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Quotes by Jamaican Authors

"A woman once held a Canary in the palm of her hand and stroked her and whispered a careful warning. The canary, seeking some freedom to fly, went into the mine while the woman watched in worry. The mine was filled with toxic gases and the Canary began to sing. She flew into danger, realized the threats around her, and wished to return to a place of refuge."

"Progress is the attraction that moves humanity."

"Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction."

"Bravery is the ability to endure, even unto death, all types of terrible, terrifying and painful situations and we live in a time when people do all that they can to avoid hardship and pain, never realizing that strength and courage is found in both."


"I want to give as many Canadians the opportunity to be successful and if we can use their athletic gifts to get them a free degree or a free diploma across the border then I guess I'm doing my job."

"What have I to prove, and to whom, and why? I'm keen enough to want nothing more than to live a simple, humble, unfettered life."

"A gem, like you, is made beautiful by being polished. It's not an easy undertaking, but a stone that exists undisturbed among others just is...but the most beautiful stand out because they face being alone, endure hardships and learn from what challenges them. Suffering purifies and makes beautiful, but only if the gem can shine."

"If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything."

"With confidence, you have won before you have started."

"What was I to you?" he asked. She didn't answer but turned and walked away. That's when he knew: Nothing or everything."

"Working on my own gave me a chance to take my time and experiment a lot."

"Have you seen what wolves do to their prey? But they do mate for life."

"He studied the woman before him, not as lovely as she once was, ordinary in appearance, scarred by living, abandoned by many, breathtakingly to be near and altogether unforgettable. "I have no friends," she spoke forth hauntingly. "I am alone." He couldn't believe it. But then he could for the rare creature near enough to touch was out of their league. She wasn't envied for the shallowness of appearance or the superficiality of status or possessions; she was envied for being uncommon and for possessing indomitable strength, something only a lifetime of suffering could shape."

"She never wants to get to the point where she looks forward to hearing from someone. Once you look forward to something, you're inevitably let down and nothing can stay the same so she'd rather expect nothing at all and just be surprised that she was thought of at all."

"I'm not opposed to aging - even though society is kinder on men than women when it comes to getting old. How can I look at aging as the enemy? It happens whether I like it or not and no one is set apart from growing old; it comes to us all. Youth passes from everyone, so why deny it? I'm proud of my age. I'm proud that I've survived this planet for as long as I have, and should I end up withered, wrinkled and with a lifetime of great wisdom, I'll trade the few years of youth for the sophistication of a great mind...for however long it lasts."

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."

"It's always a live experience - anything that happens around you. It's so easy to just put it to a song."

"If you get down and quarell everyday, you're saying prayers to the devil, I say."

"Never go to another woman about your woman. Not unless you want an insidious form of advice."

"Some things you sentence yourself to life for."

"If its danger you seek, come on over. I covet tranquility but beget the tempest storm."

"Don't focus on her hiss. Remember her purr."

"He wasn't yours to get hurt by. He was someone else's and you knew that, so why are you offended? What right do you have to be hurt when you were a part of the deception (lying by omission)?"

"I must be out of my mind if I loved you in spite of everything you've done, and anyone else would condemn you for it, but I can't condemn you at all. In my own troubled mind, I loved you for it."

"Leaving the familiar for unknown terrain is like a death - and feeling this level of finality should snap one back to life for life has greater meaning in the face of death."

"Who hasn't been told "love you?" I don't put much stock in such words because it's the "I" that gives "love you" its true essence and intimate meaning, so unless someone can bring themselves to say "I love you," don't subtract from the significance by saying something less."

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!"

"I would look at a dog and when our eyes met, I realized that the dog and all creatures are my family. They're like you and me."

"Upon the clothes behind the tenement, That hang like ghosts suspended from the lines, Linking each flat, but to each indifferent, Incongruous and strange the moonlight shines."

"Some people live their lives being perpetual victims and finger pointers. To anyone who points a finger at someone else and lays all the blame at their feet instead of taking responsibility for their own behavior, I would say, "I see that finger and you know where you can put it?"

"As long as you write, you'll never be lonely."

"While struggling with all the loss in her life, she mournfully thought, "If only I could forget..." But that would be too easy, wouldn't it? However, she did with most; she never got too close and she never stayed too long, but there she was...struggling with all the loss in her life."

"She used to wander through the past as often as it beckoned her, bemoaning the loss of nostalgia. Then, for a while, she turned from it, blissfully free of its noxious clutch, and now it's back, taunting her with what she left behind, knowing she can never recapture what's gone."

"The black widow, who had dispatched a lover or two, was sought out for her wisdom. The young spider asked her, "Did you keep his harmful secret under the threat of danger, or did you spin a web so confusing that he didn't know if you were friend or foe? Did you release him from the web and your presence or will you give another the venom in which to finish him?" The black widow was quiet and then said, "All of the above."
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