William Empson Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I don't think it's possible to touch people's imagination today by aesthetic means.
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I took a bottle of pills. I'd been in Europe and I had a lot of absinthe and I was just drinking and drinking, trying to, you know, just shut my body down.
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Everything is going to the beat - It's the beat generation, it be-at, it's the beat to keep, it's the beat of the heart, it's being beat and down in the world and like oldtime lowdown and like in ancient civilizations the slave boatmen rowing galleys to a beat and servants spinning pottery to a beat...
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You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living right now.
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If we are in Christ the whole basis of our goings is God, not conceptions of God, not ideas of God, but God Himself. We do not need any more ideas about God, the world is full of ideas about God, they are all worthless, because the ideas of God in anyone’s head are of no more use than our own ideas. What we need is a real God, not more ideas about Him.
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There is no such thing as unlimited trust. At some point, all beings with free will can, and will, betray you when you're no longer pursuing the same goals.
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Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first. We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.
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Russia is a perfect partner in this direction.
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Have the courage of your own convictions and don't be swayed by friends who boast about their financial home runs. Last year's winners are often this year's losers.
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We are living in the blessing of that moment.
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What seems impossible one minute becomes, through faith, possible the next.
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Writing is the geometry of the soul.
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Let my heart be wise. It is the gods' best gift.
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Where in the world have you seen construction people who do everything on time, with good quality and at minimal prices? Just give me one country like that. A country like that doesn't exist in the world, you know. There's not one such country anywhere in the world.
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Over 99 percent of all species that ever lived are now extinct.
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I don't regard Jews as a class. I regard them as a privileged misfortune.
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Man is always inclined to regard the small circle in which he lives as the center of the world and to make his particular, private life the standard of the universe and to make his particular, private life the standard of the universe. But he must give up this vain pretense, this petty provincial way of thinking and judging.
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Liberal hopefulness Regards death as a mere border to an improving picture.
