Words, Words, Words

I keep a file on my computer labeled “Quotations,” which consists of various clippings I’ve picked up along the way. Every once in a long while I like to re-read them, so here’s the latest installment.

As you get older the positive association of receiving socks as a gift steadily increases. It goes from cruel insult to thoughtful token to thing you are genuinely excited about—Murtaza M. Hussain

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”—Andy Warhol

“Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”–Martin Luther King

Marine Biologist: “Save the whales!”
No one: “All marine life matters!” —Random Twitter Feed

When you can’t create, you can work.—Henry Miller

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.”―Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”—Eugene Debs

‘It’s not about hope. You don’t do what you do because you hope things will get better. It’s about getting up every morning and asking yourself what’s the right thing to do and doing it.”—Allen Ginsberg

“The problem is not that the world is too full of fools; it’s that lightning is improperly distributed.”—Mark Twain

“It’s difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair

“The definition of a gentleman is someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn’t.”—Anonymous

Hofstadter’s Law: “The time and effort required to complete a project are always more than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”

“So Then I Sez…”

This is another installment from the file I keep on my computer labeled “Quotations,” which consists of various clippings I’ve picked up along the way. Every once in a while I like to re-read them and share some of them with you.

In the dark times,
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing,
About the dark times.
―Bertolt Brecht

“Perfectionist — a person who takes great pains, and gives even greater pains to others.” — Changing Times, Vol. 12, January 1958

“A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.” — Leo Tolstoy

“The fortunes of the entire world may well ride on the ability of young Americans to face the responsibilities of an old America gone mad. . . Even though you can’t expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make the attempt. That’s morality, that’s religion, that’s art, that’s life” –Phil Ochs

“On the way to being a man, you have to stop for a while at the station Leonard Cohen”–an anonymous YouTube comment

If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
–Albert Einstein

“When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it’s really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you’re pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it’s death by meteor.”–Demotivational Poster

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken!”–Oscar Wilde

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” – Frank Zappa

You don’t get to spawn if you don’t swim against the current…
–Pop Haydn

“To begin, begin.”  — William Wordsworth

“One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you’re going to wind up with an ear full of cider.” –Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls

As They Were Saying…

I keep a file on my computer labeled “Quotations,” which consists of various clippings I’ve picked up along the way. Every once in a long while I like to re-read them, so I thought I’d share some of them with you.

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.”
― Elbert Hubbard

“The big thing about directing is to find out what gives the actor confidence. Once the actor has confidence they are free to extend themselves.”–Paul Newman

“You must never, never despair, whatever the circumstances. To hope and to act, these are our duties in misfortune. To do nothing and despair is to neglect our duty.” — Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

“My teachers should have ridden with Jessie James for all the time that they stole from me.”
–Richard Brautigan

“The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form.” — Stanley Randall

“When you feel overwhelmed, you’re trying too hard. That kind of energy does not help the other person and it does not help you. You should not be too eager to help right away. There are two things: to be and to do. Don’t think too much about to do—to be is first. To be peace. To be joy. To be happiness. And then to do joy, to do happiness—on the basis of being.So first you have to focus on the practice of being. Being fresh. Being peaceful. Being attentive. Being generous. Being compassionate. This is the basic practice. It’s like if the other person is sitting at the foot of a tree. The tree does not do anything, but the tree is fresh and alive. When you are like that tree, sending out waves of freshness, you help to calm down the suffering in the other person.” —Thích Nhất Hạnh

“It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!”–Friedrich Nietzsche

“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it”
George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” –Anton Chekhov

“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.” -John Cleese

“Son, never trust a man who doesn’t drink because he’s probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They’re the judges, the meddlers. And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They’re usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they’re a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can’t trust a man who’s afraid of himself. But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how to survive himself. It’s ***ed hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he’s heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl.”― James Crumley

“Against stupidity, even the gods are invictorious.”–Friedrich Schiller

 

“A Wise Word…” Sholom Aleichem

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I’ve been working on a radio project about the Russian humorist and storyteller, Sholom Aleichem, and while researching his life, I came across some quotes of his that you may enjoy. Like Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde, there are so many quotable writings, that the problem becomes limiting oneself to only a few. Here are some of my favorites.

 

* “And books — she swallows like dumplings.”

 

* “While I kept playing chess with him, his mind was elsewhere. I took his queen and he took my Rose.”

 

* Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.

 

* The rich swell up with pride, the poor from hunger.

 

* When you die, others who think they know you, will concoct things about you… Better pick up a pen and write it yourself, for you know yourself best.

 

* No matter how bad things get you got to go on living, even if it kills you.

 

* A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a different direction.

 

* If somebody tells you that you have ears like a donkey, pay no attention. But if two people tell you so, buy yourself a saddle.

 

* This is an ugly and mean world, and only to spite it we mustn’t weep. If you want to know, this is the constant source of my good spirit, of my humor. Not to cry, out of spite, only to laugh out of spite, only to laugh.

 

* A wise word is not a substitute for a piece of herring.

 

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With thanks to the following websites:

https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/sholom_aleichem

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/18362.Sholom_Aleichem

https://www.azquotes.com/author/210-Sholom_Aleichem