Archives for October 2014

Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
—Dan Quayle (American Head of State)

Nature, in her most dazzling aspects or stupendous parts, is but the background and theater of the tragedy of man.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (British Political leader)

Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.
—Miyamoto Musashi (Japanese Buddhist)

The aim of flattery is to soothe and encourage us by assuring us of the truth of an opinion we have already formed about ourselves.
—Edith Sitwell (British Poet)

Perhaps we should comprehend these things better were it not for the persistence of the superstition that human beings habitually think. There is no more persistent superstition than this. Linn
—Nicholas Murray Butler (American Philosopher)

If an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters, they might write all the books in the British Museum.
—Arthur Eddington (English Astrophysicist)

There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
—Douglas Adams

It’s not what you take but what you leave behind that defines greatness.
—Howard Gardner (American Psychologist)

I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I do believe that criticism is a genre of literature or it does not exist.
—Harold Bloom (American Literary Critic)

Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.
—Nikolai Berdyaev (Russian Christian Philosopher)

He didn’t reject the idea so much as not react to it and watch as it floated away.
—David Foster Wallace (American Novelist)

Books worth reading once are worth reading twice; and what is most important of all, the masterpieces of literature are worth reading a thousand times.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (British Political leader)

Listen to everything, forget much, correct little.
—Pope John XXIII (Italian Catholic Religious Leader)

Having imagination, it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that, if you were unimaginative, would take you only a minute. Or you might not write the paragraph at all.
—Franklin Pierce Adams (American Columnist)

Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It’s completely impossible. (2) It’s possible, but it’s not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along.
—Arthur C. Clarke (British Author)

Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid.
—Paulette Mitchell

Marrying a man is like buying something you’ve been admiring for a long time in a shop window. You may love it when you get it home, but it doesn’t always go with everything else in the house.
—Jean Kerr

It is the customer, and the customer alone, who casts the vote that determines how big any company should be…. The regulations laid down by the consuming public are far more potent and far less flexible than any code of law, merely through the exercise of the natural forces of trade.
—Crawford Greenewalt (American Engineer)

When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild and freak out and do anything they want to do.
—Jimi Hendrix (American Musician)

When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening.
—Carl Rogers (American Psychologist)

Be bold-and mighty forces will come to your aid.
—Basil King

When people grow gradually rich their requirements and standard of living expand in proportion, while their present-giving instincts often remain in the undeveloped condition of their earlier days. Something showy and not-too-expensive in a shop is their only conception of the ideal gift.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (British Short Story Writer)

It is said that God gave us memory so we could have roses in winter. But it is also true that without memory we could not have self in any season. The more memories you have, the more you have. That is why, as Swift said, “No wise man ever wished to be younger.”
—George Will (American Columnist)

The creative urge is the demon that will not accept anything second rate.
—Agnes de Mille (American Dancer)

To repent is not to feel remorse, but to face one’s faults, realizing they are faults, and try one’s best not to make the same mistake again. If one does that, one is already making amends.
—Master Sheng-Yen

When things are perfect, that’s when you need to worry most.
—Drew Barrymore (American Actor)

He who has learnt to control his tongue has attained self-control in a great measure. When such a person speaks he will be heard with respect and attention. His words will be remembered, for they will be good and true. When one who is established in truth prays with a pure heart, then things he really needs come to him when they are really needed: he does not have to run after them. The man firmly established in truth gets the fruit of his actions without apparently doing anything. God, the source of all truth, supplies his needs and looks after his welfare.
—B. K. S. Iyengar (Indian Hindu Yoga Teacher)

The man who lives by himself and for himself is likely to be corrupted by the company he keeps.
—Charles Henry Parkhurst (American Clergyman)

The issues are the same. We wanted peace on earth, love, and understanding between everyone around the world. We have learned that change comes slowly.
—Paul McCartney (British Singer)

Purpose is what gives life a meaning.
—Charles Henry Parkhurst (American Clergyman)

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go.
—Martha Washington (American First Lady)

Miracles never cease to amaze me. I expect them, but their consistent arrival is always delightful to experience.
—Mark Victor Hansen (American Public Speaker)

People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected. Being feminine meant being a cheerleader, not being an athlete. The image of women is changing now. You don’t have to be pretty for people to come and see you play. At the same time, if you’re a good athlete, it doesn’t mean you’re not a woman.
—Martina Navratilova (Czech-born American Sportsperson)

Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open.
—Felix Bloch

Let us not say, every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character.
—George Boardman (American Baptist Minister)

Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil-the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not what he pretends to be.
—William George Jordan (American Essayist)

To be happy, one must have a good stomach and a bad heart.
—Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (French Essayist)

Life is a challenge, meet it! Life is a dream, realize it! Life is a game, play it! Life is Love, enjoy it
—Sathya Sai Baba (Indian Hindu Religious Leader)