If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader! ~William Makepeace Thackeray
#quotes #william-makepeace-thackeray #writing #history #books

The style developed over decades, really, but I started out writing pretty traditional stories, then became impatient. It was a writer named Russell Edson who showed me that one could write in any way at all. ~Lydia Davis
#quotes #lydia-davis #russell-edson #style #writing #stories

I don't think that I could ever be a strict dad. I never grew up with anybody strict in my life. I'm not saying I'm a role model by any means or anything. I think the fact that I wasn't told what not to do all the time - my spirit kind of told me things that I shouldn't. I got to develop on my own. It's part of your common sense. ~Randy Houser
#quotes #randy-houser #parenting

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

Poetry is also the physical self of the poet, and it is impossible to separate the poet from his poetry. ~Salvatore Quasimodo
#quotes #salvatore-quasimodo #poetry

There was something frantic in their blooming, as if they knew that frost was near and then the bitter cold. They'd lived through all the heat and noise and stench of summertime, and now each widely opened flower was like a triumphant cry, "We will, we will make seed before we die." ~Harriette Simpson Arnow
#quotes #harriette-simpson-arnow

He who wishes to talk well must first think well. ~Proverb
#proverbs #thinking #speaking

Do not be wise in word; be wise in deeds. ~Jewish Proverb
#proverbs #jewish-proverbs #wisdom #action

Listen to the wisdom of the toothless ones. ~Fijian Proverb
#proverbs #fijian-proverbs #wisdom #aged

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. ~Sicilian Proverb
#proverbs #sicilian-proverbs #friendship

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

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains. ~Dutch Proverb
#proverbs #dutch-proverbs #patience

We are actors, we have to do what we have to do, and you have to be really solid within yourself. ~Linda Gray
#quotes #linda-gray #acting

Middle age is that perplexing time of life when we hear two voices calling us, one saying, "Why not?" and the other, "Why bother?" ~Sydney J. Harris
#quotes #sydney-j-harris #age

One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan Proverb
#proverbs #malayan-proverbs #debt #kindness

A proverb is an ornament to language. ~Persian Proverb
#quotes #persian-proverbs #language

"But" is a fence over which few leap. ~German Proverb
#proverbs #german-proverbs #reason

One dog barks at something, and a hundred bark at the bark. ~Chinese Proverb
#proverbs #chinese-proverbs #conformity

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

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb
#proverbs #irish-proverbs #love

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

Faith will move mountains. ~English Proverb
#proverbs #english-proverbs #faith

People have to be free to investigate computer security. People have to be free to look for the vulnerabilities and create proof of concept code to show that they are true vulnerabilities in order for us to secure our systems. ~Edward Snowden
#quotes #edward-snowden #computers #privacy

Democracy is the best chance for the best people. ~Robert Frost
#quotes #robert-frost #democracy

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes. ~Indian Proverb
#proverbs #indian-proverbs #power #cats