Ralph Ellison Quotes

For now I had begun to believe, despite all the talk of science around me, that there was a magic in spoken words.

Ralph Ellison

• Believe
• Science
• Words
• Magic

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Quotes to Explore

• Experience, already reduced to a group of impressions, is ringed round for each one of us by that thick wall of personality through which no real voice has ever pierced on its way to us, or from us to that which we can only conjecture to be without.

  

  Walter Pater
  • Real
  • Experience
  • Personality

• When I was younger, I wanted to marry early, like at 23. Year by year, I found things I wanted to do, and the thought of marriage disappeared. But I don't want to marry too late. Around 31?

  

  Park Shin-hye
  • Marriage
  • Thought
  • Year

• This is the beauty of fiction. We may not like these characters, but we inhabit them.

  

  T. C. Boyle
  • May
  • Like
  • Beauty

• I really believe great actors, even with disease and age, can be great.

  

  Olivier Martinez
  • Great
  • Believe
  • Age

• I never thought of myself as a writer about religion until a religion came after me.

  

  Salman Rushdie
  • Myself
  • Religion
  • Thought

• Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.

  

  Lao Tzu
  • Man
  • Human
  • Demons

• Without a dog, you'll be without at least one creature who thinks you are the smartest, most decent and heroic human being on the planet.

  

  W. Bruce Cameron
  • You
  • Dog
  • Human

• I am convinced that 100 years from now, people will talk about Elliott Carter as one of the most important figures in the second half of 20th-century music.

  

  Daniel Barenboim
  • Music
  • Figures
  • 20th Century

• Fallible characters are more interesting than superheroes in the end.

  

  Damian Lewis
  • Interesting
  • End
  • In The End

• I think of a piece of music as something that comes alive when it is being performed, and I feel that my role in the transmission of music is to be its best advocate at that moment.

  

  Yo-Yo Ma
  • Music
  • Best
  • Moment

• Americans are good at pursuing happiness. And the Americans who pursue happiness most diligently show that we're also good at running it down and killing it.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Good
  • Running
  • Happiness

• I think a great starting point for a debate and discussion over a national consumption tax is, let's start with the Fair Tax, legislation that has been written up and, I think, signed up on by 80 congressmen and women.

  

  Gary Johnson
  • Up
  • Great
  • Women

• A man is as alive as he can communicate.

  

  L. Ron Hubbard
  • Man
  • Alive
  • Communicate

• Alfred Nobel was much concerned, as are we all, with the tangible benefits we hope for and expect from physiological and medical research, and the Faculty of the Caroline Institute has ever been alert to recognize practical benefits.

  

  Haldan Keffer Hartline
  • Hope
  • Research
  • Medical

• I've had a few conversations with people who are horrified: who tell me my work is demeaning, is sexist, is negative.

  

  Cameron Russell
  • People
  • Work
  • Negative

• I have some property. We have a few acres, so I like working on it, whether it's cutting stuff down, cleaning stuff up, building steps, or working with concrete, you know, brickwork.

  

  Ed Harris
  • Up
  • Know
  • Cutting

• He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Impossible
  • Decisions

• Before my marriage, I was really wild, and I was very open about it. My wife knows about it. From the age of 19 to 30, I was this mad, wild person. I just wanted to have a good time, not get serious with anyone. I didn't allow relationships to happen, and I made it clear to whoever I was with.

  

  Ram Kapoor
  • Time
  • Good
  • Age

• Don't accept that you are in crisis just because everyone says you are.

  

  Alastair Campbell

• My brothers and sister and I were brought up in an atmosphere which I would describe as 'Puritan decadence'. Puritanism names the behaviour which is condemned; Puritan decadence regards the name itself as indecent, and pretends that the object behind that name does not exist until it is named.

  

  Stephen Spender
  • Brother
  • Atmosphere
  • Behinds

• I want to make words out of life. That's bigger than me. That's as big a creative force as - bigger than, for me, even having children. That felt more accidental - wonderful, but accidental.

  

  Alexandra Fuller
  • Life
  • Children
  • Words

• Now it's all about the word of mouth, and watching a series on Netflix. That's the way people actually consume this stuff now, instead of waiting for a DVD release you're not really sure you want to buy. And I think it's fantastic, because then I can watch the shows that I missed, over a weekend. I love doing that.

  

  James Frain
  • People
  • Waiting
  • Weekend

• One new reality is global interconnectivity and the fact that all challenges must be addressed on the basis of 'togetherness.' Thus the most crucial factor in accepting the new reality and confronting its opportunities and risks is our willingness to develop shared norms on all levels.

  

  Klaus Schwab
  • Reality

• For now I had begun to believe, despite all the talk of science around me, that there was a magic in spoken words.

  

  Ralph Ellison
  • Believe
  • Science
  • Words