Patting Quotes & Sayings

I had the good sense even then to realize patting oneself on the back is a waste of time. Besides, there are much better places to pat oneself if one must, indeed, pat. — W.B. Keckler

Fury wagged his tail and smiled wickedly, then tried to look up Bride's dress.
Vane caught him quickly by the neck. "Stop!" he snarled mentally to Fury. "Or I'll rip your head off."
Bride frowned at them. "Don't you like my wolf?"
"Yeah," Van said, patting him roughly on the head. "He's my new best friend."
"I'm your only friend, dickhead."
Vane balled his fist in the wolf's fur as a warning to him. "You know you have to be firm with wolves. Let them know who the alpha is."
"Your father?"
Vane smacked Fury's head.
"Ow!" — Sherrilyn Kenyon

We have language and they do not. Chimps communicate by embracing, patting, looking - all these things. And they have lots of sounds. But they cannot sit and discuss. They cannot teach about things that are not present, as far as we know. — Jane Goodall

I donned my armor, lining my eyes with kohl until they were dark as death and patting crushed rose petals on my lips until they were scarlet as blood. — Roshani Chokshi

Try patting them on the back or shoulder and telling them everything is going to be fine. Lots of times when girls cry, they don't want you to fix the problem, they just want to be consoled. — Kiera Cass

I really think I shall commence chapter forty-four," he said, patting his hands together. "I shall commence, I think, with a slight exaggeration and go on from there into an outright lie. Constance, my dear?"
"Yes, Uncle Julian?"
"I am going to say that my wife was a beautiful woman. — Shirley Jackson

It's almost sickening now that the regulators 'on the beat' while the biggest credit collapse in modern financial history unfolded are now patting themselves on the back for their 'brave' stance on short-selling! — James Chanos

There aren't too many principles of proper business conduct with which just about everybody will agree. Two come to mind: 1. Unless you're a professional athlete, don't offer co-workers encouragement by patting them on the butt, and 2. Don't burn bridges. — Dale Dauten

It's them!" screamed Hermione.
Tonks landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere.
"Remus!" Tonks cried as she staggered off the broom into Lupin's arms. His face was set and white: He seemed unable to speak. Ron tripped dazedly toward Harry and Hermione.
"You're okay," he mumbled, before Hermione flew at him and hugged him tightly.
"I thought--I thought--"
"'M all right," said Ron, patting her on the back. "'M fine."
"Ron was great," said Tonks warmly, relinquishing her hold on Lupin. "Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom--"
"You did?" said Hermione, gazing up at Ron with her arms still around his neck.
"Always the tone of surprise," he said a little grumpily, breaking free. — J.K. Rowling

Heterodogmatize (v.) To have an opinion different from the one generally held. Just because you are in proud possession of opinions that differ from those of the majority of the population is no reason to start patting yourself on the back. Usually it just means you are wrong. also — Ammon Shea

Humility was considered a great virtue in my family household. No show of complacency or self-satisfaction was ever tolerated. Patting yourself on the back was definitely not encouraged, and pleasure or pride would be punishable by death. — Hugh Laurie

I hate that there'll be moments in my day and I'll be patting down my legs trying to find my phone. I hate how anxious it makes me feel when I don't have it. When I go on holiday, or I go back to Australia, I put my phone in my bag and I don't worry about it; I think differently and I feel less stressed. — Liam Hemsworth

We need to stop comparing ourselves to others, and stop patting ourselves on the back for attaining artificial measurements of spirituality. We need to take care that we do not think we are something we are not, or else we may deceive ourselves, setting ourselves up for rebuke in the future when we see Christ face to face — Dan Schilling

An old walrus-faced waiter attended to me; he had the knack of pouring the coffee and the hot milk from two jugs, held high in the air, and I found this entrancing, as if he were a child's magician. One day he said to me - he had some English - "Why are you sad?"
"I'm not sad," I said, and began to cry. Sympathy from strangers can be ruinous.
"You should not be sad," he said, gazing at me with his melancholy, leathery walrus eyes. "It must be the love. But you are young and pretty, you will have time to be sad later." The French are connoisseurs of sadness, they know all the kinds. This is why they have bidets. "It is criminal, the love," he said, patting my shoulder. "But none is worse. — Margaret Atwood

