John D. MacDonald Quotes

Every day, no matter how you fight it, you learn a little more about yourself, and all most of it does is teach humility.

John D. MacDonald

• Humility

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Quotes to Explore

• I enjoy privacy. I think it's nice to have a little mystery. I think because of technology a lot of the mystery is gone in life, and I'd like to preserve some of that.

  

  Maggie Q
  • Life
  • Nice
  • Technology

• After the atomic bombs were dropped, the war ended and we went into Tokyo Bay with the rest of the fleet, the Missouri and the rest of them, while they signed the terms of surrender that ended the war.

  

  Barney Ross
  • War
  • Rest
  • Surrender

• I don't know anyone on Wall Street who goes to work every day thinking of anything but how to increase their bonus.

  

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Work
  • Thinking
  • Day

• On the whole, I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirms the worth of life as an end in itself, as against the saints who deny it.

  

  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
  • Life
  • Worth
  • Saints

• I'm a black Catholic raised in Decatur, Georgia, which was very gang-infested. Then, I went to an all-white private high school and excelled in sports and wrote poetry, then played football at the University of Georgia, minoring in drama.

  

  Omari Hardwick
  • School
  • High
  • Black

• I love performing in front of an audience. I like the questions; I like controversy.

  

  T. C. Boyle
  • Love
  • Like
  • Questions

• If left unchecked, global change will create violent conflict, torrential storms, shrinking coastlines, and irreversible catastrophe.

  

  Valerie Jarrett
  • Change
  • Conflict
  • Global

• I've always had a problem with conventional punctuation of dialogue because it does seem to me to set it off too much from the narrative. I mean, in life, things don't stop while somebody says something, and then stuff starts up again; it's all happening at once.

  

  Kate Grenville
  • Life
  • Stop
  • Problem

• I've always wondered why there isn't a great French novel about the German occupation. The nouveau roman authors weren't interested in telling that sort of thing.

  

  Manuel Puig
  • Great
  • Why
  • Always

• Ideas are cheap and easy, and there are a lot of them.

  

  Sam Altman
  • Ideas
  • Easy
  • Cheap

• I always have to have a six pack or twelve pack of Entenmann's doughnuts in my house, no other brand.

  

  Victor Cruz
  • House
  • Always
  • Brand

• Ratings don't last. Good journalism does.

  

  Dan Rather
  • Good
  • Journalism
  • Last

• No one is ever ordinary.

  

  Tanith Lee
  • Ordinary
  • Ever

• I did not set out to be a poster child for anything. I saw a mountain. I wanted to climb it.

  

  Raha Moharrak
  • Child
  • Mountain
  • Climb

• Am I bossy? Absolutely. I don't like to lose, and if I'm told 'no,' then I find another way to get my 'yes.' But I'm a loyal person.

  

  Naomi Campbell
  • Way
  • Find
  • Lose

• I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

  

  Samantha Morton
  • Want
  • Parents
  • Support

• To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry.

  

  Gaston Bachelard
  • Beautiful
  • Reading
  • Poetry

• Now hollow fires burn out to black,And lights are guttering low:Square your shoulders, lift your pack,And leave your friends and go.Oh never fear, man, nought's to dread,Look not to left nor right:In all the endless road you treadThere's nothing but the night.

  

  A. E. Housman
  • Friends
  • Night
  • Black

• I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

  

  Steve Jobs
  • Life
  • Apple
  • Creative periods

• To most people, paranoia carries a negative connotation. I believe it is one of the most valuable attributes a leader can have. It is about self-reflection and having the courage, humility, and discipline to constantly ask uncomfortable questions that can potentially poke holes in your strategy and challenge your conventional thinking.

  

  Dinesh Paliwal
  • People
  • Believe
  • Thinking

• Pain is a gift. Humanity, without pain, would know neither fear nor pity. Without fear, there could be no humility, and every man would be a monster. The recognition of pain and fear in others give rise in us to pity, and in our pity is our humanity, our redemption.

  

  Dean Koontz
  • Fear
  • Pain
  • Humanity

• Our best work can't possibly appeal to the average masses, only our average work can. Finding the humility to happily walk away from those that don't get it unlocks our ability to do great work.

  

  Seth Godin
  • Ability
  • Humility
  • Average

• Every day, no matter how you fight it, you learn a little more about yourself, and all most of it does is teach humility.

  

  John D. MacDonald
  • Humility