"...our morning eyes describe a different world than do our afternoon eyes, and surely our wearied evening eyes can report only a weary evening world."

John Steinbeck Travels With Charley (pg 70)

"Shallow men believe in luck.

Strong men believe in cause and effect."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."

Noel Coward

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

Jack London




"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."


Don Marquis


Ah yes, my old friends (Procrastination and Inspiration, not Jack and Don), how appropriate this week as I complete 2 months worth of projects in 3 days...

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

Kurt Vonnegut


Hmmm... have to think about this one -- "murderous resentment?" -- but did pick up Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 and found a whole chapter on cool Vonnegut quotes...

"They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."


Carl Sagan

"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. "

Vladimir Nabokov

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."

Ernest Hemingway

“Pursue the things you love doing, and do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. All other tangible rewards will come as a result.”


Maya Angelou

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

Malcolm X



“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

James Baldwin

“As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.”


-Oscar Wilde


In an effort to be thorough with Wilde’s quote, I used my well-thumbed (well-clicked?) Thesaurus:

wicked – bad, wrong, evil; sinful, depraved, fiendish;atrocious
fascination – attraction, appeal, allure, enticement, magnetism
vulgar – crude, rough, tasteless; common, improper,unfortunate
popular – accepted, admired, traditional, expected; prevalent, widespread

"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all."


Henry David Thoreau

found on "Bookish Kitty"

"Being a pacifist between wars is as easy as being a vegetarian between meals."

Ammon Hennacy
pacifist, anarcist, never paid taxes


"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

Leo Tolstoy


"There are different forms of anarchy and different currents in it. I must, first say very simply what anarchy I have in view. By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence."

Jaques Ellul
philosopher

"Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it."


Christopher Morley
American author & journalist (1890 - 1957)

A man said to the universe:
"Sir, I exist."
"However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."


Stephen Crane, War is Kind and Other Lines

"Intellect, emotion, and spirit depend on one another for wholeness."

"I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy."


Parker J. Palmer The Courage to Teach




One of my goals in life is to one day be able to say that, and know exactly what it feels like...

"The man who does not read good books is no better
than the man who can't."

— Mark Twain


"To learn to read is to light a fire;
every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."

— Victor Hugo, Les Miserables



thank you!

" 'Thou shalt not' is soon forgotten, but 'Once upon a time' lasts forever. "



Philip Pullman

who seems to get quoted/mis-quoted a lot these days...

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, nor by any other church. Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense."


Robert A. Heinlein

"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life..."


Albert Camus