She settled for patting him vaguely on the back and wishing she was anywhere but there. Although he did smell good. — Stacia Kane

It sounds like a lot when you summarize it, but I don't do all of it every day. If you want to know the truth, most days I feel like I'm miserably behind and only doing about half of what I should be doing. But when you look back you can see that you're building something. I think people who say 'Don't look back' are crazy. I wouldn't survive if I weren't looking back and patting myself on the back all the time for making it this far. — Charity Shumway

Carpool,my foot. But it's still not a date,MacGregor. What we'll call this is a ... a civilized transit agreement. That sounds bureaucratic enough.I like your car," she added, patting the hood of his Mercedes. "Very sedate."
Alan opened the trunk and set the box inside. He glanced back up at Shelby as he closed it. "You have an interesting way of insulting someone."
She laughed,that free smoke-edged laugh as she went to him. "Dammit, Alan, I like you." Throwing her arms around his neck, she gave him a friendly hug that sent jolts of need careening through him. "I really like you," she added, tilting back her head with a smile that lit her whole face with a sense of fun. "I could probably have said that to a dozen other men who'd never have realized I was insulting them."
"So." His hands settled at her hips. "I get points for perception. — Nora Roberts

Now here is Gardiner, patting a manuscript as if it were the cheek of a plump baby: 'The king will be pleased to read this. I have called it, Of True Obedience.' 'You had better let me see it before it goes to the printer.' 'The king himself will expound it to you. It shows why oaths to the papacy are of none effect, yet our oath to the king, as head of the church, is good. It emphasises most strongly that a king's authority is divine, and descends to him directly from God.' 'And not from a pope. — Hilary Mantel

You know, you're pretty when you smile," she said, patting the side of his cheek.
"Fierce, woman. I am fierce."
"If you say so. — Gena Showalter

On the main street of one village she passed a vast house, pillared and walled, with shutters over the windows and a pair of stone lions guarding the steps, and she thought that perhaps she might live there, dusting the lions each morning and patting their heads good night. — Shirley Jackson

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back. — Steve Prefontaine

So he's tame,' said Estienne, and reached out tentatively, as though to pat a wild animal.
It was a question of which part of the animal he was patting. Damen cknocked his hand away. Estienne gave a yelp and snatched his hand back, nursing it against his chest.
'No that tame,' said Laurent. — C.S. Pacat

Thanks for staying with me last night," I said, stroking Toto's soft fur. "You didn't have to sleep on the bathroom floor."
"Last night was one of the best nights of my life."
I turned to see his expression. When I saw that he was serious, I shot him a dubious look. "Sleeping in between the toilet and the tub on a cold, hard tile floor with a vomiting idiot was one of your best nights? That's sad, Trav."
"No, sitting up with you when you're sick, and you falling asleep in my lap was one of my best nights. It wasn't comfortable, I didn't sleep worth a shit, but I brought in your nineteenth birthday with you, and you're actually pretty sweet when you're drunk."
"I'm sure between the heaving and purging I was very charming."
He pulled me close, patting Toto who was snuggled up to my neck. "You're the only woman I know that still looks incredible with your head in the toilet. That's saying something. — Jamie McGuire

I just tried one where my client claimed he was urinating in a back alley. Turns out he was jerking off on a street corner. The prosecution had twenty-one witnesses. They were nuns." She looked pained.

"I understand," I said gently, patting her on the back. — N.M. Silber

Bless her head-patting heart — Kiersten White

She had not told her mother about Denys, but she had a suspicion that Mrs. Shannon knew all about it nevertheless. It was unlike her not to want to satisfy her curiosity when she came upon her daughter sobbing in various parts of the house. She had asked no questions; she had simply donned the role of the heavily understanding mother, and had done a lot of shoulder-patting and given Mary an expensive evening dress from the shop. Mary had no idea how she knew, but was certain that if she had not known she would never have rested until she did. — Monica Dickens

I exercise daily to keep my figure. I keep patting my hand against the bottom of my chin. It works too. I have the thinnest fingers in town. — Totie Fields

