Author: LINUS FERNANDES
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Stefan Zweig: Pity
“There are two kinds of pity. One, the weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the heart’s impatience to be rid as quickly as possible of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another’s unhappiness, that pity which is not compassion, but only an instinctive desire to fortify one’s own soul…
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Yogi Berra: Love and baseball
“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” —Yogi Berra.
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Confucius: Concern
“I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.” —Confucius.
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Flannery O’Connor: Truth
“Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” —Flannery O’Connor, writer (25 Mar 1925-1964). Embed from Getty Images
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Amitabh Bachchan: Butterflies
“I like to feel the butterflies in the stomach, I like to go home and have a restless night and wonder how I’m going to be able to accomplish this feat, get jittery. That hunger and those butterflies in the stomach are very essential for all creative people.” —Amitabh Bachchan.
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Henry Lawson: Lost on a road
“Oh, my ways are strange ways and new ways and old ways, And deep ways and steep ways and high ways and low, I’m at home and at ease on a track that I know not, And restless and lost on a road that I know.” —Henry Lawson.
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Alice Walker: Activism
“Activism is the rent I pay for living on the planet.” —Alice Walker, author (b. 9 Feb 1944).
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Judge Judy: Smart, not gorgeous
“They don’t keep me here because I’m gorgeous, they keep me here because I’m smart.” ~Judge Judy.
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H.W. Fowler: A good writer
“Anyone who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.” —H.W. Fowler, lexicographer (10 Mar 1858-1933) .
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Judge Judy: Eating shoes
“I love the truth. If you don’t tell me the truth, you’re gonna be eating your shoes.” —Judge Judy.
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Steve Prefontaine: The gift
‘To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift’ – Legendary seven time American track record long-distance runner, Steve Prefontaine.
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Judge Judy: Singing pigs
“Don’t try to teach a pig to sing. It doesn’t work, and it annoys the pig.” —Judge Judy.
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Giorgos Seferis: Influence
“Don’t ask me who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life.” —Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (13 Mar 1900-1971).
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Salman Rushdie: Optimism and betrayal
“There are two things in Indian history—one is the incredible optimism and potential of the place, and the other is the betrayal of that potential.” —Salman Rushdie.
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Dean Koontz: Friends
“Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life — and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next.” ~Dean Koontz.
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William H. Gass: World into words
“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.” —William H. Gass, writer and professor (b. 1924).
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Gertrude Stein: Genius
It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing. -Gertrude Stein, novelist, poet, and playwright (3 Feb 1874-1946).
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Octavio Paz: Language, an image of man
For every language that becomes extinct, an image of man disappears. -Octavio Paz, poet, diplomat, Nobel laureate (1914-1998) .
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William Cobbett: Full belly
“A full belly to the labourer is, in my opinion, the foundation of public morals and the only source of real public peace.” —William Cobbett, journalist, pamphleteer, and farmer (9 Mar 1763-1835).
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Ratan Tata: Life in movement
“I would dream of a life that goes up always. But real life is different…ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive.” —Ratan Tata. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/108793935
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Robert Brault: Democracy
“What you discover in a democracy is that it is difficult to build a house when each nail has an opinion.” ~Robert Brault.
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APJ Abdul Kalam: Tree as Guru
“Trees are my guru. They continue to give unconditionally even when you pelt them with stones to take their fruit, and even if you cut them down. Trees give life. Let’s reciprocate that. Plant more trees.” —APJ Abdul Kalam.
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Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra: Honest fellow, good Christian
“This demon must be an honest fellow and a good Christian,” said Sancho; “for if he wasn’t he wouldn’t swear by God and his conscience.” ~Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote.
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Johnny Carson: Naivete
“I was so naive as a kid. I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing.” ~Johnny Carson, actor.
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John Ruskin: Rightly occupied amusement
“When men are rightly occupied, their amusement grows out of their work, as the colour-petals out of a fruitful flower.” ~John Ruskin (Sesame and Lilies, 1865).
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James Baldwin: Ugly side
“The price one pays for pursuing a profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.” ~James Baldwin (Nobody Knows My Name, 1961).
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Georg Brandes: Lead bullets, metal types
“Poor is the power of the lead that becomes bullets compared to the power of the hot metal that becomes types.” —Georg Brandes, critic and scholar (4 Feb 1842-1927).
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Melinda Gates: Greatest minds
“Some of the greatest minds have been left out of history because they were women.” ~Melinda Gates.
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Rita Dove: Value in the shadows
“If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together.” —Rita Dove, poet (b. 28 Aug 1952).
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Boris Pasternak: Unarmed truth
“What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth.” —Boris Pasternak, poet and novelist (10 Feb 1890-1960).
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Carlos Fuentes: Diplomacy
“Diplomacy is the opposite of writing. You have to disperse yourself so much.” ~Carlos Fuentes.
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Ludwig Von Mises: Society
“Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking.” ~Ludwig Von Mises.
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Paulo Coelho: Arrogant people
“Be arrogant with arrogant people; this is the only language they respect, as they confound kindness with weakness.” ~Paulo Coelho.
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Samuel Lover: Itch of literature
“When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen.” —Samuel Lover, songwriter, composer, novelist, and artist (24 Feb 1797-1868).
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Euripides: Father, daughter
“To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter.” —Euripides, playwright (c. 480-406 BCE) .
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Adlai Stevenson: Progress
All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. -Adlai Stevenson, governor, ambassador (5 Feb 1900-1965)
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Louis Nizer: Laborer, craftsman and artist
“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.” —Louis Nizer, lawyer (6 Feb 1902-1994).
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Chimamanda N Adichie: One thing
“Show a people as one thing, only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.”. — Chimamanda N Adichie.
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Andrew Solomon: Pain and Identity
“We don’t seek the painful experiences that hew our identities, but we seek our identities in the wake of painful experiences. We cannot bear a pointless torment, but we can endure great pain if we believe that it’s purposeful. —Andrew Solomon.
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E.B. White: Living language, a cow-path
“The living language is like a cow-path: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undergoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay.” —E.B. White, writer (1899-1985).
