Saul Bellow Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an e-mail.
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There's this idea that it's all natural, but everything's been staged to look natural. It is also an invention. It's just that my inventions are different. I often get asked about my artifice, but isn't fashion based on the idea that we can create a fantasy?
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God's forgiving grace is incomplete until he gives me - and I accept - a new kingdom-building dream and opportunity.
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I am tied down with single words. But you wander off; you slip away; you rise up higher, with words and words in phrases.
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The world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue, are complete sceptics in religion.
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Holy men of old were moved upon by the Holy Spirit and the revelation given to them is God's Word in the Holy Scriptures. Is God speaking any less today through holy men called of God to bring a message through revelation to this generation? ... We wave our Bibles and cry, 'This is the Word of' God.' Indeed it is God's Word, but the Holy Spirit yet brings revelation to this generation today that is no less God's Word... The prophet is not a method that God uses; but in fact is the only method he uses to speak to this generation.
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There is no such thing as 'Gandhism', and I do not want to leave any sect after me.
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Thinking does not lead to truth; truth is the beginning of thought.
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I find my breath gets short, but it seldom gets longer as a man gets older. I take it as it comes, and make the most of it. That's the best way, ain't it?
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What was more needed by this old man who divided the leisure hours of his life, where he had so little leisure, between gardening in the daytime, and contemplation at night? Was not this narrow enclosure, with the sky for a background, enough to enable him to adore God in his most beautiful as well as in his most sublime works? Indeed, is not that all, and what more can be desired? A little garden to walk, and immensity to reflect upon. At his feet something to cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate upon: a few flowers on the earth, and all the stars in the sky.
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Require nothing unreasonable of your officers and men, but see that whatever is required be punctually complied with. Reward and punish every man according to his merit, without partiality or prejudice; hear his complaints; if well founded, redress them; if otherwise, discourage them, in order to prevent frivolous ones. Discourage vice in every shape, and impress upon the mind of every man, from the first to the lowest, the importance of the cause, and what it is they are contending for.
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I worked for this company that repossessed cars. Sure enough, the day after I quit, they repossessed my car, but that would probably be my strangest job to date. You have to work your way up to become a hardcore repo man.
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What the Court really has refused to recognize is the fundamental interest all individuals have in controlling the nature of their intimate associations.
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Of what use are the great number of petrifactions, of different species, shape and form which are dug up by naturalists? Perhaps the collection of such specimens is sheer vanity and inquisitiveness. I do not presume to say; but we find in our mountains the rarest animals, shells, mussels, and corals embalmed in stone, as it were, living specimens of which are now being sought in vain throughout Europe. These stones alone whisper in the midst of general silence.
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I'm glad I haven't lived in vain.