What worries me, especially, is that public opinion over here is patting itself on the back every morning and thanking God for theAtlantic Ocean (and the Pacific Ocean). We greatly underestimate the serious implications to our own future ... Things move with such terrific speed these days, that it is really essential to us to think in broader terms and, in effect, to warn the American people that they, too, should think of possible ultimate results in Europe and the Far East. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Desandra shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, Kate? Have you thought of walking up to Hugh and telling him that he's got the biggest dick ever?" She spread her arms to the size of a baseball bat.
"No, you think it would work?" I asked.
"It's worth a try. May be he'll be so happy you noticed his pork sword, he'll forget all about trying to kill us."
Pork sword. Kill me now. "I'll think about it."
Ascanio began patting his clothes.
"What?" Derek growled.
"Looking for something to take notes with. — Ilona Andrews

Then Albie reached into his pocket and pulled out one shiny Jonathan apple.
"Hungry?" he asked us.
"How'd you do that?" I asked, wondering when he'd had time to pocket an apple.
"Oh, I have four of them," he said, patting his megalarge pockets. "Next time you won't laugh when I tell you to watch Survival Planet. — Bill Konigsberg

They just don't know you,' Penelope said, patting her on the hand.
'And they don't know *you*, either,' Lady Danbury quite pointedly replied ... 'I'd say it was their loss ... Not [a loss] to them, but to you, because as often as I call them fools ... some of them are actually rather decent people, and it's a crime they haven't gotten to know you. — Julia Quinn

Swinburne, by the way, when a very young man, had gone to Walter Savage Landor, then a very old man, and been given the poet's blessing he asked for; and Landor when a child had been patted on the head by Dr Samuel Johnson; and Johnson when a child had been taken to London to be touched by Queen Anne for scrofula, the King's evil; and Queen Anne when a child ... — Robert Graves

Trial by fire.' Roland whistled, patting Luce on the back. 'Show no fear. — Lauren Kate

We're growing boys," Jeremy said, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"You're all garbage disposals, I swear," she said, chuckling and patting his stomach. Though, really, you couldn't have this many guys living under one roof and not go through the chow. "You're one of the worst and yet you're so lean. It's really not fair."
Hugging her in against his side, Jeremy winked. "It takes a lot of calories to be this awesome, Becca."
Nick gave Jeremy a playful shove as everyone chuckled. 'Or to be such a big pain in the ass. — Laura Kaye

Several sets of arms would embrace me. But in the end, the only person I truly want to comfort me is Haymitch, because he loves Peeta, too. I reach out for him and say something like his name and he's there, holding me and patting my back. "It's okay. It'll be okay, sweetheart." He sits me on a length of broken marble pillar and keeps an arm around me while I sob. — Suzanne Collins

Before you start patting yourself on the back, remember--it's just typing. — Don Gillette

She took it out of my hand and stepped forward wrapping her arm around me and pushing it into the back pocket of my jeans patting my ass lightly after. "You keep it, that one was on the house, a free sample." she teased as she put her hand on my chest and pushed gently guiding me out of the door.

"The trouble with free samples is they're never quite enough, they always leave you wanting more, just enough to wet your appetite teasingly." I said honestly. — Kirsty Moseley

The guy with Bennett let go of his elbow and started patting his pockets. He came out with the switchblade, now closed up again, and a Sig Sauer automatic, a P226, I thought, favored by Special Forces everywhere. — Lee Child

The commonest error of the gifted scholar, inexperienced in teaching, is to expect pupils to know what they have been told. But telling is not teaching. The expression of facts that are in one's mind is a natural impulse when one wishes others to know these facts, just as to cuddle and pat a sick child is a natural impulse. But telling a fact to a child may not cure his ignorance of it any more than patting him will cure his scarlet fever. (p. 61) — Edward Lee Thorndike

Mr. Young hadn't had to quiet a screaming baby for years. H'ed never been much good at it to start with. He'd always respected Sir Winston Churchill, and patting small versions of him on the bottom had always seemed ungracious. — Terry Pratchett

When actors talk about research, they're just patting themselves on the back. — Jason Patric

He took me in skeptically. "Darling, the ensemble is fabulous," he said, patting my hand, eyeing my black jacket, black tie, black silk shirt, and heavily pegged black satin pants, "but I'm not so sure about the white sneakers."
"But they're essential to my costume."
"Your costume? What are you dressed as?"
"A tennis player in mourning. — Patti Smith

