87 Inspiring Simile Quotes

Similes have an extraordinary power to capture the imagination, painting vivid pictures with words that resonate on a deeper level. They connect the unfamiliar with the familiar, offering insights and evoking emotions that transcend the ordinary. In this collection of 87 inspiring simile quotes, you’ll embark on a journey through words that shine a light on the beauty and complexity of life. Each quote serves as a bridge between the abstract and the tangible, encouraging reflection and sparking creativity. Whether you're seeking inspiration, clarity, or a fresh perspective, these simile quotes promise to enrich your understanding and appreciation of the world around you. Join us as we explore the eloquent art of similes and the profound messages they convey.

1. “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” - Steve Martin

2. “He's like a drug for you, Bella.” - Stephenie Meyer

3. “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

4. “A house without books is like a room without windows.” - Horace Mann

5. “Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.” - Lemony Snicket

6. “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.” - Thomas Paine

7. “Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed--sometimes it covers you just fine, and other times it leaves you cold and shaking; and worst of all, you never know which of the two it's going to be.” - Jodi Picoult

8. “Using a metaphor in front of a man as unimaginative as Ridcully was like ared flag to a bu... was like putting something very annoying in front ofsomeone who was annoyed by it.” - Terry Pratchett

9. “Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.” - Fulton J. Sheen

10. “Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.” - Abraham Lincoln

11. “Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.” - Nicholas Sparks

12. “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.” - Frank Zappa

13. “He'd felt like a jack-o-lantern for the past few days, as if his guts had been yanked out with a fork and dumped in a heap while a grinning smile stayed plastered on his face.” - Cassandra Clare

14. “I wonder which is preferable, to walk around all your life swollen up with your own secrets until you burst from the pressure of them, or to have them sucked out of you, every paragraph, every sentence, every word of them, so at the end you're depleted of all that was once as precious to you as hoarded gold, as close to you as your skin - everything that was of the deepest importance to you, everything that made you cringe and wish to conceal, everything that belonged to you alone - and must spend the rest of your days like an empty sack flapping in the wind, an empty sack branded with a bright fluorescent label so that everyone will know what sort of secrets used to be inside you?” - Margaret Atwood

15. “It sounded like a piece of blackboard being dragged over the nails of a wall of severed fingers.” - Neil Gaiman

16. “Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.” - Jonathan Swift

17. “A novel rough draft is like bread dough; you need to beat the crap out of it for it to rise.” - Chris Baty

18. “It was like hiking into a Hemingway story; everything was sepia-toned and bristling with subtext.” - Leslie What

19. “He had electric blue hair that had stuck around his head like tendrils of a startled octopus.” - Cassandra Clare

20. “Insanity hovered close at hand, like an eager waiter at an expensive restaurant.” - Arundhati Roy

21. “Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.” - Terry Pratchett

22. “The only way I can describe the extent of my anxiety is to say that I felt as if I were pregnant with a rock.” - Katharine Graham

23. “Grinning like a necrophiliac in a morgue.” - Terry Pratchett

24. “Watching a dog try to chew a large piece of toffee is a pastime fit for gods. Mr. Fusspot's mixed ancestry had given him a dexterity of jaw that was truly awesome. He somersaulted happily around the floor, making faces like a rubber gargoyle in a washing machine.” - Terry Pratchett

25. “High School is like a spork: it's a crappy spoon and a crappy fork, so in the end it's just plain useless.” - John Mayer

26. “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one but they think each others stink.” - Simone Elkeles

27. “Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere.” - Emma Smith

28. “Ignorance is a lot like alcohol: the more you have of it, the less you are able to see its effect on you.” - Jay Bylsma

29. “Life is like a box of Hand grenades,You never know what will blow you to kingdom come” - Mario Puzo

30. “Some people are like Slinkies. They aren't really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to my face when I push them down a flight of stairs.” - Patricia Briggs

31. “Life, he realize, was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it's in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile.” - Nicholas Sparks

32. “Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe.” - J.K. Rowling

33. “A friend... sort of. Ren watches me like I'm a cookie jar he wouldn't mind being caught with his hands in.” - Andrea Cremer

