Messinger Quotes & Sayings

How did it die?" he asked.
"Short circuit," I said. "Old and frayed wires."
He looked at me like I was senile.
"Could have been disease. Violence. Or, sometimes, things die because we don't love them enough. — Jonathan Messinger

No one writes a story like Lydia Davis. In the years since she began publishing her lyrical, extremely short fiction, she has quietly become one of the most impactful influences on American writers, even if they don't know it. That's largely because she makes economy seem so easy. You could read several of her stories into a friend's voicemail box before you were cut off (and you should). You could fit one of her stories in this column. Some you could write on your palm. — Jonathan Messinger

The impulse to tell the truth was not as great as the fear of being left off the page. — Jonathan Messinger

Are you decent?" a woman's voice called, pushing the door cautiously ajar.
"Nay, but we're clothed," Cian purred. — Karen Marie Moning

The difference between hearing and listening is paying attention — Ruth Messinger

Reading the [The Verso Book of Dissent] is like encountering the best version of our angry selves. — Jonathan Messinger

People think, Hey, I love kids, I want to write children's books. But they think children are happy. That's their first mistake. [Messinger, Jonathan. "Guilt for dinner: The Mo Willems interview." Hipsqueak. 5 May 2011. Web. 18 November 2011.] — Mo Willems

If we analyze religious or political doctrines with regard to their psychological significance we must differentiate between two problems. We can study the character structure of the individual who creates a new doctrine and try to understand which traits in his personality are responsible for the particular direction of his thinking.
[ ... ] The other problem is to study the psychological motives, not of the creator of a doctrine, but of the social group to which his doctrine appeals. The influence of any doctrine or idea depends on the extent to which it appeals to psychic needs in the character structure of those to whom it is addressed. Only if the idea answers powerful psychological needs of certain social groups will it become a potent force in history. — Erich Fromm

...Sometimes one just had to forge on and let the chips fall where they may. After all, we were the ones in the trenches, investing our will, hearts, sweat, and money while the critics spent nothing but words. — Delfi Messinger

The prosperous man does not know whether he is loved. — Lucan

Listening can be an antidote to judgement. Listening matters. — Ruth Messinger

Strange, is it not, my brothers, how often in America those great watchwords of human energy - 'Be strong!' 'Know thyself!' 'Hitch your wagon to a star!' - how often these die away into dim whispers when we face these seething millions of black men? And yet do they not belong to them? Are they not their heritage as well as yours? — W.E.B. Du Bois

I mean, all I do here is do the work that my bosses tell me to do the way they tell me to do it. I don't have to think at all. It's like I just put my brain in a locker before I start work and pick it up on the way home. I spend seven hours a day at a workbench, planting hairs into wig bases, then I eat dinner in the cafeteria, take a bath, and of course I have to sleep, like everybody else, so out of a twenty-four-hour day, the amount of free time I have is like nothing. And because I'm so tired from work, the 'free time' I have I mostly spend lying around in a fog. I don't have any time to sit and think about anything. Of course, I don't have to work on the weekends, but then I have to do the laundry and cleaning I've let go, and sometimes I go into town, and before I know it the weekend is over. I once made up my mind to keep a diary, but I had nothing to write, so I quit after a week. I mean, I just do the same thing over and over again, day in, day out. — Haruki Murakami

Great books, like large skulls, have often the least brains. — William Benton Clulow

It's not rebels that make trouble, but trouble that makes rebels. — Ruth Messinger

Building out a professional profile on LinkedIn certainly makes sense, and bolstering that CV with intelligent pieces of writing is also a great idea. But if you're going to take the time to create content, you should also take the time to create a home for that content that is yours and yours alone. — John Battelle

Sharing is the answer for humanity. When we share we recognize that God is our brother, and unless we have that trust created by sharing, then nothing can be done. — Benjamin Creme

To break the silence the old man said the first thing that came to his mind: Loneliness is a type of violence. — Jonathan Messinger

Listening is a prerequisite for action. Listening is a principle for living Jewishly in a globalised world — Ruth Messinger

I don't think my moped could outrun a cheetah."
"Hun," Claire says. "There are more important things you need to outrun, and a moped isn't going to help you with any of those. — Jonathan Messinger

Mostly, we sat around while Tina Messinger, one of the first humans to graduate with an advanced degree in Undead Studies from UC Berkeley, pontificated about us to us. Tina saw herself as a sort of therapist/spirit guide/guidance counselor, but she spent far too much time explaining how well qualified she was to understand our undead point of view. I didn't think it would be helpful to point out that if she were truly well qualified, she would know how annoying we found it to have our point of view humansplained to us. — Molly Harper

What good are laws that cannot be read or understood, or a tongue that spews only hatred or ignorance? What good is the written word to an illiterate man? — Delores Phillips

Bonsai won the Chilean Critics Award for best novel of the year in 2006and it's easy to understand why. — Jonathan Messinger

Out yonder there was this huge world ... which stands before us like a great eternal riddle. — Albert Einstein

How could you love something so destructive?" I ask.
"Because this wolf doesn't care if your heart is whole or not," you say. "It tastes just the same. — Jonathan Messinger

The quotes are often poignant or funny (one man before the firing squad requests a bulletproof vest) and often don't register as much more than interesting historical documents from centuries past. But read in aggregate, all that pain piles up. Essentially, Elder has amassed a collection of what people say when they know they are going to die, the final product of what could be seen as psychological torture. — Jonathan Messinger