Jandrisevits Quotes & Sayings

Father died last year. I don't subscribe to the theory by which we only become truly adult when our parents die; we never become truly adult. — Michel Houellebecq

The specific character of despair is precisely this: it is unaware of being despair. — Soren Kierkegaard

My mom tells this story that even when I was in the womb, my father played the piano and she sang. So, before I officially got here, I was already surrounded by music. I also like the way my father explains it. When I was about 3-years old, in order to keep me quiet, my father would put me in the bassinet and either put on some music or play the piano. When he started playing, I got quiet and eventually went to sleep. He said by the time I turned 3, I just climbed up on the piano and started playing it with the attitude of I'm gonna play dis here piano. — Cyrus Chestnut

Evangelical Christian politicians who cheat often raise questions about hypocrisy, especially if they preached piety in public and disregarded it in private. When Jewish politicians fall, they shatter different expectations, particularly that American Jews need to work together to preserve respectability and fireproof against anti-Semitism. — Jodi Kantor

Stop worrying about tomorrow. Stop thinking about yesterday. Mindfulness is to be here now, in the moment. Focus on this moment. — Frederick Lenz

Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others ... but you are still distinct from it. You may even criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine. It is not a question of God "sending us" to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE hell unless it is nipped in the bud. — C.S. Lewis

It's not possible to advise a young writer because every young writer is so different. You might say, 'Read,' but a writer can read too much and be paralyzed. Or, 'Don't read, don't think, just write,' and the result could be a mountain of drivel. If you're going to be a writer you'll probably take a lot of wrong turns and then one day just end up writing something you have to write, then getting it better and better just because you want it to be better, and even when you get old and think 'There must be something else people do,' you won't quite be able to quit. — Alice Munro

Maybe you're not such a monster, Mr Zombie. I mean, anyone who appreciates a good beer is at least halfway okay in my book. — Isaac Marion

I am very sorry to say that I rejoiced when I once more perceived the towers of Windsor behind me. — Karl Philipp Moritz

In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra. — Fran Lebowitz

Before I was a Scientist, I was a Monk. And before I was a Monk, I was a naive young mind with ever- flowing streams of questions. And one of those questions, that always used to create intense ripples of curiosity in my psyche, was - Does God exist? And has anyone seen or experienced him? — Abhijit Naskar

The sophisticated concern about art sinks before a spontaneous love of reality, and I thank the photograph for being so transparent a vehicle for things ... — George Santayana

The Nazi invasion didn't happen by the end of 1939 after all. The German seizure of the Low Countries - Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg - didn't occur until May of 1940, and Jacob was grateful for the extra months of training and conditioning. Maurice, Avi, and Jacob used the time to recruit and assemble the rest of their team of young Jewish insurgents. — Joel C. Rosenberg