As an English major I was familiar with the stories of dozens of writers trying to get their work done among the multifarious diversions of the world and the hurdles of their own vices. A professor had said that what saved writers is that they, like politicians, had the illusion of destiny that allowed them to overcome obstacles no matter how nominal their work. - Jim Harrison
"Mediocrity can talk but it is for genius to observe." - Isaac Disraeli "Talent hits a target no one else can hit, Genius hits a target no one else can see." - Arthur Schopenhauer
"Eventually, meditation will make our mind calm, clear, and as concentrated as a laser which we can focus at will. This capacity of one-pointed attention is the essence of genius. When we have this mastery over attention in everything we do, we have a genius for life itself: unshakable security, clear judgment, and deep personal relationships." - Eknath Easwaran "Brain researchers estimate that your unconscious database(intuition) outweighs the conscious on an order exceeding ten million to one. This database is the source of your hidden, natural genius. In other words, a part of you is much smarter than you are. The wise people regularly consult that smarter part." - Michael J. Gelb
There are very few lines I find impressive in my language, but the only quote that usually comes to my mind whenever a quote request is made this is the only one that comes: "Saiba que os poetas, como os cegos, podem ver na escuridão." It means something like "know (you) that poets, as the blind men, can see in the darkness", or "know (you) that poets can see in the dark as much as a blind man". It sounds prophetic in Portuguese. It's a line of a song called 'Choro bandido', that I like to call the 'Song of an Achaean in love'. There are other lines in the song that are cool too... "Mesmo miseráveis os poetas, os seus versos serão bons." (Even if so very miserable be the poets their verses will be good.) "Mesmo porque as notas eram surdas quando um deus sonso e ladrão fez das tripas a primeira lira que animou todos os sons." (Even because notes were toneless when a wicked and thief god made of his flesh the very first lyre that gave all the sounds life.) "Mesmo que você feche os ouvidos e as janelas do vestido, minha musa vai cair em tentação." (Even though you close your ears and the windows of your dress my muse will fall in temptation.) "Mesmo porque estou falando grego com sua imaginação..." (Even because I'm speaking in Greek with your imagination...)
"Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrats are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd." - Edith Sitwell "There is no genius free from some tincture of madness." - Seneca "Crazy people who are productive, are geniuses. Crazy people who are rich, are eccentric. Crazy people who are neither productive nor rich are just plain crazy. Geniuses and crazy people are both out in the middle of a deep ocean...geniuses swim, crazy people drown. Most of us are sitting safely on the shore. Take a chance and get your feet wet." - Michael J. Gelb
"Then indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost lamenting over lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Johann von Goethe “Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work.” - Albert Einstein "Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind." - F. Scott Fitzgerald "Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius." - Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton "The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm." - Aldous Huxley "Wile E. Coyote...super genius." - Wile E. Coyote
"When I was six, the mayor of our town was hung from a tree. Your story is not scary." -Fez, from That 70s Show," in response to a bog-standard "but she died five years ago" ghost hitchhiker story.
To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make. - Truman Capote
Dooooood...I know, right ? I'm not into poetry , but regardless of what I write I do like it when the sentence is clear\informative while having a nice flow and sound to it.
"We experience what we believe. You are free to believe what you choose and what you do attests to what you believe." - A Course in Miracles "A Course in Miracles tells us, "It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful." The Course also notes that trust is the bedrock of a true master's belief system. Trust implies faith that there is a wiser plan afoot than the one that meets the eye. Only the inner eye, the insight of higher wisdom, can make sense out of apparent human error." - Alan Cohen
Inspirational and all, but you do realize the last obstacle you face is the one that kills you? Doesn't matter if it's the failure to draw your first breath or the eventual failure to draw just one more when your second century on the planet is underway, it's always the last obstacle that does it. Unless you're Chuck Norris, of course. He challenged Death to a contest of who could hold their breath the longest. Death doesn't even breathe and it still lost.
"The miracle, or the power that elevates the few, is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit." - Mark Twain
"Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature." - St. Augustine "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein
Well, it's the last one we know about. We are only now beginning to learn that the universe is far stranger than even SF&F writers are willing to consider!
