Top 100 Yes But No Quotes
#1. In dialogue, there is opposition, yes, but no head-on collision. Smashing heads does not open minds.
Deborah Tannen
#2. Don't feel too bad" I offered. "I met him face-to-face, and I missed it, too."
"Yes, but no one expected you to be clever Miss Rook."
"Thanks for that," I said
William Ritter
#3. A healthy person goes 'Yes,' 'No,' and 'Whoopee!' An unhealthy person goes 'Yes, but,' 'No, but,' and 'No whoopee.
Eric Berne
#4. No' and 'Yes' are words quickly said, but they need a great amount of thought before you utter them.
Baltasar Gracian
#5. The hope of Elevation has to remain something random, impossible to see properly, given not to those who earn it but to those with no discernible right to it. Resentment, fear, loathing, and a tiny, flickering light of hope always just out of reach, that is Hell, yes?
Simon Kurt Unsworth
#6. Yes or no?"
"It's always yes with you."
"Except when it's no."
"If you have to keep asking because - I'll answer it as many times as you ask. But this is always going to be yes."
"Don't 'always' me."
"Don't ask for the truth if you're just going to dilute it.
Nora Sakavic
#7. Shit. Well, maybe taking her jeans off would make him more inclined to say she could check out his tunnels.
Of course, he was pretty much guaranteed to say yes if she let him check out her tunnel again, but ... no.
Stacia Kane
#8. Is there discrimination against women? Yes. There's no denying that the old boys' network is alive and well. But there's also discrimination against men.
Warren Farrell
#9. Gabe, did you pray?'
'Sort of.'
'Me too. Do you believe?'
'No. Do you?'
'No.'
'I don't believe,' said Gabriel, 'But I have faith, if you know what I mean.'
'What in?'
'I don't know, life, carrying on, I suppose.'
'Yes.
Monica Ali
#10. Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact that there are no formal manners. I mean some people have beautiful manners but there's no kind of agreed form of manners.
John McGahern
#11. Oh yes! ... The sweet summons of God to man. That's when He calls you up to His arms. And it's the most beautiful thing, a rebirth, a new life. But, just the same I'm in no rush to find out.
Oscar Hijuelos
#12. Amazin'.' he said again. 'He just looks as though he's thinking, right?'
'Er ... yes.'
'But he's not actually thinking?'
'Er ... no.'
'So ... he just gives the impression of thinking but really it's just a show?'
'Er ... yes.'
Just like everyone else, then really,' said Ridcully
Terry Pratchett
#13. I received Christ into my heart and my life began to change. But it was a gradual change. And I didn't see any flashing bulbs. I didn't hear any thunder. There was no great emotional experience. It was just saying: Yes, Lord Jesus, I want you to be the lord of my life.
Billy Graham
#14. My father is a jazz musician, so I grew up hearing jazz. My parents loved it, but I didn't like it. It went on for too long. Yes, I had certain teachers that really inspired me, like Danny Barker, and John Longo. And I had no idea that I would have any impact on jazz.
Wynton Marsalis
#15. I worked with fantastic actors, fantastic directors. People I would never otherwise have met. Was I limited? Yes. Did I use it as I could have? No. But I was always ambivalent about Hollywood and what I wanted. And ambivalence in our business is no good for success.
Valeria Golino
#16. Yes," she thought, "nature is the refuge and home for women: they have no public career - no aim nor end beyond their domestic circle; but they can extend that, and make all the creations of nature their own, to foster and do good to.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
#17. Know your worth so you know when to say, "Yes", and when to say, "Thank you but no thank you.
Sam Owen
#18. I still couldn't imagine that she was really, truly pregnant; maybe this was an hysterical pregnancy. But Sarah was never hysterical. Enthusiastic, yes, ironic on occasion. I couldn't imagine a doctor saying, No, it's just an ironic pregnancy.
James Lileks
#19. Yahabae: WA T A R I NO
buddha but better: WATARI YES
Powerhh
#20. Was Apollo worth all the effort and expense? If it had been about the Moon, the answer would be no, but it wasn't, it was about the Earth. The answer is yes. The only thing I can't see in all this is a rationale for going back. Unless we could find a way to take everyone.
