Melinda Quotes & Sayings

Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing. — Melinda Rucker Haynes

It is still just unbelievable to us that diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child deaths in the world. — Melinda Gates

That weekend my people brought home
a big eared gray scrawny kit.
He was so loud and annoying
that I did not like him one bit. — Melinda K. Trotter

Self-hatred is the best vehicle for making people do as they're told because they are hungry to get approval. — Melinda Gebbie

I hate these affairs", he'd told her once, tearing up an engraved invitation to an exclusive charity ball. "They're the worst kind of discrimination. An invitation doesn't really mean that you're invited; it means that a whole lot of people aren't — Melinda Cross

I was more of a light opera singer, not really much of a lounge singer. — Melinda Clarke

Motherhood doesn't have a nationality — Melinda Cross

We talk a lot in our home together about where we're going, what I'm doing. — Melinda Gates

From the air Anguilla looked narrow, flat, and scrubby, but that was only part of the picture. — Melinda Blanchard

Bill and I both firmly believe that even the most difficult global health problems can be solved. — Melinda Gates

I was willing to make us into a proper family; I was willing to put the time into it. I've sent your brother to fetch your mother, despite needing him elsewhere, in a bid to make you happy. But I don't have time to play with you any more. Your friends are not the only ones who understand you're replaceable. You're alive only because I permit it, and I am fast running out of patience with you. So tomorrow evening, you will present yourself in the Great Hall an hour after sunset. You will wear something very pretty, and your best smile. And we will dine together, companionably.You will not try to stab me. You will not spit at me, or slap me. You will behave with decorum. In short, sweetling, you will make yourself special to me, or I will remove you from my game board. I need your brother, and I need the philtresmith. But I don't need you. Bear that in mind. — Melinda Salisbury

The world is full of what seem like intractable problems. Often we let that paralyze us. Instead, let is spur you to action. There are some people in the world that we can't help, but there are so many more that we can. So when you see a mother and her children suffering in another part of the world, don't look away. Look right at them. Let them break your heart, then let your empathy and your talents help you make a difference in the lives of others. Whether you volunteer every week or just a few times a year, your time and unique skills are invaluable. — Melinda Gates

Think, for a moment, about our educational ladder.
We've strengthened the steps lifting students from elementary school to junior high, and those from junior high to high school.
But, that critical step taking students from high school into adulthood is badly broken. And it can no longer support the weight it must bear. — Melinda Gates

I'm thinking we need a plan ... I'm thinking it should involve running. — Melinda Metz

On the steps leading to a door
was a scrub brush that was blue.
I snatched it quick and ran for home
because it was just the thing to chew. — Melinda K. Trotter

With few exceptions, the leading women in philanthropy, notably Melinda Gates, are the wives or daughters of rich and powerful men. — Kavita Ramdas

I've learned that being alone and being lonely are not the same thing. Once I was surrounded by people and lonely for it, but now I'm alone and I've never been so content. — Melinda Salisbury

We live in a world where action is what counts. — Melinda McGraw

get through the next turn." She — Melinda Leigh

If you don't have an effective teacher in front of the classroom, you won't change the trajectory for students. — Melinda Gates

If you look back at history, [Dale ] Carnegie highlighted the need for libraries to be a place where everyone could go to read if you didn't have access to books. Philanthropy can be a place that'll take a risk or point to areas to make sure they are the right government investments to reduce inequalities. — Melinda Gates

Contraceptives unlock one of the most dormant, but potentially powerful assets in development: women as decision-makers. When women have the power to make choices about their families, they tend to decide precisely what demographers, economists, and development experts recommend. They invest in the long-term human capital of their families. — Melinda Gates

One of the things about writing that inspires
and impresses me, is the music words can make. And, like music, the spaces between the notes can mean as much as the notes themselves.
The Jesus Horse — Melinda West Seifert

Philanthropy is not about the money. It's about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips and applying them to improving the world. — Melinda Gates

If we're going to make progress on this issue [of contraception], we have to be really clear about what our agenda is. We're not talking about abortion. We're not talking about population control. What I'm talking about is giving women the power to save their lives, to save their children's lives and to give their families the best possible future. — Melinda Gates

No radio, no telephone," Melinda observed. "No mod cons whatsoever in Hloubetin, are there."
"We have a hamster," Jacob said.
"Not traditionally considered an amenity. — Caleb Crain

