William Alexander Quotes & Sayings

Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring. — William Alexander

Choose one thing you care about and resolve to do it well. Whether you succeed or not, you will be the better for the effort. — William Alexander

I'm lecturing my class last week. In the English language, I tell them, a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative. And I hear a voice from the back of the room: 'Yeah, right.' — William Alexander

The white sail of his soul has rounded the promontory - death. — William Alexander

The nice thing about baking alone in the kitchen before dawn is that you can talk to yourself like a crazy person and no one suspects you're a crazy person. — William Alexander

The great, terrifying existentialist question : If you were doomed to live the same life over and over again for eternity, would you choose the life you are living now? The question is interesting enough, but I've always thought the point of asking it is really the unspoken, potentially devastating follow-up question. That is, if the answer is no, then why are you living the life you are living now? Stop making excuses , and do something about it. — William Alexander

The deepest rivers make least din, The silent soule doth most abound in care. — William Alexander

Hawthorne ends the story this way: 'He failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present. — William Alexander

Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published everyday, like those of a baseball player. — William Alexander

Backstage was chaos distilled into a very small space. — William Alexander

Gardening is, by its very nature, an expression of the triumph of optimism over experience. No matter how bad this year was, there's always next year. Experience doesn't count. — William Alexander

Yet with great toil all that I can attain by long experience, and in learned schools, is for to know my knowledge is but vain, and those that think them wise, are greatest fools. — William Alexander

Our selves are are rough and unrehearsed tales we tell the world. — William Alexander

Environmentalists blame the farmers for overdosing with pesticides, and the farmers blame the consumers for demanding blemish-free fruit. — William Alexander

One event is an anomaly, two is a coincidence, and three a pattern. — William Alexander

We have to remember that the way things are is not the only possible way that they could be. — William Alexander