In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we're done with it, we may find, if it's a good novel, that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have changed a little. But it's very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed. ~Ursula K. Le Guin
#quotes #ursula-k-le-guin #reading #novels

The basic philosophy of stoicism is that you have nothing real external to your own consciousness, that the only thing real is in fact your consciousness. ~Roger Avary
#quotes #roger-avary #philosophy #stoicism #conscious

True celebration should come from your life, in your life. And true celebration cannot be according to the calendar, that on the first of November you will celebrate. Strange, the whole year you are miserable and on the first of November suddenly you come out of misery, dancing. Either, the misery is false, or the first of November is false; both cannot be true. And once the first of November has gone, you are back in your dark hole, everybody in his misery, everybody in his anxiety. ~Rajneesh
#quotes #rajneesh #happiness

The starting point of my career in money management in 1973-74 was the time of the only true bear market any living non-Japanese investor has seen in major markets. Equities, real estate, you name it, everyone got run over. ~Paul Singer
#quotes #paul-singer #economy #money

Mozart eliminates the idea of haste from life. His airs could not lag as they make their journey through the listener's attention; they are not the right shape for loitering. But it is as true that they never rush, they are never headlong or helter-skelter, they splash no mud, they raise no dust. ~Rebecca West
#quotes #rebecca-west #mozart #music

It is true that traditional Christianity is losing some of its appeal among Americans, but that is a religious, not political, matter. It is worth remembering that the Jeffersonian "wall of separation" between church and state has always been intended to protect the church from the state as much as the state from the church. ~Jon Meacham
#quotes #jon-meacham #religious #christianity #politics #united-states

The history of all times, and of today especially, teaches that, women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves. ~Louise Otto-Peters
#quotes #louise-otto-peters #women

Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth. ~Simone de Beauvoir
#quotes #simone-de-beauvoir #world #truth

I saw a photo of the Svoboda leader, Yatseniuk [Arseniy Yatseniuk, one of Batkivschyna leaders] and Klitschko [Vitali Klitschko, UDAR party leader] together demonstrating the unity of opposition. But I can't imagine that people like Klitschko, who position themselves as Europeans, and Yatseniuk, would willingly shake the hand of a person who in public states that Jews are the main threat to European civilization. Sometimes, while looking for and respecting opposition, we can't recognize it, ~Marek Siwiec
#quotes #marek-siwiec #arseniy-yatseniuk #batkivschyna #vitali-klitschko #udar

It's true, I had an extremely delicious life, but that was my life at home, and perhaps because I was only a child, or for whatever reasons, I found the company of others, especially other boys, quite terrifying and upsetting. ~Harry Mathews
#quotes #harry-mathews #life #childhood #boys

If you see an intelligent man who tells you where true treasures are to be found, who shows what is to be avoided, and administers reproofs, follow that wise man; it will be better, not worse, for those who follow him. ~Gautama Buddha
#quotes #gautama-buddha #buddhist #wisdom

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour. ~Japanese Proverb
#proverbs #japanese-proverbs #integrity

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. ~William Arthur Ward
#quotes #william-arthur-ward #risk

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

"A woman doesn't want to be told she looks nice," Jude nuttered as she sat down beside maud's grave. "She wants to be told she's beautiful, sexy. That she looks outrageous. It dosen't matter if its not true." She sighed and laid the flowers against the headstone. "Because for the moment, when the words are said and the words are heard, it's perfect truth." ~Nora Roberts
#quotes #nora-roberts #beauty

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African Proverb
#proverbs #african-proverbs #history #reality

One of the things about leadership is that you've got to show up. And if you want to be president of the United States you've got to make a case to the American people that Barack Obama needs to be dismissed from his position.
#quotes #tim-pawlenty #barack-obama #politics #leadership #united-states

Most people don't see what's going on around them. That's my principal message to writers: "For God's sake, keep your eyes open. Notice what's going on around you." ~William S. Burroughs
#quotes #william-s-burroughs #writing

I am shy by nature, a person who's always found something burdensome about human interaction and who probably always will, at least to some degree. ~Caroline Knapp
#quotes #caroline-knapp #shyness #nature #interaction

I had the luck that my parents educated me in three languages. With my mother I spoke Dutch, with my father Italian, and in the school I learned German. But my host language is Italian. ~Michelle Hunziker
#quotes #michelle-hunziker #language

Ideas for gadgets for the disabled were coming into my head so fast they seemed to be arriving from somewhere outside of me, beamed down by an unremitting force. I had little control over them, or their flow. I would wake up in the middle of the night. A blinding flash of an idea would rouse me from my bed and I'd rush down to my workshop to have a go at it before the inspiration dimmed. ~Trevor Baylis
#quotes #trevor-baylis #inspiration #ideas #night

I invented the cordless extension cord. ~Steven Wright
#quotes #steven-wright #humor

I don't have to steal bases. I steal bases because I want to. ~Lou Brock
#quotes #lou-brock #freedom #stealing

Grade school was perilous. I can see how I must have worried them. I was the kind of kid who, for no apparent reason, wept piteously or threw up on myself. On an especially scary day, I sometimes did both. ~Sue Grafton
#quotes #sue-grafton #children #schooling

Today, in the Internet gold rush, so many people go into dot-com jobs right from school or even before finishing. Their motivation is understandable, but sometimes they just lack experience. ~Mitch Kapor
#quotes #mitch-kapor #education #career #internet #motivation