Elaine Scarry Quotes

When we come upon beautiful things they act like small tears in the surface of the world that pull us through to some vaster space.

Elaine Scarry

• Beautiful
• Space
• Tears

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• I stayed in the astronaut program until 1993. People ask me why I left. I thought I had a lot of things to contribute that would be difficult to do if I stayed. I thought I could have a stronger voice as an advocate for space exploration. So I ended up starting my own technology consulting company.

  

  Mae Jemison
  • People
  • Up
  • Why

• I'm from New York, so I'm not a big driver.

  

  Dan Fogler
  • New
  • New York
  • Driver

• A child who has overcome challenges with proper emotional support will emerge stronger.

  

  Kate Middleton
  • Support
  • Emotional
  • Child

• Hedge funds are not especially liquid. Many are 'gated' - meaning there are only small windows when you can withdraw your money. They typically have a high minimum investment and often require investors keep their money in the fund for at least one year.

  

  Barry Ritholtz
  • Money
  • High
  • Small

• When people refer to 'Back in the Day,' it was a Wednesday. Just a little fun fact for you.

  

  Dane Cook
  • People
  • Fun
  • Day

• At the end of the spectrum when you get to that 12th step, when you have that spiritual awakening we make ourselves available to help other people.

  

  Daniel Baldwin
  • People
  • Help
  • Spiritual

• In the best material, you always should be able to somehow make a case for a story to be transposed to any other time.

  

  Ralph Fiennes
  • Time
  • Best
  • Story

• But, look, Washington is a town that creates myths for its own existence and its own amusement, and I was a subject of myth, sort of like Grendel in Beowulf - you know, not seen very often but often talked about.

  

  Karl Rove
  • Know
  • Look
  • Existence

• I am very excited to be able to work more with young designers and support them.

  

  Carine Roitfeld
  • Work
  • Support
  • Excited

• Growing up, I always wanted to sing.

  

  Damian McGinty
  • Up
  • Growing
  • Always

• I've purged myself of bitterness and anger and remained open to love.

  

  Tatum O'Neal
  • Love
  • Anger
  • Bitterness

• The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to.

  

  Carl Sandburg
  • Space
  • Friend
  • Moon

• Billions have been spent for one purpose and one purpose only: to obscure and distract from the fact that Mitt Romney is backing the identical agenda George W. Bush did.

  

  Adam McKay
  • Purpose
  • Fact
  • Obscure

• Frankly, right is right and wrong is wrong, particularly when a parent is talking to a child. A bright line around moral responsibility is very important.

  

  Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
  • Important
  • Responsibility
  • Moral

• If there is no threat to the lives of the citizens, our tactic will be to not intervene or impede members of the protest in expressing their will freely.

  

  Vano Merabishvili
  • Will
  • Protest
  • Expressing

• Tahir Pasha assigned me a room when I was staying in his residence, and every night before sleeping, I would spend around three hours going over the books I had memorized. It would take me three months to go through the lot. Thanks be to God, all those works became steps ascending to the truths of the Qur'an.

  

  Said Nursi
  • God
  • Night
  • Thanks

• The first fashion show I ever attended was for Ritu Beri in 1997 or 1998. I think that was the first time Ritu had designed for one of my movies 'Yeh Raastein Hain Pyaar Ke.' She had done a show in Paris, and she had done the same show in Delhi. It was very eclectic, and I love the way she combines colours and makes them flamboyant.

  

  Madhuri Dixit
  • Time
  • Love
  • Done

• I think the presence of caste in India, how the villages are geographically structured on caste lines, is very different from China. The presence of an egalitarian culture is striking in a Chinese village.

  

  Pankaj Mishra
  • Different
  • Think
  • Culture

• One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, 'Wait - you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it?'

  

  Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nails
  • Up
  • Money
  • Career

• It took me a long time to film the plastic bag, and then I had to get the cut of the scene right. But if you find it as beautiful as the character does, then suddenly it becomes a different movie, and so did he as a character.

  

  Sam Mendes
  • Time
  • Different
  • Long

• Can you imagine, in 2030, taking a space cruise on the very ship that carried the first human beings to Mars? I can't believe that people wouldn't line up for that possibility.

  

  Buzz Aldrin
  • People
  • Up
  • Believe

• I bought a painting in Madrid on my first trip there too and a lot of people say, 'Well it's not the greatest painting' and I say, 'It is to me.' OK, you can look at a beautiful painting and say, 'That's beautiful' but to me, it feels warmer to fill my home with pictures of friends and family and paintings of places I've gone. That's what I want to come home to.

  

  George Clooney
  • People
  • Home
  • Beautiful

• I can't give a formula for how to spread joy, but I know that the source of the joy is one's own joy, and that that is not distinct from pleasure and fulfillment of desires. So I ask: What makes me feel alive? What is the expression of my inner wild? What would really feel good? What if what makes me feel alive leads me toward the deeper joys, which are found in generosity and service, in creating things that are beautiful to me? Maybe the world needs more of that. How many petroleum company executives are doing their work because it's beautiful to them? Not very many, I bet.

  

  Charles Eisenstein
  • Beautiful
  • Giving
  • Generosity

• When we come upon beautiful things they act like small tears in the surface of the world that pull us through to some vaster space.

  

  Elaine Scarry
  • Beautiful
  • Space
  • Tears