcus Du Sautoy
#57. It's a balance. Like, we are shooting the big car chase at the end and it's me with everybody. And I got my stunt coordinator who shot some stuff and I'm like, you are right next to me, why don't we do it together.
George Tillman Jr.
#58. Firefly: Now that you're Secretary of War, what kind of an army do you think we oughta have? Chicolini: Well, I tell you what I think. I think we should have a standing army. Firefly: Why should we have a standing army? Chicolini: Because then we save money on chairs.
Groucho Marx
#59. I still do not understand why we don't have people on the streets every single day raising their voices for climate.
Christiana Figueres
#60. It definitely seems like we are connecting with people, which is nice, because I've had a lot of music do the same for me. It's not like I don't I understand why we get the reactions we do.
Jon Crosby
#61. Last night you said you wanted to know what to expect so you could better select your attire. I told you we were going to visit a vampire in a Goth-den tonight. Why, then, Ms. Lane, do you look like a perky rainbow?
Karen Marie Moning
#62. Why do we go to all this trouble' Parker asked. 'Men don't notice anyway.'
'Because what we wear affects how we feel, how we act, how we move. And that they do notice. Especially the move. Get dressed, smoke the eyes. You'll know you look good so you'll feel good. You'll have a better time.
Nora Roberts
#63. Why the hell do we make such a big deal out of things that shouldn't be a big deal?
Neil Cavuto
#64. I do not see why we should not be as just to an ant as to a human being.
Charles Kingsley
#65. Do you know why our race is doomed, Pellinore? Because it has fallen in love with the pleasant fiction that we are somehow above the very rules that we have determined govern everything else.
Rick Yancey
#66. We tend to forget at times that it is the little ones, the children, who do suffer the greatest hurt. If we cannot comprehend why certain sorrows are visited upon us, how on earth can they?
Sharon Kay Penman
#67. We live in a democracy and I do not understand why highly respected scientists from top international branches are not able express themselves!
Nina Hagen
#68. We still have systems we don't need, we have infrastructure we don't need. Why do you have over 900,000 bureaucrats working in one way or another in all these systems.
John Kasich
#69. Don't you hate that? Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable? That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.
Quentin Tarantino
#70. Nobodys life ever goes according to plan.
So why do we keep on planning?
Because that's how we know who we are. By what we intend to be. By what we try to become.
And fail.
I don't say 'fail'. I saw we aim and miss. But we still hit something.
Orson Scott Card
#71. Why do we complain about the Fall? It is not on its account that we were expelled from Paradise, but on account of the Tree of Life, lest we might eat of it.
Franz Kafka
#72. We expect professional and financial success to require time and effort. Why do we take success in our relationships for granted? Why should we expect harmony to come naturally just because we are in love?
Eknath Easwaran
#73. The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.' I always tell young people, 'Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'
Grace Hopper
#74. Perhaps he finds beauty saddening
I do myself sometimes. Once when I was quite little I asked father why this was and he explained that it was due to our knowledge of beauty's evanescence, which reminds us that we ourselves shall die.
Dodie Smith I Capture The Castle
#75. Why do we live in a time where we only say what we feel when it's too late? We have evolved. We can split atoms and cure diseases and travel to other planets. Yet we can't say how we feel. We can't tell one another who we really are and be accepted for it.
M. Jonathan Lee
#76. Things that we do without knowing why are we doing them are usually the best things that we do.
Minhal Mehdi
#77. Don't try to prove to everybody that the reason why you can't is that nobody could. It's no excuse. You can break the tradition by being the first person to make it happen!
Israelmore Ayivor
#78. We demand that the government of Canada force Stockwell Day to change his first name to Doris. Why do this, you may ask? Because it'll be fun.
Rick Mercer
#79. Some roads we travel in life can feel like the ones that might break us, but that's why God surrounds us with people who will cheer us on and wipe our tears and listen as we pour out our hearts. Because often, it's not what you say but what you do that really matters.
Melanie Shankle
#80. My final question: Why are we not looking at moving out onto the sea? Why do we have programs to build a habitation on Mars and we have programs to look at colonizing the Moon but we do not have a program looking at how we colonize our own planet, and the technology is at hand!
Robert Ballard
#81. When it comes to dress, we are supposedly free to wear whatever we want - but if this is the case, why do we wear such similar clothes? Why are we choosing to wear shoes that are almost perfectly designed to make walking as difficult as possible?
Caroline Criado-Perez
#82. The pressure to succeed has a lot to do with why people overstep the line. It is a peculiar weakness of western culture where we have made a fetish of success.
Desmond Tutu
#83. Parents embarrass their children probably more than the other way around. I don't know why we should blush so hard for our parents
we didn't rear them
and yet we do.
Peg Bracken
#84. Why do we procrastinate leaving? The denial phase is a humbling one. It takes a while to come to terms with our miserable luck. Rowley puts it this way: 'Fires only happen to other people.' We have a tendency to believe that everything is OK because, well, it almost always has been before.
Amanda Ripley
#85. Why do we put suits in a garment bag and put garments in a suitcase?
Steven Wright
#86. I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.
Penelope Cruz
#87. Everything we do is escapism, because we'll all be dead and everything we do is completely meaningless. Why brush your teeth? Why not be in the park with the bums passing a short dog? Why pay taxes, why get educated? Of course literature is an escape. You have to fill the hours.
T.C. Boyle
#88. There are many things that people do happily that I can't imagine why they would do it ... But I have to say that even though I am critical or judgmental of society at large, I'm not critical of people individually. We are who we are.
Ian MacKaye
#89. We had to give each other permission to be different as parents. That's why there's a mom and a dad with two different approaches, because you do need both.
Bridgette Wilson
#90. Soap. If you're going to do that, we might as well kill two birds with one stone."
Fen's brows furrowed. "Why would you want to do that? Arrows are much more accurate.
Dana Marie Bell
#91. For another thing, we're under martial law, so I can do very nearly whatever the fuck I want. Including march through your precious little ship there towing you along behind in a ball gag and lacy underwear. So your warrant bullshit? You can roll that up and fuck it. Now tell me why I'm here.
James S.A. Corey
#92. Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?
Holly Near
#93. We have no money. We have no possessions. Maybe that is why we value the things we do have ... loyalty and friendship.
Anthony Horowitz
#94. We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens ...
Johannes Kepler
#95. Where does it stop? You get offered money for your wedding, then for your kids, new houses, holidays ... We earn enough from football and sponsorships, why do you need any more?
Ryan Giggs
#96. Why would you do that for me?" Leesha asked.
Rojer smiled, taking her hand in his crippled one. "We're survivors, aren't we?" he asked. "Someone once told me that survivors have to look out for one another.
Peter V. Brett
#97. I almost feel like we do live in a world like 'Caprica.' The fact that it's so close to home is why it appeals to me so much. You're making statements about what's going on right now. You take Facebook and Wii and add it together, and that's what the virtual world in 'Caprica' is.
Magda Apanowicz
#98. Have you ever noticed how they keep improving your laundry detergent, but they still can't get those blue flakes out? Why do we trust them to get our clothes clean? These guys can't even get the DETERGENT white!
Jerry Seinfeld
#99. He said the reason we studied history was to find out why things were the way they were, how we got here. He said you could do anything you wanted to people who didn't know their history. That was the way a totalitarian system worked.
Janet Fitch
#100. Why is it that we feel bad when "all" we can do for a person is pray for them? We feel like we need to work to help, but remember: prayer is the work.
Dillon Burroughs
