Potocki Papers Quotes & Sayings

This history of culture will explain to us the motives, the conditions of life, and the thought of the writer or reformer. — Leo Tolstoy

No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously. — Dave Barry

The mountains are so cold
not just now but every year
crowded ridges breathe in snow
sunless forests breathe out mist
nothing grows until Grain Ears
leaves fall before Autumn Begins
a lost traveler here
looks in vain for the sky — Han-shan

The fact was that the woman lived the life she chose, she was happy in that life and it was no one's business after all but her own, my uncle's face darkening with blood as he spoke, my mother's fair fine skin pink as if smarting yet still I persisted, for I thought it such a horror, such a grief, yes and an embarrassment too, I said, "She's made a prison of this house, it's like she's a nun, it must be to punish herself," and my mother said quietly, angrily, "You don't know - what do you know! People do what they want to do. — Joyce Carol Oates

I saw then how I could be a good Buddhist and a good chef, and serve meat that is given freely, without suffering. — Matthew Johnson

Now in sober truth there is a magnificent idea in these monsters of the Apocalypse. It is, I suppose, the idea that beings really more beautiful or more universal than we are might appear to us frightful and even confused. Especially they might seem to have senses at once more multiplex and more staring; an idea very imaginatively seized in the multitude of eyes. I like those monsters beneath the throne very much. But I like them beneath the throne. It is when one of them goes wandering in deserts and finds a throne for himself that evil faiths begin, and there is (literally) the devil to pay
to pay in dancing girls or human sacrifice. As long as those misshapen elemental powers are around the throne, remember that the thing that they worship is the likeness of the appearance of a man. — G.K. Chesterton

I generally travel with my laptop, a couple of great books, and my iPod. — Orlando Bloom

[Rincewind] drew his sword and, with a smooth overarm throw, completely failed to hit the troll. — Terry Pratchett

If you loose the sounds comming out of New Orleans, you loose apart of the american language. — Ty Pennington

I never had any flesh and blood children, you know. Only words, and paintings, and images of light that flickered in the darkness, and were too soon over. — Neil Gaiman