34. “Adult librarians are like lazy bakers: their patrons want a jelly doughnut, so they give them a jelly doughnut. Children’s librarians are ambitious bakers: 'You like the jelly doughnut? I’ll get you a jelly doughnut. But you should try my cruller, too. My cruller is gonna blow your mind, kid.” - John Green

35. “The wind blowing through my ripped clothes was so cold that I felt like a Percysicle.” - Rick Riordan

36. “Life is like a bad haircut. At first it looks awful, then you kind of get used to it, and before you know it, it it grows out and you gotta get another haircut that maybe won't be so bad, unless of course you keep going to SuperClips, where the hairstylists are so terrible they oughta be using safety scissors, and when they're done you look like your head got caught in a ceiling fan. So life goes on, good haircut, bad haircut, until finally you go bald, and it don't matter no more. I told this wisdom to my mother, and she said I oughta put it in a book, then burn it. Some people just can't appreciate the profound.” - Neal Shusterman

37. “Life is like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” - Carl Sandburg

38. “Without inspiration, we’re all like a box of matches that will never be lit.” - David Archuleta

39. “Peeing is like a good book in that it is very, very hard to stop once you start.” - John Green

40. “I respond, thoughts dropping away, like pebbles plopping one by one in water, sinking down, down into dark oblivion.” - Sophie Jordan

41. “You," Madeline said, her voice hollow and wheezing, "are like a bad case of herpes, wizard. You're inconvenient, embarassing, no real threat, and you simply will not go away.” - Jim Butcher

42. “And an inky-colored despair of rejection enveloped me like the black tortilla of depression around a pain burrito.” - Christopher Moore

43. “Asking an eight-year-old girl if something is a little over-the-top is like asking a Texan if there are too many jalapenos in the salsa. The answer is always no." -Liberty Jones” - Lisa Kleypas

44. “Nanny's words made Janie's kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after a rain” - Zora Neale Hurston

45. “As the station wagon pulled back onto the highway, the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon like a leaky boat. Well, except for that fact that boats are not generally round, orange and on fire. Hmm. Come to think of it, in no way whatsoever did the sun, in this instance, resemble a leaky boat. My apologies. That was a dreadful attempt at simile. Please allow me to try again. As the station wagon pulled back onto the highway, the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon like a self-luminous, gaseous sphere comprised mainly of of hydrogen and helium.” - Cuthbert Soup

46. “Stress level: extreme. It's like she was a jar with the lid screwed on too tight, and inside the jar were pickles, angry pickles, and they were fermenting, and about to explode.” - Fiona Wood

47. “And then it hits me like a fast, open-palmed, stinging smack in the face.Having a ghost boyfriend WASweird” - Lisa Schroeder

48. “And my life went to pieces, like a love letter in the rain.” - Will Christopher Baer

49. “And now, my poor old woman, why are you crying so bitterly? It is autumn. The leaves are falling from the trees like burning tears- the wind howls. Why must you mimic them?” - Mervyn Peake

50. “Love is like the human appendix. You take it for granted while it's there, but when it's suddenly gone you're forced to endure horrible pain that can only be alleviated through drugs.” - Reverend Jen

51. “Our house was like sleeping beauties palace after the enchanted spell is cast” - Karen Foxlee

52. “I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows- slow, dumb, and bright red.” - Rick Riordan

53. “Today was a very cold and bitter day, as cold and bitter as a cup of hot chocolate, if the cup of hot chocolate had vinegar added to it and were placed in a refrigerator for several hours.” - Lemony Snicket

54. “You know, a cell phone's like a guy; if you don't plug him in every night, charge him good, you got nothing at all.” - Catherine Coulter

55. “Sex is like air; it's not important unless you aren't getting any.” - John Callahan

56. “Telling someone about what a symbol means is like telling someone how music should make them feel.” - Dan Brown

57. “The next morning dawned bright and sweet, like ribbon candy.” - Sarah Addison Allen

58. “Anxiety's like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you very far.” - Jodi Picoult

