"Gotta" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... she'd help clean up the supper-things—an' then—" with a breaking voice, "an' then all at once she'd scare me by clappin' both hands to that pretty brown head o' hers, in sech a crazy way, an' sayin', 'Honest, Ma, I can't stand it any longer ... this life's too slow.... I've gotta go out where ...
— Tramping on Life - An Autobiographical Narrative • Harry Kemp
... black eyes stared at Eunice, as she made no move toward a purse, and he growled: "Hurry up lady; I gotta sell some papers yet. Think nobuddy wants ...
— Raspberry Jam • Carolyn Wells
... On'y we got to set home and make the best of it. Or take what's left." She turned her head slowly to where Nap Ballou stood over a table at the far end of the room. She laughed a grim, unlovely little laugh. "I guess when you can't go after what you want, like Angie, why you gotta ...
— One Basket • Edna Ferber
... spirtual, none in paticlar. A bell toll foh a funeral. At de baptizen do de pracher leads dem into de rivah, way in, den each one he stick dem clear under. I waz gonna be batize and couldn. Eva time sompin happin an I couldn. My ole mothah tole me I gotta be but I never did be baptize when Ise young in de south. De othah people ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: The Ohio Narratives • Works Projects Administration
... a new necktie, he's gotta go to dinner with the Lodge." A handful of dank sea-weed writhed around the old man's neck. "That's a turtle, that is," the boy went on, the need for imparting information justifying his lapse from ragging the drunkard. ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1915 - And the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... "Me gotta da good job," said Pictro, as he gave the monkey a little more line after grinding out on his organ a selection from "Santa Lucia." "Getta forty dollar da month and eata myself; thirty da month ...
— Toaster's Handbook - Jokes, Stories, and Quotations • Peggy Edmund & Harold W. Williams, compilers
... of us, we gotta eat, and Jimmy—he can cook! (He makes a stew that tastes as good as mother used to make.) An' when he starts to flappin' cakes, why, every hungry rook Is droolin' at the mouth for them, a-waitin' fer ...
— With the Colors - Songs of the American Service • Everard Jack Appleton
... used them once before—can't have many. Gotta warn Hys." He plugged a throat mike into the transmitter on his tack and spoke quickly into it. There was a stirring below and Brion poured a rain of fire ...
— Planet of the Damned • Harry Harrison
... said—about her feet taking hold on hell—I guess there was a time—I guess about one more slip—I guess I didn't run across her any too quick. But there never was a straighter, truer girl than Min was with me. I gotta get her planted right, Dominie. I gotta do it," ...
— From a Bench in Our Square • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... all right," the other sympathised. "Besides, take it from me, this ain't the kind of a job you could make good at. You gotta be a horse like me to stand it, 'specially ...
— Nobody • Louis Joseph Vance
... gotta' be sure," Alvar said. "I don't mind dyin' out here. But after a year of this, and then to get to a world that was only ashes, and not able to ...
— To Each His Star • Bryce Walton
... right. You gotta perfect right. Now, if this was New York, I'd spread that gold-laced ...
— The Unspeakable Perk • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... sighed the vender. "Not for one mont com-a da peach. Too soon. Gotta da nice-a orange. ...
— The Voice of the City • O. Henry
... slipper-shod feet. Their partners were lounging close. Lane passed by, and walking to a window in the shadow he stood there. Presently one of the boys threw away his cigarette and said: "Come on, Ironsides. I gotta dance. You're a rotten dancer, ...
— The Day of the Beast • Zane Grey
... intent upon a Roman candle, "wha' do you care, Mr. Cawt'orne? You don't hev to go back fer to be a child-slave to Chillingwort'. Me, I've gotta good call to jump overboard now an' be de sonny of a sea-horse, ...
— Romance Island • Zona Gale
... one evening. "We used to think you wasn't human exactly." He laughed heartily. "Gotta get acquainted with ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... said again. 'I seen you rehearse, as I promised Miss Denison I would. You ain't bad for an amateur. You gotta lot to learn, but it's in you. What it comes to is that I can fix you up in the four-a-day, if you'll take thirty-five per. I can't do better than that, and I wouldn't have done that if the little lady hadn't of kep' after me. Take it or leave it. ...
