Nose Quotes

“I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things.”
― George Gissing

“To recognize bullshit,
nose is better than ear.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“Don't stick your nose where someone can pull it off and eat it.”
― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

“A man does not try to find out what is inside.
He does not try to scratch the surface.
If he did he might find something much more beautiful than the shape of a nose or the color of an eye.”
― Hedy Lamarr

“They say COVID is spread by mouths and noses, but scientists are now saying the greatest risk is assholes.”
― Shellen Lubin

“His cheek pillows pushed up by a thin, slanting smile, a fine channel like a scar from nose to upper lip.”
― Annie Proulx, The Shipping News

“The people of Ike-no-o used to say that Zenchi Naigu was lucky to be a priest: no woman would ever want to marry a man with a nose like that. Some even claimed it was because of his nose that he had entered the priesthood to begin with. The Naigu himself, however, never felt that he suffered any less over his nose for being a priest. Indeed, his self-esteem was already far too fragile to be affected by such a secondary fact as whether or not he had a wife.”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories

“And so, by means both active and passive, he sought to repair the damage to his self-esteem. He tried first of all to find ways to make his nose look shorter. When there was no one around, he would hold up his mirror and, with feverish intensity, examine his reflection from every angle. Sometimes it took more than simply changing the position of his face to comfort him, and he would try one pose after another—resting his cheek on his hand or stroking his chin with his fingertips. Never once, though, was he satisfied that his nose looked any shorter. In fact, he sometimes felt that the harder he tried, the longer it looked. Then, heaving fresh sighs of despair, he would put the mirror away in its box and drag himself back to the scripture stand to resume chanting the Kannon Sutra.

The second way he dealt with his problem was to keep a vigilant eye out for other people’s noses. Many public events took place at the Ike-no-o temple—banquets to benefit the priests, lectures on the sutras, and so forth. Row upon row of monks’ cells filled the temple grounds, and each day the monks would heat up bath water for the temple’s many residents and lay visitors, all of whom the Naigu would study closely. He hoped to gain peace from discovering even one face with a nose like his. And so his eyes took in neither blue robes nor white; orange caps, skirts of gray: the priestly garb he knew so well hardly existed for him. The Naigu saw not people but noses. While a great hooked beak might come into his view now and then, never did he discover a nose like his own. And with each failure to find what he was looking for, the Naigu’s resentment would increase. It was entirely due to this feeling that often, while speaking to a person, he would unconsciously grasp the dangling end of his nose and blush like a youngster.

And finally, the Naigu would comb the Buddhist scriptures and other classic texts, searching for a character with a nose like his own in the hope that it would provide him some measure of comfort. Nowhere, however, was it written that the nose of either Mokuren or Sharihotsu was long. And Ryūju and Memyoō, of course, were Bodhisattvas with normal human noses. Listening to a Chinese story once, he heard that Liu Bei, the Shu Han emperor, had long ears. “Oh, if only it had been his nose,” he thought, “how much better I would feel!”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories

“The nose is idiosyncratically central not only to our sense of smell but to our sense of who we are , in our most primal appetites. For the idea of appetite pertains to food as well as to all the sensual and spiritual experiences that drive us, give us pleasure, make us feel more alive in the moment. Scent is a portal to these basic human appetites—for the far-off, the familiar, the transcendent, the strange, and the beautiful—that have motivated us since the origins of our species.”
― Mandy Aftel, Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent

“But her nose is exceedingly large. It gives the impression that it has been stolen from someone else and thereafter fastened in the center of her face. It is as if a large, stone lantern from some major shrine had been moved to a tiny ten-square-meter garden.

It certainly asserts its own importance, but yet looks out of place. It could almost be termed hooked: it begins by jutting sharply out, but then, halfway along its length, it suddenly turns shy so that its tip, bereft of the original vigour, hangs limply down to peer into the mouth below. Her nose is such that, when she speaks, it is the nose rather than the mouth which seems to be in action. Indeed, in homage to the enormity of that organ, I shall refer hence forward to its owner as Madam Conk.”
― Natsume Sōseki, I Am a Cat

“When your dog wants you to pamper them so they nudge you with their nose, that's the canine version of a push notification.”
― Nitya Prakash

“As for me, I will punch anyone who calls me a conservative in the nose. I am a radical.”
― Frank Chodorov

