If somebody from the past doesn't rise up from the grave and start talking to me, I haven't got a book. I have to hear that voice, the voice of the narrator. How she sounds will tell me who she is, and who she is will tell me how she will act - and that starts the plot in motion. ~Geraldine Brooks
#quotes #geraldine-brooks #books #past

Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses. ~Charles Evans Hughes
#quotes #charles-evans-hughes #government

Could it be that all those reports coming from our own intelligence that Bush ignored was right all along? Could it be that the UN was right all along? ~Peter Schuyler
#quotes #peter-schuyler #bush

I am waiting impatiently for the day when beleaguered, like-minded academics can order James Wolcott's collected essays for their classes. ~Camille Paglia
#quotes #camille-paglia #james-wolcott

A little too late, is much too late. ~German Proverb
#proverbs #german-proverbs

We get stuck in old thought and behavior patterns that may have been effective when we were twelve months or twelve years old, but now only serve to hold us back. And, while those around us may have no problem correcting our minor flaws, they let the big ones slide, because it would mean attacking who we are. ~Neil Strauss
#quotes #neil-strauss #childhood #behavior

The fire of reeds is of rapid extinction. ~Arabic Proverb
#proverbs #arabic-proverbs

It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. ~Woody Allen
#quotes #woody-allen #death #fear

Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. ~Arthur Ashe
#quotes #arthur-ashe #motivation

We are all human beings, immigrant or non-immigrant. We all feel fear. We all love and become confused when we don't act as well as we would like to. We all get depressed and have feelings of uselessness. All of these things are true and have always been true. ~Akhil Sharma
#quotes #akhil-sharma #love #fear

When I was little, I had never really expected to win such a big competition. For a long time, just skating in the Olympics had been my goal because not many Koreans had done it. ~Kim Yuna
#quotes #kim-yuna #olympics #skating #korea

Sometimes I go about pitying myself, and all the while I am being carried across the sky by beautiful clouds. ~Ojibwe Proverb
#proverbs #ojibwe-proverbs #self #beauty

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

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

If Darwin could see what we now see, what we now know about the ocean, about the atmosphere, about the nature of life, as we now understand it, about the importance of microbes. I think he would just beam with joy that many of the thoughts and the glimpses of the majesty of life on Earth that he had during his life, now magnified many times over. ~Sylvia Earle
#quotes #sylvia-earle #darwin

They (fables) teach us that human beings learn and absorb ideas and concepts through narrative, through stories, not through lessons or theoretical speeches. ~Carlos Ruiz Zafon
#quotes #carlos-ruiz-zafon #stories #ideas

Horses teach you patience and how to do things the right way so you can get the right result. ~Lyle Lovett
#quotes #lyle-lovett #horses #patience

Love is like dew that falls on both nettles and lilies. ~Swedish Proverb
#proverbs #swedish-proverbs #love

Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark. ~Zen Proverb
#proverbs #zen-proverbs #buddhism

You should always do the things in life that are both interesting and make you afraid. ~Viggo Mortensen
#quotes #viggo-mortensen #interesting

In science, each new result, sometimes quite surprising, heralds a step forward and allows one to discard some hypotheses, even though one or two of these might have been highly favored. ~Stanley B. Prusiner
#quotes #stanley-b-prusiner #science

Though they may not always be handsome, men doomed to evil posses the manly virtues. ~Jean Genet
#quotes #jean-genet #evil

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

I have been, or seemed, hard with everyone because I was carried away by a sort of brutality born of my distrust in myself and my ill-humor. I have felt so badly equipped, so soft, in spite of the fact that my attitude towards art seemed to me so just. I was disgusted with everyone, and especially myself. ~Edgar Degas
#quotes #edgar-degas #art #attitude

I know that military alliances and armament have been the reliance for peace for centuries, but they do not produce peace; and when war comes, as it inevitably does under such conditions, these armaments and alliances but intensify and broaden the conflict. ~Frank B. Kellogg
#quotes #frank-b-kellogg #war #military #peace