As a matter of selective necessity, man is an agent. He is, in his own apprehension, a centre of unfolding impulsive activity; "teleological activity." He is an agent seeking in every act the accomplishment of some concrete, objective, impersonal end. By force of being such an agent, he is possessed of a taste for effective work, and a distaste for futile effort. ~Thorstein Veblen
#quotes #thorstein-veblen #human

How much money you get, depends on lots of extraneous things. It depends on how good you are at turning poetry into a marketable product, which is something it was never supposed to be. That's why many people suppose that the better the poet you are the lower your income should be, and that's probably true. ~Robert Bringhurst
#quotes #robert-bringhurst #writing #poetry #money

Physically he was the connoisseur's connoisseur. He was a giant panda, Santa Claus and the Jolly Green Giant rolled into one. On him, a lean and slender physique would have looked like very bad casting. ~Craig Claiborne
#quotes #craig-claiborne #entertainment #santa

On receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided on my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success. ~Martin Van Buren
#quotes #martin-van-buren #trust

The grave is a very small hillock, but we can see farther from it, when standing on it, than from the highest mountain in all the world. ~August Tholuck
#quotes #august-tholuck #death #graves

Loyalty, Signor Molteni, not love. Penelope is loyal to Ulysses but we do not know how far she loved him; and as you know people can sometimes be absolutely loyal without loving. In certain cases, in fact, loyalty is form of vengeance, of black-mail, of recovering one's self-respect. Loyalty, not love. ~Alberto Moravia
#quotes #alberto-moravia #loyalty #love #self

The devil takes a hand in what is done in haste. ~Turkish Proverb
#proverbs #turkish-proverbs #haste

From early childhood, I was interested in understanding how the world worked, and assumed I would be some kind of physical scientist or chemist. But the truth was, I didn't know there was another kind of world, the inner world, that was just as interesting, if not more relevant, than what was going on in the outside world. ~Stephen LaBerge
#quotes #stephen-laberge #childhood #world

Education needs to be rethought. Education does not just happen in college, but it also happens in developing skills which will enable people to contribute to our society as a whole. ~Peter Thiel
#quotes #peter-thiel #education #thinking

I always stayed for the first curtain call and people always said, "Who's that?" But this got me started in acting. ~James Stewart
#quotes #james-stewart #acting

Something will be there when the flood recedes. We know that. It will be those people now standing in the water, and on those rooftops, many black, many poor. Homeless. Overlooked. And it will be New Orleans, though its memory may be shortened, its self-gaze and eccentricity scoured out so that what's left is a city more like other cities, less insular, less self-regarding, but possibly more self-knowing after today. A city on firmer ground. ~Richard Ford
#quotes #richard-ford #poverty #floods #new-orleans

My most resolute opponents believe that I am too visible, that I am a little too alive, that my name echoes too much in the texts which they nevertheless claim to be inaccessible. ~Jacques Derrida
#quotes #jacques-derrida #lively

To have success in your professional life is not so hard. To succeed as a man is more difficult. ~Yann Arthus-Bertrand
#quotes #yann-arthus-bertrand #life #success

I'm what a normal, healthy, ideal American should be like. ~George McGovern
#quotes #george-mcgovern #united-states

We're supposed to be making up this stuff, playing at being in love, not actually being in love. ~Suzanne Collins
#quotes #suzanne-collins #love

I have never seen a homeless guy with a bottle of Gatorade. ~George Carlin
#quotes #george-carlin

My dad loved comedians, especially George Jessel, and he loved Henny Youngman and Buddy Hackett. ~Al Franken
#quotes #al-franken #george-jessel #henny-youngman #comedy

Sometimes in life, a fog sets in and you don't know which way is the right direction. Every voice may tell you it's not going to happen, but God has placed a promise in your heart. Refuse to listen to those voices. Keep believing. ~Joel Osteen
#quotes #joel-osteen #god #heart

Artists are always looking for new things and fresh ground and fresh air. If it feels new to me, there's a chance it'll feel new to the audience and we'll have found something. ~Jerry Seinfeld
#quotes #jerry-seinfeld #artist #inspiration

I was never one to go up to someone as a five- or six-year-old and say, "Hello, my name's Paul, will you be my friend?" But I found if I did an impression of the PE teacher or whatever and people laughed, then they did like me, and so then they started talking to me, rather than me making the initial overture and then maybe being rebuffed. ~Paul Merton
#quotes #paul-merton #teaching

A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion. ~Chinese Proverb
#proverbs #chinese-proverbs #decisions #ignorance

When I am happy I am like a cat, sleek and purring, quite useless. It is when I am unhappy, with an ache perhaps in my heart, that I do my finest work. ~Barbara La Marr
#quotes #barbara-la-marr #work #happiness #cat

There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. ~George Bernard Shaw
#quotes #george-bernard-shaw #spiritual #religious

Everybody has talent, it is just a matter of moving around until you have discovered what it is. ~George Lucas
#quotes #george-lucas #talent

As we continue to fight the war on terror, we express our gratitude to our troops whose valor over the last three years provided freedom to the Iraqis, while protecting our liberty here at home. ~Tim Murphy
#quotes #tim-murphy #war #terrorism #iraq