Andrew Smith
#21. Would you like me to tell you what I did last night when I got home?"
"No." She shivered. "Yes."
Brent chuckled quietly, but it came out sounding pained. "I took off my clothes and lay down on my stomach in bed. Then I wrapped your silk panties around my hand and fucked them.
Tessa Bailey
#22. Becky!" I had to laugh. "You're worse than me! It's no wonder he's such an egomaniac."
"What? You're telling me you can say no to that face?"
I wanted to say yes, but it would have been a lie and we all knew it.
Kelly Oram
#23. Yes. He told me things. Like what for instance? Like once he said I had beautiful eyes. He said my eyes were like black diamonds lit up on a starry night. They are, honey. But nobody ever told me. No, Maggie said. They never do.
Kent Haruf
#24. I don't love him," Olivia snapped.
"Yes, you do," Chalton bit out. It was one thing to play hard to get or to take time to figure out feelings, but no way was she going to lie out loud to him. "It happens fast with vampires, so deal with it.
Rebecca Zanetti
#25. EVER NOTICE THAT ALL ONE HOUR TV DRAMAS ARE ALL SEGMENTED INTO 5 ACTS? YES, IT'S DONE FOR COMMERCIAL BREAKS, BUT THAT MAGIC NUMBER IS NO ACCIDENT.
Film Crit Hulk!
#26. Yes, a guide can help point the way to your own sense of self and your purpose in life. No, a guide can't replace your own search. When you are in your car driving through town, signposts can tell you where each road goes, but only you can turn the steering wheel.
Deepak Chopra
#27. Grimm frowned. "Ah. Um. Am I in any danger?" "You're dead as a stone, man!" "I am?" "Yes. No, actually, not even remotely, but for purposes of this conversation, yes.
Jim Butcher
#28. Yes - it was happiness she still wanted, and the glimpse she had caught of it made everything else of no account. One by one she had detached herself from the baser possibilities , and she saw that nothing now remained to her but the emptiness of renunciation.
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
#29. Susan's fingers wandered, and her eyes sparkled. "Your mouth says no," she purred, "but this says yes."
I went up on my toes, and swallowed, trying to keep my balance and get her hand off me at the same time. "That thing is always saying something stupid," I told her.
Jim Butcher
#30. I do think there's a spiritual element in the world, yes. Have I experienced a ghost firsthand, per se? No. I guess I've experienced feelings or some kind of a presence. But I certainly haven't seen any kind of transparent entity running around.
Carrie Preston
#31. My father toasted me mockingly with his glass. "Then eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die."
"Next week," Hades interrupted.
Zeus glowered at him. "Yes, obviously, but I was using a metaphor."
"No," his brother replied. "You were paraphrasing. Badly.
Tellulah Darling
#32. A really religious person has no theology. Yes, he has the experience, he has the truth, he has that luminosity, but he has no theology.
Rajneesh
#33. I may not know why, but I do know why not and this is where I stand.
J.R. Rim
#34. She'd given it away once; she never would again. Life took things from you: mothers, friends, sometimes even choices. But that wasn't the same as giving parts of yourself away. It was her voice to use: to say no and yes and "I love you" with, to sing with, even to hold silent.
Jennifer Mason-Black
#35. But no, I came by these feelings honestly. And I don't accept bitter. Wounded, yes. Traumatized, sure. Grieving, okay. Anything other than bitter. I put too much work in to be callously tossed aside as bitter. Bitter is for someone who hasn't earned it.
Samantha Irby
#36. There's no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there's no excuse for boredom, ever.
Viggo Mortensen
#37. Much of our lives involves the word 'no.' In school we are mostly told, 'Don't do it this way. Do it that way.' But art is the big yes. In art, you get a chance to make something where there was nothing.
Marvin Bell
#38. I don't know why some prayers get yeses and some prayers get nos. I know the anguish of a no when you want a yes more than you want anything in the world. But I don't know why. I only know that in the Cross God's no to his only Son was turned into God's yes to every human being who ever lived.
