William Stafford Quotes

I don't see writing as a communication of something already discovered, as "truths" already known. Rather, I see writing as a job of experiment. It's like any discovery job; you don't know what's going to happen until you try it.

William Stafford

• Writing
• Trying
• Communication
• Discovery

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Quotes to Explore

• North Korea, under its thirtysomething Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, is no country for old men. The latest casualty in Kim's ongoing purge of the senior military command was the defense minister, Hyon Yong-chol, who reportedly committed the classic old man's offense of falling asleep in a meeting.

  

  Barbara Demick
  • Men
  • Country
  • Man

• After leaving school, I travelled around Europe for about six months. In Denmark, I thought that was my chance to get an amazing haircut, so I went to what I thought was a great hairdresser. It turned out to be the car wash of hairdressers, and I walked out sporting yet another pudding bowl, but this time with a stripe bleached down the centre.

  

  Becki Newton
  • Time
  • Great
  • School

• Loyalty will not permit envy, hate, and uncharitableness to creep into our public thinking.

  

  Bainbridge Colby
  • Thinking
  • Hate
  • Loyalty

• The problem of the world today is the people talk on and on about democracy, freedom, justice. But I don't give a damn about democracy if I am worried about survival.

  

  Imelda Marcos
  • People
  • World
  • Today

• The fact that we live in a world where black people have to strategize so they're not brutalized by police is insane.

  

  Larry Wilmore
  • People
  • World
  • Live

• I've never experienced chronic pain myself, but I have known many people over the years who have.

  

  Naomi Judd
  • People
  • Pain
  • Myself

• I felt audiences are happier to take comedy people who play darker people because there's a link between the psychosis of comedy and the psychosis of being a twisted character.

  

  Eddie Izzard
  • People
  • Character
  • Comedy

• I think we learn from medicine everywhere that it is, at its heart, a human endeavor, requiring good science but also a limitless curiosity and interest in your fellow human being, and that the physician-patient relationship is key; all else follows from it.

  

  Abraham Verghese
  • Good
  • Heart
  • Science

• Not obsessed with particularly Nike, but sneakers in general. I love them.

  

  Idris Elba
  • Obsessed
  • General
  • Sneakers

• That's really my goal now. I'm trying to be a positive role model to my kids and to just enjoy this ride, because it's hard. It's hard to enjoy it when you're in it.

  

  Taylor Dayne
  • Trying
  • Kids
  • Positive

• The Gorillaz cartoons seem more real to me than the actual people on TV. Because at least you know that there's some intelligence behind the cartoons, and there's a lot of work that's gone into it, so it can't all be just a lie.

  

  Damon Albarn Blur
  • People
  • Work
  • Real

• Even city people have ancestors who had their hands in the dirt.

  

  Carlene Carter
  • People
  • City
  • Hands

• Were women meant to do everything - work and have babies?

  

  Candice Bergen
  • Work
  • Women
  • Everything

• Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.

  

  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Lying
  • Curiosity
  • Wait

• I realized I didn't want to be a photographer. I gave it up, but I still worked that job in the restaurant and I found myself constantly hanging out in the kitchen.

  

  Sally Schneider
  • Up
  • Job
  • Want

• The thing I find really scary about ghosts and demons is that you don't really know what they are or where they are. They're not very well understood. You don't know what they want from you. So it's the kind of thing you don't even know how to defend yourself against. Anything that's unknown and mysterious is very scary.

  

  Oren Peli
  • Want
  • Yourself
  • Scary

• My job is making money, helping other people make money. I am spending money, trying to make sure more people get rich, because you cannot spend a lot of money, right? So my job is spending money, helping others. This is a headache.

  

  Jack Ma
  • People
  • Trying
  • Money

• For gay people, we learned about our lives in secrecy and a lot of fear.

  

  Ira Sachs
  • People
  • Fear
  • Gay

• Digital hub (center of our universe) is moving from PC to cloud - PC now just another client alongside iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, ... - Apple is in danger of hanging on to old paradigm too long (innovator's dilemma) - Google and Microsoft are further along on the technology, but haven't quite figured it out yet - tie all of our products together, so we further lock customers into our ecosystem

  

  Steve Jobs
  • iPhone
  • Client
  • iPod

• I will only say that many freedom fighters of India found their calling in the institutions of Britain. And many makers of modern India, including several of my distinguished predecessors, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Dr. Manmohan Singh, passed through their doors.

  

  Narendra Modi
  • Freedom
  • Modern
  • Doors

• The joy I get from work is just huge.

  

  Lucy Davis
  • Work
  • Joy

• Rip Rig & Panic was a milestone for me, and I've always been really thankful that I did that when I was 16. It saved me for when I suddenly became really successful later on. So even when my head's been spinning like a banshee, my feet still feel held down to the ground.

  

  Neneh Cherry
  • Thankful
  • Rip

• The cliché of the 'Eureka!' moment easily obscures the doubt and uncertainty that are also part of the discovery process.

  

  Janet Maslin
  • Process
  • Discovery
  • Cliche

• I don't see writing as a communication of something already discovered, as "truths" already known. Rather, I see writing as a job of experiment. It's like any discovery job; you don't know what's going to happen until you try it.

  

  William Stafford
  • Writing
  • Trying
  • Communication