Kris Rafferty > Kris's Quotes

“It is of no consequence what others think of you. What matters is what you think of them. That is how you live your life.”
― Gore Vidal

“The unfed mind devours itself.”
― Gore Vidal

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
― Mark Twain

“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”
― Wole Soyinka

“Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head.”
― Gore Vidal

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”
― Elie Wiesel

“The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with his private vision the deeds and thoughts of men. The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small yes at the center of a vast no.”
― Gore Vidal

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.”
― Gordon B. Hinckley

“Nothing human is finally calculable; even to ourselves we are strange.”
― Gore Vidal, Julian

“Never offend an enemy in a small way.”
― Gore Vidal, Julian

“I wanted to be a politician and a movie star. But I was born a writer. If you're born that, you can't change it. You're going to do it whether you want to or not.”
― Gore Vidal

“Reality is something the human race doesn't handle very well.”
― Gore Vidal

“In fact, life itself is a contradiction if only because birth is the direct cause, in every single case, of death”
― Gore Vidal, Creation

“Most people spend their lives vulnerable, relying on the rest of the world to not take advantage of it.”
― Kris Rafferty

“Vulnerability does not take away your strength”
― Derek Hough

“Never fails. Every new book I write seems impossible, writes like I'm typing from dictation, edits like I didn't write it, and finishes like I couldn't possibly have written it.”
― Kris Rafferty

“Many women arrange their lives around the people they love. Unfortunately, that arrangement takes up most of our days.”
― Holly Robinson

“...if I have a daughter I will tell her she can do anything, and I will mean it, because I have no other intention of informing her otherwise. As my mother did with me, and my mother's mother before her, I shall simply hide the truth from her. I will tell her that despite what others may whisper, there is no difference between her and any boy. I will tell her to work her hardest and try her best. And that if one day she looks around and finds that, despite her very best efforts, lesser men have superseded her, then she probably could have done better. These words may not be true, nor will they be fair, but I would hope that they ensure she never becomes a victim of her own femininity. I hope she will be empowered to pick herself up, study harder, work longer, and exceed her own expectations. I don't want my daughter to break any glass ceilings. I'd rather she never even contemplated their existence. Because glass ceilings, closed doors, and boys clubs are notions, they're ideas, and they're not tangible. You can't see, touch, or feel them. They can only exercise power over us if we choose to believe in them. So why lay down your own gauntlet? The cliche rings true, if you reach for the moon, you might just land on the stars. Throw a glass ceiling into the works, and it can only get in the way. And I suspect that deep down, every woman who ever truly excelled thought exactly this way. I doubt they ever gave much thought to the fact that they are women. I think they just really wanted to rock out. And they did; louder, harder, and better than anyone else around them. And at some point down the line, enough people took note.”
― Amy Mowafi, Fe-mail 2

“A 2011 McKinsey report noted that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
― Anais Nin

“There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro

“Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backward.”
― E.E. Cummings

“Say anything about me, darling, as long as it isn't boring.”
― Tallulah Bankhead

“When things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. It's because a little piece gets lost - the two remaining ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. The whole shape has changed.”
― John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“grief is a house
where the chairs
have forgotten how to hold us
the mirrors how to reflect us
the walls how to contain us

grief is a house that disappears
each time someone knocks at the door
or rings the bell
a house that blows into the air
at the slightest gust
that buries itself deep in the ground
while everyone is sleeping

grief is a house where no one can protect you
where the younger sister
will grow older than the older one
where the doors
no longer let you in
or out”
― Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere

“But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say Ave there for me,
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me”
― Frederic Weatherly

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”
― Tom Bodett

“A word after a word after a word is power.”
― Margaret Atwood