All art a new combination of the work of previous generations. For no artist is so self-sufficient that he will shape his course unaffected by, and apart from, what has been done before. It is impossible to wipe one’s mind entirely clear of what one has seen and read and heard in intercourse with other beings. Every work of art must necessarily bear influences of previous accomplishments.
—Sadakichi Hartmann (American Art Critic)
The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case.
—George W. Bush (American Head of State)
Reason has built the modern world. It is a precious but also a fragile thing, which can be corroded by apparently harmless irrationality. We must favor verifiable evidence over private feeling. Otherwise we leave ourselves vulnerable to those who would obscure the truth.
—Richard Dawkins (British Ethologist, Atheist)
There is a glorious rainbow that beckons those with the spirit of adventure. And there are rich findings at the end of that rainbow. To the young and the not too old, I say look at the horizon, find that rainbow, go ride it. Not all will be rich; quite a few will find a vein of gold; but all who pursue that rainbow will have a joyous and exhilarating ride and some profit.
—Lee Kuan Yew (Singaporean Statesman)
If we maintain the open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas and established structures, including our own. We listen to people in other denominations and religions. We don’t find demons in those with whom we disagree. We don’t cozy up to people who mouth our jargon. If we are open, we rarely resort to either-or: either creation or evolution, liberty or law, sacred or secular, Beethoven or Madonna. We focus on both—and, fully aware that God’s truth cannot be imprisoned in a small definition.
—Brennan Manning (American Franciscan Priest Theologian, Author)
For a thinking man is where Wisdom is at home.
—Zoroaster (Persian Religious Leader, Prophet)
Love means the body, the soul, the life, the entire being. We feel love as we feel the warmth of our blood, we breathe love as we breathe air, we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us.
—Guy de Maupassant (French Short-story Writer)
I believe that a man is converted when first he hears the low, vast murmur of life, of human life, troubling his hitherto unconscious self.
—D. H. Lawrence (English Novelist)
He who laughs most learns best.
—John Cleese (British Comic Actor, Writer)