By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. You might think that such striking progress would be widely celebrated, but in fact, Melinda and I are struck by how many people think the world is getting worse. The belief that the world can't solve extreme poverty and disease isn't just mistaken. It is harmful. That's why in this year's letter we take apart some of the myths that slow down the work. The next time you hear these myths, we hope you will do the same. — Bill Gates

On his Giving Pledge philanthropy: The way I got the message out was to get a copy of FORBES, look down that 400 list and start making phone calls! Bill and Melinda [Gates] did the same thing. So keep publishing
the list so I can milk it. — Warren Buffett

Burn all the food, and people will starve, weaken, and turn on one another. Destroy the temples and their acolytes, and the people will have nowhere to turn, no sanctuary, no charity. No hope. — Melinda Salisbury

Forgive me again." He lifts the carafe and refreshes his goblet. "What happened to those two children who laughed at dandelion fuzz?" he says softly. "Are they gone forever, do you think? — Melinda Salisbury

We're to be married. Does it matter if I permit it?"
"To me it does, yes," says Merek. "And I imagine you, like me, appreciate the illusion of having a choice, even when illusion is all it is. — Melinda Salisbury

We always protect our heads, our faces,' he commented as he followed a half-step behind and to her left. It's pure instinct; to shield the eyes. The irony is that the blind have no eyes to protect, and suffer most of their injuries on their legs. But instinct can be blind, too. — Melinda Cross

Social activism has gone mainstream. A new generation of philanthropic leaders such as Bill and Melinda Gates, and Bono are providing inspiration, guidance, and billions of dollars through their global foundations. — Willow Bay

But I want you," he smiles at me. "Not just to make me a king. I've always wanted you. Despite it all, you are still the bride I would choose. I do choose you. — Melinda Salisbury

Without Melinda, you'd have no Camus."
I exhale. "I know." I know it to my fucking bones. — Hannah Moskowitz

That's universal - we all want to bring every good thing to our children. But what's not universal is our ability to provide every good thing. — Melinda Gates

She's like one of those Siamese cats. You know - totally self-interested, way too beautiful, way too aware of the fact, and totally willing to use it to get what she wants. — Melinda Metz

How can you fall in love at first sight when you can't even see? — Melinda Cross

I'm tired of taking people's sins on myself.
I'm tired of running away from everything.
I want to be like Errin. Like Nia. Like Sister Hope. I want to be the girl who fought a golem, the girl who slammed her hands on a table and told a room full of powerful women that I was going to fight, and to hell with them.
I survived the court of Lormere. I survived the journey to Scarron. I survived the Sleeping Prince's raid on the Conclave. I am a survivor. — Melinda Salisbury

No smiling!" said Melinda. "Look stern, everyone."...
He kissed her. "Our American Gothic."
"Sweet Montana Farms style." And she kissed him back. — Roxanne Snopek

We started our foundation because we believe we have a real opportunity to help advance equity around the world, to help make sure that, no matter where a person is born, he or she has the chance to live a healthy, productive life. — Melinda Gates

When you're a regular on your show, that's your family. When people come in and out, it doesn't mean that you don't embrace them, but they have to leave. — Melinda McGraw

You're here," he says, and his voice is like sunshine, like honey, it's warm and rich and moreish. "I'm so very glad." Where Silas's voice is spikes and edges, every word a warning, this man's voice is smooth, velvety and beckoning. — Melinda Salisbury

Do you have a name for the baby?" Nurse Melinda inquires. "Roshini," I answer. "What does it mean?" she asks. "A ray of light," I say, drawing my baby closer. "Roshini means a ray of light. — Gayathri Ramprasad

Fortune favors the bold." I smile weakly.
"So does death," she counters immediately. "The craven tend to live much longer than the heroic. — Melinda Salisbury

Kaylee giggled as he tunneled up inside her sleeve.
Out popped his head for a quick look, then he took leave.
He enjoyed scaling up, down and around her shirt.
What a sweet, funny and adorable flirt. — Melinda K. Trotter

In every fairy tale there is a kernel of truth, and that is the truth of this one. For him, I am poison. I am his death. And I will deliver. — Melinda Salisbury

Okay, he hadn't exactly been happy. But welcome to the club, right? He had eyes. He could see auras, those swirls of color that surrounded all living things, as unique as fingerprints. And those auras told him there were a lot of people out there who weren't quite happy or exactly miserable. And they were all getting along okay. — Melinda Metz

