Alexander K > Alexander's Quotes

“There’s no such thing as ruining your life. Life’s a pretty resilient thing, it turns out.”
― Sophie Kinsella, The Undomestic Goddess

“She alone dares and wishes to know from within, where she, the outcast, has never ceased to hear the resonance of fore-language. She lets the other language speak—the language of 1,000 tongues which knows neither enclosure nor death. To life she refuses nothing. Her language does not contain, it carries; it does not hold back, it makes possible.”
― Hélène Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa

“Trump tried to book Penn & Teller once in Vegas at one of his casinos, but we were priced out of his budget.”
― Penn Jillette, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday!

“The nightmare of Trump is not that he doesn't care what people think; it's that he desperately cares what people think.”
― Penn Jillette

“Even one person's misunderstanding [of a blue joke] may not be worth the next guy's laugh.”
― Penn Jillette, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

“Desire for something impossible does not make it less impossible.”
― Penn Jillette, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

“You have no chance of scaring me with death, all the fear possible is contained in life.”
― Penn Jillette, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

“curiosity is a prerequisite to discovery.”
― Rohit Bhargava, Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future

“a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”
― Rohit Bhargava, Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future

“Listen – it makes you sound smarter”
― Richard Branson, The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership

“And those who urge entrepreneurs to never give up? Charlatans. Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop. Luck plays a big role. Yes, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the power of luck. Athletes get lucky, poets get lucky, businesses get lucky. Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome. Some people might not call it luck. They might call it Tao, or Logos, or Jñāna, or Dharma. Or Spirit. Or God. Put”
― Phil Knight, Shoe Dog

“Knowledge kills action; action requires the veils of illusion.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

“Marketing should never be just a blunt instrument.”
― Terry O'Reilly

“It’s important to constantly challenge and stretch yourself, and not be stuck in a job where you don’t feel like you are growing or learning.”
― Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

“Agricultural oil production is, and always has been, about industry. It was never about health.”
― Liz Wolfe NTP

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“I am, at the Fed level, libertarian;
at the state level, Republican;
at the local level, Democrat;
and at the family and friends level, a socialist.
If that saying doesn’t convince you of the fatuousness of left vs. right labels, nothing will.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Skin in the game

“A person either hates losing enough to change or he hates changing enough to lose.”
― Orrin Woodward

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.”
― Paulo Coelho

“I am a citizen of the world.”
― Diogenes of Sinope, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

“Writers remember everything...especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he'll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones you get novels. A little talent is a nice thing to have if you want to be a writer, but the only real requirement is the ability to remember the story of every scar.
Art consists of the persistence of memory.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“When you own a piano, it's harder to think about moving.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“The gotta, as in: “I think I’ll stay up another fifteen-twenty minutes, honey, I gotta see how this chapter comes out.” Even though the guy who says it spent the day at work thinking about getting laid and knows the odds are good his wife is going to be asleep when he finally gets up to the bedroom. The gotta, as in: “I know I should be starting supper now — he’ll be mad if it’s TV dinners again — but I gotta see how this ends.” I gotta know will she live. I gotta know will he catch the shitheel who killed his father. I gotta know if she finds out her best friend’s screwing her husband. The gotta. Nasty as a hand-job in a sleazy bar, fine as a fuck from the world’s most talented call-girl. Oh boy it was bad and oh boy it was good and oh boy in the end it didn’t matter how rude it was or how crude it was because in the end it was just like the Jacksons said on that record — don’t stop til you get enough.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“He didn't need a psychiatrist to point out that writing had its autoerotic side — you beat a typewriter instead of your meat, but both acts depended largely on quick wits, fast hands and a heartfelt commitment to the art of the farfetched.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“All your fancy ideas come down to one thing - you want to kill her by remote control , you don't want her blood on your hands. You're like a man who loves nothing better than a thick steak but wouldn't last an hour in a slaughterhouse. But listen , Paulie , and get it straight: you must face reality at this point in your life if at no other. Nothing fancy. No curlicues. Right?
Right.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“Find the hole in the paper.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“It's always wise to check your maybes.”
― Stephen King, Misery

“It was a famous old hotel called the Overlook. It burned down ten years ago. The caretaker burned it down. He was crazy. Everybody in town said so. But never mind: he's dead.”
― Stephen King, Misery