Unease Quotes

“Confidence is what we get when we take fear, face it and replace it.”
― Tim Fargo

“Arin remmembered seeing her hand in Javelin’s mane, curling into the coarse strands. This made him remember the almost freakish lenghth between her littlest finger and thumb as her hand spanned piano keys. The black star of the birth-mark. He saw her again in the imperial palace. Her music room. He’d seen that room only once. About a month ago, right before Firstsummer. Her blue sleeves were fastened at the wrist.
Something tugged inside him. A flutter of unease.
Do you sing? Those had been her first words to him, the day she had bought him. A band of nausea circled Arin’s throat, just as it had when she had asked him that question, in part for the same reason. She’d had no trace of an accent. She had spoken in perfect, natural, mother-taught Herrani.”
― Marie Rutkoski, The Winner's Kiss

“I am either lacerated or ill at ease
and occasionally subject to gusts of life”
― Roland Barthes, Mourning Diary: October 26, 1977–September 15, 1979

“For myself the delay may be compared with a reprieve; for in confidence I assure you, with the world it would obtain little credit that my movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution: so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skill, abilities and inclination which is necessary to manage the helm.”
― George Washington

“I believe in han. There's no perfect English-language equivalent for this Korean emotion, but it's some combination of strife or unease, sadness, and resentment, born from the many historical injustices and indignities endured by our people. It's a term that came into use in the twentieth century after the Japanese occupation of Korea, and it describes this characteristic sorrow and bitterness that Koreans seem to possess wherever they are in the world. It is transmitted from generation to generation and defines much of the art, literature, and cinema that comes out of Korean culture.”
― David Chang, Eat a Peach

“Hence, it is quite conceivable that even the sense of guilt engendered by civilization is not recognized as such, but remains for the most part unconscious, or manifests itself as an unease, a discontent, for which other motivations are sought. The religions, at least, have never ignored the part that a sense of guilt plays in civilization. Moreover - a point I failed to appreciate earlier - they claim to redeem humanity from this sense of guilt, which they call sin. From the way in which this redemption is achieved in Christianity - through the sacrificial death of one man, who thereby takes upon himself the guilt shared by all - we drew an inference as to what may have been the original occasion for our acquiring this primordial guilt, which also marked the beginning of civilization.”
― Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents

“Sometimes she worried that she was too happy. . . And her joy would become a restless thing, flapping its wings inside her, as though looking for an opening to fly away.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

“I feel all around me the closing of a trap, and yet I do not think I am the one who is meant to be caught.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Socially we balanced each other out. He was the guy who came into the room and everyone was relieved. I made people deeply uneasy, myself most of all.”
― Lily King, Five Tuesdays in Winter

“Jorgen Weight stepped into the infirmary, flight helmet under his arm. Perhaps he should have stowed the helmet, but there was no rule requiring it - and he felt good carrying it. It made hime feel ready to fly at a moment's notice. Gave him the illusion that he was in control.
- Jorgen; Starsight: Brandon Sanderson, Skyward Series”
― Brandon Sanderson

“Should we try to account for all the gifts of life there would be no time for distress and uneasiness.”
― Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life

“He was overcome with a sudden sense of premonition, though he did not believe in premonition. He felt things in motion around him, things that he did not understand and could not control, things settling of themselves into an ordained and appointed position, like the revolving spheres of his father’s orrery��and he wished to protest this state of affairs, but could not.”
― Diana Gabaldon, Lord John and the Hand of Devils

“All the drinking reinforced my unease, and since nothing of what I did gave me anything back, I became more and more worn down, it was as though I was being drained, I became emptier and emptier, and soon I would be walking around like a shadow, a ghost, as empty and dark as the sky and the sea around me.”
― Karl Ove Knausgård, Min kamp 4

“Lilac was sleeping soundly in the next room, snuggling with Jasmine, when something woke her up like a kick in her gut. A feeling of uneasiness overcame her, triggering a familiar wave of unbearable fear. Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably as her inner voice sounded alarms of warning.”
― Lali A. Love, Heart of a Warrior Angel

“In the city, the line between nightmare and reality was fluid, just as the context of the words killer and death had shifted over time. Perhaps Mord was responsible. Perhaps we all were.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, Borne

“Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit.… The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe.”
― David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

“Eg går ikke ut lenger, ei uro er kommen over meg, og eg går ikkje ut.”
― Jon Fosse, Naustet

“We spend hours talking about things we hope will tell us more about who we are, like the latest self-help books we've read or those personality type quizzes that our friends post links to. We have opinions on politics and faith because we need to, since they are such a hug part of our daily lives. Me, I want to talk about rime. I want to talk about crime statistics with skepticism and unease. Because it there's one thing I've learned from seeing the inside of a dead man's skill on a bright Sunday morning, it's that at some point in our lives we could end up being something or the other: perpetrator, victim, passerby, or witness.”
― Michellan Alagao

“Margot suspects Sam has never understood her chronic unease, her relationship to difficulty--he who can drink all night with louche grace and never wind up sobbing at the dinner table or vomiting in the guest bed. He who thinks changing your life is as simple as, well, changing your life.”
― Laura van den Berg, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories

“And he said...

...the greater your unease, the slower that time goes.”
― Anthony T. Hincks