Author: LINUS FERNANDES
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Terry Pratchett: Life into a story
“If you don’t turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else’s story.” —Terry Pratchett, novelist (28 Apr 1948-2015).
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Christopher Morley: Life
Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it. -Christopher Morley, journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet (5 May 1890-1957) .
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Zelda Dvoretzky: Quotable
If you wish to be thought of as scrutable, you should always choose words that are suitable. If they’re too high-flown your readers will groan and your writings will never be “quootable.” -Zelda Dvoretzky, Haifa, Israel
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Sona Mohapatra: Adulation
“Well, the problem in India is our need to deify celebrities. Everyone must be held to the same standard — but our celebrities, especially actors, are given a pedestal because the virtues of their on-screen personas are attributed to them. People confuse characters written by someone else, propped up by costumes, sets, dialogues, somebody else’s…
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Octavio Paz: Language
For every language that becomes extinct, an image of man disappears. -Octavio Paz, poet, diplomat, Nobel laureate (1914-1998)
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Kailash Satyarthi: Enslavement
“The world cannot be civilised, cultured if even a single child is enslaved. If one girl is forced to work as a child prostitute, then we cannot call ourselves religious, cultured and developed world.” —Kailash Satyarthi.
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Karan Johar: Offence
” Offence is no longer defence. It is a full-time profession. Everyone is so offended all the time.”—Karan Johar.
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Ernest J Gaines: Men holding hands, men holding guns
“Why is it that , as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing men holding guns than holding hands?” —Ernest J Gaines.
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Philip Mathew: Stepping stones to success
” A word to students entering colleges. Many stepping stones to success are not linked to talent. I’ll give you four: punctuality, perseverance, passion and preparedness.” —Philip Mathew.
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Preeti Shenoy: Love and technology
“Snooping on your partner will not save your relationship. Rather, use technology to enhance your love.”—Preeti Shenoy.
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Stephen Chbosky: Love pats
“My dad kept giving me love pats. Love pats are soft punches of encouragement that are administered on the knee, shoulder, and arm.” —Stephen Chbosky.
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Asa Don Brown: Active participants
“As fathers, we should have a desire to be active participants in our children’s lives.” —Asa Dan Brown.
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Steve Benko: Upset girl
If a girl is upset, full of angor, I wouldn’t suggest you harangue her. A softer approach As her mentor, her coach, And your airplane will land in her hangar. -Steve Benko.
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Niall Williams: Whole continents of privacy
“Men are private. This I have learned. They are whole continents of privacy; you can only go to the borders; you can look in but you cannot enter.”—Niall Williams.
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Katherine Neville: Privacy
“Privacy—like eating and breathing—is one of life’s basic requirements.”—Katherine Neville.
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George Clooney: Personal life
“I don’t like to share my personal life…it wouldn’t be personal if I shared it.”—George Clooney.
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Fred Astaire: Mistakes
The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it’s considered to be your style. -Fred Astaire, dancer, actor, singer, musician, and choreographer (10 May 1899-1987)
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Alia Bhatt: Inspiration
“For me now, rather than bring competitive I like beng inspired, whether it is being inspired by lead actors or character actors, or other artistes around me. I can see inspiration in even a pillow, that’s how hungry I am for inspiration.”—Alia Bhatt.
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Salvador Dali: Madman
The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad. -Salvador Dali, painter (11 May 1904-1989)
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Ludwig Wittgenstein: New word
A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion. -Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (26 Apr 1889-1951)
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Mary Wollstonecraft: Woman’s sceptre
Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. -Mary Wollstonecraft, reformer and writer (27 Apr 1759-1797)
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St. Anthony of Padua: Saints
“The saints are like the stars. In his providence Christ conceals them in a hidden place that they may not shine before others when they might wish to do so. Yet they are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy as soon as they perceive in their heart the…
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St. Anthony of Padua: Solicitude for material things
“Solicitude for material things distracts the soul and divides it. The devil seizes the divided soul and drags it to hell.” —St. Anthony of Padua.
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St Anthony: Attribute to God
“Attribute to God every good that you have received. If you take credit for something that does not belong to you, you will be guilty of theft.” -St Anthony.
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Regina Brett: Get up, dress up and show up
“No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.”—Regina Brett.
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Simone Elkeles: Live for the moment
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that nobody is here forever. You have to live for the moment, each and every day…the here and now.”—Simone Elkeles.
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William Kingdon Clifford: Insufficient evidence
It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. -William Kingdon Clifford, mathematician and philosopher (4 May 1845-1879)
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George Carlin: Torture of animals
I do not torture animals, and I do not support the torture of animals, such as that which goes on at rodeos: cowardly men in big hats abusing simple beasts in a fruitless search for manhood. -George Carlin, comedian, actor, and author (12 May 1937-2008)
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Ronald Ross: Microscope
The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. -Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid of the mosquito (details)]
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John Ray: Cuttlefish
He that uses many words for explaining any subject, doth, like the cuttlefish, hide himself for the most part in his own ink. -John Ray, naturalist (1627-1705)
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Studs Terkel: No matter
I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be. -Studs Terkel, author and broadcaster (16 May 1912-2008)
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Sunny Leone: Intimacy
“I think people all over the world are slightly uncomfortable with intimacy. It doesn’t matter whether it is India or the US. They look at intimacy as something ‘private’ and they want to talk about it only with their significant other and no one else.”—Sunny Leone.
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Steve Maraboli: Free yourself
“Free yourself from the complexities of your life! A life of simplicity and happiness awaits you.”—Steve Maraboli.
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Debasish Mridha: Simplicity
“When I started to live in simplicity, my life became peaceful, joyful, and blissful.”—Debasish Mridha.
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Robert James Waller: The real challenge
“Complex things are easy to do. Simplicity’s the real challenge.” —Robert James Waller.
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Muhammad Ali: Pebble in your shoe
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” —Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali: Extra ounce of power
“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.” —Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali: Float like a butterfly
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see. Now you see me, now you don’t. George thinks he will, but I know he won’t.” —Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali: Training
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” —Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali: Braggin’
“Braggin’ is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.” —Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali: Hate
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” —Muhammad Ali.
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Alan Kay: Change in prespective
A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. -Alan Kay, computer scientist (b. 17 May 1940)
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Bertrand Russel: Great fear
“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” —Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (18 May 1872-1970).
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Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: Humankind
Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored? -Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder and the first president of Turkey (19 May 1881-1938)
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Honore de Balzac: Power
“Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.” —Honore de Balzac, novelist (20 May 1799-1850).
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Adrienne Rich: Language
Language is as real, as tangible, in our lives as streets, pipelines, telephone switchboards, microwaves, radioactivity, cloning laboratories, nuclear power stations. -Adrienne Rich, writer (1929-2012)
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Margaret Fuller: Knowledge
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. -Margaret Fuller, author (23 May 1810-1850)
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Marilyn Monroe: Success
“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.” —Marilyn Monroe.
