Authors are far closer to the truths enfolded in mystery than ordinary people, because of that very audacity of imagination which irritates their plodding critics. As only those who dare to make mistakes succeed greatly, only those who shake free the wings of their imagination brush, once in a way, the secrets of the great pale world. If such writers go wrong, it is not for the mere brains to tell them so ~Gertrude Atherton
#quotes #gertrude-atherton #writing #reality

I was feeling privileged and self-conscious about my life as a musician, which feels self-absorbed. I can't help it, I am a musician. This is what I do. ~Sufjan Stevens
#quotes #sufjan-stevens #music

God gives the nuts, but he doesn't crack them. ~German Proverb
#proverbs #german-proverbs #work #wisdom

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

At somewhere around 10 syllables, the English poetic line is at its most relaxed and manageable. ~James Fenton
#quotes #james-fenton #english

We criticize, copy, patronize, idolize and insult but we never doubt that the U.S. has a unique position in the history of human hopes. ~Ferdinand Mount
#quotes #ferdinand-mount #history #united-states

There is one art, no more, no less; to do all things with artlessness. ~Piet Pieterszoon Hein
#quotes #piet-pieterszoon-hein #art

It's never over. You don't want to be in the position to be down four runs in the ninth inning, but it's not over until the last out. ~Derek Jeter
#quotes #derek-jeter #inspiration #success

I also think we need to maintain distinctions - the doctrine of creation is different from a scientific cosmology, and we should resist the temptation, which sometimes scientists give in to, to try to assimilate the concepts of theology to the concepts of science. ~John Polkinghorne
#quotes #john-polkinghorne #science

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

Mystery books. I must read a hundred a year. I just wish some of them were harder to figure out. ~Martin Cruz Smith
#quotes #martin-cruz-smith #books #reading #mystery #wish

He knew he should have counted. It was the rule to count to ten in his head before he opened his mouth. It was the rule to count to ten if he wanted to smash a man in the face for saying something he didn't like. It was the rule to count to ten if instinct wasn't needed, but common sense was. ~Melina Marchetta
#quotes #melina-marchetta #men #common-sense #speaking

As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are. ~Quentin Tarantino
#quotes #quentin-tarantino #writing #character

Right, and the definition of basic stupidity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. I am not stupid. I didn't say to keep doing it. Move forward with purpose. Examine what went wrong and correct that one mistake. ~Sherrilyn Kenyon
#quotes #sherrilyn-kenyon #stupidity #change #xypher #acheron

If you had to choose only two qualities to get you through times of change, the first should be a sense of self-worth and the second a sense of humor. ~Jennifer James
#quotes #jennifer-james #change #self-worth #humor

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. ~J.R.R. Tolkien
#quotes #j-r-r-tolkien #love #inspiration #darkness

I stuck my tongue out at him because I was feeling exceptional mature. ~Janet Evanovich
#quotes #janet-evanovich #naughty

When we are young we think our troubles a mighty business, that the world is spread out expressly as a stage for the particular drama of our lives and that we have a right to rant and foam at the mouth if we are crossed. I have done enough of that in my time. ~George Eliot
#quotes #george-eliot #youth

It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true. ~William James
#quotes #william-james #life #faith #optimism

If we are just specks of dust hit by lightning, if we have no spark of God in us, why not just take whatever we can and devil take the hindmost? I mean, we are fools not to do that if there is no right or wrong. ~Ben Stein
#quotes #ben-stein #god #morality

Beer, it's the best damn drink in the world. ~Jack Nicholson
#quotes #jack-nicholson #beer

A sensible thanksgiving for mercies received is a mighty prayer in the Spirit of God. It prevails with Him unspeakably. ~John Bunyan
#quotes #john-bunyan #christianity

America's great newspapers have staffs that range from 50 percent to 70 percent of what they were just a few years ago. ~Eric Alterman
#quotes #eric-alterman #media #newspapers

Judging is a lonely job in which a man is, as near as may be, an island entire. ~Abe Fortas
#quotes #abe-fortas #judging

"Perfect justice rules the world" for the Powers that are superior to us know the whole life of the Soul and all its' former lives. ~Iamblichus
#quotes #iamblichus #justice