59. “He's as nutty as a vegan T-bone.” - David Sedaris

60. “A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.” - Sophia Loren

61. “You're about as subtle as a fucking train wreck. On a boat.” - Doug Walker

62. “Yes, boys are a little like shoes. Why? Well...They can be useful. But mainly...They are nice to look at. Getting the right one can be a lovely accessory to an outfit. There are times when you couldn't do without them. And there are times when you'd rather do without them. Get the wrong ones and they can hurt. There are many types and often the ones that look the nicest are completely unpractical.” - Rachel Hill

63. “I belonged in Idle Valley like a pearl onion on a banana split.” - Raymond Chandler

64. “I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” - Winston S. Churchill

65. “Trying to reason with an addict was like trying to blow out a lightbulb.” - Anne Lamott

66. “Phyllida's hair was where her power resided. It was expensively set into a smooth dome, like a band shell for the presentation of that long-running act, her face.” - Jeffrey Eugenides

67. “A great idea should always be left to steep like loose tea leaves in a teapot for a while to make sure that the tea will be strong enough and that the idea truly is a great one.” - Phoebe Stone

68. “.. a simile is not a lie, unless it is a bad simile.” - Mark Haddon (Author)

69. “Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to climb a tree because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch or you might simply get covered in sap and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors where it is harder to get a splinter.” - Lemony Snicket

70. “Augustin stood there looking down at him and cursed him speaking slowly clearly bitterly and contemptuously and cursing as steadily as though he were dumping manure on a field lifting it with a dung fork out of a wagon.” - Ernest Hemingway

71. “There are three types of friends: those like food without which you can't live those like medicine which you need occasionally and those like an illness which you never want.” - Solomon Ibn Gabirol

72. “Indian summer is like a woman.” - Grace Metalious

73. “Lyra had never seen such a sight, never heard such a bellow; it was like a mountain laughing.” - Philip Pullman

74. “His lips made a grim twist that was like the joyless cousin of a smile.” - Laini Talyor

75. “Beauty soaks reality as water fills a rag.” - Chet Raymo

76. “His touch was like a bard's on his instrument, and it awakened a deep and mysterious music in my body.” - Juliet Marillier

77. “If she were here I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off her. I would hold her so close she'd beg me to let her breathe. I'd kiss her so hard she'd plead for mercy. I'd unfasten her clothing and lie with her on that hard bed, and what was between us would be as far above the ordinary congress between man and woman as the stars are above their pale reflections in the lake below.” - Juliet Marillier

78. “... Ennis was back on his feet and somehow, as a coat hanger is straightened to open a locked car and then bent again to its original shape, they torqued things almost to where they had been, for what they'd said was no news. Nothing ended, nothing began, nothing resolved.” - Annie Proulx

79. “...childlike wonder and awe have died. The scenery and poetry and music of the majesty of God have dried up like a forgotten peach at the back of the refrigerator.” - John Piper

80. “A prayerless Christian is like a bus driver trying alone to push his bus out of a rut because he doesn't know Clark Kent is on board.” - John Piper

81. “Southampton's barrage balloons floated gleaming in the moonlight like the ghosts of elephants and hippos.” - Elizabeth Wein

82. “Lugh's decided to stick with bein mad at me. It's like traveling with a storm cloud. One of them that hangs low an heavy. The kind that builds an broods an keeps on buildin an brood in till everybody's got a sick headache.” - Moira Young

83. “His nostrils flared, he was breathing like a picadored bull.” - Jerry Spinelli

84. “Her courage seemed to collapse around her ankles like an old pair of elastic undies” - Julie Anne Grasso

85. “My chest bumps like a dryer with shoes in it.” - David Foster Wallace

86. “Did you ever get the feeling that everything was too perfect? Like the moment was so good that something had to be wrong? Kind of like the way a fish sees that bright, shiny lure just before it chomps down and gets hauled out of water to become someone's lunch.” - Neal Shusterman

87. “The purple, formalized, iridescent, gelatinous bladder of a Portuguese man-of-war was floating close beside the boat. It turned on its side and then righted itself. It floated cheerfully as a bubble with its long deadly purple filaments trailing a yard behind in the water.” - Ernest Hemingway