Watching Quotes

“Of two sisters
one is always the watcher,
one the dancer.”
― Louise Glück, Descending Figure

“To hear never-heard sounds,
To see never-seen colors and shapes,
To try to understand the imperceptible
Power pervading the world;
To fly and find pure ethereal substances
That are not of matter
But of that invisible soul pervading reality.
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;
To be a lantern in the darkness
Or an umbrella in a stormy day;
To feel much more than know.
To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;
To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets
Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.
To be a smile on the face of a woman
And shine in her memory
As a moment saved without planning.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

“What use is care? What good is watching for that matter? People are forever watching things. They should be seeing. I see the things I look at. I am a see-er.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

“It's sometimes funny to watch some people doing
something the wrong way but doing it confidently.
Even more funny, they succeeded.”
― Toba Beta [Betelgeuse Incident], Betelgeuse Incident: Insiden Bait Al-Jauza

“To assess the quality of thoughts of people, don't listen to their words, but watch their actions.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“When the star dies,
Its eye closes; tired of watching,
It flies back to its first bright dream.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, Circling: 1978-1987

“Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters in your skull.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“I like to prowl ordinary places
and taste the people-
from a distance.”
― Charles Bukowski, Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit

“Ky still looks at me and I wonder for a moment if he is going to ask me what I am thinking about. But of course, he doesn't. He doesn't learn things by asking questions... He learns by watching.”
― Ally Condie, Matched

“I like to prowl ordinary places.
I feel sorry for us all or glad for us
all
caught alive together
and awkward in that way.

there's nothing better than the joke
of us
the seriousness of us
the dullness of us”
― Charles Bukowski, Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit

“We are here to witness. There is nothing else to do with those mute materials we do not need. Until Larry teaches his stone to talk, until God changes his mind, or until the pagan gods slip back to their hilltop groves, all we can do with the whole inhuman array is watch it.”
― Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

“I dinnae get people, like they all want to be watched, to be seen, like all the time. They put up their pictures online and let people they dinnae like look at them! And people they’ve never met as well, and they all pretend tae be shinier than they are – and some are even posting on like four sites; their bosses are watching them at work, the cameras watch them on the bus, and on the train, and in Boots, and even outside the chip shop. Then even at home – they’re going online to look and see who they can watch, and to check who’s watching them!”
― Jenni Fagan, The Panopticon

“I have often noticed that these things, which obsess me, neither bother nor impress other people even slightly. I am horribly apt to approach some innocent at a gathering, and like the ancient mariner, fix him with a wild, glitt’ring eye and say, “Do you know that in the head of the caterpillar of the ordinary goat moth there are two hundred twenty-eight separate muscles?” The poor wretch flees. I am not making chatter; I mean to change his life.”
― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

“Universe is the Sun watching its own self.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

“He wanted to tell her how much he preferred to look at her, that only by watching could he memorize her, and take her and possess her. He did not know how to explain that he could not touch better or more fully with his hands than he could with his eyes. Seeing encompassed all at once; a touch was limited to one spot at a time.”
― Jerzy Kosinksi

“... the city around us seemed colder than ever again, and I realised that even if it really had sensed something going on, it certainly didn't care. It moved forward again. I could feel it. I could almost hear it laugh and taste it. Close. Watching. Mocking. And it was cold, so cold, as it watched my sister bleeding at the back of our house.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“The off curve of her ear was what he had noticed first. A roundness echoed in her cheeks and her mouth. Then it was the way her body looked solid, as though meant to take up space and weight in the world. When she moved, she left behind footprints in the forest floor.

Because she didn't know how to glide silently, to disturb no leaf of branch. He felt smug to see how bad she was at even such an easy thing.

It was only later that it disturbed him to think back on the shape of her boot in the soil, as though she was the only real thing in a land of ghosts.

