Nawijn Polak Quotes & Sayings

There have been times, what with this and that,
when the whisper of words was not enough.
On some shelf of memory lies a misplaced summer,
one not stored away for later savoring.
Surely it ended early, with unexpected fogs,
with the wind sliding past through unmeasured darkness.
No voice could be enough, what with this and that,
and the hours falling faster. — Paul Bowles

I have the power to write these books where I invent characters that I really like, and it gets to come out the way they want it to come out, and I get to make it happen. — Ruth Glick

Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. — Thomas Carlyle

That woman could spread gossip faster than the flu in a whorehouse. — Jean Oram

A beautiful soul will take you further than a beautiful mind. — Matshona Dhliwayo

The fact of progress is written plain and large on the page of history; but progress is not a law of nature. — H.A.L. Fisher

The idea of writer as sage is pretty much dead today. I would certainly feel very uncomfortable in the role. — J.M. Coetzee

Watch a man
say, a politician
being interviewed on television, an you are observing a demonstration of what both he and his interrogators learned in school: all questions have answers, and it is a good thing to give an answer even if there is none to give, even if you don't understand the question, even if the question contains erroneous assumptions, even if you are ignorant of the facts required to answer. Have you ever heard a man being interviewed say, "I don't have the faintest idea," or "I don't know enough even to guess," or "I have been asked that question before, but all my answers to it seem to be wrong?" One does not "blame" men, especially if they are politicians, for providing instant answers to all questions. The public requires that they do, since the public has learned that instant answer giving is the most important sign of an educated man. — Neil Postman