Ralph Ellison Quotes

God is love, I said, but art's the possibility of forms, and shadows are the source of identity.

Ralph Ellison

• God
• Art
• Identity

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Quotes to Explore

• Most Americans have no clue that before there were highways, there were only waterways to get through the wilderness. If you weren't on a lake or a river, you were in a jungle.

  

  Nathaniel Philbrick
  • River
  • Lake
  • Wilderness

• The idea of going on tour for the rest of my life with old works is not that exciting. As an artist I definitely think the work in future is going to be better than the work in the past, otherwise why do it?

  

  Damien Hirst
  • Life
  • Work
  • Why

• I don't think there's any dearth of talent in India - we've always had the best juniors in the world.

  

  Mahesh Bhupathi
  • World
  • Best
  • Talent

• As a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.

  

  Fran Lebowitz
  • Life
  • Happy
  • Teenager

• When I'm in 'Man vs. Wild' mode, it's not pleasure. Every sensor is firing and I'm on reserve power all the time and I'm digging deep - and that's the magic of it as well, and that's raw and it's great.

  

  Bear Grylls
  • Time
  • Great
  • Power

• Sometimes we question things that we have done in our lives but how many times do we question what we haven't done in someone else's.

  

  Ian Thorpe
  • Done
  • Question
  • Sometimes

• I don't really go out at night in terms of noisy, busy places; I prefer more of a quiet corner somewhere.

  

  Karl Pilkington
  • Night
  • Quiet
  • Busy

• With the coaches, you don't want to hear everybody saying, 'Move over! Back up! Do this!' Let's find out what the players know.

  

  Dan Quinn
  • Up
  • Want
  • Know

• I was raised by very traditional Southern parents with Southern manners. You don't air your dirty laundry to people that aren't your family or your friends. Why would I ever want to portray myself as anything other than together?

  

  Dakota Fanning
  • People
  • Family
  • Why

• Boys are so much less mature than girls as it is.

  

  Taylor Momsen
  • Much
  • Mature
  • Less

• Happiness exists only if you have a lot of people to share it with.

  

  Ranbir Kapoor
  • People
  • You
  • Happiness

• Put variety into your mental bill of fare as well as into your physical. It will pay you rich returns.

  

  Orison Swett Marden
  • You
  • Rich
  • Will

• Women view men like houses. They look for fixer-uppers.

  

  Laura Schlessinger
  • Men
  • Women
  • View

• I am not going to talk about my personal life anymore. You have to learn that lesson sometime.

  

  Mandy Moore
  • Life
  • Learn
  • Personal

• The best song is what resonates with that one person the most. It's why, if you ask a million people on the face of the Earth, they're all gonna have different favorite songs, their own best song ever, because that's the one that touched them the most.

  

  Vince Staples
  • People
  • Different
  • Why

• This is Earth. Isn't it hot?

  

  Paris Hilton
  • Earth
  • Hot

• I'm not a universalist, and the way I talk about final loss is this: People worship idols - money, whatever. Their humanness gets reshaped around the idol - you become like what you worship. That's one of the basic spiritual laws.

  

  N. T. Wright
  • People
  • Money
  • Spiritual

• I went to my mum at about seven or eight and said I want to start acting, but the week before, I had said I wanted to do ballet. She said if I took acting classes for a full year, she would look further into it, and that's how it started.

  

  Hailee Steinfeld
  • She
  • Start
  • Year

• I think climbing mountains or buildings or whatever has been a really good metaphor for finishing my work. Because no matter how tired you get, no matter how you feel like you can't possibly do this, somehow you do.

  

  Octavia E. Butler
  • Good
  • Work
  • Thinking

• If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it's going to happen anyhow.

  

  Mitch Albom
  • Always
  • Because
  • Going

• Whenever I'm taking time off, all I'm thinking about is working.

  

  Scarlett Johansson
  • Thinking
  • Working
  • Taking Time

• Knowledge of the soul is the only universal truth and the only wisdom - all other knowledge is transient.

  

  Plato
  • Truth
  • Soul
  • Knowledge

• All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital.

  

  Oscar Wilde
  • Life
  • Art
  • Really

• God is love, I said, but art's the possibility of forms, and shadows are the source of identity.

  

  Ralph Ellison
  • God
  • Art
  • Identity