— The Man with Two Left Feet - and Other Stories • P. G. Wodehouse
... "I've gotta letter for the district attorney," said the voice. "I'm to give it to nobody but him. It's about Banf. He must get it quick, ...
— Somewhere in France • Richard Harding Davis
... he continued. "Me, I wanta stay bei der place; seven yahr I hef stay. Mist'r Derrick, he doand want dot I should be ge-sacked. Who, den, will der ditch ge-tend? Say, you tell 'um Bismarck hef gotta sure stay bei der place. Say, you hef der pull mit der Governor. You speak der ...
— The Octopus • Frank Norris
... robbery, Kun'l," he exclaimed, highly incensed. "Didn't I ask de stoahkeepeh what to pay Joe Brennen foh bringin' oveh dem trunks, an' didn't he say a dolleh is big pay foh such-like a trip? If we's gwine live in dis town, where day don' un'stand city prices an' de high cost o' livin' yit, we gotta hol' 'em down an' keep 'em from speckilatin' with us, or else we'll spile 'em fer de time ...
— Mary Louise in the Country • L. Frank Baum (AKA Edith Van Dyne)
... "You gotta be pretty brassy to ask for work here," said the little girl. "Everybody wants to work here. But you can't get anything unless ...
— What's the Matter with Ireland? • Ruth Russell
... no little slice," replied Albert with regret. "I've ate it all." He sighed and resumed. "I gotta scheme!" ...
— A Damsel in Distress • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
... with a grin, "I gotta sell things, ain't I? The brakeman hadn't oughta have that graft anyhow. I'd oughta have it. He gets them lunches fer two bits and sells 'em for thirty-five cents." Far from feeling abashed, he ...
— American Adventures - A Second Trip 'Abroad at home' • Julian Street
... persisted gloomily. "I gotta. I got the habit. I've done a lot of things that if my fambly knew"—he hesitated, giving her imagination time to picture dark horrors—"I went to the burlesque ...
— This Side of Paradise • F. Scott Fitzgerald
... lost yer looks, Jude, an' ol' Lucy ain't a-goin' to take ye in. We gotta snipe somepin quick—or starve! Look, we'll go down to Mike's place, an' then come back here when it's out, and ye kin pinch a string, or somepin, eh? ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking
... boys. Well-edjucated. But you're so dirty in your habits. You boys are always kickin' because I don't put you on a car together. I'm ashamed to do it, that's why. I doughtwanta give this section a black eye. We gotta show these lousy Frenchmen what Americans are. We gotta show we're superior to 'em. Those bastards doughno what a bath means. And you fellers are always hangin' 'round, talkin' with them dirty frog-eaters that does ...
— The Enormous Room • Edward Estlin Cummings
... the sooner we go the better," Slim declared fussily. "That fencin' kin wait. We gotta go and git back before Chip wants to start out the ...
— The Flying U's Last Stand • B. M. Bower
... know kin I borry a red lantern off'n you? I find I gotta sleep in the street to-night an' I'll harfta warn the traffic ...
— Jokes For All Occasions - Selected and Edited by One of America's Foremost Public Speakers • Anonymous
... picked up an apple from the sideboard and began to munch. His voice was disinterested. "Aw, Comparative Religion, mostly. We gotta go way back and study about the Greeks and the Triple-Goddess, and then the Olympians, ...
— Frigid Fracas • Dallas McCord Reynolds
... voltage. Gotta get more batteries to-night. Dangerous, too. Storm's going down. Bolsheviki coming in. Natives prowling an' yellow men, don't know about. Gotta do ...
— Panther Eye • Roy J. Snell
... of course, you can't be choicey. I've b'en at Clem fur five years to buy him union suits; but he's always b'en so stuck on red flannen. But now he's got two aut'mobiles, countin' the new delivery, I guess he's gotta be more tony; so he made out to spare 'em. And now that hat, Delia—it ain't a mite wore out, an' fur all you'll need one it's plenty good enough. I only had it two years and I guess folks won't remember; an' what if they do—they all know you get my things. Same way with that collarette. ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1917 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... I—I got to charge it to Dee Dee, and, anyways, she gets mad like anything if I keep her waiting. I gotta go. 'Night, ...
