Mary Oliver Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I quite like the drama of an encore. I think an encore is for those artists who are inclined to do dramatic gestures, and I certainly would say I am inclined towards them.
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I learned at an early age that I was given something special when I was born, and that was the gift of music.
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When I learned that flour pound for pound has as many calories as sugar, and that when eating pasta you're basically eating cake, I was size 23, and my neck was restricting my breathing, and so I got on a microbiotic diet and got myself an exercise bike.
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My grandpa would come in with water and flick it on our faces at 6 A.M. and be like, 'If you don't get up to feed the horses, you don't get to ride them.' We'd get up.
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Even a beautiful piece of work can be overshadowed, destroyed, by something else.
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I feel like I've accomplished everything I could in the dunk contest. It would be hard for me to go back and outdo myself.
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Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.
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I went out of my way to try not to be an artist, because I thought I would end up leading a miserable, obscure life. I tried to escape it for as long as I could, until I had to admit at 25 that that was my path.
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To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future.
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I grew up in a very strong, nuclear family. My father was a sportsman. He represented South Africa in a couple of sports, so he was a very positive person and someone who encouraged you to be your best and give your best with everything that you do.
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Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world.
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You know, no one steered people's careers in those days, I don't think, like they do today.
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If the characters on 'The West Wing' were watching a TV show wherein a character like Trump was leading in the polls, they wouldn't find it believable.
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This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.
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Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion.
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I'm a huge fan of the Clintons. I love Hillary; I love Bill.
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My life is full of mistakes. They're like pebbles that make a good road.
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I started as an engineer. I migrated to philosophy and international politics. And I did my studies about African – Africa democracy and democratization in Africa, taking Kenya as a model. And then, while I was doing so in 1996 in South Africa, Al Jazeera was established. So they requested me to be an analyst on African affairs.
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I never thought I'd be doing poetry books. I never really studied poetry. But the first one I did was after my mother died, and I realized that people sort of think and talk about her style and fashion, but in fact, what made her the person she was was really her love of reading and ideas.
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When you confer a benefit on those worthy of it, you confer a favor on all.
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So, if you're doing good longform with talented people than you can step out and you can be the president or a construction worker and people accept that. It's really the roles you give yourself.
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Happiness is not being afraid.
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Poetry is meant to be heard.