Cassie fumbled helplessly beneath the shade of the ancient oak, still searching for her second shoe.The first had been easy to find, having landed close to where she had kicked it off; and when her hand had finally encountered it, she clutched it to her breast in a gesture of smug triumph. For one brief moment, she felt a twinge of sympathy for the sighted people who would never experience such sweet victory from a task as simple as finding a shoe. — Melinda Cross

He belongs to himself, as each person does from the day they are born until their last day. — Melinda O'Donnell

The Colonel had wanted a general in the family. Hannah would make a great general. Or dictator. — Melinda Leigh

Living your life on your own terms is utterly glorious. It makes perfect sense to you, but you have to be willing to let go of everything else. It has to be okay if nobody else likes that, but then when other people see that you are brave, you don't mind. They're fascinated by that because we all love brave people. We all love it when people are heroic. — Melinda Gebbie

Silas's mother walks to us, standing by her son. "We haven't been formally introduced," she says, looking down at Dimia and me. "I am Sister Hope, of the Sisters of Naeht. We're joined tonight by Sister Wisdom, Sister Peace, Sister Honour and Sister Courage." Each ones nods in turn, though there's nothing in their manner that would be recognized as friendly. Sister Peace even goes so far as curling her lip at us. — Melinda Salisbury

I have gotten one question repeatedly from young men. These are guys who liked the book, but they are honestly confused. They ask me why Melinda was so upset about being raped. — Laurie Halse Anderson

When we invest in women, we invest in a powerful source of global development — Melinda Gates

So here's the question," Melinda led in. "Who's Tall, Dark and Smoldering? — Julie James

He hadn't thought of Hanna that way before and for whatever reason,he found it comforting to see her in such a light - a bit of a villain in the good. — Melinda Michaels

Were you disappointed?"
She takes a deep breath, looking down at her hands. "My heart was. My head wasn't. Most days I'm at war with myself. My head wins, usually. And for that I'm glad. — Melinda Salisbury

We work all our lives to be who we become. And, it's who we become that determines what becomes of us. — Melinda West Seifert

What great changes have not been ambitious? — Melinda Gates

Bill [Gates] and I believe philanthropy can only be effective if it starts things and proves whether they actually work or not. That's the place that governments often don't want to, or can't, work. — Melinda Gates

Sometimes he has me climb into his lap and sit there while he strokes my hair and tells me about the old days in Tallith. The seven towers of Tallith castle and the walkways between them, his life with his sister and his father. That sometimes he sounds so wistful and lonely that I forget for an instant that he's a monster, lulled by his soft voice and his hands in my hair. Until he turns my face to his and I see him, and I recall exactly what he is, and the look in my eyes reminds him that he might control my body, but he can't control my mind. Then he throws me to the ground and leaves me there for hours, unable to move until he wills it. — Melinda Salisbury

... but for now it's too great a pleasure to stay in my own cottage, with my own books, and do exactly what I want to do. — Melinda Salisbury

Why do I matter to you?" I say, my voice breaking.
"You don't."
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Because I can. Because I slept for five hundred years and now I want some sport. — Melinda Salisbury

Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering. ~ Unknown — Melinda Curtis

Our desire to bring every good thing to our children is a force for good throughout the world. It's what propels societies forward. — Melinda Gates

I allow myself one day to indulge in self-pity and thereafter I
continue to be grateful for what life has given me, really!
That's all part of living. — Melinda George

Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh. — Melinda Gates

In point of fact, most witches probably know more about liquor and how to properly drink it than many ancient and knowledgeable bartenders. — Melinda Bardon

You can have the best vaccines for a woman or her child, but if you can't get her to come and get them then they won't work. — Melinda Gates

If you invest in a girl or a woman, you are investing in everybody else. — Melinda Gates

The most successful social media experiments-whether spearheaded by one person, a group of individuals, a company, or an institution-invite you in, treat you as a friend, and make you feel at home. Look around, they say, and tell us how we can make things better; get to know us. Get involved and tell us what you think. — Melinda Blau

I'm happy we have three healthy children and we'll stay with three healthy children. — Melinda Gates

We have to be careful in how we use this light shined on us. — Melinda Gates

I did an action series back in '97, and did very intense training; weapons, knives, hand-to-hand combat. The more an actor trains in that way, the more we can do on screen and the better it looks. Nowadays, they want the actors to do as much as possible and stunt doubles are primarily used for the dangerous things that aren't covered by insurance. — Melinda Clarke

