Thomas Murch > Thomas's Quotes

“Sugar dissolved in rose water
Won't cure my heart; but if you could
Dissolve your curses in your kisses,
That distillation surely would.”
― Hāfez, Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz

“And still, after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.”
― Hafiz

“Your love should never be offered to the mouth of a Stranger / Only to someone who has the valor and daring to cut pieces of their soul off with a knife / Then weave them into a blanket to protect you.”
― Hafiz

“TRIPPING OVER JOY

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.”
― Hafez, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

“You don’t have to act crazy anymore—
We all know you were good at that,

Now retire, my dear,
From all that hard work you do

Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart.

Look in a clear mountain mirror
See the beautiful ancient warrior
And the divine elements
You always carry inside

That infused this universe with sacred life
So long ago”
― Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

“First the fish needs to say: Somethin' ain't right about this CAMEL ride...and I'm feeling so damned THIRSTY.”
― - Hafiz 1320-1389

“Come, let's get drunk, even if it is our ruin:
For sometimes under ruins one finds treasure.”
― Hāfez, Hafiz of Shiraz: Thirty Poems: An Introduction to the Sufi Master

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.
Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“And how shall I think of you?' He considered a moment and then laughed. 'Think of me with my nose in a book!”
― Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

“Words are only painted fire, a look is the fire itself. She gave that look, and carried it away to the treasury of heaven, where all things that are divine belong.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

“My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

“His head was an hour-glass; it could stow an idea, but it had to do it a grain at a time, not the whole idea at once.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

“He begged hard, and said he couldn't play—a plausible excuse, but too thin; there wasn't a musician in the country that could.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

“Colonel Talbot? he is a very disagreeable person, to be sure. He looks as if he thought no Scottish woman worth the trouble of handing her a cup of tea.”
― Walter Scott, Waverley

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It

“It takes a great deal of Christianity to wipe out uncivilised Eastern instincts, such as falling in love at first sight.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“Now India is a place beyond all others where one must not take things too seriously—the midday sun always excepted.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“Then says Mrs. Hauksbee to me – she looked a trifle faded and jaded in the lamplight: “Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“Good work does not matter, because a man is judged by his worst output and another man takes all the credit of his best as a rule. Bad work does not matter, because other men do worse, and incompetents hang on longer in India than anywhere else. Amusements do not matter, because you must repeat them as soon as you have accomplished them once, and most amusements only mean trying to win another person’s money. Sickness does not matter, because it’s all in the day’s work, and if you die another man takes over your place and your office in the eight hours between death and burial.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“One of these days, Strickland is going to write a little book on his experiences. That book will be worth buying; and even more, worth suppressing.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“The Viceroy possessed no name – nothing but a string of counties and two-thirds of the alphabet after them.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“Every man is entitled to his own religious opinions; but no man – least of all a junior – has a right to thrust these down other men’s throats.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“I explained as much as I knew of the seal-cutter’s way of jadoo; but her argument was much more simple: “The magic that is always demanding gifts is no true magic,” said she.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“No jury, we knew, could convict a man on the criminal count on native evidence in a land where you can buy a murder-charge, including the corpse, all complete for fifty-four rupees”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“If men had not this delusion as to the ultra-importance of their own particular employments, I suppose that they would sit down and kill themselves. But their weakness is wearisome, particularly when the listener knows that he himself commits exactly the same sin.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

“Be careful when peeing in your pants. It does not always work.”
― Richard Villar, Knife Edge

“You must be careful when placing items up your anus.”
― Richard Villar, Knife Edge

“Blood goes a long way when it decides to spread.”
― Richard Villar, Knife Edge

“

“Father Peregrine, won’t you ever be serious?”

“Not until the good Lord is. Oh, don’t look so terribly shocked, please. The Lord is not serious. In fact, it is a little hard to know just what else He is except loving. And love has to do with humor, doesn’t it? For you cannot love someone unless you put up with him, can you? And you cannot put up with someone constantly unless you can laugh at him. Isn’t that true? And certainly we are ridiculous little animals wallowing in the fudge bowl, and God must love us all the more because we appeal to His humor.”

"I never thought of God as humorous," said Father Stone.

"The Creator of the platypus, the camel, the ostrich, and man?" Oh, come now!" Father Peregrine laughed.

Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man”
― Ray Bradury

“An honest politician is one that stays bought.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Sixth Column