De Vries Quotes & Sayings

Come, come," the Baron said. "We don't have much time and pain is quick. Please don't bring it to this, my dear Duke." The Baron looked up at Piter who stood at Leto's shoulder. "Piter doesn't have all his tools here, but I'm sure he could improvise."
"Improvisation is sometimes the best, Baron. — Frank Herbert

Sometimes I write drunk and revise sober, and sometimes I write sober and revise drunk. But you have to have both elements in creation - the Apollonian and the Dionysian, or spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline. — Peter De Vries

I suppose I shall marry eventually One does that, one drifts into stability — Peter De Vries

Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse. — Peter De Vries

Indiscriminate attacks on civilians ought, under all circumstances, to be illegal in war as in peacetime. — Gijs De Vries

You believe what you must in order to stave off the conviction that it's all a tale told by an idiot — Peter De Vries

We are nothing but a string of gut on a stick of bone riding this piece of astral soot for one piteous splinter of eternity. — Peter De Vries

I made a tentative conclusion. It seemed from all of this that uppermost among human joys is the negative one of restoration: not going to the stars, but learning that one may stay where one is. — Peter De Vries

If you combat an international phenomenon, it is indispensable to share information internationally. — Gijs De Vries

Pain is the question mark turned like a fishhook in the human heart. — Peter De Vries

My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too. — Peter De Vries

I believe that man must learn to live without those consolations called religious, which is own intelligence must by now have told him belong to the childhood of the race. Philosophy can really give us nothing permanent to believe either; it is too rich in answers, each canceling out the rest. The quest for Meaning is foredoomed. Human life 'means' nothing. But this is not to say that it is not worth living. What does a Debussy Arabesque 'mean,' or a rainbow or a rose? A man delights in all of these, knowing himself to be no more
a wisp of music and a haze of dreams dissolving against the sun. Man has only his own two feet to stand on, his own human trinity to see him through: Reason, Courage, and Grace. And the first plus the second equals the third. — Peter De Vries

As the final bars of the dance were played, we bowed to the couples across from us and at our corners and then Mr. De Vries deposited me back at Aunt's side. Bowed. "Thank you ever so much, Miss Carter." "Thank you, Mr. De Vries." He stepped a bit closer. "Don't you think, since we spoke of . . . feathers and hatpins . . . that you could call me Harry?" I nodded. And as he left me at Aunt's side, I was smiling still. — Siri Mitchell

I tried to write worse but it was no good; my generalizations came out as before, each more exquisite than the last. I grew discouraged. — Peter De Vries

I wondered whether any woman could be happy with a man who says 'folderol'. — Peter De Vries

Europe has a long and tragic history of mostly domestic terrorism. — Gijs De Vries

The idea of a Supreme Being who creates a world in which one creature is designed to eat another in order to subsist, and then pass a law saying, "Thou shalt not kill," is so monstrously, immeasurably, bottomlessly absurd that I am at a loss to understand how mankind has entertained or given it house room all this long. — Peter De Vries

There is a series of sectors which could be severely disrupted by terrorist attacks, particularly if they were to happen in several member states simultaneously. — Gijs De Vries

Look at it this way: Psychoanalysis is a permanent fad. — Peter De Vries

To trust someone's soul
is to love the emotions of his heart.
Petra — Petra Hermans

When I can no longer bear to think of the victims of broken homes, I begin to think of the victims of intact ones. — Peter De Vries

The trouble with treating people as equals is that the first thing you know they may be doing the same thing to you. — Peter De Vries

Brilliant, Piter! I'm glad I didn't execute you all those times when you were so annoying.'
'So am I,' de Vries said. — Brian Herbert

He never said I was welcome
Jos de Vries
Petra Hermans — Petra Hermans

I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best
it's all they'll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money
provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don't need it. — Peter De Vries

I can still hear my mother wailing over some new kitchen crisis, "Oh God," and my father answering cozily from the silo, "Were you calling me, dear? — Peter De Vries

Write drunk; edit sober. — Peter De Vries

A hundred years ago Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was given an A for adultery; today she would rate no better than a C-plus. — Peter De Vries

The satirist shoots to kill while the humorist brings his prey back alive and eventually releases him again for another chance. — Peter De Vries

Do you believe in astrology? -I don't even believe in astronomy. — Peter De Vries

The superficial and the slipshod have ready answers, but those looking this complex life straight in the eye acquire a wealth of perception so composed of delicately balanced contradictions that they dread, or resent, the call to couch any part of it in a bland generalization. — Peter De Vries

Try the Lamentations of Jeremiah. They always pick me up. — Peter De Vries

I wanted to be bored to death, as good a way to go as any. — Peter De Vries

Every novel should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. — Peter De Vries

Before the mind snaps, or the heart breaks, it gather itself like a clock about to strike. It might even be said one pulls himself together to disintegrate. — Peter De Vries

