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

I'm always sort of anticipating life being difficult, but on a basic level, that's sort of on the surface, on a basic level, I'm optimistic in the sense that I think it's all going to be alright in the end. ~Emily Mortimer
#quotes #emily-mortimer #life #optimism #difficulty

I love performing and having people hear my music more that anything. ~Britney Spears
#quotes #britney-spears #music

People ask me to smile for the camera, but somehow it always comes out gloomy. ~Stephen Rea
#quotes #stephen-rea #people

If you watch the first [Star Wars] movie, you don't actually know exactly what the Empire is trying to do. They're going to rule by fear; but you don't know what their endgame is. You don't know what Leia is princess of. You don't yet understand who Jabba the Hutt is, even though there is a reference to him. You don't know that Vader is Luke's father, Leia is his sister; but the possibility is all there. The beauty of that movie was that it was an unfamiliar world, and yet you wanted to see it expand and to see where it went. ~J. J. Abrams
#quotes #j-j-abrams #star-wars

"Alien" asked ground-breaking questions about eco-politics and female empowerment. "The Matrix" delved deeper into the concept of perception versus reality than perhaps any other film I know. But for some reason, we tend not to remember the significance of their writing. ~Jason Reitman
#quotes #jason-reitman #writing #movies #reality

I had wanted simply to convey to the reader by way of concrete example that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones. And I thought that if the point were demonstrated in a situation as extreme as that in a concentration camp, my book might gain a hearing. I therefore felt responsible for writing down what I had gone through, for I thought it might be helpful to people who are prone to despair. ~Viktor E. Frankl
#quotes #viktor-e-frankl #life #books #writing

Admire, exult, despise, laugh, weep for here There is such matter for all feelings: Man! Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear. ~Lord Byron
#quotes #lord-byron #emotions #happiness #weeping

There is no racial or ethnic involvement in Thanksgiving, and people who may be very distant from the Christian system can see the beauty and the positive spirit that comes from the holiday. ~John Clayton
#quotes #john-clayton #christianity #holiday #positivity

No matter who you are, there is always some part of you that wishes you were someone else, and when, for a millisecond, you get that wish, it's a miracle. ~Jodi Picoult
#quotes #jodi-picoult #personality #wish

Greatness alone is not enough, or the cow would outrun the hare. ~Proverb
#proverbs #greatness

Lead me, Zeus, and you, Fate, wherever you have assigned me. I shall follow without hesitation; but even if I am disobedient and do not wish to, I shall follow no less surely. ~Cleanthes
#quotes #cleanthes #zeus #fate

I'm a much better mother at 46, than if I were like, 21 or 25. ~Halle Berry
#quotes #halle-berry #mother

He was welcome everywhere he went, and was well-aware of his inability to tolerate solitude. He felt no inclination to be alone and avoided it as far as possible; he didn't really want to become any better acquainted with himself. He knew that if he wanted to show his talents to best advantage, he needed to strike sparks off other people to fan the flames of warmth and exuberance in his heart. On his own he was frosty, no use to himself at all, like a match left lying in its box. ~Stefan Zweig
#quotes #stefan-zweig #solitude #people

As project chief you are creating a narrative, a story, a good yarn. If you look at the process-journey that way, you and your gang will ... dramatically up the odds of a wow outcome! ~Tom Peters
#quotes #tom-peters #process

A philosopher is, no doubt, entitled to examine even those distinctions that are to be found in the structure of all languages; in that case, such a distinction may be imputed to a vulgar error, which ought to be corrected in philosophy. ~Thomas Reid
#quotes #thomas-reid #philosophy #errors

The wide world was changing, and she wanted a different place in it. Not just wanted, but felt she deserved. If the world didn't owe her a living, as her mother repeatedly warned her, it owed her a break. She had a strong sense that a better, more exciting, more rewarding life than that which had been the lot of her parents and grandparents was hers by right. In this she was guilty of nothing more serious than the arrogance of youth, from which every generation suffers and by which it distinguishes itself from the preceding one. ~James Robertson
#quotes #james-robertson #world #struggle

Maine out of season is unmistakably a great destination; hospitable, good humored, plenty of elbow room, short days, dark nights of crackling ice crystals. ~Paul Theroux
#quotes #paul-theroux #travel #maine

Offers for me to play dances, society parties, even churches, were now coming in regularly. For most dates I was paid the sum of one dollar per hour, and they always tipped me at the end of the night. ~Mary Lou Williams
#quotes #mary-lou-williams #career

I'm a mad Gummi fan. I always have Gummis in my trailer. But you can't eat too many because then you get Gummi tummy, and that's no good. I can't believe I'm saying this. ~Jensen Ackles
#quotes #jensen-ackles #eating

Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain. ~Bob Dylan
#quotes #bob-dylan #beauty #pain

I adore clothes, they're my weakest link! My mother was the same, and she taught me always to look polished. ~Anne Robinson
#quotes #anne-robinson #clothing #mother

Our problem with desire is that we want too little. ~C. S. Lewis
#quotes #c-s-lewis #desire #wish

When one has not father, or mother, or brother, and all one's friends have barely bread enough for themselves, life cannot be very easy, nor its crusts very many at any time. ~Ouida
#quotes #ouida #family #hardship

I've done a lot of Shakespeare as a young man; I was involved with Shakespeare and Company. ~Courtney B. Vance
#quotes #courtney-b-vance #shakespeare