James A. Michener Quotes
In later years, it would become fashionable to say of the missionaries, 'They came to the islands to do good, and they did right well.' Others made jest of the missionary slogan, 'They came to a nation in darkness; they left it in light,' by pointing out: 'Of course they left Hawaii lighter. They stole every goddamned thing that wasn't nailed down.'
Quotes to Explore
-
Kids love to look at pictures of themselves.
-
I want people to get over the stigma about hemp. These seeds can't make you high, but they will make you feel good.
-
I'm such a stereotypical female learner in that I love social studies and love literature, and I always struggled with math and science.
-
I have four kids. They are two years apart, and contraception has been very, very good to me.
-
It's insecurity that is always chasing you and standing in the way of your dreams.
-
I think there's something very dark in the South African psyche. I think we live a lot of the time in a state of a very low-grade civil war; the levels of violence in South Africa are extremely high. In a way, the civil war that never happened is being played out in a covert way, so we live with a lot of very ugly things.
-
Nobody was my support. You have to support yourself, and I think that is the beauty of being a woman. You can handle anything and be ten times better than men.
-
Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.
-
Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael.
-
The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.
-
Each of the bracelets I wear is from a long trip I've taken. One is from Nicaragua. One is from Nepal. One is from Guatemala. One is from Laos. They don't come off. I walk into a lot of very high-level boardrooms now, and I present to distinguished conferences, but these bracelets remind me of the places I've been and the people I've met.
-
Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.
-
Mandela drafted the M Plan, a simple, commonsense plan for organization on a street basis so that Congress volunteers would be in daily touch with the people, alert to their needs and able to mobilize them.
-
I recognize myself to be an intensely naive person. Most novelists are, despite frequent pretensions to deep socio-political insight.
-
As actors, we put in our best, but when people don't like a film, you have to learn to deal with it. I've learnt not to get too emotional.
-
Success is about dedication. You may not be where you want to be or do what you want to do when you're on the journey. But you've got to be willing to have vision and foresight that leads you to an incredible end.
-
The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. He can only gain that conception through personal experience, and he can only use his personal experiences when he is a genius.
-
We shouldn't judge people through the prism of our own stereotypes.
-
A man's kiss is his signature.
-
While I was writing 'Stick Out Your Tongue' in Beijing, the police began knocking on my door again. As soon as I finished the book, I moved to Hong Kong so that I could work undisturbed on my next novel.
-
The guys that drive Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentley GTs, it's because they want to flaunt the fancy car and get the girls and stuff.
-
I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.
-
In later years, it would become fashionable to say of the missionaries, 'They came to the islands to do good, and they did right well.' Others made jest of the missionary slogan, 'They came to a nation in darkness; they left it in light,' by pointing out: 'Of course they left Hawaii lighter. They stole every goddamned thing that wasn't nailed down.'