— Humoresque - A Laugh On Life With A Tear Behind It • Fannie Hurst
... back and gave vent to a burst of deep-chested laughter. "I'll tell you what it is, Mike," he said, archly, hitching up his tight, very artistic, and almost English trousers, "we're up against a bunch of pikers in this Gilgan crowd, and they've gotta be taught a lesson. He knows it as well as anybody else. None o' that Christian con game goes around where I am. I believe this man Cowperwood's right when he says them fellows are a bunch of soreheads ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser
... ye jest naturally had to turn to meanness. Ye wasn't really bad; ye was jest alive. All yer life ye been hankerin' fer sumpin that Bear Valley couldn't give, but ye didn't even know what 'twas ye was hankerin' fer. How could ye? A man's gotta taste olives before he c'n tell if he likes 'em, ain't he? Yer paw taught ye to read." Uncle Sebastian glanced once more, half pityingly, half resentfully, at the backless magazines. "Readin's put notions into yer head an' ...
— The She Boss - A Western Story • Arthur Preston Hankins
... whimpered, and Charity wrote the address and repeated her assurances. She also gave Kedzie her own card and asked her to write to her. That seemed to end the interview, and so Kedzie rose and said: "Much obliged. I guess I gotta go ...
— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes
... blocks," he went on, his absurd smile still persisting. "You're a cracker jack, you're a smart aleck. You've done to me what the fire did to the furnishing shack. You've dealt me one in the spaghetti joint. Oh, I gotta hand ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, June 9, 1920 • Various
... answered, disheartened. "I gotta get to him some other way. On the poetry—and that's ...
— From a Bench in Our Square • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... the program for the evening. A loud voice was heard from this quarter, a loud but nasal voice, shrill as well as nasal, and full of a strange hot passion. "Mr. Chairman!" it cried. "Look-a-here, Mr. Chairman! Mr. Chairman, I demand to be heard! You gotta gimme my say, Mr. Chairman! I'm a-gunna have my say! You look-a-here, ...
— Ramsey Milholland • Booth Tarkington
... gotta be quick," Carl said. "Here. This is what you'll use." He handed Benson a two-inch globe of black plastic. "Take the damn thing, quick! Little button on the side; press it, and get it out of your hand fast...." He retched. "Limited-effect bomb; ...
— Hunter Patrol • Henry Beam Piper and John J. McGuire
... added Chapin. "You're supposed to wash yourself all over once a week an' I'll give you a clean towel for that. Next you gotta wash this floor up every Friday mornin'." Cowperwood winced at that. "You kin have hot water for that if you want it. I'll have one of the runners bring it to you. An' as for your friends and relations"—he got up and shook himself like a big Newfoundland dog. "You ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser
... nimble-come-trimble ter tell little missy 'bout the fambly confab? 'Cause you done hearn Marse Big Josh 'sputin' with Marse Bob Bucknor at the ball consarnin' the Bucks an' Bucknors ain't no reason whe'fo' you gotta be so bigity. Ain't yo' mammy done tell you, time an' agin, that ain't no flies gonter crawl in a shet mouf? All you had ter do wa' ter go an' give Miss Judy Buck the trinket an' kinder git mo' 'quainted an', little by little, git her ter look at things yo' way. ...
— The Comings of Cousin Ann • Emma Speed Sampson
... the way to the window-seat. "You're a good old sport, Lyd," he said. "Charlie'll look out for you. I gotta get ...
— Lydia of the Pines • Honore Willsie Morrow
... be now, suh. Lemme be alone." His voice was a faint whisper. "I gotta die by myself. Man oughtn't to have ...
— Collectivum • Mike Lewis
... "You gotta play square cards here or you don't play none in my house. No living thumb-nail can nick no cards in my place and get away with it. Three kings and two trays is better than three chickens and two eggs. If you don't like ...
— The Flaming Jewel • Robert W. Chambers
... but you would be hollering for their junk out of pawn. But, Lord, the way she rigs herself up without it! Where'd you dig up the spangles, Babe? Gad! I gotta take you out to-night and buy you the right kind of a dinner. When I walks my girl into a cafe, they sit up and take notice, all righty. Spangles she rigs herself up in when another girl, with the way my luck's been runnin', would be down to ...
