Ribkens Quotes & Sayings

I'll say that this is probably the best time for poetry since the T'ang dynasty. All the rest of the world is going to school on American poetry in the twentieth century, from Ezra Pound to W. S. Merwin, and for very good reason. We have soaked up influence in the last century like a sponge. It's cross-pollination, first law of biology, that the more variety you have the more health you have. — Sam Hamill

No matter how much individuals do through their own efforts, they cannot actively purify themselves enough to be disposed in the least degree for the divine union of the perfection of love. God must take over and purge them in that fire that is dark for them, as we will explain. — San Juan De La Cruz

I found myself speaking more slowly (in an attempt to obey the Bible in speech), as if I was speaking French instead of English. — A. J. Jacobs

And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world. — Joseph Campbell

My mortal foe can no ways wish me a greater harm than England's hate; neither should death be less welcome unto me than such a mishap betide me. — Elizabeth I

Just marry her, already. Okay? I like her a lot. She's pretty, and she smells nice. — Carrie Ann Ryan

Passion for compassion will give you happiness. — Debasish Mridha

His gut clenched. He'd thought she was different. Thought she appreciated the man he was, not the out-of-all-proportion legend the sensationalists depicted. Was that what she wanted? Some larger-than-life hero? If so, he didn't stand a chance. She'd never be satisfied with a humble mule trainer. He'd worked hard to put life as a bounty hunter behind him. He wouldn't be that man again. Not even for her. — Karen Witemeyer

Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter. — William Shakespeare

No one can give you anything-love, shame, self-esteem- until you give it to yourself. Today, give yourself good things. — Martha Beck

For a moment, I thought of the word happy and it was a word that just, well, it felt like it was visiting me. I knew it wouldn't last for very long and I'd be sad again and then it would be worse because it's one thing to be sad and it's another thing to be sad once you've been happy. Being sad after you've been happy is the worst thing in the world. — Benjamin Alire Saenz

I'm only 19 but my mind is older ...
When things get for real, my warm heart turns cold. — Prodigy

I am such a person of words. I've spent so much of my life trying to get it right, say it right, say it eloquently, say it truthfully, say it honestly, that when I hear it said in ways that none of those adverbs would describe I find myself so repelled that it almost shuts my mind off. — Frederick Buechner