Contest Letter Quotes & Sayings

I actually started out as a poet in high school. I published in small literary magazines for probably about ten years. I entered the Yale Younger Poet contest every year, until I was too old to be a younger poet, and I never got more than a form rejection letter from them. — L.E. Modesitt Jr.

If she was going to live in Cow's Bowels, New York, she wanted the complete small town package. She wanted a Fourth of July parade, a country fair with an oxen pull and a pie-eating contest, and she wanted a little, homey mom-and-pop supermarket, run by Mr. Whipple himself. — Suzanne Brockmann

I think people often miss the fact that things often start in a swashbuckling like low cost just get it done kind of way, even when they grow into these iconic brands. — Jonah Peretti

The only perfect climate is bed. — Frank Crowninshield

Sometimes I feel like I've been waiting for someone to tell me when I can be normal again,' she said. 'I keep thinking I'll get a letter. Or a call. When does it happen?'
Pete looked like he wanted to walk toward her, but then he fell back against the car. The staring contest between them for almost a minute, and finally Pete exhaled loudly.
It's okay,' he said. — Maureen Johnson

Money to me had always been merely something the sheep used to show each other how wonderful they were. — Jeff Lindsay

I almost always urge people to write in the first person ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. — William Zinsser

I saw a lady on TV, she was born without arms. That's sad, but then they said, "Lola does not know the meaning of the word 'can't'." That, to me, is even worse in a way. Not only is she missing arms, but she doesn't understand simple contractions. It's easy, Lola - you just take two words, put them together, take out the middle letters, put in a comma, and you raise it up! — Mitch Hedberg

The best way to develop rational, well-balanced confidence is to go after a few victories immediately following a failure. — John C. Maxwell

A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms and whose bodies are maimed in the course of the contest. From a letter to Winnie Mandela, — Nelson Mandela

Independent labels take nothing and make something out of it. Major labels buy that something, and try to make more out of it. — Tom Silverman

When we look in the mirror what we see is a version of who we imagine we are. If we imagine we are beautiful, we find beauty. If we imagine we look tired and strained, we see someone tired and strained. The mirror does not reflect back some axiomatic truth. It reflects a version of what it sees that changes instantly. — Chloe Thurlow

I want to be able to do anything. I know it's probably not reasonable to expect, but that's what I'd like to do. — Rufus Sewell

No one teaches you how to think about money in medical school or residency. Yet, from the moment you start practicing, you must think about it. You must consider what is covered for a patient and what is not. — Atul Gawande

Compare sending someone a text message and getting a love letter delivered by carrier pigeon. No contest. — Bryan Callen