top of page
.png){kind=small}
Quotes by British Authors
"My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."
"The charm of variety there was not, nor the excitement of incident; but I liked peace so well, and sought stimulus so little, that when the latter came I almost felt it a disturbance, and rather still wished it had held aloof."
"It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset."
"The only people who benefit from lawsuits are lawyers. I think we made a couple of them rich."
"There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience."
"Martin guitars have now brought out, you know, on a more traditional level, the Stephen Stills' model of Martin guitars. It's beautiful. I just went inside. I bought one immediately."
"In the Scottish Orkneys, the little stone houses with their single large room and central hearth had an extraordinary range of built-in furniture."
"The question is, what are we to do in order to consolidate peace on a universal and durable foundation, and what are the essential elements of such a peace?"
"So that is how I ended up with those two titles, I like Accidentally on Purpose better - it is how we work in our trade - is it really an accident, or is there a thread of destiny in there? That was the intention, I am not sure I found out."
"However well organized the foundations of life may be, life must always be full of risks."
"By simple mathematics giving is key to the world you seek to live in. If I take I alone gain. If I give or share then two at least are enriched."
"Patience's design flaw became obvious for the first time in my life: the outcome is decided not during the course of play but when the cards are shuffled, before the game even begins. How pointless is that?"
"If I can't stay where I am, and I can't, then I will put all that I can into the going."
"Life should not be reduced to a to do list."
"Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power."
"The secret to success is constancy of purpose."
"You think about taking audiences on a journey."
"Ice shelves in general have episodic carvings and there can be large icebergs breaking off - I'm talking 100km or 200km long - every 10 or 20 or 50 years."
"War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact."
"If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust."
"The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected."
"I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers, uncorrupted by literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours."
"The Leadership Training Institute of America trains and equips young men and women to be leaders with high standards of personal morality and integrity."
"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."
"Every four weeks I go up a bra size... it's worth being pregnant just for the breasts."
"I'd gotten on the piss and it had kicked me the fuck off. Hard."
"I let go of all that I had thought was wounded, for there is no ego to wound, no ego to hold on with; there is only love & freedom to love."
"Believe in something important. Pursue it wholeheartedly."
"I'm always writing or playing because that is my life."
"When we are angry or depressed in our creativity, we have misplaced our power. We have allowed someone else to determine our worth, and then we are angry at being undervalued."
"We learn to restrain ourselves as we get older. We keep apart when we have quarrelled, express ourselves in well-bred phrases, and in this way preserve a dignified alienation, showing much firmness on one side, and swallowing much grief on the other. We no longer approximate in our behaviour to the mere impulsiveness of the lower animals, but conduct ourselves in every respect like members of a highly civilised society."
"The upper management team had informed me that an employee that worked for me was a poor performer and would be terminated soon. This employee was clearly displaying mental health issues that were causing problems in the workplace. When I followed the company procedures and reported this to human resources, their response was to inform me that my contract would not be renewed and I would be immediately fired if anyone complained about me. This was my introduction to how mental health issues are handled in the USA."
"You can't comfort the afflicted with afflicting the comfortable."
"You'd imagine Mick would be the happiest person in the world, and yet a lot of the times he isn't."
"Sometimes it's better to show our vulnerability / pain / regrets so others don't think us impervious / unapproachable - be real / open."
"Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough?"
"People who copy you will always be one step behind."
bottom of page