Famous Quotes Ipsum

Imagination is more powerful than knowledge. art teaches nothing but the significance of life. loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. we must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. there is a certain kind of kid who is so in love with words that she kisses the pictures of authors on the jackets of books. i was one. all i ever wanted was to be a writer. though this yearning now seems like aspiring to be a blacksmith in the age of the automobile, my childhood image of what a writer did bestowed superhuman powers on the profession. a writer sat privately at her desk and made public things happen. the power was godlike. the sense of accomplishment had to be the same. making words slant across the page was like making rain. flowers grew in ink. hurricanes and revolutions were stirred up by the sound of pen scratching paper. i would rather be kicked with a foot than be overcome by a loud voice speaking cruel words. the only thing worth saying is what you really feel. with our thoughts, we make the world. in languages that form the word 'compassion' not from the root 'suffering' but from the root 'feeling', the word is used in approximately the same way, but to contend that it designates a bad or inferior sentiment is difficult. the secret strength of its etymology floods the word with another light and gives it a broader meaning: to have compassion (co-feeling) means not only to be able to live with others' misfortune but also able to feel with him any emotion - joy, anxiety, happiness, pain. this kind of compassion therefore signifies the maximal capacity of affective imaginations, the art of emotional telepathy. in the hierarchy of sentiments, then, it is supreme. the body of b. franklin, / printer, / like the cover of an old book, / its contents torn out / and / stripped of its lettering and gilding, / lies here / food for worms, / but the work shall not be lost, / for it will, as he believed / appear once more / in a new and more elegant edition / revised and corrected / by the author. when i have a terrible need of - shall i say the word? - religion, then i go out and paint the stars. oh help! i'd better go back. oh bother! i shall have to go on. i can't do either! oh help and bother! great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion. little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it. the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all. the street corner where always, for years, in passing you felt, unexplained, a pang of despair, like nausea, till one night, late, late, on that spot you were struck, struck still, and again felt how her head had thrust to your shoulder. everything possible to be believed is an image of truth. your mind might make a connection that is useful. but true is another matter. true implies that you have found a connection that exists independent of your apprehension of it, that would exist whether you noticed it or not. and i must say that i have never seen such a connection in my life. there are times when i suspect that there are no such connections, that all links, bonds, ties, and similarities are creatures of thought and have no substance. where there is great love there are always great miracles. i think of love, and you, and my heart grows full and warm, and my breath stands still. to live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never; to let the spiritual, unbidden, and unconscious grow up through the common. this is to be my symphony. life is a struggle, but there's hope and beauty in the world. even though a lot of our songs are dark, there's oftentimes the strain of 'but we're powerful as individuals and we're loved and we're good and the things we struggle with are the things that teach us the most and help us to grow.' in the end, that's what matters. it's like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. now, you may get the 8-pak, or you may get the 16-pak, but it's all in what you do with the crayons--the colors-- that you're given. now don't worry about coloring inside the lines or outside the lines. i say, color outside the lines! color right off the page!.

Every child is an artist. the challenge is to remain an artist once he grows up. change only takes place through action. advice is what we ask for when we know the answer but wish we didn't. i don't want my hair cut! i don't want my eyebrows up or down. i want them right where they are! i'm leaving now, and if anyone so much as makes a move to stop me, there'll be plenty of hair cut and it won't be mine! mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves--that's the truth. we have two or three great moving experiences in our lives--experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before. though she be but little, she is fierce. i have not lived as a woman. i've lived as a man. i've just done what i damn well wanted to and i've made enough money to support myself and i ain't afraid of being alone. do you understand, / child, how the moon, the tide / is in our own image? weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless. think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself. to laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and ignore the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or redeemed by social condition; or to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. this is to have succeeded. there are no mistakes, no coincidences. all events are blessings given to us to learn from. if i can stop one heart from breaking, i will not live in vain. i have full cause of weeping, but this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws ere i'll weep. when i dare to be powerful / to use my strength / in the service of my vision / then it becomes / less and less important / whether i am afraid. never during its pilgrimage is the spirit of man completely adrift and alone. from start to finish its nucleus is the atman - the self - luminous abiding point, boundless as the sky, indivisible, absolute, the only reality. true religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness. for what is it to die / what i couldn't say was that the real reason was so much deeper and harder and that we spend our lives deceiving ourselves of these real reasons, perhaps because when they are clear they are too painful. never judge a book by its movie. the form of government most suitable to the artist is no government at all. listening four or five times a day to newscasters and commentators, reading the morning papers and all the weeklies and monthlies - nowadays this is described as 'taking an interest in politics'. st. john of the cross would have called it indulgence in idle curiosity and the cultivation of disquietude for disquietude's sake. what is to give light must endure burning. footfalls echo in the memory / down the passage we did not take / towards the door we never opened / into the rose garden your mind might make a connection that is useful. but true is another matter. true implies that you have found a connection that exists independent of your apprehension of it, that would exist whether you noticed it or not. and i must say that i have never seen such a connection in my life. there are times when i suspect that there are no such connections, that all links, bonds, ties, and similarities are creatures of thought and have no substance. he felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not now where he ended and she began. there is always a little corner which remains a secret to the world - and is only known to those two. i'm at peace with the world. i'm completely serene. i've discovered my purpose in life. i know why i was put here and why everything exists... i am here so everybody can do what i want. once everybody accepts it, they'll be serene too. neurosis is the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being. the human soul is very much older than the human mind..

Advice is what we ask for when we know the answer but wish we didn't. don't cry over anyone who won't cry over you. the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. they must be felt with the heart. he had a word, too. love, he called it. but i had been used to words for a long time. i knew that that word was like the other, just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn't need a word for that any more than for pride or fear. i have not lived as a woman. i've lived as a man. i've just done what i damn well wanted to and i've made enough money to support myself and i ain't afraid of being alone. truth is in the eye of the beholder. a day is a miniature eternity. this is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause in a roomful of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're all alone in the whole house? each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful, if you listen carefully. question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there is one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind-folded fear. there has never been an answer. there never will be an answer. that's the answer. call it fate, call it luck, call it karma. i believe everything happens for a reason. it is not upon you alone the dark patches fall. it's really a wonder that i haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. yet i keep them, because in spite of everything i still believe that people are really good at heart. i simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. the form of government most suitable to the artist is no government at all. surely a king who loves pleasure is less dangerous than one who loves glory. when you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you. 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. art thou pale for weariness / of climbing heaven and gazing on earth / wandering companionless... hope is a dangerous thing. drive a man insane..