Marry me." I said.
She lowered her teacup, shaking slightly, to the saucer. "Aren't you going to get down on one knee?"
I got down on one knee and took her hand.
"Will you marry me, Kate?"
You can't propose properly without a ring." She said.
I reached into my pocket and took out James Sanderson's ring, which I'd picked up off the floor of the Starclimber when we'd crash landed.
"That's a nice looking ring." said Kate with a grin.
"Cost a fortune." I said. "And now, for the third time. Kate de Vries, will you marry me?"
She leaned forward and took my face in her hands and kissed me.
"Yes," "Yes, and yes and yes. But it will probably be terrible."
"Probably," I agreed.
"Honestly," she sighed, "I don't know what kind of life we'll have together, with me always flying off in one direction and you in the other."
I smiled. "It's a good thing the world's round," I said. — Kenneth Oppel

The idea is to have global standards. There is so much travel that if you just had a regional standard, it would probably ultimately have to be changed. — Gijs De Vries

Mrs Thicknesse and I agreed that a business of his own was probably the only solution for him because he was obviously unemployable. — Peter De Vries

The key to tackling Islamist fundamentalism and terrorism from the Islamist community is in the hands of moderate Muslims. — Gijs De Vries

"You don't believe in God," I said to Stein. "God is a word banging around in the human nervous system. He exists about as much as Santa Claus." "Santa Claus has had a tremendous influence, exist or not." "For children." "Lots of saints have died for God with a courage that's hardly childish." "That's part of the horror. It's all a fantasy. It's all for nothing." — Peter De Vries

Everyone watched, wondering if this could be the same lunatic who'd nearly berthed his ornithopter in the restaurant.
I swallowed, for it seemed he was headed straight for my table.
He pulled off his helmet and a mass of dark auburn hair spilled out. Off came the goggles, and I was looking at the beaming face of Kate de Vries. — Kenneth Oppel

Marriage has driven more than one man to sex. — Peter De Vries

Man is vile, I know, but people are wonderful. — Peter De Vries

If you exchange information internationally, you must strengthen data protection. Those are two sides of the same coin. — Gijs De Vries

Terrorists have failed in what is arguably al Qaida's most important objective - to trigger revolutions. — Gijs De Vries

So we were back in the Children's Pavilion, and there was again the familiar scene: the mothers with their nearly dead, the false face of mercy, the Slaughter of the Innocents. — Peter De Vries

Could any of these things be happening because they're fallen women?' I asked, drawing on another of the cliches we were given like a quiverful of arrows with which to face a life cursed by sin.
Doc sat a moment with his hand on the door handle before getting out. 'Well now, it's interesting that you ask. I had a woman recently who feel, not just one flight of stairs, but two. She had a baby as perfect as a pool ball. — Peter De Vries

Muslim organisations tend to have a low level of organisation. The communities in Europe are quite diverse. — Gijs De Vries

Why do you need to fly so much?" she asked.
"If I don't, it'll catch up with me." The words just came out.
"What will?"
I took my hands from my face, panting. I stared out at the storm.
"Unhappiness. — Kenneth Oppel

Everybody hates me because I'm so universally liked. — Peter De Vries

In intelligence work, there are limits to the amount of information one can share. Confidentiality is essential. — Gijs De Vries

While I was now fairly demoralized, as well as aflame with the prospect of an hour in his daughter's arms, the thought of using his car to debauch his bourgeois paradise was a perfidy at which I drew the line. — Peter De Vries

Are you already training my replacement? Piter demanded.
"Replace you? Why, Piter, where could I find another Mentat with your cunning and venom?"
"The same place you found me, Baron."
"Perhaps I should at that," the Baron mused. "You do seem a bit unstable lately. And the spice you eat!"
"Are my pleasures too expensive, Baron? Do you object to them?"
"My dear Piter, your pleasures are what tie you to me. How could I object to that? — Frank Herbert

I remain optimistic. What we've seen in Europe and the rest of the world is that freedom has a much stronger attraction than radical fundamentalism. — Gijs De Vries

I was thinking that we all learn by experience, but some of us have to go to summer school. — Peter De Vries

The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in museums. — Peter De Vries

The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults. — Peter De Vries

Love's blindness consists oftener in seeing what is not there than in seeing what is. — Peter De Vries

The Golden Ratio defines the squaring of a circle. Stated in mathematical terms, this says: Given a square of known perimeter, create a circle of equal circumference. According to some, in ancient Egypt, this mathematical mystery was encoded in the measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza. — Marja De Vries

The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly. — Peter De Vries

We have an integrated picture of the threat from outside and from within that is provided not only to our foreign ministers but also to our justice and interior ministers. — Gijs De Vries

Look at Iraq; look at Afghanistan, where at great personal physical risk people have gone to the polls and have rejected the appeal from Bin Laden and his allies to stay at home. — Gijs De Vries

People rarely do what they don't want to. — Peter De Vries

Police forces collect information to be used in a public court to get people convicted. Security services gather information that does not necessarily lead to people being prosecuted and in many cases needs to remain confidential. — Gijs De Vries

You can't get closer to the heart of national sovereignty than national security and intelligence services. — Gijs De Vries

The wise and decent priest Jos de Vries
makes me smile by heart and soul.
Petra Hermans
November 4, 2016 — Petra Hermans

