For the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy, and that I was happy still. ~ Albert Camus
Tag Archives: Quotes
Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment. ~ Victor Frankl
Art
Quote Master
A Precious Privilege
Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours in watching television. ~ David Letterman
“If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.” ~ Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka, Writer – Born: July 3, 1883 – Died: June 3, 1924
Look For Beauty ~ Richard Paul Evans
‘Tis a superstition to insist on a special diet. All is made at last of the same chemical atoms. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ~ Dr. Seuss
In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different. ~ John Steinbeck
June Cleaver didn’t keep her house in perfect order, the prop man did it. ~ Barbara Billingsley
Barbara Billingsley , played June Cleaver in “Leave it to Beaver”
A Single Conversation … ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The weird and the stupid …
For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norms, even our cultural ideal. ~ Carl Bernstein
Acceptance
Rachel Carson ~ Nature
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” ~ Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams, Former First Lady of the United States – 1744 – 1818
Alice Walker Quote
“A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.” ~ Miles Davis
Miles Davis, Musician – B: May 26, 1926 – D: September 28, 1991
Fantasy is the only truth. – Abbie Hoffman
People Like Us ~ Albert Einstein
People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. ~ Albert Einstein
“If you want to keep your memories, you first have to live them.” ~ Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, B: May 24, 1941
The Great Unknown
You’ll never know the kind of person you could be until you take that first step, all alone, into the great unknown. Very few take the step. ~ Hannah Harding
Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life. ~ Stephen King
Consciousness: That annoying time between naps. ~ Steven Wright
Douglas Adams Quote
In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been regarded as a bad move. ~ Douglas Adams
Music causes us to think eloquently. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
To read a book …..
To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one. ~ Chinese Saying
Music is a safe kind of high. ~ Jimi Hendrix
People who boast about their I.Q. are losers. ~ Stephen Hawking
One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple. ~ Jack Kerouac
Practice will never make you perfect. Why should it? What fun would that be? ~ Stephen King
Joseph Addison Quote
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” ~ Joseph Addison, Essayist 1672 – 1719
The American Dream has run out of gas. ~ J. G. Ballard
The American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It’s over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam… ~ J. G. Ballard, British author 1930-
Everyone admits that love is wonderful and necessary, yet no one agrees on just what it is. ~ Diane Ackerman
Diane Ackerman, American poet, essayist, savage and naturalist 1948-
Truths ~ Alfred North Whitehead
There are no whole truths. All truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil. ~ Alfred North Whitehead
An intelligent hell would be better than a stupid paradise. ~ Victor Hugo
Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. ~ Max Eastman
There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse.” ~ David Hume
David Hume, Philosopher – B: May 7, 1711 – D: August 25, 1776
There are two ways to be fooled. ~ Soren Kierkegaard
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard, Philosopher – B: May 5, 1813 – D: November 11, 1855
Art is science made clear. ~ Jean Cocteau
Politics is the gizzard of society, full of gut and gravel. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~ Diana Scharf Hunt
One Place ~ Jerzy Kosinski
“Here was one place where I could find out who I was and what I was going to become. And that was the public library.” ~ Jerzy Kosinski, Novelist – B: June 14, 1933 – D: May 3, 1991
Truth exists; only lies are invented. ~ Georges Braque
Georges Braque, Painter – 1882 – 1963
Beautiful Thing ~ Albert Einstein
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. ~ Albert Einstein
If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters – 204 if you’re in Japan. ~ Claire Cook
Claire Cook, Film writer
Music is the medicine of the mind. ~ John Logan
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscious: this is the ideal life. ~ Mark Twain
I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork. ~ Peter De Vries
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. ~ William Shakespeare
If only life were one long crisis, everyone would be perfect. ~ Angela Thirkell
Angela Thirkell, The Headmistress (1945)
“Wait’ll next year!” ~ Robert Orben
“Wait’ll next year!” is the favorite cry of baseball fans, football fans, hockey fans, and gardeners. ~ Robert Orben
Monsters are real …. ~ Stephen King
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” ~ Stephen King
Public speaking ~ Evan Esar
Public speaking is the art diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary. ~ Evan Esar (1899 – 1995)
Happy or unhappy, all families are mysterious. ~ Gloria Steinem
Beware of the man who won’t be bothered with details. ~ William Feather
William Feather (1908 – 1976)
