Tersely Quotes & Sayings

Especially," said Mr. Pumblechook, "be grateful, boy, to them which brought you up by hand." Mrs. Hubble shook her head, and contemplating me with a mournful presentiment that I should come to no good, asked, "Why is it that the young are never grateful?" This moral mystery seemed too much for the company until Mr. Hubble tersely solved it by saying, "Naterally wicious." Everybody then murmured "True!" and looked at me in a particularly unpleasant and personal manner. — Charles Dickens

Your perfume. . .' His tone held a faint hint of surprise. 'I'd somehow expected you to wear something more. . .sultry. I don't recognize this fragrance.'
'It's new," Courtenay said tersely. 'It's called Get Lost. You've probably never encountered it before. — Grace Green

The head's a cloud anchor that the feet must follow. Travel light, he said, or don't travel at all. — Jim Harrison

Michael nodded tersely, eyeing a table across the room. It was empty. So empty. So joyfully, blessedly empty.
He could picture himself a very happy man at that table.
"Not feeling very conversational this evening, are we?" Colin asked, breaking into his (admittedly tame) fantasies. — Julia Quinn

Nikolas." The man's voice was deep, rough, and familiar. Nikolas's flare of aggression subsided as he realized the approaching figure was Rhys. "When you weren't here to greet us, we got worried."
"I ran into a pack of Hounds," Nikolas replied tersely.
Rhys hesitated. "Is everything ok?
"They're dead. I'm not. Situation handled. — Thea Harrison

Mr. Albert? Mr. Albert?" Harley said.
"Just Albert's fine," Albert said tersely.
"Me and Janice are thirsty."
"I'm sorry, but I don't have any water on me." He managed a tight smile and moved on. But now Janice was crying and Harley was pleading.
"We used to live with Mary and she gave us water. But now we have to live with Summer and BeeBee and they said we have to have money."
"Then I guess you'd better earn some money," Albert said. He tried to soften it, tried not to sound harsh, but he had a lot on his mind and it came out sounding mean. Now Harley started to cry, too.
"If you're thirsty, stop crying," Albert snapped. "What do you think tears are made of? — Michael Grant

I'm fine," I told him tersely.
"Of course you are. You're one of the strongest people I know."
It took me a second to process that, because he'd said it so casually. Like he was talking about the weather or what time it was. Only Pritkin didn't say things like that. His idea of a compliment was a nod and to tell me to do whatever it was I'd just done over again. Like that was usually possible.
But that had sounded suspiciously like a compliment to me. — Karen Chance

Aline," he interrupted tersely, "the forces of heaven and hell combined couldn't stop me from making love to you right now."
That hardly left room for ambiguity. — Lisa Kleypas

The only question that got any traction was when he asked Martin what he did. Martin tersely replied that he was a wizard and was met with a blank stare. "You know, a wizard," Martin said. "I do magic." Martin had expected that this would at least impress Ampyx. Martin was wrong. "Why?" Ampyx asked. "Why what? Why do I do magic?" "Yes, why do you do magic?" Ampyx asked, as if it were the most obvious question in the world. Martin looked at Phillip, who shrugged. Finally, Martin answered, "Why wouldn't I do magic? Wouldn't you do magic if you could?" "Never," Ampyx said. "Well, why not?" Ampyx scrunched his face and said, "Magic . . . it is . . . woman's work." Martin — Scott Meyer

She would have asked Noah to confirm this, but he was notoriously disinterested in the details of his afterlife. (Once, Gansey had tersely asked, "Don't you care how it is that you're still here?" and Noah had answered with remarkable acumen, "Do you care how your kidneys work?") — Maggie Stiefvater

Willmott has very tersely said that embellished truths are the illuminated alphabet of larger children. — Horace Mann

Flying monkeys?" the Gasman called out a guess. "Like in the Wizard of Oz?"
It dawned on me then. "No," I said tersely "Worse. Flying Erasers. — James Patterson

tersely. Then the line — David Baldacci

I am the dead dreamer, older than sin, older than humanity. I am the shadow below everything. I am the beautiful thing that awaits us all. — Paul Tremblay

Breath. "You're welcome," he said tersely. "That man, Sims," she continued, worried. "The day you fired him, John said that he had a mean temper and that he carried a loaded rifle everywhere with him. You ... you be careful, okay?" She heard the soft expulsion of breath. He moved a step closer, his lean hands lifting her oval face to his. She could see the soft glitter of his blue eyes in the faint — Diana Palmer

And watch your tongue. I happen to be partial to humans - most, anyway. Clowns, not so much. Those evil bastards never stop smiling."
Niccolo didn't know what these "clowns" were, but he made a mental not to stay away if he ever encountered one. Sounded unpleasant. — Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Should we be mindful of dreams?" Joseph asked. "Can we interpret them?"
The Master looked into his eyes and said tersely: "We should be mindful of everything, for we can interpret everything. — Hermann Hesse

Everybody is agreeing so tersely. I just had a flashback to the month before my parents finally admitted they were getting a divorce. — Samantha Bee

Yes," Mason said tersely and hung up. Guilt from the past swirled within him. He looked back at Chelle, who was anxiously waiting for him to return to her. He couldn't tell her about Ruby. If she told anyone and it somehow got to the press, it might send Ruby off the edge she was already teetering on. Ruby — Ruth Cardello

The house was on fire," i greeted them tersely. "In case you're interested."
they both glanced up overhead as if to make sure the house was still standing. Fang sniffed, smelling the smoke.
It's out, right?" he said — James Patterson

Where I come from," said Archie, "a bloke likes to get to know a girl before he marries her."
"Where you come from it is customary to boil vegetables until they fall apart. This does not mean," said Samad tersely, "that it is a good idea. — Zadie Smith

A sutra is, so to speak, the bare thread of an exposition, the absolute minimum that is necessary to hold it together, unadorned by a single "bead" of elaboration. Only essential words are used. Often, there is no complete sentence-structure. There was a good reason for this method. Sutras were composed at a period when there were no books. The entire work had to be memorized, and so it had to be expressed as tersely as possible. Patanjali's Sutras, like all others, were intended to be expanded and explained. The ancient teachers would repeat an aphorism by heart and then proceed to amplify it with their own comments, for the benefit of their pupils. In some instances these comments, also, were memorized, transcribed at a later date, and thus preserved for us. — Swami Prabhavananda

I don't have a lot of patience for boring arthouse movies. — Zoe Kazan

This is what being alive's all about, all those fucked up feelings. You've got to have them; when you stop, watch out. — Irvine Welsh

He had noticed my bandaged hand.
"An accident," Warthrop said tersely.
"Dr. Warthrop chopped off my finger with a butcher knife."
Von Helrung's brow knotted up in confusion. "By accident?"
"No," I answered. "That part was on purpose. — Rick Yancey