“If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint. “
—Edward Hopper, painter (1882-1967).
art
Pierre Bayle: No less wit nor less invention
There is not less wit nor less invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author of that thought. –Pierre Bayle, philosopher and writer (1647-1706)
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Mark Twain: Truth and fiction
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.
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Anais Nin: Living ideas
My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living
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Marcus Tullius Cicero: Being sorry
“No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone. ”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
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John Calvin: Hell of a living soul
“The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. ”
Anatole France: Vain sounds
The finest words in the world are only vain sounds if you cannot understand them. –Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)
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Ralph Waldo Emerson: Excess wisdom
“The wise through excess of wisdom is made a fool.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Tab Hunter: What people believe
“People believe what they want to believe. ”
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Edward Everett Hale: Being one
I am only one, / But still I am one. / I cannot do everything, / But still I can do something; / And because I cannot do everything, / I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. –Edward Everett Hale, author (1822-1909)
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Jane Austen: Suffering places

Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait by her sister Cassandra, 1810 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.” – – –Jane Austen, novelist (1775-1817).
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Competition and cooperation
“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off. ”
—Franklin D Roosevelt
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Writing
Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.
—Jules Renard
Marcus Aurelius: Harmony
He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the world.
—Marcus Aurelius.
Leo Tolstoy: Strange illusion
What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness. –Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910).
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Edgar Allan Poe: Nasal mob
“The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led. ”
—Edgar Allan Poe
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Leo Tolstoy: Truth
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold. –Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910).
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Margaret J. Wheatley: Magnetic
“Our willingness to acknowledge that we only see half the picture creates the conditions that make us more attractive to others. The more sincerely we acknowledge our need for their different insights and perspectives, the more they will be magnetized to join us. ”
—Margaret J. Wheatley.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Belief and unbelief
Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; Unbelief, in denying them.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Serious?
“Take your work seriously, but never yourself. ”
—Margot Fonteyn
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Ralph Waldo Emerson: Live now
“With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. ”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Mistakes
Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.
—Oscar Wilde
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Love
“Love does not dominate; it cultivates. ”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
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T S Eliot: Talking of Michelangelo
In the room people come and go, talking of Michelangelo.
—T S Eliot.
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Raymond Thornton Chandler: Science and art
“There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous.”
—Raymond Thornton Chandler, writer (1888-1959).
George Lucas: Do or do not

Image via Wikipedia
“Do or do not. There is no ‘try.'” ~ George Lucas, Jedi Master Yoda, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Runners