The premise of this foundation is one life on this planet is no more valuable than the next. — Melinda Gates

Women around the world should have a tool that helps them plan their pregnancies. — Melinda Gates

I think it's very important that we instill in our kids that it has nothing to do with their name or their situation that they're growing up in; it has to do with who they are as an individual. — Melinda Gates

The shriek that erupted from Melinda was loud enough to wake the dead. "Get it off me, get it off me!" She bolted from the crumpled side of the tent in hysterics, ripping at her bodice. — Merry Farmer

I think, honestly, the film industry is eating up comics characters at such a fast pace, and spewing them out as so much unspeakable, stench-y, crap. I mean, I think people are going to get pretty sick of the comics product of superhero, per se. Super-heroism seems to be so visceral for these times. Nobody needs a big clunky guy to throw cars about. You know, we've got drunks in town here that can do that. We don't need that kind of superhero. What we need is a super-sage. We need a genuine group of wise people. We need to become wise. That's the job of tomorrow; becoming wise, and integrated, and understanding. — Melinda Gebbie

The rose fell, a brief fragrant blazing meteor before it plummeted to the cold stones, forgotten. — Melinda O'Donnell

High in the Tower of Love, the last remaining tower of Tallith, he rests on a bier, not living, not dead. He doesn't age, or change, needs no sustenance. He sleeps. He waits — Melinda Salisbury

I really love 'Dexter.' I'd like to be on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' or 'Breaking Bad.' — Melinda McGraw

Philosopher Jean Baudrillard made a similar observation about the use of material goods as symbols of immaterial values. He noted that any given material object has two kinds of value: it has use value (the amount of utility which can be derived from the good), and it has sign value (a value based on what the object means to the person who owns it.) Advertisers constantly attempt to increase the amount that people will pay for products by infusing them with artificial sign value. Emotional branding, for example, is the practice of using images to link a product with a positive emotional state, so that people will unthinkingly purchase the product when they crave the emotion. — Melinda Selmys

And I realized that maybe none of us ever gets to choose our lives. Our only choice is to live the life that comes to us, or go down into darkness. — Melinda M. Snodgrass

Does Playboy still run fiction?"
"I have absolutely no idea, Melinda," he said, grinning. — Robyn Carr

Self-expression has to come out pure. It has to have an environment waiting for it. It has to have a garden it can plant itself in. — Melinda Gebbie

As a parent, the responsible thing to do - if you love your child - is to vaccinate your child. — Melinda Gates

They've turned this character into a human being. — Melinda Clarke

They were roots, Michael realized. Every memory of Maria was a root she had put inside his body. Too many roots, he thought. If Michael left all that roots could come off, shattering him to pieces. There would be nothing, just small and useless parts. — Melinda Metz

I dream of the man, but it's fragmented: he's there, but he isn't. He's always one room away, in a place with more rooms than seems possible. I run down endless halls, longing for and dreading him being around the corner. I hear him call out for me and the skin on the back of my neck tightens and prickles. I don't know if I'm running to him, or from him. — Melinda Salisbury

Isabel wondered if there would ever be a time when she could stop being careful. If there would ever be a time when she could use other kinds of power. She missed it. It felt like part of her had been injected with novocaine and was totally numb. Almost dead (p.35). — Melinda Metz

I want to live as private a life as I can because of our children. — Melinda Gates

Here I am, Lord. I am tired, Lord. Please stop calling me in the night. I just got some decent sleep, Lord. I'm hanging out here for a while. Your people will be fine. — Melinda Means

If you want to lift up an economy in Africa, you basically start with the women. — Melinda Gates

Government funding that's coming from the United States is making a huge difference on the ground in the developing world. It's really palpable - it's making a huge difference saving lives. — Melinda Gates

I'm getting a lot of roles as women who are very powerful. I think that's a reflection of me as a person. — Melinda Clarke

Death was final. There was no time for a final kiss or caress, to apologize for a harsh word or argument. The world imploded with no warning. — Melinda Leigh

I think the Americans need to understand that a lot of times the children are bored in school, and that is why they are not staying in. — Melinda Gates

I am inspired by the women I meet everywhere I go. They have to work so hard just to make sure their families survive, but somehow they stay optimistic and do everything in their power to make the future better than the past. — Melinda Gates