But that's typical of me. "This is going to end in tears," I tell myself every time I balance a cup of coffee on the upholstered arm of the chair I'm sitting on. And then, lo and behold, the cup topples and even before it lands, I tell myself, "Told me so!" Not to spell out, or spill out, one of the metaphors of my life, but I always do the stupid thing and then I do it again. I never learn. ~Patricia Marx
#quotes #patricia-marx #weeping #stupidity

Do not speak unless you can improve on the silence. ~Spanish Proverb
#proverbs #spanish-proverbs #speaking #silence

The generous is never satisfied with riches. ~Arabic Proverb
#proverbs #arabic-proverbs #wealth #generosity

A world of few choices, whether in jeans or mates, is a world in which individual differences become sources of alienation, unhappiness, even self-loathing. If no jeans fit, you'll feel uncomfortable or inferior. If no housing developments reflect your taste for unique architecture, you'll write screeds against philistine mass culture. ~Virginia Postrel
#quotes #virginia-postrel #jeans #society

I was asked the other day if I would be interested in the Nobel Prize, but I think that for me it would be an absolute catastrophe. I would certainly be interested in deserving it, but to receive it would be terrible. It would just complicate even more the problems of fame. The only thing I really regret in life is not having a daughter. ~Gabriel Garcia Marquez
#quotes #gabriel-garcia-marquez #children #nobel-prize

There will be many times in your lives; at school, and more particularly when you are a grown up; when people will distract or divert you from what needs to be done. You may even welcome the distraction. But if you use it as an excuse for not doing what you suppose to do, you can blame no one but yourself. If you truly wish to accomplish something, you should allow nothing to stop you, and chances are you'll succeed. ~Julie Andrews
#quotes #julie-andrews #action #distraction

You think you are prepared. You think you have done everything you're supposed to, study hard, work hard, keep yourself out of trouble, and then, whoosh! Something arrives out of the blue that you never saw coming. Something you never even imagined. Something that will knock your little world off its axis. Something that will either change your life for the better, or end it forever. Chaos. ~James Michael
#quotes #james-michael

Marriage, in life, is like a duel in the midst of a battle. ~Edmond About
#quotes #edmond-about #marriage

All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions. ~Aristotle
#quotes #aristotle #knowledge

Maturity is the ability to postpone gratification. ~Sigmund Freud
#quotes #sigmund-freud #gratification #maturity

He who eats alone chokes alone. ~Proverb
#proverbs #eating

Fire in the heart sends smoke into the head. ~Proverb
#proverbs #mind #heart

Smoke your pipe and be silent; there is only wind and smoke in the world. ~Irish Proverb
#proverbs #irish-proverbs #smoking #silence

I think children learning to cook can be such a wonderful thing. It can help build confidence, make them feel good about themselves. It helped me build my ego and even start to get acceptance at school. I would bring things to class that I had cooked at home. ~Giada De Laurentiis
#quotes #giada-de-laurentiis #cooking #childhood

The problem I have with socialist utopias is there's some kind of committees trying to soften outcomes for people. I think that imposes models of outcomes for other people's lives. So in a spiritual sense there's some bit of libertarian in me. But the critical thing for me is moderation. And if you let that go far you do end up with a winner-take-all society that ultimately crushes everybody even worse. ~Jaron Lanier
#quotes #jaron-lanier #thinking #society #socialism

If you represent the Earth's lifetime by a single year, say from January when it was made to December, the 21st-century would be a quarter of a second in June; a tiny fraction of the year. But even in this concertinaed cosmic perspective, our century is very, very special; the first when humans can change themselves and their home planet. ~Martin Rees
#quotes #martin-rees #time #human #change

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

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

Our state has a balanced budget. We have to live within our means in the state of Wyoming. I was in the state senate. This country needs a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. ~John Barrasso
#quotes #john-barrasso #government

A good laugh and a long sleep are two best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb
#proverbs #irish-proverbs #laughing #medicine

After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box. ~Italian Proverb
#proverbs #italian-proverbs

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to. ~Martin Luther
#quotes #martin-luther #evil #alcohol

As tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I've seen your passion and I've seen your service. I've seen you engage and I've seen you turn out in record numbers. I've heard your voices amplified by creativity and a digital fluency that those of us in older generations can barely comprehend. I've seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course. ~Barack Obama
#quotes #barack-obama #politics

The common sayings of the multitude are too true to be laughed at. ~Welsh Proverb
#proverbs #welsh-proverbs #quotations #sayings

With those people, I'm very far apart, because I believe that government access to communications and stored records is valuable when done under tightly controlled conditions which protect legitimate privacy interests. ~Dorothy Denning
#quotes #dorothy-denning #government #privacy