John Ortberg
#39. But no one ever said yes to make sex consensual. You took hints from body language, from the way two people came together. Why ... didn't a shake of the head or a hand pushing hard against a chest speak just as loudly? Why did you have to actually say the word no for it to be rape?
Jodi Picoult
#40. Are you really an orphan?
Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you?
No, not at present, but I suppose it's a thing one is bound to be.
Elizabeth Bowen
#41. The object is very clear in the fight against racism; you have reasons why you're opposed to it. But when you're writing a novel, you don't want the reader to come out of it voting yes or no to some question. Life is more complicated than that.
Margaret Atwood
#42. Do we have to regulate derivatives? Yes, we do. 'Cause when I did this in my investments, frankly, no one knew who could pay who. But derivatives have an important place in our economy.
Jeff Greene
#43. All those years thinking I was saved and had said my yes to God, but was really living the no.
Ann Voskamp
#44. No need to be embarrassed," he said. "Although if you need some practice before your wedding, I'm more than willing to help for free."
Scarlett attempted to make a sound of disgust, but it came out more like a whimper.
"Was that a yes?" Julian asked.
Stephanie Garber
#45. The truth is that there are no "masters" in the spiritual life. Mature and wise teachers, yes. But fundamentally we are all beginners receiving and giving on our knees before God and with open hands before one another. In this business no one "lords it over" another. Pay
Richard J. Foster
#46. The mind gives us thousands of ways to say no, but there's only one way to say yes, and that's from the heart.
Suze Orman
#47. No. You hurt people because you didn't have any idea what love really was. You were trying to understand it in the only way you knew how. It's horrible, yes. But it's forgivable. I forgive you. I forgive a thousand worse things you may have done. I can forgive anything.
Laurelin Paige
#48. You might get a "no" a hundred times but you might get "yes" one time. That one "yes" will take you on a new path!
Kiesza
#49. No matter our dire circumstances, no matter our shared upbringing, no matter the chill his smile sends over my body, he's still him, and I'm still me, and yes, he needs to have a female heir someday, but with a proper lady, a duchess or a princess - not the girl who spars with him.
Sara Raasch
#50. It is the end. But of what? The end of France? No. The end of kings? Yes.
Victor Hugo
#51. Now I usually try not to give advice. Information, yes, advice, no. But, what has worked for me may not work for you. Well, take for instance what has worked for me. Wigs. Tight clothes. Push-up bras.
Dolly Parton
#52. Did I shop Kmart for clothing? No, I didn't. But I loved that I could be totally involved in the hangtags, the buttons, the commercials and with the designers. Something in my head said 'Yes.' I was adventurous.
Jaclyn Smith
#53. Beating the dead animals in the dissecting room with a stick." "Beating them with a stick!" "Yes, to see whether bruises could be made after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes." "But he is not a medical student?" "No. I have no idea what he wants to do with his studies. But here
Arthur Conan Doyle
#54. Have you ever been lonely? No, neither have I. Solitary, yes. Alone, certainly. But lonely means minding about being on your own. I've never minded about it.
Sebastian Faulks
#55. Lucy: Yes, as usual I bought so many books that my food budget ran out. I was left with no choice but to eat bread crusts. But! On the other hand, this means that I was able to feed my word addiction! I feel no shame whatsoever about eating bread crusts!
Hasebe: Have a little shame.
Karino Takatsu
#56. I have a dream like everyone elses in this universe may have and i always ask myself 'Am i strong enough to face my destiny? Smart enough to face my problems? Brave enough to face my fears? And stupid enough to risk my life?' If it would be 'No' then, 'Disapointed' but if 'Yes' then, 'So be it'.
Russ
#57. My taste, which may be the opposite of a tolerant taste, is in this case very far from saying Yes indiscriminately: it does not like to say Yes;better to say No, but best of all to say nothing.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#58. Dear old al-Maarri was a great skeptic poet. He wrote a parody of the Koran, and his friends would tease him and say, "al-Maarri, but no one says your Koran." And he said, "Yes, but give me time. Give me time. If people recite it for twenty years it will become as popular as the other one."
Tariq Ali
#59. Whatever the occasion, do not neglect alcohol. No other refreshment will do. Yes, alcohol kills brain cells, but it's very selective. It only kills the brain cells that contain good sense, shame, embarrassment, and restraint.
