Tag: novelist
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Walter Scott: Willows and oaks
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character. -Walter Scott, novelist and poet (1771-1832).
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Anatole France: Why are men cruel?
It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924). Embed from Getty Images
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Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr: Three characters
Every man possesses three characters: that which he exhibits, that which he really has, and that which he believes he has. -Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, novelist and journalist (1808-1890).
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Paul Auster: Only the good
Only the good doubt their own goodness, which is what makes them good in the first place. The bad know they are good, but the good know nothing. They spend their lives forgiving others, but they can’t forgive themselves. -Paul Auster, novelist and poet (b. 1947). Embed from Getty Images
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Unvarnished truth
Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (1918-2008). Embed from Getty Images
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Joseph Conrad: Illusions
Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce life early and the human race come to an end. -Joseph Conrad, novelist (1857-1924).
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Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Power over people
You only have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again. —Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (1918-2008)
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John Steinbeck: Cleverness and stupidity
Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids. -John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1902-1968) Embed from Getty Images
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Herman Melville: Assumptions
Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. —Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891).
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John Steinbeck: Co-ordination and disintegration
Among men, it seems, historically at any rate, that processes of co-ordination and disintegration follow each other with great regularity, and the index of the co-ordination is the measure of the disintegration which follows. There is no mob like a group of well-drilled soldiers when they have thrown off their discipline. And there is no…
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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr: Moderate giftedness
Moderate giftedness has been made worthless by the printing press and radio and television and satellites and all that. A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into…
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Ben Hecht: Second hand of a clock
Image via Wikipedia Embed from Getty Images Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. -Ben Hecht, screenwriter, playwright, novelist, director, and producer (1894-1964)
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Miguel de Cervantes: Self-deceit
No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind. -Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (1547-1616) Embed from Getty Images
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Anatole France: Average men and lives
The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924) Embed from Getty Images
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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr: Superstition
We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, poet, novelist, essayist,…
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Joseph Conrad: Foes and friends
Embed from Getty Images You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends. -Joseph Conrad, novelist (1857-1924)
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Charles Dickens: Bad men
I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. -Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870). Embed from Getty Images
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Margaret Millar: Reading between the lines
Some people become so expert at reading between the lines they don’t read the lines. -Margaret Millar, novelist (1915-1994).
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Arthur Koestler: Creative Activity
Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. -Arthur Koestler, novelist and journalist (1905-1983). Embed from Getty Images
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Jean Toomer: Thank everyone
Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily. -Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967).
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Victor Hugo: Idleness And Thought
Image via Wikipedia A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor. –Victor Hugo, novelist and dramatist (1802-1885)
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Marie Louise de la Ramee: Cruel Familiarity
Image via Wikipedia Familiarity is a magician that is cruel to beauty but kind to ugliness. -Ouida [pen name of Marie Louise de la Ramee], novelist (1839-1908)
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Anatole France: Dictionary
Dictionary: The universe in alphabetical order. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924). Embed from Getty Images
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Samuel Butler: Morality
Morality is the custom of one’s country and the current feeling of one’s peers. Cannibalism is moral in a cannibal country. –Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902).
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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr: Wind and water power
Image via Wikipedia Laughter and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same machinery of sensibility; one is wind-power, and the other water-power. –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)
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George Sand: Ingredients of happiness
One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience. –George Sand [pen name of Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin], novelist (1804-1876). Embed from Getty Images Related…
Quite a Quote! 