I saw a button pin once that said: “I’m not tense. I’m…

“Tais-toi. Your glove. Madame Erskine, procure me a large pin,’ said the Queen Dowager of Scotland. ‘I have yet to meet a man who…

— Dorothy Dunnett

Opportunities present themselves every day - to everyone. You just have to be alert and ready to act.

— Marc Ostrofsky

Being nervous actually kept me very tense.

— Kate Bush

“The past tense of regret is indecision.”

— Welcome to Nightvale Podcast

Until I saw my drawings replayed on the iPad, I'd never seen myself draw. Someone watching me would be concentrating on the exact moment,…

— David Hockney

“But here it is. So pick the bones from that. 'I think we need another tense for dreaming in,' I said, which made an…

— Sean O'Brien

“Her face was calm, but inside she was tense.”

— Jeffrey Eugenides

Where will you be when they tense for warfare? What will you see with your innocence there? Where will you be my darling?

— Cradle Of Filth

The general public have a warped view of the speed at which an investigation proceeds. They like to imagine tense conversations going on behind…

— Ben Aaronovitch

Cat cleared her throat in the tense silence that followed. “Uh, before this goes any further, let’s at least introduce ourselves to your friend.…

— Jeaniene Frost

I'm a very anxious, nervy kind of loser in many ways, and I get very stressed and a little tense.

— Ed Weeks

“That’s probably the worst thing about death. Is turns into was. Everything that was once present tense is now in the past.”

— Caleb Reese

Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense.

— Rupert Giles

My last defense / Is the present tense.

— Gwendolyn Brooks

With every year of playing, you want to relax one more muscle. Why? Because the more tense you are, the less you can hear.

— Yo-Yo Ma