James Rozoff > Quotes

“Vulgarity is like a fine wine: it should only be uncorked on a special occasion, and then only shared with the right group of people.”
― James Rozoff

“Sheep only need a single flock, but people need two: one to belong to and make them feel comfortable, and another to blame all of society’s problems on.”
― james rozoff

“The places of quiet are going away, the churches, the woods, the libraries. And it is only in silence we can hear the voice inside of us which gives us true peace.”
― James Rozoff

“Where once we aspired to be more like our heroes, today we try to make our heroes more like us.”
― James Rozoff

“Each man is an island unto himself. But though a sea of difference may divide us, an entire world of commonality lies beneath.”
― James Rozoff

“Fools are in the majority, and they never lack confidence because a fool believes that being in the majority is proof that one is right.”
― James Rozoff

“Forget scientists. The next space launch we should send up painters, poets and musicians. I’d be more interested in what they discover than anything that takes place in a test tube.”
― James Rozoff

“Before Ayn Rand coined the term “objectivists”, we just called them “selfish assholes”.”
― James Rozoff

“The definition of stupid is the inabilitly to see another side to an argument other than one's own.”
― James Rozoff

“Such places exist among the endless abodes of every major city, places that seem to be sanctuaries from the present, immune to the hustle and bustle, the sound and fury that in the end change nothing. Like long unopened books sitting upon dusty shelves, there exist people filled with knowledge that has somehow been saved from extinction. But buried as they are by time, there abides in them yet a seed awaiting the proper condition for germination. There is some process that occurs in dormancy, some subtle shifting of the fabric of reality that science has yet to discover. From such forgotten places as these occasionally springs, in some unseen future, a gigantic oak whose day has come.”
― James Rozoff

“A library is a sacred place where the voices of the ancients can still be heard if we but give them the required silence.”
― James Rozoff

“Once you realize that life and love are not things you can possess but forces that emanate through us and through all creation, then you can begin to appreciate the miracle you are a part of. You can release the burden and appreciate what you have had, have now and will have. Only trying to hold on to what you do not have causes pain. Letting go permits you to experience the incredible joy that comes to you at each and every moment.”
― James Rozoff

“A solution is never as easy to find as someone to blame for the problem.”
― James Rozoff

“It really was amazing, thought Mindy, the way modern electronics made it so easy to ignore those people who were physically so close.”
― James Rozoff, The Association

“Security is an illusion, but it is a pleasant one.”
― James Rozoff

“I pity the atheist, for he can never fully appreciate a sinful pleasure.”
― James Rozoff

“Don't punch at the darkness, be a light.”
― James Rozoff

“You’ve got to stop thinking of consciousness as your own. You’re only thinking for yourself when you are by yourself. As soon as you are in the presence of others, your consciousness is linked at some level to those others.”
― James Rozoff, The Association

“Sometimes you just have to hold on even when you don’t believe in what you’re holding on to anymore. Sometimes you have to hold on to empty and distant memories, even if it feels like there isn’t any ‘you’ left. I think that’s what faith is all about, doing what you need to do even when the feeling isn’t there anymore.”
― James Rozoff, The Association

“People perceive the divine according to their own biases. That doesn’t make the experience any less real.”
― James Rozoff, Perchance to Dream

“The fool attempts to predict the next big wave while ignoring the tide.”
― James Rozoff

“There is a third choice besides being busy and killing time, something profound.”
― James Rozoff

“Those who rule have always had an interest in shaping the perceptions of those they wish to rule. But never in the history of humanity has their toolbox been so full. Advances in technology and psychology have enabled the messages of the rulers to permeate our consciousness to a degree no prior society could have imagined.”
― James Rozoff

“Art is not a diversion, it is the summit of human understanding. Literature is not the construction of a beautiful though frail glittering glass ornament. It is the creation of a prism through which we are able to see the world we live in in a way we never have before. It is not the plaything of ivory tower intellectuals nor an escapist drug for bored housewives, but the raw, pulsing stuff of life, the essence, the soul.”
― James Rozoff

“Simplistic ideas are the weapons with which the thoughtful are clubbed.”
― James Rozoff

“Perhaps religion provides the justification for wars, but science provides the weapons.”
― James Rozoff

“Facts, like living things, have a value in and of themselves and demand respect. Yet some people use them as means to an end, and dismiss them as soon as they are done using them.”
― James Rozoff

“But failure and success are labels placed upon people’s lives the way a child values winning a game whether or not they have to bend the rules in order to do it. But life is not a game and the rules cannot be bent without repercussions that prove damaging later on. We must play the game for all we are worth, and we must play it fairly. We play and lose and play again, over and over. We lose and we pick up and start again a little wiser. We learn the game a little better in the playing, learn lessons for the next game. And should we lose today it is only a step towards the winning of the larger game. We move our piece on the board one step at a time, but it is all part of some larger process.”
― James Rozoff, Seven Stones

“Life is like a box of chocolates: You get through what little actual good stuff there is right away, then you constantly fool yourself into believing there's still something good in whatever's left.”
― James Rozoff

“Stories are like DNA, they shape the culture that they’re a part of. A society is not a society without its own unique stories. But we allow machines to make our stories, nowadays, or at least to tell them. We allow things to shape our understanding of who we are. We are entertained, not nurtured. We are given Twinkies for our mind, things that amuse but do not enlighten. It tickles our taste buds, but it does not enrich us.”
― James Rozoff