You'll be great," Cole said, patting her shoulder. He took one last look at Sam's face. Whatever he saw there made him smile. "But maybe you should go a little easy on him; he's had it tough."
She looked at Sam's face, too. "Rough as in dating gorgeous blondes named Selena who yell at you in the alley, or rough as in getting to go boating all day long for a living?"
Cole tossed back his head and laughed. "You get a raise for that. I'll tell our accountant." He turned to Sam again. "Give her a raise. — Jill Shalvis

I once dreamt I was telling stories and felt someone patting my foot in encouragement. I looked down and saw that I was standing on the shoulders of an older woman who was steadying my ankles and smiling up at me.
I said to her, "no no come stand on my shoulders, For you are old and I am Young."
"No no" she insisted, "this is the way it is supposed to be." I saw that she stood on the shoulders of a woman far older than she, who stood on the shoulders of a woman even older, who stood on the shoulders of a woman in robes, who stood on the shoulders of another soul, who stood on the shoulders... — Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Locke threw himself at Father Chains, and the man, without hesitation, scooped him up and held him, patting his back until his racking sobs quieted down. — Scott Lynch

Dan was picking himself up and wiping the mud from his trousers and groaning and saying to Raven "Christ, you're fast! I always used to beat everyone at obstacle courses!" and Jackie was patting him on the back and laughing and saying, "Don't worry, darling you were very good. I'm sure none of the other parents could have beaten you! — Tabitha Suzuma

Egocentrics are attracted to the inept. It gives them one more excuse for patting themselves on the back. — Helen Hayes

Playboy stretched his arm, patting Carlos on the back. Well, you know what they say: If you love someone, let'em go. If they don't come back, hunt'em down and kill'em! — Alex Sanchez

Then I pace the floor, rocking him softly in my arms, patting his ass. You know I must be really desperate - because I try singing: Hush, little baby, don't say a word Daddy's gonna buy you a . . . I stop - because why the fuck would any baby want a mockingbird? None of those nursery rhymes make any goddamn sense. I don't know any other lullabies, so I go for the next best thing, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica: Take my hand, We're off to never-never land . . . — Emma Chase

Patting mother Theresa on the back, someone said to her: 'i wouldn't do what you do for a million dollars.' She said with a grin: 'me neither. — Shane Claiborne

Where has Arnold been?' I said. '... the Westwoods get in the papers.'
'Patting the orphans.'
'Getting homes for the homeless.'
'Legs for the legless.' She was laughing as she said it.
'Blind dogs,' I said. 'Dogs for the blind, that is.'
'Patting blind dogs.' We both laughed and drank. 'Getting legs for them.'
'Homes for legless, blind orphan dogs.' Maybe we were both a little drunk, on bourbon or on the past. — James Ferron Anderson

Andrew indulged in a little fantasy in which his father dropped dead, gunned down by an invisible sniper. Andrew visualised himself patting his sobbing mother on the back while he telephoned the undertaker. He had a cigarette in his mouth as he ordered the cheapest coffin. — J.K. Rowling

She was getting bitchy.That was a good sign. "What am I supposed to do till you get back?" I said, patting the smouldering leather. "Hide in my closet? I"d rather be with you. — Kim Harrison

"I take my leave of you, Mr. Creakle, and all of you," said Mr. Mell, glancing round the room, and again patting me gently on the shoulders. "James Steerforth, the best wish I can leave you is that you may come to be ashamed of what you have done today. At present I would prefer to see you anything rather than a friend, to me, or to anyone in whom I feel an interest." — Charles Dickens

Just because 50,000 people on the Internet know me, I'm not patting myself on the back at the end of the night. — Theophilus London

Harry resumed the patting of his elbow, saying as he did so (for the potion seemed to indicate that it was the right thing to do), — J.K. Rowling

I don't mind exercise but it's a private activity. Joggers should run in a wheel - like hamsters - because I don't want to look at them. And I really hate people who go on an airplane in jogging outfits. That's a major offense today, even bigger than Spandex bicycle pants. You see eighty-year-old women coming on the plane in jogging outfits for comfort. Well my comfort - my mental comfort - is completely ruined when I see them coming. You're on an airplane, not in your bedroom, so please! And I really hate walkathons: blocking traffic, people patting themselves on the back. The whole attitude offends me. They have this smug look on their faces as they hold you up in traffic so that they can give two cents to some charity. — John Waters

