The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting.
—Henry James (American-born British Novelist)
Hope is a vigorous principle; it is furnished with light and heat to advise and execute; it sets the head and heart to work, and animates a man to do his utmost. And thus, by perpetually pushing and assurance, it puts a difficulty out of countenance, and makes a seeming impossibility give way.
—Jeremy Collier (English Anglican Theater Critic)
None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.
—Pearl S. Buck (American Novelist)
God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
—John Lennon (British Singer)
I’ve been called many things, but never an intellectual.
—Tallulah Bankhead (American Actor)
No man likes to have his intelligence or good faith questioned, especially if he has doubts about it himself.
—Henry Adams (American Journalist)
In soloing—as in other activities—it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.
—Amelia Earhart (American Aviator)
Cautiousness in judgment is nowadays to be recommended to each and every one: if we gained only one incontestable truth every ten years from each of our philosophical writers the harvest we reaped would be sufficient.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German Scientist)
He who knows he has enough is rich.
—Laozi (Chinese Philosopher)
A book is a mirror: If an ass peers into it, you can’t expect an apostle to look out.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German Scientist)
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