Stavans Ilan Quotes & Sayings

If you do a great job in one thing, people look at you that way and it's hard to break out of that. — Harry Hamlin

I'm so secretive that when someone asks me, Hey, can you keep a secret? I say That's none of your business. — Demetri Martin

Let Christ's righteousness and grace, not yours, be your refuge. — Martin Luther

I got to ninth grade and there was wrestling, and I went, 'Wait a minute, this is fun.' Basically, it was a chance for a small kid like me to get a chance to wail on another small kid. I went, 'I love this.' The discipline of it was great. Plus, I really started to be good at it. — Robin Williams

Had a million things to say and none I knew how. I stepped forward and kissed him, like people kiss at airports, full of love and desperate longing, kisses that must imprint themselves on their recipient for the journey, for the weeks, the months ahead. — Jojo Moyes

All nonfiction writers, whether they like it or not, are translators. The translator is the perfect journalist. The best journalism endeavors to convey an essential idea or story to an audience that knows very little about it, and that requires translation. To do this successfully, the writer must filter the idea through the prism of his eye, and his mind, and his writing style. — Ilan Stavans

We must have the courage to be imperfect while striving for perfection. — Patricia T. Holland

A woman's body is a dark and monstrous mystery; between her supple thighs a heavy whirlpool swirls, two rivers crash, and woe to him who slips and falls! — Nikos Kazantzakis

Literature is the best way to overcome death. My father, as I said, is an actor. He's the happiest man on earth when he's performing, but when the show is over, he's sad and troubled. I wish he could live in the eternal present, because in the theater everything remains in memories and photographs. Literature, on the other hand, allows you to live in the present and to remain in the pantheon of the future.
Literature is a way to say, I was here, this is what I thought, this is what I perceived. This is my signature, this is my name. — Ilan Stavans

Hard work is the engine of success;
perseverance is the fuel. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Drawing is what you see of the world, truly see ... And sometimes what you see is so deep in your head you're not even sure of what you're seeing. But when it's down there on paper, and you look at it, really look, you'll see the way things are ... that's the world, isn't it? You have to keep looking to find the truth. — Patricia Reilly Giff