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Quotes by American Authors
"To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work."
"If the boundaries of the self are defined by what we feel, then those who cannot feel even for themselves shrink within their own boundaries, while those who feel for others are enlarged, and those who feel compassion for all beings must be boundless. They are not separate, not alone, not lonely, not vulnerable in the same way as those of us stranded in the islands of ourselves, but they are vulnerable in other ways. Still, that sense of the dangers of feeling for others is so compelling that many withdraw, and develop elaborate stories to justify withdrawal, and then forget that they have shrunk. Most of us do, one way or another."
"The job of the writer is to make revolution irresistible."
"Character - the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life - is the source from which self-respect springs."
"I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You've got to just stand there and take it."
"With reciprocity all things do not need to be equal in order for acceptance and mutuality to thrive. If equality is evoked as the only standard by which it is deemed acceptable for people to meet across boundaries and create community, then there is little hope. Fortunately, mutuality is a more constructive and positive foundation for the building of ties that allow for differences in status, position, power, and privilege whether determined by race, class, sexuality, religion, or nationality."
"That thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you is usually what you need to find, and finding it is a matter of getting lost. The word 'lost' comes from the old Norse 'los' meaning the disbanding of an army, I worry now that people never disband their armies, never go beyond what they know.Advertising, alarmist news, technology, incessant busyness, and the design of public and private life conspire to make it so. A recent article about the return of wildlife to suburbia described snow-covered yards in which the footprints of animals are abundant and those of children are entirely absent. Children seldom roam, even in the safest places, I wonder what will come of placing this generation under house arrest."
"When we understand love as the will to nurture our own and another's spiritual growth, it becomes clear that we cannot claim to love if we are hurtful and abusive. Love and abusive cannot coexist. Abuse and neglect are, by definition, the opposites of nurturance and care."
"Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up."
"Avoid popularity if you would have peace."
"I want you to do it right as fast as you can, not fast as right as you can."
"If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it."
"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
"One man with courage makes a majority."
"Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities... much more so than music or language."
"We all read news stories about the difficulties and tensions that the United States has with our allies and even with coalition partners in Iraq, but we rarely read about the good news."
"The press is a gang of cruel faggots. Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits-a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage."
"Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out."
"Instant communication is not communication at all but merely a frantic, trivial, nerve-wracking bombardment of cliches, threats, fads, fashions, gibberish and advertising."
"You define beauty for yourself, society doesn't define your beauty."
"Originality is the art of concealing your source."
"To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization."
"When we are loving, we openly and honestly express care, affection, responsibility, respect, commitment, and trust."
"I must change my life so that I can live it, not wait for it."
"People that seem so glorious are all show; underneath they are like everyone else."
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible."
"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect."
"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
"Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas."
"There is no original or primary gender a drag imitates, but gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original."
"What do I care about law? Ain't I got the power?"
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
"Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people."
"A manager is not a person who can do the work better than his men; he is a person who can get his men to do the work better than he can."
"When preparing to climb a mountain - pack a light heart."
"The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose."
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