I'm halfway through my life, and as far as I can tell, the real lesson of the past isn't that I made some mistakes, it's that I didn't make nearly enough of them. I doubt I'll be lying on my deathbed in forty or fifty years, congratulating myself on the fact that I never had sex in an airplane with a handsome Italian businessman, or patting myself on the back for all those years of involuntary celibacy I endured after my divorce. If recent experience is any guide, I'll probably be lying in that hospital bed with my body full of tubes, sneaking glances at the handsome young doctor, wishing that I hadn't been such a coward. Wishing I'd taken more risks, made more mistakes, and accumulated more regrets. Just wishing I'd lived when I had the chance. — Tom Perrotta

There's every reason to believe there will be further attacks attempted against the United States. For us to spend so much time patting ourselves on the back because we got bin Laden that we miss the next attack would be a terrible tragedy. — Dick Cheney

Stay the night, said the officer, patting a confiscated couch. I'll keep my hands off you. I promise.
You have more than hands, said Elie.
My feet are safe, too, said the officer. He pointed to a hole in his boots, and they laughed. — Thaisa Frank

Regweld is really a fine wizard," he continued, patting the shoulder again. "And his ideas for crossbreeding a horse and a frog are not without merit; never mind the explosion! Alchemy shops can be replaced! — R.A. Salvatore

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much." "Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of law-breakers," said Fred solemnly. — J.K. Rowling

Hero! He was no hero! What did a hero get? An Aes Sedai patting you on the head before she sent you out like a hound to do it again. A noblewoman condescending to favor you with a kiss, or laying a flower on your grave. — Robert Jordan

Jedediah pulled out his pocketknife, reached over her, and snipped the rose to place in her hair. "Looks better there." In the moonlight, he wasn't sure if she blushed or not. Her eyes seemed all soft and glowing, her lips the color of the pink rose, slightly parted and tempting him. Before he knew what he was doing, his arms had circled her in a swift embrace. Heat filled his face, and his heart pounded so hard he was sure Patience could hear it. Would she let him kiss her? But she was already pulling away, visibly shaken. Her fingers touched her hair, patting it into place, and her eyes, large with surprise, looked into his, then quickly away. "I . . . Jed . . . I think we'd better go back inside and join the party." "I'm - I'm truly sorry, Patience. I don't know . . . I'm not sure what came over me just now. It must be the moonlight and the roses." And you, he said only to himself. — Maggie Brendan

The guy who finally pulled the trigger on Osama bin Laden is not patting himself on the back. He's giving as much credit to his teammates who got him to that position. — Howard E. Wasdin

When he couldn't walk anymore he sailed, and when he couldn't sail anymore he was at the End of the World, where sat a dignified man in a dinner suit, dangling his long legs over the edge. He was patting his lapels and turning out his pockets and looking generally perplexed. "Bother," said the well-dressed man. "I've lost the Key to the World. If I don't wind it up and set its clockwork going again, the sun and moon and stars won't turn, and the world will be plunged into an eternal nighttime of miserable cold and darkness. Bother! — Lev Grossman

There was one new metallic monstrosity stacked in one corner that she hadn't seen the last time she was a visitor to his strange chamber, it appeared to be a mass of hard drives all fused together, but they looked too sophisticated to be merely hard drives.
"What on earth is that?"
"That's my Kung Fu," he said proudly, patting the top of the futuristic-looking stack.
"Is that what you wanted to show me?"
"No, but it's impressive, isn't it?"
"If you say so."
Steves sighed and shook his head, so few people could appreciate the intellectual complexity of an almost untraceable hacking device. — E.A. Bucchianeri

The auction houses seemed not as dull as their financial counterparts on Wall Street, where parents of daughters imagined glass celings and bottom patting. — Steve Martin

We don't always get what we deserve," she replied, patting James over his heart. "Sometimes we get more; sometimes we get less. At least we get something. — Kate Jacobs

Your playmates sent him?" I asked, nodding at the dead man. "I only talked to him with this," he said, patting the automatic on the bed, "but I reckon they did." "How did it happen?" "It happened simple enough. I heard the door opening, and I switched on the light, and there he was, and I shot him, and there he is. — Dashiell Hammett

