Some Quotes – Page 2 – Wisdom | Courage | Justice

Liz Kuball on the Banality of Life

And yet, life is incredibly banal.

Scott Galloway on Misinformation

Trafficking in misinformation is wrong.

~ Scott Galloway / NY Magazine

Seneca on Rehearsing

Seneca for instance advises “to envisage every possibility and to strengthen the spirit to deal with the things which may conceivably come about. Rehearse them in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck.”

~ Seneca / Courtesy Philosophersmag

Epictetus on Judgements:

It is not the things themselves that disturb people but their judgements about those things

~ Epictetus / Courtesy Philosophersmag

John Steinbeck on Good Things

Nothing good gets away.

~ John Steinbeck

Paul Theroux on Comfort

At my age – which is way past retirement – if you haven’t found a person and a place you love, a house that suits you, an ideal bed, a perfect armchair, the books you value, a bit of garden, and something like comfort – you have my sympathy.

~ Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux on Blogging

You could say blog-like, but I think “blog-like” is a disparaging term. I loathe blogs when I look at them. Blogs look to me illiterate, they look hasty, like someone babbling. To me writing is a considered act. It’s something which is a great labor of thought and consideration. A blog doesn’t seem to have any literary merit at all. It’s a chatty account of things that have happened to that particular person.

~ Paul Theroux / The Atlantic

Marian Keyes on Patience

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Wait it out, things will always change.

~ Marian Keyes / Guardian

Reginald D. Hunter on Morality

There’s no greater hell than being an asshole with morals.

~ Reginald D. Hunter / Guardian

January 24, 2021

Charles Bukowski on Writing

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

~ Charles Bukowski

Richard Ashcroft on Life

“It’s a struggle — life’s a struggle.”

Richard Ashcroft / Glastonbury 2008

Jim Harrison on Ruts

The interesting thing about being in a rut is that the only thing you see are the sides of the rut. You don’t see out.