It might even be said one pulls himself together to disintegrate. The scattered particles of self - love, wood thrush calling, homework sums, broken nerves, rag dolls, one Phi Betta Kappa key, gold stars, lamplight smiles, night cries, and the shambles of contemplation - are collected for a split moment like scraps of shrapnel before they explode. — Peter De Vries

How do you expect mankind to be happy in pairs when it is miserable separately? — Peter De Vries

I have never come across a technology that doesn't change. This is inevitable. You have to adapt your systems as technology develops. — Gijs De Vries

A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetric-ally once, and by car forever after. — Peter De Vries

The greatest experience open to man then is the recovery of the commonplace. Coffee in the morning and whiskeys in the evening again without fear. Books to read without that shadow falling across the page. — Peter De Vries

We are familiar with terrorism. But indiscriminate, cross-border, religiously motivated terrorism is new. — Gijs De Vries

Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us. — Peter De Vries

Anyone informed that the universe is expanding and contracting in pulsations of eighty billion years has a right to ask. What's in it for me? — Peter De Vries

We turned on one another deep, drowned gazes, and exchanged a kiss that reduced my bones to rubber and my brain to gruel. — Peter De Vries

Dead drunk and cold-sober, he wandered out into the garden in the cool of the evening, awaiting the coming of the Lord. — Peter De Vries

Life is a crowded superhighway with bewildering cloverleaf exits on which a man is liable to find himself speeding back in the direction he came. — Peter De Vries

I am not impressed by big words,' said my uncle, who was always read enough to bandy 'predestination' and 'infralapsarianism. — Peter De Vries

"You ought to be ashamed," a woman in an Easter bonnet told Stein. "Your race gave us our religion ... " "From ancient polytheism, the belief in lots of gods," the woman continued a little more eruditely, "the Hebrew nation led us on to the idea that there is only one." "Which is just a step from the truth," said Stein. — Peter De Vries

The violent radicals do not legitimately represent the overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims. — Gijs De Vries

Deep down, he's shallow. — Peter De Vries

We live this life by a kind of conspiracy of grace: the common assumption, or pretense, that human existence is 'good' or 'matters' or has 'meaning,' a glaze of charm or humor by which we conceal from one another and perhaps even ourselves the suspicion that it does not, and our conviction in times of trouble that it is overpriced - something to be endured rather than enjoyed. — Peter De Vries

Exercise is an unnatural act. — Peter De Vries

Ah! Indeed but! But he consumes too much spice, eats it like candy. Look at his eyes! He might have come directly from the Arrakeen labor pool. Efficient, Piter, but he's still emotional and prone to passionate outbursts. Efficient, Piter, but he still can err.
-Baron Vladimir — Frank Herbert

He resented such questions as people do who have thought a great deal about them. The superficial and slipshod have ready answers, but those looking this complex life straight in the eye acquire a wealth of perception so composed of delicately balanced contradictions that they dread, or resent, the call to couch any part of it in a bland generalization. The vanity (if not outrage) of trying to cage this dance of atoms in a single definition may give the weariness of age with the cry of youth for answers the appearance of boredom. — Peter De Vries

We're still stymied by the old stand-off between those who wish to fight terrorism and resistance fighters. — Gijs De Vries

The central role in the fight against terrorism is with national authorities. — Gijs De Vries

Sometimes I wonder about Piter," the Baron said. "I cause pain out of necessity, but he ... I swear he takes a positive delight in it."
-Baron Vladimir — Frank Herbert

Looking closely at de Vries, he added, 'You are a very ugly man, Piter. Even with my disease, I'm still prettier than you. — Brian Herbert

Jos de Vries
U Are The Greatest Gift God Gave me
Petra — Petra Hermans

Sex in marriage is like medicine. Three times a day for the first week. Then once a day for another week. Then once every three or four days till the condition clears up. — Peter De Vries

Ah, Hah! But you see, Baron, I know as a Mentat when you will send the executioner. You will hold back just so long as I am useful. To move sooner would be wasteful and I'm yet of much use. I know what it is you learned from that lovely Dune planet - waste not? True, Baron?
-Piter De Vries — Frank Herbert

A politician is a man who can be verbose in fewer words than anyone else. — Peter De Vries

We remain vulnerable. There is no such thing as 100 percent security against terrorism. — Gijs De Vries

There are times when breakfast seems the one thing worth getting up for ... — Peter De Vries

The European Borders Agency in Warsaw has been created to help border forces in Europe cooperate more. — Gijs De Vries

We must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. — Peter De Vries

We are not primarily put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another through. — Peter De Vries

One summer when Carol was attending day camp, Greta had an affair with a man named Mel Carter. He was an Eastern publicity representative for a film studio, and often instructed dinner parties to which we went in those days with accounts of the movies' coming of age. 'We have a picture coming up,' he said once, 'in which a character says "son of a bitch." Lots of exciting things are happening. Still, it's only a beginning. Much remains to be done. — Peter De Vries

What we are assigned to bear is in a sense a measure of our stature. — Peter De Vries