He had seen her before, he supposed. But at the palace school, he really looked. He noted her skirts, spattered with mud, and her hair ribbons, partially undone. He saw her twin sister, her double, as though one of them were a changeling child and not human at all. He saw the way they whispered together while they ate, smiling over private jokes. He saw the way they answered the instructors, as though they had any right to this knowledge, had any right to be sitting among their betters. To occasionally better their betters with those answers. And the one girl was good with a sword, instructed personally by the Grand General, as though she was not some by-blow of a faithless wife.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“One of the strangest experiences I had in life was watching my professional astronomy girlfriend turn into a lesbian.”
― Steven Magee

“The odd curve of her ear was what he had noticed first. A roundness echoed in her cheeks and her mouth. Then it was the way her body looked solid, as though meant to take up space and weight in the world. When she moved, she left behind footprints in the forest floor.

Because she didn't know how to glide silently, to disturb no leaf of branch. He felt smug to see how bad she was at even such an easy thing.

It was only later that it disturbed him to think back on the shape of her boot in the soil, as though she was the only real thing in a land of ghosts.

He had seen her before, he supposed. But at the palace school, he really looked. He noted her skirts, spattered with mud, and her hair ribbons, partially undone. He saw her twin sister, her double, as though one of them were a changeling child and not human at all. He saw the way they whispered together while they ate, smiling over private jokes. He saw the way they answered the instructors, as though they had any right to this knowledge, had any right to be sitting among their betters. To occasionally better their betters with those answers. And the one girl was good with a sword, instructed personally by the Grand General, as though she was not some by-blow of a faithless wife.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“Everything ought to be as it was before, except it isn't. Whenever my hand brushes Oak's as he passes me a piece of bread or a skin of water, I can't help but notice. When we sleep in shifts, one of us left to navigate by the stars, I am drawn to watching his face, as though through his dreams, I will learn his secrets.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“I awoke, warm and rested and calm.

Safe.

Sunlight streamed through the filthy window, illuminating the reds and golds in the wall of wing before me- where it had been all night, shielding me from the cold.

Rhysand's arms were banded around me, his breathing deep and even. And I knew it was just as rare for him to sleep that soundly, peacefully.

What we'd done last night...

Carefully, I twisted to face him, his arms tightening slightly, as if to keep me from vanishing with the morning mist.

His eyes were open when I nestled my head against his arm. Within the shelter of the wing, we watched each other.

And I realised I might very well be content to do exactly that forever.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“So those abdominal exercises are useful beyond wanting to show off your muscles?'

He threw her a wry grin. 'You really think this is just for show?'

'I think I've caught you looking at yourself in that mirror at least a dozen times each lesson.' Nesta nodded to the slender mirror across the ring.

He chuckled. 'Liar. You use that mirror to watch me when you think I'm not paying attention.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“For those watching, what had they truly seen?”
― Yasmine Millett, The Erotic Notebooks

“Developing supplement protocols requires watching for health improvements, side effects, toxicity and societal prejudices.”
― Steven Magee, Pandemic Supplements

“Children learn by what they see. They are a reflection of their home, friends and school life.”
― Steven Magee

“Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be losing the support of the Ukrainians as they are watching their people being displaced, their country being destroyed and their men being killed instead of negotiating a peace deal with the Russians.”
― Steven Magee

“Did you think I didn't know?' His smile was slow and smug. 'I'm watching even when you think I'm not.'

'Well, that is... creepy.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash

“Awareness is thought watching itself, thought slowing down, thought finding a new rhythm, a new harmony, a new place for itself. It is a flower at the heart of stardust.”
― KRISHNA MURTHY ANNIGERI VASUDEVA RAO, FLOWERS OF STARDUST

“You must remember when watching your government’s rocket launches into Space, it has been funded by defunding social spending on society.”
― Steven Magee

“One of the joys of being an Observing Assistant at the W. M. Keck Observatory was watching the scientists I had worked with going on to win the Nobel Prize.”
― Steven Magee