— Gaslight Sonatas • Fannie Hurst
... the servant muttered to himself as he shuffled back to the kitchen. "But Massa Tom tole me hisself he gwine t' baid early 'cause he gotta ...
— Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope • Victor Appleton
... even "at Lucy Gilding's," and quite often accentuates, in his ignorance, those of rather second-rate, though conspicuous position. "I was spending last week-end with the Richan Vulgars," or "My great friends, the Gotta Crusts." When a so-called gentleman insists on imparting information, interesting only to the ...
— Etiquette • Emily Post
... a story book about a feller that had a thing like that put up to him," said poor Link, unable to believe she was in earnest. "His girl said: 'You gotta choose between me and tobacco.' And he said: 'I'll choose tobacco. Not that I value tobacco so all-fired much,' he says, 'but because a girl, who'd make a man take such a choice, ain't worth giving up tobacco for.' You see, dearie, ...
— His Dog • Albert Payson Terhune
... you ain't dead after all, eh? Well that don't change the looks of things a mite. We gotta get that man outa there an' these flea-bitten imitations of men ain't got the guts to go ...
— The Mucker • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... "I gotta WATCH that jasper," he mumbled over his pipe, as a sort of summing up, and started slowly to the house. Halfway there he spoke again in the same mumbling undertone. "He's got the Injun look in his eyes t'-day. I ...
— Good Indian • B. M. Bower
... it from the old man and ma, Renie. Let 'em kill me if they want to; but we gotta keep it from ...
— Every Soul Hath Its Song • Fannie Hurst
... lak aw de good time gone from heah now. Peoples sho' gotta scuffle fa wha' dey hab dis day en time en den effen dey ge' it, dere ain' no sati'faction no whey 'bout it. T'ing ain' gwinna do nobody no good effen dey gotta worry dey head so mucha 'bout whey ...
— Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves • Works Projects Administration
... Applehead to home with the wimmin folks, Luck," he bawled unabashed. "Night air's bad fer 'im, and the trail ain't goin' to be smooth goin',—not if we gotta ride our hawses ...
— The Heritage of the Sioux • B.M. Bower
... gotta go away fer a couple o' weeks, or mebbe three. Push it right along an' mebbe you'll be hearin' from old man Eddy's son when I ...
— Radio Boys Cronies • Wayne Whipple and S. F. Aaron
... word," Mario added virtuously. "I was too busy doin' my work. Anyway, you gotta let me out. My team's got a ball ...
— Criminal Negligence • Jesse Francis McComas
... "We gotta get out quick, an' payin' our way at the start is quickest. Me—I'm all hunkydory; but you ain't. The folks that's lookin' after you'll raise a roar. They'll have more detectives out than you can shake at stick at. We ...
— The Little Lady of the Big House • Jack London
... expect her to do? She's gotta to get over to the other side, ain't she? Cert'nly she's gone." She looked at him interested. "Do you want to ...
— Three Men and a Maid • P. G. Wodehouse
... Sit down an' be partic'lar quiet. Here's some smokes. I'm wound up an' gotta go off or bust," Anderson said, "Well, as I was sayin', we folks don't know there's a war, from all outward sign here in the Northwest. But in that New York town I just come from—God Almighty! what goin's-on! Boys, I never knew before how grand it was to ...
— The Desert of Wheat • Zane Grey
... Quillan looked worried. "Gotta chance it, I guess! Message is pretty important, they say—" He turned, went through the center portal of the three, abruptly found himself walking along a ...
— Lion Loose • James H. Schmitz
... was the gray car of the hypercritical Warren McIntyre, parked daily in front of the Harvey house. At first the parlor-maid was distinctly startled when he asked for Bernice instead of Marjorie; after a week of it she told the cook that Miss Bernice had gotta ...
— Flappers and Philosophers • F. Scott Fitzgerald
... ingurah gotta. I have given Pepper, and got Ginger. Spoken when a man makes a bad exchange. And they use it in reference to the Dutch succeeding the ...
