Parisreview Quotes & Sayings

In a war the most dangerous thing is to understand the enemy. To understand is to forgive. And we
have no right to do that - we never have had, not since the creation of the world. — Sergei Lukyanenko

With any character, I try to focus more on who the character is and how they got to be who they are. — Rachelle Lefevre

The feelings of devotion, self-sacrifice for one's neighbor, the whole morality of self-denial must be questioned mercilessly and taken to court ... There is too much charm and sugar in these feelings of 'for others,' 'not for myself,' for us not to need to become doubly suspicious at this point and to ask: 'are these not perhaps-seductions? — Friedrich Nietzsche

Prosperity is the surest breeder of insolence I know. — Mark Twain

There was the usual dreaminess, I suppose. Also a shyness that caused me - and others - to notice that I could express myself better by writing than by speaking. This is typical of many writers, I think. What is a drawback in childhood is an asset to a literary life. Not being fluent on one's feet sends one to the page and a habit is born. — Lorrie Moore

Thank God Ben had been there to wake her.
But then, when hadn't he been there? It was she that kept pushing him away. Even as a kid, before his adoration of her had turned into a full-blown crush, she'd kept him at arm's length. — Joe DeRouen

For eighteen centuries every engine of destruction that human science, philosophy, wit, reasoning or brutality could bring to bear against a book has been brought to bear against that book to stamp it out of the world, but it has a mightier hold on the world today than ever before. If that were man's book it would have been annihilated and forgotten hundreds of years ago ... — R.A. Torrey

Happy is the soul that has a friend. Happier is the soul that trusts in the truth of the heart of a friend. Happiest is the soul that knows the solemnity of friendship and honours its laws. — Ogwo David Emenike

One grows out of pity when it's useless. — Albert Camus

Let each look to himself and not try to make out white black, and black white; for each of us is as God made him, aye, and often worse. — Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

Few of us will do the spectacular deeds of heroism that spread themselves across the pages of our newspapers in big black headlines. But we can all be heroic in the little things of everyday life. We can do the helpful things, say the kind words, meet our difficulties with courage and high hearts, stand up for the right when the cost is high, keep our word even though it means sacrifice, be a giver instead of a destroyer. Often this quiet, humble heroism is the greatest heroism of all. — Wilferd Peterson

But she was old, and old women do tend to get pushed aside at big gatherings - even when they have footed the bill for that gathering. — Elizabeth Gilbert

Reconnaissance memoranda should always be written in the simplest style and be purely descriptive. They should never stray from their objective by introducing extraneous ideas. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The hero saves us. Praise the hero! Now, who will save us from the hero? — Cato The Elder

Little changes cost you. Big changes benefit you by changing the game, but only if you go first. — Seth Godin