Denys Johnson-Davies Quotes
Modern Arabic literature achieved international recognition when Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel prize in 1988 (.....) Mahfouz also rendered Arabic literature a great service by developing, over the years, a form of language in which many of the archaisms and cliches that had become fashionable were discarded, a language that could serve as an adequate instrument for the writing of fiction in these times.
Quotes to Explore
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Intimate relationships are a gold mine for literature to explore, to understand, to describe.
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To be a great painter means to be a great poet: someone who transcends the limits of his language.
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So many Indian novels, quite unfairly, do not get the prominence they should because they have been written in a language other than English.
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I had a major bug for cities and for paintings and literature and all the things I thought went on in cities.
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When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can.
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Suddenly I was the man who got the part that every actor in the English language was trying to get. I was really scared. I had talked the talk, and now I had to walk the walk. For three days, I couldn't answer the phone.
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Coffee is a language in itself.
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Life develops, changes, is in motion. The forms of literature are not.
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If you are an Arabic-speaking, Greek-Orthodox going to a French school it makes you deeply sceptical if you have to listen to three different accounts of the Crusades - one from the Muslim side, one from the Greek side and one from the Catholic side.
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I'm not saying that in order to be a great jazz musician you have to be a great classical pianist first. But I am saying that it makes things easier when you can get around the instrument, and you have some idea of how to approach the various hurdles.
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Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.
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Female characters in literature are full. They're messy: they've got runny noses and burp and belch. Unfortunately, in film, female characters don't often have that kind of richness.
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Even the best scientists are often insecure and feel the need for recognition.
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Mercury is most commonly recognized as a developmental toxin, threatening to young children and fetuses as they develop their nervous system. Prenatal exposure to even low levels of mercury can cause life-long problems with language skills, fine motor function, and the ability to pay attention.
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Writers are historians, too. It is in literature that the greater truths about a people and their past are found.
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The quality of our thoughts is bordered on all sides by our facility with language.
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Language that is designed to dehumanize has consequences.
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Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden.
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We are, even now, killing ourselves over ancient literature. Who would have thought something so tragically absurd could be possible?
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If our free society is to endure, those who govern must recognize human dignity and accept the enforcement of constitutional limitations on their power conceived by the Framers . . . . Such recognition will not come from a technical understanding of the organs of government, or the new forms of wealth they administer. It requires something different, something deeper-a personal confrontation with the wellsprings of our society.
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In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.
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I think that a lot of people are making a lot of money spreading anxiety. Anxiety sells.
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In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq because it was going to destabilize the Middle East.
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Modern Arabic literature achieved international recognition when Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel prize in 1988 (.....) Mahfouz also rendered Arabic literature a great service by developing, over the years, a form of language in which many of the archaisms and cliches that had become fashionable were discarded, a language that could serve as an adequate instrument for the writing of fiction in these times.