— An Historical Relation Of The Island Ceylon In The East Indies • Robert Knox
... Mellen's Food! When does he want us to stay up? Mornings? Some wise boy once said, 'Early to bed, early to rise, but you don't meet any prominent people,' and I guess maybe he wasn't right. He got the number then all right, all right, and he didn't have to speak harsh to Central at that. We gotta do something to amuse ourselves, and I never had a traveling gentleman yet conduct me to a watch meeting. A girl comes out of the stage door tired and lonesome; some village cut-up prances out and gets acquainted; the ...
— The Sorrows of a Show Girl • Kenneth McGaffey
... said Macy gravely. "Voice lacks cultivation, tha's all. Gotta natural voice, m'aunt used say. Naturally ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920 • Various
... was fascinated by the questions she asked, the puzzles she pronounced. "Such a girl!" he would exclaim to his wife. "What is it she doesn't want to know? 'Where is God? What does He do? Where does He keep His feet?" she asks me. "I gotta laugh sometimes." From rising in the morning, to dress her to laying her down at night after she had said her prayers, she came to be the chief solace and comfort of his days. Without Vesta, Gerhardt would have found his life ...
— Jennie Gerhardt - A Novel • Theodore Dreiser
... has passed out da word dat da boys gotta lay off," said Murphy. "He gives orders dat there's to be no rough stuff until he ...
— Spring Street - A Story of Los Angeles • James H. Richardson
... crowds cannot quite disturb the brooding peace which is like the promise of sleep and rest at sunset. It was not pleasing to Harrigan. He frowned and drew a quick, impatient breath, muttering: "I'm not long for this joint. I gotta be moving." ...
— Harrigan • Max Brand
... orders. "We gotta find out what's doin'. Chances are it's nothin' but a coupla bunches of braves with a cargo of redeye aboard, Tom, you an' Brad scout out an' take a look-see. Don't be too venturesome. Soon's you find out what the rumpus is, hot-foot it back and report, y' understand." The big wolfer ...
— Man Size • William MacLeod Raine
... Uncle Sam. To move the great big mountain Will take a million men. So come on with your tooth picks And bring your fountain pen. Go easy, don't jerk; We gotta make work. It'll take more moons If we use small spoons To move that ...
— Class of '29 • Orrie Lashin and Milo Hastings
... don't come soon I gotta git over thar an' trail her. . . . An' that means givin' up the job . . . an' mebbe losin' out. Suthin' 's happened; she never took so long before. . . . But pshaw! what with Whiskers 'n' Juno—they'd take's good keer o' ...
— The Return of Blue Pete • Luke Allan
... away. When mean folks dies, de old debbil sometimes doan want em down dere in da bad place, so he makes witches out of em, an sends em back. One thing bout witches, dey gotta count everthing fore dey can git acrosst it. You put a broom acrosst your door at night an old witches gotta count ever straw in dat broom fore she can ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - From Interviews with Former Slaves - Florida Narratives • Works Projects Administration
... "I gotta bunch o' dope," he announced, as he suddenly appeared before us. "Dunno 's it'll pan out much, but listen ...
— Vicky Van • Carolyn Wells
... Carpenter, if I vas to make a picture vit you I gotta spend a million dollars on it—you know you can't make no cheap skate picture fer a ting like dat, if you do you got a piece o' cheese. It'd gotta be a costume picture, and you got shoost as much show to market vun o' dem today ...
— They Call Me Carpenter • Upton Sinclair
... her and I'll run her from here to the next galaxy. I—I can't explain it, but when I look at those motors, I can read 'em like you read an astrogation chart, Roger, or you the gauges on the control deck, Tom. But I just can't get those ratios out of a book. I gotta put my hands on those motors—touch 'em—I mean really touch 'em—then ...
— Stand by for Mars! • Carey Rockwell
... don't understand, Mr. Ackerman. It's a machine, and you can't run against it; you gotta understand it, you gotta handle it right. I'd like to help you, and I know I can help you, but you gotta let me explain it, and you ...
— 100%: The Story of a Patriot • Upton Sinclair
... awful good. He cries a lot an' I bed to hev thin's fer 'im, so I threatened him ef he didn't do sompin' I'd go tell her; an' he up an' forked over, but not till I promised. But now they say the papers is tellin' he's to marry her to-night, an' I gotta stop it somehow. I got my rights an' baby's to look after, promise er no promise, Ken I get ...
— Lo, Michael! • Grace Livingston Hill |
