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This page gathers quotes centered on absence and limits - books that stayed unpublished, and a pointed line arguing that secrecy is fundamentally undesirable, merely tolerated when unavoidable.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

There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it.

Quotes by Alice Paul

When you're young, when you've never done anything very much on your own, you imagine that it won't be so hard.

Quotes by Alice Paul

The road's a tough life, but I said 'yes,' because as a kid growing up in Ohio, I never had a chance to see a Tony-winning actress in a role she won the Tony for.

Quotes by Alice Ripley

What made me so brave? Maybe it was being the middle kid of 11, and we all had to share one bathroom. New underwear? I never discovered that until I got into college.

Quotes by Alice Ripley

For me, heaven would be a lack of alienation. The whole time I was growing up, I felt comfort was inherently evil. I think that, for me, heaven isn't about couches and milk shakes and never having a troubling thought...

Quotes by Alice Sebold

I have never been shy about listening to the input of others and weighing it seriously.

Quotes by Alice Sebold

My mom used to be concerned 'cause I would never go outside. And when I'd go outside, I'd have friends, but I just was always in the house listening to music, practicing DJing all the time. Then my uncle got...

Quotes by Ali Shaheed Muhammad

I'm blessed in my good friends, and some of them happen to be writers, though that's almost never what our friendships are about. And every writer I've ever read, living or dead, has in one way or another helped and...

Quotes by Ali Smith

I don't want a tombstone. You could carve on it 'She never actually wanted a tombstone.'

Quotes by Ali Smith

We'd never expect to understand a piece of music on one listen, but we tend to believe we've read a book after reading it just once.

Quotes by Ali Smith

You never know if you're a writer. You can't trust it. If you woke up and said, 'I'm a writer,' it would be gone. You wouldn't see anything for miles - even the dust would be running away.

Quotes by Ali Smith

Nothing is harmful to literature except censorship, and that almost never stops literature going where it wants to go either, because literature has a way of surpassing everything that blocks it and growing stronger for the exercise.

Quotes by Ali Smith

You never know what you're going to end up with when you sit down to write something. At the end, if it holds, it can do this multifarious thing - which is to open things rather than close them, to...

Quotes by Ali Smith

Having a two-year-old is very hard. I feel like I'm in a relationship with an emotionally unstable woman who is also physically abusive and never gets in trouble for it.

Quotes by Ali Wong

Nothing is off-limits. There's just some things I cannot crack. Politics I can't do. When I start to talk about it, I just get really angry and super sincere. I have never found a way to craft all of that...

Quotes by Ali Wong

I have a hoarding problem because my mom is from a third-world country. And she taught me that you can never throw away anything because you never know when a dictator is going to overtake the country and snatch all...

Quotes by Ali Wong

Some useful advice for all of my Asian-American brothers and sisters - never go paint-balling with a Vietnam veteran.

Quotes by Ali Wong

For the first year I lived in New York, I never ate out. I literally just ate lentils and brown rice at home. Sometimes I'd treat myself to this half chicken from Chinatown that cost $3.50.

Quotes by Ali Wong

In giving birth, I knew that I would have to take a break after I had a baby; I just didn't know that it would be, like, six weeks long. Taking a six-week break was a very big deal for...

Quotes by Ali Wong

In Hue, Vietnam, we had savory rice pancakes with crumbled shrimp and pork rinds. I've still never had a version as good.

Quotes by Ali Wong

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.