That's lovely singing, Saraid," Eile said. "Is Sorry asleep now?"
Saraid shook her head solemnly. "Sorry's sad. Crying." She held the doll against her shoulder, patting its back.
"Oh. Why is she sad?"
"Sorry wants Feeler come back." It was like a punch in the gut. She had thought Saraid had forgotten him; she had assumed new friends and a safe haven would drive the memories of that long journey across country, just the three of them, from her daughter's mind. Foolish. The images of that time were still bright and fresh in her own head; she dreamed of them every night. Why should Saraid be any different just because she was small? — Juliet Marillier

Patting someone's hand, or shoulder, a hug, all of it is necessary to be happy and healthy for most people. It doesn't have to have anything to do with sex; in fact, most of the touch that keeps us all going is as innocent as a newborn lamb frolicking on the spring grass, — Laurell K. Hamilton

We are the Blisses,' Dearest said, patting her hand. 'Nothing we do surprises people anymore. — Martha Finley

I scooted over, patting the bed next to me. "No such luck. And now you get to watch forty straight hours of Easton Heights with me!"
He turned on the first disk, shaking his head, then got onto the bed next to me. "Small price to pay for getting to hold your hand."
I wasn't cold anymore. — Kiersten White

In a word, we may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when I'm as good as you has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will vanish.The few who might want to learn will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway the teachers
or should I say, nurses?
will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturable conceit and incurable ignorance among men. The little vermin themselves will do it for us. — C.S. Lewis

Gavin turned us to face Josh, a satisfied grin springing up when he noticed the condition of Josh's clothes.
"Thanks for the last-minute invitation, man." Josh chuckled, patting Gavin on the shoulder. "Shall I do the honors, Mr. Suave?"
"Sure thing, Frodo Baggins. By the way, I hear the Shire has impeccable dinner parties this time of year." The corners of Gavin's lips twitched and his eyebrows shot up as he gestured to a food stain of some sort near the collar of Josh's white shirt.
Josh's chin shot down to follow Gavin's amusement and he quickly tried to wipe away the crumbs. "Yeah, well ... you know how we hobbits like to eat. — Rachael Wade

All right, all right," he said, with that gesture I'd come to hate: two open palms facing me and patting the air, as if pushing me away, pushing me down, pushing any tears I might be preparing to cry back into their ducts. — Kathleen Rooney

Kenny rested his hand on my leg, patting it delicately. His thoughts staying just that, thoughts, as we drove in silence, back to my prison of paradise, back to the one place I knew I could be happy, yet miserable, all in the same day. — Holly Hood

On horseback he seemed to require as many hands as a Hindu god, at least four for clutching the reins, and two more for patting the horse soothingly on the neck. — Hector Hugh Munro

That looks like a tree, let's call it a tree,' said Coyote to Earthmaker at the beginning, and they walked around the rootdrinker patting their bellies. — Jack Kerouac

I recall vividly the night before one of my own early surgeries, an eight-hour affair that would alter my body permanently. I was twenty-seven and unmarried at the time. Late in the evening a pleasant elderly woman, a technical aide, had come to my hospital room to shave my abdomen in preparation for the procedure. As she went about this humble task with great skill, she had asked me about the next day's surgery. Filled with resentment, self-pity, and a sense of victimhood, I told her what was planned and burst into tears. She had seemed quite surprised. "How would YOU feel if they were going to do this to YOU tomorrow?" I asked her angrily. she had taken my question literally and had thought it over. Then, patting me gently, she had said, "If I needed it to live, I would be glad for the help." Her answer had changed everything. — Rachel Naomi Remen

Since I was trying so hard to make books lead my life, I didn't want to read them and then just put them back on the shelf and say, "good book," as if I was patting a good dog. I wanted books to change me, and I wanted to write books that would change others. — Jack Gantos

I think you are a very good tiger," said Dorothy, patting the huge head of the beast. "In that you are mistaken," was the reply. "I am a good beast, perhaps, but a disgracefully bad tiger. For it is the nature of tigers to be cruel and ferocious, and in refusing to eat harmless living creatures I am acting as no good tiger has ever before acted. That is why I left the forest and joined my friend the Cowardly Lion. — L. Frank Baum

Commence mental back patting. — Adrianne Brooks

Join me? Patting the spot beside him, he inclined his head. Pretty please? I'm lonely all by myself over here. — J. Lynn

