83i Light Quotes & Sayings

I did and do believe, after all that I've seen and done, that if you project yourself into the mass of things, if you look for things, if you search, you will, by the very act of searching, make something that would not otherwise have happened, you will find something, even something small, something that will certainly be more than if you hadn't gone looking in the first place, if you hadn't asked our grandfather anything at all...There are no miracles, no magical coincidences. There is only looking and finally seeing, what was always there. — Daniel Mendelsohn

A population of four million is not quantitatively but qualitatively different from an individual, because it involves systems of interaction among the individuals. — Paul Watzlawick

The real test of nonviolence lies in its being brought in contact with those who have contempt for it. — Mahatma Gandhi

A horn of plenty spills from your hands into the starved lives of millions. — Aberjhani

His companion was older, clean-shaved, with a lined ascetic face. His hair had been pulled back and tied in a knot behind his head. "Small men oft feel a need to prove their courage with unseemly boasts," he declared. "I doubt if he could kill a duck." Tyrion shrugged. "Fetch the duck." "If you insist." The rider glanced at his companion. The brawny man unsheathed a bastard sword. "I'm Duck, you mouthy little pisspot." Oh, gods be good. "I had a smaller duck in mind." The big man roared with laughter. "Did you hear, Haldon? He wants a smaller Duck! — George R R Martin

The journey over the bridge had unnerved me. The river water passed me by like an untouched drink. I suspected that even if my mother and brother had not been there I would have made no move to jump. — Sylvia Plath

As I watch people work, craftsmen, let's say, automobile mechanics for example, I think one often finds a good deal of pride in work. I think that that kind of pride in work well done, in complicated work well done, because it takes thought and intelligence to do it, especially when one is also involved in management of the enterprise, determination of how the work will be organized, what it is for, what the purposes of the work are, what'll happen to it, and so on - I think all of this can be satisfying and rewarding activity which in fact requires skills, the kind of skills people will enjoy exercising. — Noam Chomsky

THE BEAUTY OF GOD. Is there certain music that gives you deep joy? Is there a view or landscape that does the same? If someone says, "What is the use of that?" you answer that the music or landscape is not a means to some other end but profoundly satisfying in itself. David's supreme priority is "to gaze on the beauty of the Lord" (verse 4). "Gazing" is not a one-time glimpse but a steady, sustained focus. It is not petitionary prayer but praising, admiring, and enjoying God just for who he is. David finds God beautiful, not just useful for attaining goods. To sense God's beauty in the heart is to have such pleasure in him that you rest content. Prayer: — Timothy Keller