One reason I don’t drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time. ~ Nancy Astor
Nancy Astor (1879 – 1964)
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. ~ Dr. Seuss
To be persuasive …. ~ Edward R. Murrow
“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” ~ Edward R. Murrow (B: April 25, 1908 – D: April 27, 1965)
Ella Fitzgerald Quote
“Blue skies Smiling at me Nothing but blue skies Do I see” ~ Ella Fitzgerald (B: April 25, 1917 D: June 15, 1996)
If You Find Someone … ~ Franz Kafka
“If you find someone who makes you smile, who checks up on you often to see if you’re okay. Who watches out or you and wants the best for you. Who loves and respects you. Don’t let them go. People like that are hard to find.” ~ Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924)
Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.) ~ Julius Caesar
Rules For Happiness ~ Immanuel Kant
“Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.” ~ Immanuel Kant, Philosopher – B: April 22, 1724 – D: February 12, 1804
Do not fear mistakes. There are none. ~ Miles Davis
Better to accept whatever happens. ~ Horace
On stage I make love to twenty-five thousand people; then I go home alone. ~ Janis Joplin
Flying High ~ Nina Simone
“Birds flying high you know how I feel Sun in the sky you know how I feel Breeze driftin’ on by you know how I feel And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me And I’m feeling good I’m feeling good” ~ Nina Simone (1933-2003)
“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” ~ Galileo Galilei
Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves. ~ Larry McMurtry
I am not a film star …. ~ Vivien Leigh
“I’m not a film star; I am an actress. Being a film star is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity.” ~ Vivien Leigh – Actress, (1913-1967)
Unwritten Law
The problem with any unwritten law is that you don’t know where to go to erase it. ~ Glaser and Way
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~ Albert Einstein
Cats regard people as warmblooded furniture. ~ Jacquelyn Mitchard*
*The Deep End of the Ocean
Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts. ~ Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison (1943 – 1971), No One Hear Gets Out Alive
“Life to me is an adventure and you’ve got to experience everything.” ~ Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone – Musician, B: May 19, 1951 – D: April 15, 2001
Left Alone ~ Greta Garbo Quote
I never said “I want to be alone.” I only said,”I want to be left alone.” There is all the difference. ~ Greta Garbo
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; ~ Jim Morrison
Truth isn’t always beauty, but the hunger for it is. ~ Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer South African writer – B: November 20, 1923 – D: July 13, 2014
Half of the American people …. ~ Gore Vidal
Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half. ~ Gore Vidal
Few people know how to take a walk. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
After your death you will be what you were before your birth. ~ Arthur Schopenauer
Arthur Schopenauer – German philosopher 1788-1860
Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children. ~ Samuel Butler
Samuel Butler – British Poet, Author 1835 – 1902
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia. ~ Charles M. Schulz
Billie Holiday Quote
“You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.” ~ Billie Holiday, Singer – B: April 7, 1915 – D: July 17, 1959 Lady Sings the Blues ch. 11 (1956)
Making Excuses ~ Benjamin Franklin, Quote
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ~ Benjamin Franklin
“Acting is happy agony.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre
Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote
If the tongue had not been framed for articulation, man would still be a beast in the forest. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The busy bee has no time for sorrow. ~ William Blake
William Blake – English poet 1757 – 1827
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. ~ Jules Renard
I like life. It’s something to do. ~ Ronnie Shakes
Louis Kronenberger, Quote
The trouble with us in America isn’t that the poetry of life has turned to prose, but that it has turned to advertising copy. ~ Louis Kronenberger – American literary critic and novelist 1904-1980
“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” ~ Andy Rooney
Always read with a pen in your hands,… ~ Tim Parks
“Always read with a pen in your hands, not beside you on the table, but actually in your hand, ready, armed … Put a question mark by everything you find suspect. Underline anything you really appreciate. Feel free to write ‘splendid,’ but also, ‘I don’t believe a word of it.’ And even ‘bullshit.’” ~ TimContinue reading “Always read with a pen in your hands,… ~ Tim Parks”
“You should read books like you take medicine, by advice, and not by advertisement.” ~ John Ruskin
John Ruskin – English art critic 1819-1900
“Governments are suspicious of literature because it is a force that eludes them.” ~ Emile Zola
Emile Zola – Writer – Born: April 2, 1840 – Died: September 29, 1902
“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.” ~ T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“Why don’t you write books people can read?”
“Why don’t you write books people can read?” – Nora Joyce to her husband James (1882-1941)
“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.” ~ Andy Warhol
Source: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975)