P. J. O'Rourke
#60. No matter what argument you make against evolution, the response is Well, you know, it's possible to believe in evolution and believe in God. Yes, and it's possible to believe in Spiderman and believe in God, but that doesn't prove Spiderman is true.
Ann Coulter
#61. WARNING: This novel deals with undead and crazy murderous cannibalistic people. There are no depictions of ponies gaily prancing across pastures as cute bunnies nibble on carrots contained herein. BUT there are numerous depictions of violence, murder, blood, mayhem, and yes, even gore.
William Bebb
#62. Don't ya wanna hear the secret?' his eyes were narrow and mean, despite the glaze of rum. Louer drained his glass and slammed it to the bar. 'You get happy by learnin' to say 'yes' to what life offers you, but stay happy by rememberin' when to start sayin' 'no'.
T.B. McKenzie
#63. You lose nothing by being polite. The answer is 'No', but please say it politely and give the reasons ... Explain to me why 'No'. Don't change 'No' to 'Yes'. Don't be a fool. If there was a good reason why it is 'No', it must remain 'No', but the man must be told politely.
Mr. Lee
#64. He feels the way he used to feel passing love notes to girls in elementary school. Do you like me? the notes always read. Check yes or no. But he is older now and his question is older, too, not Do you like me? but Shouldn't someone?
Kevin Brockmeier
#65. IV
Yes, I have a thousand tongues,
And nine and nighty-nine lie.
Though I strive to use the one,
It will make no melody at my will,
But is dead in my mouth.
Stephen Crane
#66. There was a period in my life when I would say no, and I didn't know why I was saying no. In most cases, it was out of fear, just trying to be safe. Because 'no' will keep you safe. 'No' won't draw attention to you. But all the cool things are on the other side of 'Yes, And.'
Ali Farahnakian
#68. Mitt Romney we think is going run again. He says he has no plans to run, but he said if he did run, this time things would turn out differently. Yes they would. This time he would get his ass kicked by a woman.
Bill Maher
#69. Ah, Signor Halt,' he said uncertainly, 'you are making a joke, yes?'
'He is making a joke, no,' Will said. 'But he likes to think he is making a joke, yes.
John Flanagan
#70. Yes, and you've never been able to understand the suggestiveness of paradox and contradiction. That's your problem. You live and breathe paradox and contradiction, but you can no more see the beauty of them than the fish can see the beauty of the water
Michael Frayn
#71. I wouldn't have waited," Galen muttered.
"Yes, but, then again, you're no gentleman, brother," Eryx laughed.
Nely Cab
#72. I miss you. You don't know how much I miss you. You don't know how my heart sinks inside me when I think how far away you are. But then, maybe you know that feeling. I hope you do. No, I wouldn't wish that on you. But then, yes I would . . .. Forgive me for missing you that much.
Kristen D. Randle
#73. When a diplomat says 'yes' he means 'maybe.' When a diplomat says 'maybe' he means 'no.' But if a diplomat says 'no' he's no diplomat.
Alan Furst
#74. Pavlik denounced his father's crimes, and when Trofim shouted out, 'It's me, your father,' the boy told the judge: 'Yes, he used to be my father, but I no longer consider him my father. I am not acting as a son, but as a Pioneer.
Orlando Figes
#75. Understand the causes of terror? Yes, we should try, but let there be no moral ambiguity about this: nothing could ever justify the events of September 11 and it is to turn justice on its head to pretend it could
Tony Blair
#76. No one's being precious about their music. They want the film to be great. And that was the huge lesson for me along the way to be a filmmaker. And yes, I'm leading the music department kind of thing and that responsibility with the music is with me, but really that job is one of many.
Steven Price
#77. Yes, there are lots of individual exceptions. But no one has ever done a study about voting intention without ascertaining that the biggest determining factor is your income and your wealth.
Ken Livingstone
#78. What is a rebel? Someone who says no. But saying no does not mean giving up: it also means saying yes, with every gesture.
Albert Camus
#79. Saying no isn't easy, but it's a required skill if you wish to have any degree of focus in your life. If you say yes too often, you'll likely fall into the common trap of saying yes to the good while simultaneously saying no to the best.
