Proficiently Crossword Quotes & Sayings

You can't be a good writer in the States anymore because to be a good one you have to have a country where you can be poor and still eat, and still make your living standard secondary to your writing. Thoreau himself couldn't do that in the States today. — Nelson Algren

There's not much difference between what I appear to be on stage and what I am. I think people like that, that I'm not trying to pull a caper. — Tom Waits

When he was younger, he used the slightest opportunity to slip away from people, without his being able to understand very clearly why he did so: a longing to break free and to breathe in the fresh air? — Patrick Modiano

What is it that is done to our children that their puberty should deform them? They have the joy of movement; they have an enterprising curiosity; they are ready for sensible self-denial; they dream ahead, and they have a faithful memory, and, above all, great compassion. [ ... ] The well-meaning educator who flatters and humours the young not only does a disservice to the community, but also damages the individual by depriving him of the opportunities of self-discovery. — Kurt Hahn

Afghanistan is a country in need. Afghanistan needs to protect itself in the region; Afghanistan needs to secure itself within the country. Afghanistan needs to develop its forces, and Afghanistan needs to provide stability to the people. — Hamid Karzai

The difference between a 'player' and a 'playboy' is a few million bucks. — Atticus

I thought I saw Anny smiling. I try to refresh my memory: I need to feel all the tenderness that Anny inspires; it is there, this tenderness, it is near me, only asking to be born. But the smile does not return: it is finished. I remain dry and empty. — Jean-Paul Sartre

I don't look like Catherine Zeta-Jones, so I don't think Hollywood would be that interested in me, to be honest. I just want nice work. — Anne-Marie Duff

Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him. — Rudyard Kipling

She'd disappeared like a broken star, leaving the world untouched, save for the bits of missing light that no one would ever see again. — Stephanie Garber