madeleine > madeleine's Quotes

“They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“There was a single blue line of crayon drawn across every wall in the house. What does it mean? I asked. A pirate needs the sight of the sea, he said and then he pulled his eye patch down and turned and sailed away.”
― Brian Andreas, Story People

“The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.”
― Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country

“I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?"
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”
― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

“But there is only one thing that has power completely, and this is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.”
― Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country

“Remember to use positive affirmations. I am not a dork is not one of them.”
― Brian Andreas, Story People

“They learned no compassion from their own anguish. Thus their suffering was wasted.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“I have too much to lose, she said, if I cross that line. Like what? I said. She could not think of anything that day so she said she'd get back to me. Since then I've been thinking what I would lose if I cross my line & I haven't come up with anything either. There's always another line somewhere.”
― Brian Andreas

“Let me be something every minute of every hour of my life...And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you.
”
― Brian Andreas

“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“I wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills. For the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road. For the people laughing & crying & remembering at the end. But, mainly, I wish you could have been there.”
― Brian Andreas

“When hit by boredom, let yourself be crushed by it; submerge, hit bottom. In general, with things unpleasant, the rule is: The sooner you hit bottom, the faster you surface. The idea here is to exact a full look at the worst. The reason boredom deserves such scrutiny is that it represents pure, undiluted time in all its repetitive, redundant, monotonous splendor.

Boredom is your window on the properties of time that one tends to ignore to the likely peril of one's mental equilibrium. It is your window on time's infinity. Once this window opens, don't try to shut it; on the contrary, throw it wide open.”
― Joseph Brodsky

“A few said they'd be horses. Most said they'd be some sort of cat. My friend said she'd like to come back as a porcupine. I don't like crowds, she said. ”
― Brian Andreas

“The fact that we are living does not mean we are not sick.”
― Joseph Brodsky

“Anyone can slay a dragon ...but try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero.”
― Brian Andreas

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
― Joseph Brodsky

“Hoping something will happen soon, so she can sit down & watch it with a fresh bowl of popcorn.”
― Brian Andreas

“Judge: And what is your occupation in general?
Brodsky: Poet, poet-translator.
Judge: And who recognized you to be a poet? Who put you in the ranks of poet?
Brodsky: No one. And who put me in the ranks of humanity?
Judge: Did you study it?...How to be a poet? Did you attempt to finish an insitute of higher learning...where they prepare...teach
Brodsky: I did not think that it is given to one by education.
Judge: By what then?
Brodsky: I think that it is from God.”
― Joseph Brodsky

“She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.”
― Brian Andreas

“...boredom speaks the language of time, and it is to teach you the most valuable lesson in your life--...the lesson of your utter insignificance. It is valuable to you, as well as to those you are to rub shoulders with. 'You are finite,' time tells you in a voice of boredom, 'and whatever you do is, from my point of view, futile.' As music to your ears, this, of course, may not count; yet the sense of futility, of limited significance even of your best, most ardent actions is better than the illusion of their consequence and the attendant self-satisfaction.”
― Joseph Brodsky, On Grief and Reason: Essays

“I saw them standing there pretending to be just friends, when all the time in the world could not pry them apart. ”
― Brian Andreas

“Behold the male beast roaring in the jungle for his mate," said Elphaba. "See how the female beast giggles behind a shrub while she organizes her face to say, Pardon dear, did you say something?”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“Trapped mainly by wanting things to be exactly as they are, only better ”
― Brian Andreas

“The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.”
― Sam Levenson

“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

“It's simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite.”
― Sam Levenson

“It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it.”
― Terry Pratchett

“I can be whatever.
You can be whatever.
We can be whatever.
Whatever, together.”
― Libba Bray, Going Bovine

“Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods