William Stafford Quotes

My question is "when did other people give up the idea of being a poet?" You know, when we are kids we make up things, we write, and for me the puzzle is not that some people are still writing, the real question is why did the other people stop?

William Stafford

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• Writing
• Real
• Kids

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Quotes to Explore

• You don't always get to work as much as you like, because I'm waiting to find things that I care about. Sometimes that's frustrating.

  

  Laura Dern
  • Work
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  • Waiting

• In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.

  

  Manfred Eigen
  • Practice
  • Difference
  • Theory

• The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much. In public affairs, in the rebuilding of civilization, something less dramatic and emotional is needed, namely tolerance.

  

  E. M. Forster
  • Love
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  • Tolerance

• Playing evil is just not interesting. I don't think anyone who does evil stuff thinks they're doing evil stuff. That's the scary part.

  

  Carice van Houten
  • Think
  • Interesting
  • Evil

• Why would Senator Allen want to oppose saving money for the state? It's simply another example of Republicans fighting the governor tooth and nail against any measure where she might be able to turn the state's budget around.

  

  Bart Stupak
  • Money
  • Fighting
  • Measure

• I like things simple.

  

  Valentino Garavani
  • Simple
  • Like
  • Things

• I just make up lyrics off the top of my head. A lot of times, there's a phrase I really like, and I kind of build the song around that.

  

  Washed Out
  • Up
  • Song
  • Kind

• I really don't see a reason why you wouldn't want to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I mean, not only was He the greatest human being to ever walk the earth, He's everything that I want to strive for. He's everything that anyone should ever want to strive for.

  

  Sam Bradford
  • Why
  • Earth
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• Many people think fairy tales and retellings of fairy tales are only for children, but I'm not the only writer to take an old tale and retell it for a sophisticated adult audience.

  

  Kate Forsyth
  • People
  • Children
  • Think

• I did try fillers once. Don't ever have fillers because when your cheekbones are high, it's chipmunk time.

  

  Felicity Kendal
  • Time
  • High
  • Try

• I thought of Jeff Bridges in 'Hell or High Water' and Ben Foster, and I kept trying very hard not to, because you're terrified you're going to write this thing that then feeds specifically to this one person that then won't do it.

  

  Taylor Sheridan
  • Trying
  • High
  • Water

• I don't like people waiting on me. I feel it is an unnecessary expense.

  

  Randeep Hooda
  • People
  • Me
  • Waiting

• American business at this point is really about developing an idea, making it profitable, selling it while it's profitable and then getting out or diversifying. It's just about sucking everything up.

  

  Ian MacKaye
  • Up
  • Business
  • American

• Two cheers for Democracy; one because it admits variety, and two because it permits criticism.

  

  E. M. Forster
  • Democracy
  • Criticism
  • Cheers

• Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.

  

  Fidel Castro
  • Money
  • Capitalism
  • Throw

• Abraham Lincoln is singular. Abraham Lincoln, before he was killed, stood up and, you know, for the first time from any sitting president, stood for the right for suffrage for African-American men who had served in the Civil War. And that's a limited suffrage, but it was quite radical at the time.

  

  Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Up
  • Time
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• We have an idea that the man should help pay for the child. But we don't have a law that says a man has to support any woman he gets pregnant. Why is that? Because she doesn't have the baby yet. But if we're going to say it's a human being, then he should be supporting her during pregnancy.

  

  Katha Pollitt
  • Why
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• Anyone with the right mix of parental paranoia and entrepreneurial moxie can make a fortune by selling parents the equipment we think will keep us one step ahead of our kids.

  

  Nancy Gibbs
  • Kids
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  • Parents

• If America is an idea, which it is - we're not a nation of ethnic groups that say we're Americans because we have American blood; we have the blood of every nation in our veins - and there's something really beautiful about that, but it means that we are an idea and that we all have to buy into this idea.

  

  Eric Metaxas
  • American
  • America
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• γέροντα τὸν νοῦν, σάρκα δ᾽ ἡβῶσαν φύει

  

  Aeschylus

• When we don't have all the details about our characters, we have to make it up to fill in all the details. So, for me, writing and acting go hand in hand.

  

  Octavia Spencer
  • Up
  • Writing
  • Hand

• There's nothing wrong with talking out loud in public, but there is something wrong with the government sucking up all those utter instances in a database just in case they maybe want to bust you in five years.

  

  Clive Thompson
  • Up

• I didn't have a fraternity-like experience. I mean, I grew up with an older brother and a lot of male cousins and we were very physical with each other. We were very rambunctious when we were kids. But I never thought much - nor did I have reason to think much - about institutionalized hazing. But I think there's a reason young men are drawn to it.

  

  Ben Schnetzer
  • Up
  • Men
  • Experience

• My question is "when did other people give up the idea of being a poet?" You know, when we are kids we make up things, we write, and for me the puzzle is not that some people are still writing, the real question is why did the other people stop?

  

  William Stafford
  • People
  • Writing
  • Real