Steve Pavlina
#80. As they spread out their blankets, Saphira commented with satisfaction,
We are becoming more powerful, Eragon, both of us. Soon no one will be able to stand in our way.
Yes, but which way shall we choose?
Whichever one we want, she said smugly, settling down for the night.
Christopher Paolini
#81. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments- But all of this is transitory; it leaves no permanent mark.
Paulo Coelho
#82. So light a fire!" Harry choked. "Yes ... of course ... but there's no wood!" ...
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD!" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT!
J.K. Rowling
#83. Yes ma'am," I said, "Anna Celeste's party is Saturday, but I don't need a ride ... No ma'am. It's because Anna Celeste is my Sworn Enemy for Life and I'd rather go face-down in a plate of raw chicken entrails than go to her party. Plus I'm not invited ...
Sheila Turnage
#84. Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare . . . what did Professor Sprout say? - it likes the dark and the damp - " "So light a fire!" Harry choked. "Yes - of course - but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.
J.K. Rowling
#85. Has a man the right to kill himself? Yes, if his death harms no one and if life is an evil to him. When is life an evil? When it offers a man nothing but suffering and pain.
Napoleon Bonaparte
#86. Despite her mother, Raven had always been a nice girl. Yes, she would grow up to poison and rampage and try to destroy all happiness, but that was no reason not to be civil.
Shannon Hale
#87. I've done shows that aired on American TV, but none of them proved to be successful, so yes, no one here knows who I am.
Adam Rayner
#88. Why hell yes, Joe Bob! A cripple can always get himself a wooden leg, or a glass eye, or a metal hook for a hand, or any of that mess
but there ain't no known substitute for a big dick. I guess you is out of luck!
Larry McMurtry
#89. Yes, and they'll pay. I promise. But you can't throw away your life, suffering for those who are no longer with you. You have to move on, my sweet. Leave the revenge to me. It is what I am good at.
Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
#90. Easy there, Sage. I'm no gun-toting crazy guy. Crazy, yes. But not the rest.
Richelle Mead
#91. The Truth lies not in the Yes and not in the No, but in the knowledge and the beginning from which the Yes and the No arise.
Karl Barth
#92. Sex, maybe, friendship, yes, but love, no. If she ever felt love coming toward her, she would cross the street to the other side.
Fannie Flagg
#93. But the question that everyone wanted answered was whether I would have the nerve and the strength to start the whole process from scratch. I said yes; otherwise I would be someone who had no dream left, and without dreams I would not want to live.
Werner Herzog
#94. But I wasn't done," she pouted, no longer hungry for anything but him.
"Yes, you were."
"Yes, sir."
"Lay down on your back."
"Very yes, sir.
Tiffany Reisz
#95. No, it does matter. Because I'm getting married." "No, you're not." "Yes, I am!" Jamie stood, jaw tight. "You're not marrying anyone but me.
Kandi Steiner
#96. Serving the Lord is not always easy or popular. Folks may laugh at you on your job, mocking and making fun of your faith. But once you decide that there's no turning back, something in your heart rises up and says "no" to the devil and "yes" to the Lord.
T.D. Jakes
#97. No, Mother, it is better as it is, and I'm glad Amy has learned to love him. But you are right in one thing. I am lonely, and perhaps if Teddy had tried again, I might have said 'Yes,' not because I love him any more, but because I care more to be loved than when he went away.
Louisa May Alcott
#98. Climate change is not going away. It will only get more extreme and more dangerous with time. There is no hiding from it. Yes, those living in poverty today will be hit first and the hardest, but we are all going to feel it and see it. We already are.
Mark Ruffalo
#99. Yes," Mom said. "People may want to kill themselves. But no one wants to be depressed, or in pain, or lonely, or hurt.
Will Schwalbe
#100. I can tell you that she's not breathing," he said. "She has no heartbeat and all organ function and brain activity have stopped. Also her body temperature is now at seventy-three degrees."
"So you're saying that she's dead," I said.
"Well, I can't prove it, but, yes, I am leaning that way.
John Zakour