As Lewis passed behind her, he patted her bottom. Margaret's face flushed hot. She craned to look over her other shoulder. Lewis sauntered on. At his door, he turned, winked at her, and then let himself into his room without a flicker of embarrassment. What insolence! She reminded herself that he didn't know who she was. But was patting a maid's bottom any better? — Julie Klassen

Britons seem to have given up on assimilating their Muslim population, with many British elites patting themselves on the back for their tolerance and multiculturalism. — Linda Chavez

Michaels gently extracted his hand, patting hers. "I just showered, so I'm sure they're clean. It's fine, I promise." She smiled sweetly. "Oh, okay. I hope Judge, Jr. wasn't too hard on you last night." Michaels looked up at Judge over Linda's head. His eyes twinkling with amusement. "Oh, yes ma'am. He was very hard." Judge's — A.E. Via

Then Rin was hugging him. Relief and joy swelled inside her till she thought she would burst.
"Uh ... ," Razo said, patting her head as if she might be crazy.
"You were dead," she mumbled against his chest.
"I was? Well, I wish someone had told me. Would've been nice to relax on my back for a while. Um, how'd I die? — Shannon Hale

Our stomachs live in towns, said Mma Potokwani, patting the front of her dress. 'That is where the work is. Our stomachs know that. But our hearts are usually somewhere else. — Alexander McCall Smith

You tell Anderson Silva that I'm coming over and I'm kicking down his backdoor and patting his little lady on the ass and I'm telling her to make me a steak, medium-rare just how I like it. — Chael Sonnen

I thought you'd be better at this."
"Why?"
Bridget shrugged. "'Cause your dad's a cop."
"Right," Matt said, shifting his body so he wasn't blocking the light. "Why wouldn't he teach me Breaking and Entering 101?"
Bridget stifled a yawn. "Might be helpful now."
"Patience, grasshopper." Matt inserted a second metal prong into the lock. "I know a few tricks."
Bridget heard a soft click, and Matt raised his eyebrows in an unspoken "I told you so" before twisting the handle. The door swung open.
"Slick, MacGyver," Bridget whispered, patting him on the head. "Remind me to give you a cookie. — Gretchen McNeil

How about her?" Ben pointed to a sleek blonde who smiled and preened in response. "I bet she'd like to meet you." "Ooh, she's shiny." "Why don't you go ask her what her name is?" suggested Ben, patting him on the back. "Do I need to know her name?" "I've heard it helps." "Maybe for you," Mal scoffed. "I just call out my own name during sex. — Kylie Scott

You know,' he said as they made their way down the hall, 'I appreciate the support, Scully, but I don't need defending. Not really.'
She looked up at him and sighed. 'Oh yes you do, Mulder.'
He looked back blankly.
'Trust me,' she said, patting his arm. 'On this one you'll have to trust me. — Charles Grant

By patting somebody on the back, a boy or a girl, a professional dancer, male, female, it really makes people feel good and I know it certainly made me feel good. — Jack Wagner

Which wishes for communion with us. This supreme intelligence longs to be known. It calls out to us. It draws us close to its mystery, and it grants us these remarkable minds, in order that we try to reach for it. It wants us to find it. It wants union with us, more than anything." "I know that is what you think," said Alma, patting his hand again, "and I believe it is quite an inventive notion, Mr. Wallace." "Do you think I'm correct? — Elizabeth Gilbert

being the key word there." Her grin took the sting out of her words. Juan chuckled, patting her on the head. "You're getting more and more like your mother every day." Tilting her head, she batted her eyelashes several times. "You mean intelligent and beautiful?" "Mouthy and obstinate." He pointed at the carvings on the wall. "Whether you like it or not, this curse could mean trouble. — Ann Charles

I want to meet him. Perhaps show him my gun collection."
I laugh, realizing my face still isn't dry as the chuckles send tears off the bottom of my chin. "You don't have a gun collection."
"My cutlery, then." He smiles, patting my leg. — Cassie Mae

She glanced over at Zachariah, who was busy patting Church. The cat had climbed up onto the champagne table and was gleefully knocking over glasses. Her look was one of exasperation and fondness mixed together. — Cassandra Clare

He looked at me like Lillian Gish coming out of a swoon.
"Is this Bertie Wooster talking?" he said, pained.
"Yes, it jolly well is!"
"Bertie, old man," said Bingo, patting me gently here and there, "reflect! We were at school - "
"Oh, all right! — P.G. Wodehouse