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Never Quotes

Quotes on what never happens.

This page gathers quotes centered on absence and limits - books that stayed unpublished, and a pointed line arguing that secrecy is fundamentally undesirable, merely tolerated when unavoidable. Related reading includes Life Quotes.

I never graduated high school; they had to change the Ivy League rules. During my tenure at Brown, I helped them become the number one Ivy League school.

Quotes by Robert Evans

The advantage of knowing about risks is that we can change our behavior to avoid them. Of course, it is easily observed that to avoid all risks would be impossible; it might entail no flying, no driving, no walking, eating...

Quotes by Robert F. Engle

Give us this day our daily taste. Restore to us soups that spoons will not sink in and sauces which are never the same twice. Raise up among us stews with more gravy than we have bread to blot it...

Quotes by Robert Farrar Capon

I've never been embedded with American soldiers or British soldiers or Iraqi soldiers or any other.

Quotes by Robert Fisk

I don't want to go all Michael Jackson on you, but I never really had a childhood.

Quotes by Robert Downey, Jr.

I had neither expert aid nor advice. I studied no courses in writing; until a year or so ago, I never read a book by anybody advising writers how to write.

Quotes by Robert E. Howard

I have not been a success, and probably never will be.

Quotes by Robert E. Howard

Never the less, at the age of fifteen, having never seen a writer, a poet, a publisher or a magazine editor, and having only the vaguest ideas of procedure, I began working on the profession I had chosen.

Quotes by Robert E. Howard

Never the less, it is no light thing to enter into a profession absolutely foreign and alien to the people among which one's lot is cast; a profession which seems as dim and faraway and unreal as the shores of...

Quotes by Robert E. Howard

I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and I have never seen the...

Quotes by Robert E. Lee

The education of a man is never completed until he dies.

Quotes by Robert E. Lee

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.

Quotes by Robert E. Lee

I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it.

Quotes by Robert E. Lee

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one; the man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice.

Quotes by Robert E. Lee

Do your duty in all things, like the old Puritan. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.

Quotes by Robert E. Lee

The pattern of the narrative never of necessity wants to end, it never has to.

Quotes by Robert Creeley

If you want to go into space first time on a new vehicle that's never been flown, you want to go with a pro.

Quotes by Robert Crippen

Throwaway pens are no good - I never liked them. I've tried them all.

Quotes by Robert Crumb

Harry Truman wrote scathing letters, but he almost never sent them.

Quotes by Robert Dallek

I love my dad and respect him and miss him, but I never hung around my father that much because my dad was a lawyer and engineer, and he really didn't understand what I was about. I was supposed to...

Quotes by Robert David Hall

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of quotes are gathered under "Never"?
These quotes explore things that haven't happened, aren't wanted, or weren't anticipated — unpublished books that never found a marketing angle, the idea that secrets are "never desirable" even when needed, and a reflection on how it "never occurred" to anyone that private conversation might need protecting.
Are these quotes mostly about regret?
Not exactly regret, more observation — noticing gaps, oversights, or things that didn't come to pass, like unpublished books or an unanticipated need for privacy protections.
Is there a quote about problem-solving here?
Yes — one notes that "people constantly face problems they've never seen before" and have to improvise solutions, which is a nice contrast to the other, more resigned quotes on this page.
How is "Never" different from <a href="/always-quotes">Always</a> quotes?
They're natural opposites — "Always" quotes are about consistency and long-held habits, while "Never" quotes are about absence, gaps, and things that haven't happened.
What should I read if I want something more upbeat?
Good quotes or Like quotes lean lighter, while "Never" quotes tend to be more contemplative. For a broader reflective read, Life quotes is also worth checking.

Other quotes touch on constitutional rights never explicitly written down, and the constant stream of new problems people have never faced before. See also Always Quotes and Good Quotes.