Cicernaki Quotes & Sayings

Homer then has the bard - a blind man whose name is Demodocus, which means "popular with the people" - say something that drives far into the center of what Homer means and why Homer matters: "The gods did this and spun the destruction of people / For the sake of the singing of men hereafter." The song, this poem, this story, is the divine — Adam Nicolson

My message is that happiness is the first principle of life. But you must choose it. We all have pain, but suffering is a choice. You can be happier if you make some changes in your life. — Alexandra Stoddard

Then you agree that you should keep me." With the smug satisfaction of an argument won, he propped his shoulder against the stall door. Her eyes picked him over as if he were a carved goose on a table. "Aye, I'll have to either keep you ... or kill you." "I vote for keeping me." A glint of humor shone in her eyes. "And I shall so long as you behave yourself." "And if I don't behave? If I try to escape?" "I'll hunt you down and kill you." The conviction in her voice chilled him, and yet he felt something else, an ache of pity that a wonderful creature like Caitlin MacBride should be compelled to have the heart of a murderer. "Then you leave me no alternative," he said lightly. "I shall stay. Think of it, Cait, we'll grow old together. We'll walk on the strand and watch the sunset, and you'll sing songs to me in that lovely voice of yours. — Susan Wiggs

It never happens that, when we go home and open the refrigerator, we see all infinitely many prime numbers there. — Kato

Forty is brilliant and I love it. I'm happier now than when I was 20. — Richard Hammond

Hadrian was not convinced but knew there was no reason to argue further. Gwen was not the type for debate. Most women he knew invited discussion and even enjoyed arguments, but not Gwen. There was clarity to her thinking that let you know she had already made her own journey to the inevitable conclusion and was just politely waiting there for you to join her. In her own way, she was much like Royce - except for the polite waiting. — Michael J. Sullivan

But this is a true saying among men: the gifts of enemies are no gifts and profitless. — Sophocles

Spirit is not a mystic concept. The spirit of a person is manifest in her aliveness, brightness of his eyes, in the resonance of her voice and in the ease and gracefulness of his movements. These qualities are related to and stem from a high level of energy in the body ... Sensing the harmony between the internal pulsation of our body and that in the universe, we feel identified with the universal, with God. We are like tuning forks vibrating at the same pitch — Alexander Lowen

Well, I think that everybody is kind of a nerd at heart. — Simon Helberg

I suppose that the sympathetic/unsympathetic debate about characters sometimes feels to me like a misstatement of purpose. I always think of truly complex characters are falling between the cracks in that debate. — Rick Moody

The silent majority really is a liberal majority, even though the word liberal has taken a real beating over the last 20 years by radical conservatives. — Robert Reich

In response to the question, 'How can we help to promote world peace?' Mother Theresa replied, 'Go home and love your children. — Mother Teresa

Most Muslims do not 'choose' Islam in the way that they choose to become doctors or lawyers, nor even in the way that they choose to become fans of Coldplay or Radiohead. Most Muslims, like people of any faith, are born into their religion. — Mohsin Hamid

In every business your customers are the road. Your customers are the life blood of your business. Without your customers you have nowhere to go. In fact, without your life blood, you won't have a life. Without them you are dead. — Clay Clark