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Quotes by Novelist
"The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity."
41
"The more stupid one is, the closer one is to reality. The more stupid one is, the clearer one is. Stupidity is brief and artless, while intelligence squirms and hides itself. Intelligence is unprincipled, but stupidity is honest and straightforward."
41
"It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure."
40
"We made no inquiries about India or about the families people had left behind. When our ways of thinking had changed, and we wished to know, it was too late. I know nothing of the people on my father's side; I know only that some of them came from Nepal."
40
"But magic is neither good nor evil. It is a tool, like a knife. Is a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil."
40
"If one wanted to crush and destroy a man entirely, to mete out to him the most terrible punishment ... all one would have to do would be to make him do work that was completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning."
39
"Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair."
39
"Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them."
39
"I have two ideas for novels at the moment, neither of them all that conventional, but I'm not ready to choose between them yet, let alone settle down to the process of writing."
39
"In order to forgive, one must have lived through what I have lived through, and may God spare her that."
39
"Remember that there is onlyone important time and is Now. The present moment isthe only time over which we have dominion. The mostimportant person is always the person with whom youare, who is right before you, for who knows if you willhave dealings with any other person in the future. Themost important pursuit is making that person, the onestanding at you side, happy, for that alone is the pursuitof life."
39
"It would be nice to travel if you knew where you were going and where you would live at the end or do we ever know, do we ever live where we live, we're always in other places, lost, like sheep."
38
"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it."
38
"Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving."
38
"Time is change; we measure its passing by how much things alter."
37
"Percy: "You asked Poseidon for" me? Tyson: "For a friend, young cyclopes grow up alone on the streets, learns to make things out of scraps. Learn to survive." Percy: "But that's so cruel! Tyson: "Makes us appreciate blessings, not be greedy and mean and fat like Polyphemus. But I got scared. Monsters chased me so much, clawed me sometimes--" Percy: "The scars on your back? Tyson: "Sphinx on Seventy-second Street. Big Bully. I prayed to Daddy for help. Soon the people at Meriwether found me. Mey you. Biggest blessing ever. Sorry I said Poseidon was mean. He sent me a brother."
37
"Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better."
37
"Even the strongest man needs friends."
37
"To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's."
37
"Charles Wallace and the unicorn moved through the time-spinning reaches of a far glazy, and he realized that the galaxy itself was part of a mighty orchestra, and each star and planet within the galaxy added its own instrument to the music of the spheres. As long as the ancient harmonies were sung, the universe would not entirely lose its joy."
37
"I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day."
36
"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."
36
"Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait."
36
"For know, dear ones, that every one of us is undoubtedly responsible for all men- and everything on earth, not merely through the general sinfulness of creation, but each one personally for all mankind and every individual man. This knowledge is the crown of life for the monk and for every man. For monks are not a special sort of men, but only what all men ought to be. Only through that knowledge, our heart grows soft with infinite, universal, inexhaustible love. Then every one of you will have the power to win over the whole world by love and to wash away the sins of the world with your tears."
36
"One of my kids was born in 1968. There were going to be political difficulties, but they were never going to have that level of hatred and contempt that my brothers and my sister and myself were exposed to."
36
"Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking..."
36
"I found myself with a perseverance worthy of a much better cause."
36
"There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there."
35
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