Everyone, perhaps writers more than most, have favorite quotes. Maybe you'll find a new gem in this list. Many are unattributed due to my laziness. That doesn't reflect my gratitude for the insights and wisdom that are the authors' gifts to us. - Miker
Cynisism is the shamefaced product of inexperience ~A.J. Liebling
One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. - Oscar Wilde
"Remember, when you say 'I love you' you're not just saying it to the one you love. You're saying it to yourself, and to the planet." -Yoko Ono
Between Tragedy & Comedy lies Irony. That's where I live. If you don't live there now, you're missing most of the fun. ~John Perry Barlow
When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally. - Lao-Tzu
Art is spirituality in drag - Jennifer Yane
Art is a lie that makes us realize truth - Pablo Picasso
Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. ~G.K. Chesterton
Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness. ~George Jean Nathan, House of Satan
Poets do not go mad; chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. ~G. K. Chesterton
One of the best things about paintings is their silence. ~Mark Stevens
Artistry is an innate distrust of the theory of reality concocted by the five senses. ~Robert Brault
A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection. ~Oscar Wilde
Art is a kind of illness. ~Giacomo Puccini
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." Groucho.
“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, then for money.” ~ Moliere
“Never let your schooling interfere with your education.” Mark Twain
"The bad news is you're falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there's no ground." ~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Writing fiction can be an act of rubbing oneself up against reality, relishing the abrasion and sharing that with readers.
Faith and Doubt belong together, each inhaling and exhaling the other.
An author in his work must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere. ~Flaubert
Buddhists never conquer anything ~Kim Stanley Robinson
The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own. ~Emerson, 1841
I don't disbelieve in miracles. I'm simply not impressed by them. They tell us we have more to learn. ~Lazlo Kovaks
The time may come when you discover the beauty of leading with your heart rather than following it.
"You can look at a thing 999 times without seeing it. But if you look at it that thousandth time, you risk truly seeing it." ~ G.K. Chesterton (paraphrased)
I reserve the right to exist, temporarily at least, in an altogether different universe. ~Lazlo Kovaks
Wanted: Editor for short fiction. Requirements: Appreciation of the cosmic joke. Love of irony. Sense of humor. Minimalist sensibilities. Pay: negligible. Appreciation: boundless.
In what way is it possible we are not music? -Lazlo Kovaks
Composition is the arrangement of unequal things. -Ruskin
The material world is made up entirely of collisions between otehrwise indefinite objects. ~Rae Armontrout
Speak only if you can improve on silence. ~Anonymous
Fiction, like life, is capacious enough not only to contain everything but to make us see how and why the personal, the political, the moral, the spiritual, the economic and historical—and the mythical—fits so seamlessly together. ~Francine Prose
It is the business of the artist to make humanity aware of itself. ~Pound
Life is too short to live a sufficient number of experiences, so you have to steal them. ~Enrique Vila-Matas
With the lamp of word and discrimination one must go beyond word and discrimination and enter upon the path of realization. ~Lankavatara Sutra
For society to survive and reinvent itself in meaningful ways, we must in a sense become a "post-literate" culture. ~Andrew Gurevich
Expressions of poetry are moments of extreme emotion recalled in moments of extreme quietude.
The emotional progression of a small number of clearly drawn characters through a decisively shaped tale, leading to a series of wrenching encounters and a satisfying climax.
It is awe-inspiring when a writer hits a high note, goes dancing along the edge of something; hurls himself against enormous questions again and again.
Cynisism is the shamefaced product of inexperience ~A.J. Liebling
One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. - Oscar Wilde
"Remember, when you say 'I love you' you're not just saying it to the one you love. You're saying it to yourself, and to the planet." -Yoko Ono
Between Tragedy & Comedy lies Irony. That's where I live. If you don't live there now, you're missing most of the fun. ~John Perry Barlow
When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally. - Lao-Tzu
Art is spirituality in drag - Jennifer Yane
Art is a lie that makes us realize truth - Pablo Picasso
Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. ~G.K. Chesterton
Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness. ~George Jean Nathan, House of Satan
Poets do not go mad; chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. ~G. K. Chesterton
One of the best things about paintings is their silence. ~Mark Stevens
Artistry is an innate distrust of the theory of reality concocted by the five senses. ~Robert Brault
A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection. ~Oscar Wilde
Art is a kind of illness. ~Giacomo Puccini
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." Groucho.
“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, then for money.” ~ Moliere
“Never let your schooling interfere with your education.” Mark Twain
"The bad news is you're falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there's no ground." ~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Writing fiction can be an act of rubbing oneself up against reality, relishing the abrasion and sharing that with readers.
Faith and Doubt belong together, each inhaling and exhaling the other.
An author in his work must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere. ~Flaubert
Buddhists never conquer anything ~Kim Stanley Robinson
The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own. ~Emerson, 1841
I don't disbelieve in miracles. I'm simply not impressed by them. They tell us we have more to learn. ~Lazlo Kovaks
The time may come when you discover the beauty of leading with your heart rather than following it.
"You can look at a thing 999 times without seeing it. But if you look at it that thousandth time, you risk truly seeing it." ~ G.K. Chesterton (paraphrased)
I reserve the right to exist, temporarily at least, in an altogether different universe. ~Lazlo Kovaks
Wanted: Editor for short fiction. Requirements: Appreciation of the cosmic joke. Love of irony. Sense of humor. Minimalist sensibilities. Pay: negligible. Appreciation: boundless.
In what way is it possible we are not music? -Lazlo Kovaks
Composition is the arrangement of unequal things. -Ruskin
The material world is made up entirely of collisions between otehrwise indefinite objects. ~Rae Armontrout
Speak only if you can improve on silence. ~Anonymous
Fiction, like life, is capacious enough not only to contain everything but to make us see how and why the personal, the political, the moral, the spiritual, the economic and historical—and the mythical—fits so seamlessly together. ~Francine Prose
It is the business of the artist to make humanity aware of itself. ~Pound
Life is too short to live a sufficient number of experiences, so you have to steal them. ~Enrique Vila-Matas
With the lamp of word and discrimination one must go beyond word and discrimination and enter upon the path of realization. ~Lankavatara Sutra
For society to survive and reinvent itself in meaningful ways, we must in a sense become a "post-literate" culture. ~Andrew Gurevich
Expressions of poetry are moments of extreme emotion recalled in moments of extreme quietude.
The emotional progression of a small number of clearly drawn characters through a decisively shaped tale, leading to a series of wrenching encounters and a satisfying climax.
It is awe-inspiring when a writer hits a high note, goes dancing along the edge of something; hurls himself against enormous questions again and again.
