Once I began doing stand-up, I didn't get a kick out of the applause or being the centre of attention; but I did get a kick out of the jigsaw puzzle aspect of it, searching for the right bit, adding another few pieces each night until the bigger picture appears. That's the appeal: the challenge of it. ~Stephen Merchant
#quotes #stephen-merchant #comedy #attention

I had got this far, and was thinking of what to say next, and as my habit is, I was pricking the paper idly with my pen. And I thought how, between one dip of the pen and the next, time goes on, and I hurry, drive myself, and speed toward death. We are always dying. I while I write, you while you read, and others while they listen or stop their ears, they are all dying. ~Petrarch
#quotes #petrarch #writing #thinking #death

The malaise and military decline of the post-Vietnam years under President Jimmy Carter set the stage for Russian aggression abroad and uncertainty among our allies. ~Paul Cook
#quotes #paul-cook #military #vietnam #russia

I know some of you are, thinking, maybe I deserved it. But before you start pointing fingers, let me ask you. Is what I did really so bad? So bad I deserved to die? So bad I deserved to die like that? Is what I did really much worse than what anybody else does? Is it really so much worse than what you do? ~Lauren Oliver
#quotes #lauren-oliver #thinking #death

In a complex and troubling world, who wouldn't want to simplify? Everybody does. Everybody wants to simplify and put up a picket fence. ~Gary Ross
#quotes #gary-ross #complexity #simplicity

The halls were empty. Charlotte had missed the first bell and would be late, again. Her homeroom teacher would ask her for an excuse and she would say, "Overwhelming feeling of dread." That was going to go over nicely. ~Anne Ursu
#quotes #anne-ursu

An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness to serve God with. ~Thomas Fuller
#quotes #thomas-fuller #god #wisdom #happiness

I got picked on a lot, even by teachers too. I liked to listen to musicals and bake, and my homeroom teacher found out and mocked me in front of the whole class for baking. ~Dan Savage
#quotes #dan-savage #baking

If we stay aware and acknowledge the great mystery that is this life, we will see that we have been perfectly placed, in exactly the right position, to make all the difference in the world. ~James Redfield
#quotes #james-redfield #world #change

In our post 9/11 world, our Nation's military deserves, at least the same access to institutions of higher education that any other major employer might enjoy. ~Mike Rogers
#quotes #mike-rogers #education #military #united-states

The pressure of special interests, the demands of special sections of the state, the needs of friends, all must be subordinated to the good of the people as a whole. ~Arthur Capper
#quotes #arthur-capper #people #goodness

It would be good to see what the Queen gets up to at Buckingham Palace. I bet she spends her whole time watching "Coronation Street." ~Amelia Warner
#quotes #amelia-warner #queen #buckingham-palace #coronation-street

I'm crazy about westerns. I need to do a western once in a while. It's like you know, eating bread, eating pasta, drinking wine. It's in my blood. I need it. ~Franco Nero
#quotes #franco-nero #eating

The places I've been, or passed through, or seen at a distance, have had as much an impact on my life as the people I've known. ~Bryan Lee O'Malley
#quotes #bryan-lee-o-malley #life #places

A human heart that matched what we think of as heart-shaped; a perfectly formed bright red thing with two halves of equal size; would be one that was horribly diseased. The origin of this stylized representation is somewhat obscure, but it probably appeared at the same time as St. Valentine's Day, about whose history there is much dispute. ~George Fetherling
#quotes #george-fetherling #heart #valentines

The invitation to Miss Myra St. Claire's bobbing party spent the morning in his coat pocket, where it had an intense physical affair with a dusty piece of peanut brittle. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald
#quotes #f-scott-fitzgerald #party

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb
#proverbs #chinese-proverbs #books

A good horse will never return to graze on grass it has already passed by. ~Chinese Proverb
#proverbs #chinese-proverbs #nature

Challenge America grants go to the towns and hamlets of this sprawling country, where big touring companies will rarely go, and major actors, actresses, writers and artists may never appear in person. ~Louise Slaughter
#quotes #louise-slaughter #challenge-america

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Arabic Proverb
#proverbs #arabic-proverbs #books

Earth to Democrats; displaying contempt for the American people when you are being paid by those people to serve their interests is generally not a good political move. ~Monica Crowley
#quotes #monica-crowley #democrats #earth #politics

Ring out the false, ring in the true. ~Alfred Lord Tennyson
#quotes #alfred-lord-tennyson

If I want my people to be free, Americans have to be free. ~Russell Means
#quotes #russell-means #freedom #united-states

I had somehow always thought of the classics of literature as something apart from me, something to do with academic life and not something you enjoyed. ~Alan Bennett
#quotes #alan-bennett #literature

So, we just kind of created our own thing and that is part of the beauty of Athens; is that it is so off the map and there is no way you could ever be the East Village or an L.A. scene or a San Francisco scene, that it just became its own thing. ~Michael Stipe
#quotes #michael-stipe #athens