“President Trump’s press conferences on the COVID-19 pandemic would be far more meaningful if he wore a dunces hat and a Pinocchio nose.”
― Steven Magee

“Scientists have discovered 2 additional private parts in humans as a result of Covid-19 pandemic. Ensure you cover them in public. They are your Mouth and Nose.”
― Vincent Nwachukwu

“President Trump’s ‘China Virus’ infection inspired me to buy a full face respirator that protects the eyes, nose and mouth from COVID-19.”
― Steven Magee

“My nose does not look like Barbie's nose and that's perfectly fine.”
― The Thoughtful Beast

“This is my favorite part of you, your eyelashes when the light hits them like that. This is my favorite part of you, right where your ear meets your jawline. No, this is my favorite part, the little crease under the tip of your nose.



Well, I only like the tip of your nose. If you didn’t have such a great nose-tip, it would be over between us.”
― Eleanor Davis, The Hard Tomorrow

“This is my favorite part of you, your eyelashes when the light hits them like that. This is my favorite part of you, right where your ear meets your jawline. No, this is my favorite part, the little crease under the tip of your nose.

Well, I only like the tip of your nose. If you didn’t have such a great nose-tip, it would be over between us.”
― Eleanor Davis, The Hard Tomorrow

“I developed atopic asthma after living an allergy free life until my forties.”
― Steven Magee

“One of my biggest dislikes is sneezing while peeing.”
― Steven Magee

“He politely breathed up my nose. I had learned many years ago that this is the preferred greeting of most horses. They like to breathe up your nose. Especially when you’re first introduced. And then, to be polite, you must breathe back up theirs.”
― Marti Healy, The Rhythm of Selby

“Allergies, it seems like everyone is developing them. I lived an allergy free life until I passed through a computed tomography X-ray scanner having my lungs examined. Afterwards I was extremely reactive to pollen with a runny nose and heavy sneezing every spring. It does respond to allergy medication and in my medicine cupboard you will find numerous allergy medications. Research into X-Ray radiation revealed that allergies are a known side effect of the exposure.”
― Steven Magee, Magee’s Disease

“I research moonlight effects on sleeping humans. The research goes well with the exception of causing excessive body hair growth, a pointy nose, and a craving for dog food!”
― Steven Magee

“Instead of heeding her advice to listen to his conscience, Stromboli had tricked her. Lied to her.
The first way you begin to lose yourself is with a lie, Mamma had taught her. A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.
"Mamma's wise words," Chiara murmured to herself. "If only they would help Stromboli, too."
As soon as she uttered the command, the wand in Stromboli's hand began to glow. The boy laughed and laughed, thinking gold was about to rain from the ceiling and that his wish would soon come true.
But the magic gathered around his nose... which began to grow.
"Papa!" he screamed, coming to a halt.
Remo seized his stool, raising it high and threateningly. "What are you doing to my son?"
"Teaching him something that you would also do well to learn," Chiara replied. Outwardly, she maintained her composure, but her heart raced as she witnessed the wand's power. Let it be temporary, she commended it silently. "You will treat others the way you wish to be treated. And a lie will not get you what you want.”
― Elizabeth Lim, When You Wish Upon a Star

“When you stick your nose in people's other business, it isn't usually a nose that suffers.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“And he said...

...put a stick up your nose and it will never grow leaves.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“It was a garden for the blind: a constant offence to the eyes, a pleasure strong if somewhat crude to the nose.”
― Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard

“Whatever you might say, such things do happen—rarely perhaps, but they happen all the same.”
― Nikolai Gogol, Plays and Petersburg Tales

“This doctor was a distinguished-looking man, with splendid coal-black whiskers, and a bonny, fresh-complexioned wife; he ate fresh apples in the morning and kept his mouth remarkably clean, gargling for almost three quarters of an hour every morning and polishing his teeth with five different types of toothbrush.”
― Nikolai Gogol, Plays and Petersburg Tales

“All he had to do was empty the lower intestines of a dealer into the guy's own couch."

“Your beast come out?” the King said.

“Nah, I sneezed.”

Black brows lifted over the wraparounds. “Really? I didn’t know your nose had that kind of firepower.”

“It doesn’t,” V answered as he took out a hand-rolled. “He had an oopsie.”
― J.R. Ward, The Wolf