Martha Beck Quotes
As I obsess about my ancient problems, I feel more like I'm sinking in quicksand than lighting a torch. I'm creating neither heat nor light, just the icky, perversely pleasurable squish of self-pity between my toes. My only defense is that I'm not the only one down here in the muck - our whole culture is doting on tales of personal tragedy.
Quotes to Explore
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It lies in human nature that where you experience your first laughs, you also remember the age kindly.
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Be a good-looking corpse. Leave a good-looking tattoo.
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Knitting not only relaxes me, it also brings a feeling of being at home.
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I believe that stories find writers, writers don't find stories. With the 'Pendragon' series, I actually had multiple story ideas and decided that instead of writing them individually, I would create a character whose journey would thread them all together.
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There is no one looking out for us. We are all alone.
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I'm continuing to learn more about music - it's an ocean, and you can never really say that you know everything. I'm grateful that I'm still living and making music among the greats.
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We develop our propensity to forgive or not to forgive by what we see illustrated at the early ages of our development.
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I think there is no reason for us to bring to Islamism or political Islam the fear and ignorance of Western commentators and their hysterical vocabulary.
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Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
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Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
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If you don't learn to laugh at troubles, you won't have anything to laugh at when you grow old.
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Because of my own family's service (in the U.S. Army, Navy, and Massachusetts and New York National Guard), I am a strong supporter of the military and do believe that there are just wars.
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I live in New York. I don't really particularly want to move to LA.
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Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.
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I'm nearsighted in my right eye, have glaucoma in my left, and the nerves in my hands are on Medicare. Basically, I'm on the wrong end of a short sale.
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Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.
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I'm stronger and sassier as a redhead.
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Creme Brulee is the ultimate 'guy' dessert. Make it and he'll follow you anywhere.
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There have been moments in my career when I've had to be tough and I've had to step up to the plate - but usually that's because a man has underestimated me. But other than that, I wouldn't say I'm a tough person.
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Were the eye not of the sun, How could we behold the light? If God's might and ours were not as one, How could His work enchant our sight?
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A compassionate attitude opens our inner door, and as a result it is much easier to communicate with others. If there is too much self-centered attitude, then fear, doubt and suspicion come and as a result our inner door closes. Then it is very difficult to communicate with others.
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And this is the whole shabby secret: to some men, the sight of an achievement is a reproach, a reminder that their own lives are irrational, and that there is no loophole - no escape from reason and reality. Their resentment is the cornered Dionysian element baring its teeth.
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In previous generations, there was purpose; you had to die, but there was God, and literature and culture would go on. Now, there is no God, and our species is imminently doomed, so there is no purpose. We get up, raise families, have bank accounts, fix our teeth and everything else. But really, there is utterly no purpose except to be alive.
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As I obsess about my ancient problems, I feel more like I'm sinking in quicksand than lighting a torch. I'm creating neither heat nor light, just the icky, perversely pleasurable squish of self-pity between my toes. My only defense is that I'm not the only one down here in the muck - our whole culture is doting on tales of personal tragedy.
