“I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all? I do not know that it is. I have been the instrument of doing the following things; but they would have been done by others; some of them, perhaps, a little better.”
Thoughtful feeling
Thoughtful Quotes — page 131 of 303
“When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children.”
“I have personal beliefs and they are sometimes reflected in the movies I make, but I also reflect other points of view.”
“I think that something that people in general forget to do - and it's true, not everyone has the financial means to do this - whatever clothes you buy if you really want them to fit well, you need to have them altered or tailored. And whether you're doing that yourself, whether you're taking it to your drycleaner that has a tailor, you need to alter and tailor everything, whether it's expensive, whether it's, you know, whether it's inexpensive. If you want it to really fit your body, even the best clothes have to be tailored.”
“But look, I was born in 1956, the peak year for births in US history. I think I'm very representative of many of the thought processes my generation have been through and, by and large, people of my age have had their imprint planted on the consciousness of western society for a long time.”
“One of the most difficult things in writing a novel or anything at all is to choose the point of view from which it's going to be told.”
“You marvel at the economy and this choice of words. How many ways can you describe the sky and the moon? After Sylvia Plath, what can you say?”
“You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.”
“He who boasts of his descent, praises the deed of another.”
“Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.”
“Do not personally give any more conscious consideration, either of you, to events that you do not want to happen. Any such concentration, to whatever degree, ties you in with those probabilities, so concentrate upon what you want, and as far as public events are concerned, take it for granted that sometimes even men are wiser than they know.”
“Well, I don't think I've necessarily ever been a passionate football player or a passionate person.”
“A name is important. It isn't something you drop in the litter basket or on the ground. Your name is now people know you. The very mention of your name makes a picture spring to mind, whether it's a picture of clashing fists or a mighty mountain that can't be knocked down. Your name is who you are and how you're known even when you do something great or something dumb.”
“It's not a very big step from contentment to complacency.”
“Few books are more thrilling than certain confessions, but they must be honest, and the author must have something to confess.”
“The essential characteristic of the first half of the twentieth century is the growing weakness, and almost the disappearance, of the idea of value.”
“Our science is like a store filled with the most subtle intellectual devices for solving the most complex problems, and yet we are almost incapable of applying the elementary principles of rational thought.”
“In the intellectual order, the virtue of humility is nothing more nor less than the power of attention.”
“It isn't what you earn but how spend it that fixes your class.”
“Oh, the little more, and how much it is! And the little less, and what worlds away.”