Eva Hoffman Quotes
It is a sunny fall afternoon and I’m engaged in one of my favorite pastimes—picking chestnuts. I’m playing alone under the spreading, leafy, protective tree. My mother is sitting on a bench nearby, rocking the buggy in which my sister is asleep. The city, beyond the lacy wall of trees, is humming with gentle noises. The sun has just passed its highest point and is warming me with intense, oblique rays. I pick up a reddish brown chestnut, and suddenly, through its warm skin, I feel the beat as if of a heart. But the beat is also in everything around me, and everything pulsates and shimmers as if it were coursing with the blood of life. Stooping under the tree, I’m holding life in my hand, and I am in the center of a harmonious, vibrating transparency. For that moment, I know everything there is to know. I have stumbled into the very center of plenitude, and I hold myself still with fulfillment, before the knowledge of my knowledge escapes me.
Quotes to Explore
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I'm not sure if being known opened or closed doors for me.
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When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it.
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Iraq did not spontaneously opt for disarmament. They did it as part of a ceasefire, so they were forced to do it, otherwise the war might have gone on. So the motivation has been very different.
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I think you're attracted to things that are different from yourself in a character because it's more interesting, and you get to play out a fantasy version of yourself.
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The basic law of capitalism is you or I, not both you and I.
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It will be a difficult couple of days. It's difficult now and it will be difficult tomorrow.
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We think the Puritans always dressed in black and white, which they didn't. They loved very bright colors. And there were other differences in perceptions that gave one a very different view of them.
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I thought martial arts was going to help me with my movies and TV stuff, but I realized it would not.
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I met Ray Charles at 14, and he was 16. But he was like a hundred years older than me.
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Before going on 'X Factor' again, I felt like I'd tried everything else.
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I knew everything in the forest. I had a secret home tree, where I pretty much lived. I also liked rooftops and streetlamps. My parents would get calls saying 'He's out there again.'
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For me, it's really day to day. I don't really plan ahead and I like to be excited about what I'm wearing. Being on the road all the time, it's various articles of clothing that keep me inspired and feeling good. A fun or beautiful thing to wear can change your day. I think spontaneity and not adhering to any narrow styles keep me happy.
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Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.
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I may like L.A., but I want to know when the seasons are.
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'I see . . .' said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room towards the window. first line
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The wisest man preaches no doctrines; he has no scheme; he sees no rafter, not even a cobweb, against the heavens. It is clear sky. If I ever see more clearly at one time than at another, the medium through which I see is clearer.
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Gray space is fertile ground for fiction. When I can see both sides of an argument and feel strongly in both directions, then there's a story there, then I can write real characters that I care about and believe in and champion on both sides.
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Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong, but of the weak.
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You have already disarmed my men without my knowledge, are their arms to be returned or not?
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My loving sister Mary has always shared the pain and pleasure of my heartbeat in a unique and special way. We have sung our sad and warm songs together.
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Many of us take better care of our automobiles than we do our own bodies... yet the auto has replaceable parts.
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It is a sunny fall afternoon and I’m engaged in one of my favorite pastimes—picking chestnuts. I’m playing alone under the spreading, leafy, protective tree. My mother is sitting on a bench nearby, rocking the buggy in which my sister is asleep. The city, beyond the lacy wall of trees, is humming with gentle noises. The sun has just passed its highest point and is warming me with intense, oblique rays. I pick up a reddish brown chestnut, and suddenly, through its warm skin, I feel the beat as if of a heart. But the beat is also in everything around me, and everything pulsates and shimmers as if it were coursing with the blood of life. Stooping under the tree, I’m holding life in my hand, and I am in the center of a harmonious, vibrating transparency. For that moment, I know everything there is to know. I have stumbled into the very center of plenitude, and I hold myself still with fulfillment, before the knowledge of my knowledge escapes me.
