Thinking Quotes
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I have nothing but great respect for great scholars. But I was in grad school in the '80s and '90s, at the height of the theory craziness. It had a big part in why I ended up becoming a writer rather than a scholar, because I thought, "I just can't play these games." I was interested in literature because I loved literature, and so much of the theoretical positioning, at that moment 25 years ago, was antagonistic to literature. You know, trying to show that Jane Austen is a terrible person because she wasn't thinking about colonialism.
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I said it, just like that. No stupid jokes, no changing the subject. For once, I wasn't embarrassed, because it was the truth. I had fallen. I think I had always been falling. And she might as well know, if she didn't already, because there was no going back now. Not for me.
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What I think is the most important thing to learn about any instrument is the basics of music. Learn your ABCs before you write a Hemingway novel.
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The very term ['mental disease'] is nonsensical, a semantic mistake. The two words cannot go together except metaphorically; you can no more have a mental 'disease' than you can have a purple idea or a wise space". Similarly, there can no more be a "mental illness" than there can be a "moral illness." The words "mental" and "illness" do not go together logically. Mental "illness" does not exist, and neither does mental "health." These terms indicate only approval or disapproval of some aspect of a person's mentality (thinking, emotions, or behavior).
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I smile and I think that one human being must always be discovering another - through love. And that this is the most important thing on earth, and the most lasting.
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Jesus didn't really die-someone gave him a long drug that made him look like dead, and he revived in the tomb. Answer: Roman soldiers knew how to kill people, and no disciple would have been fooled by a half-drugged, beat-up Jesus into thinking he'd defeated death and inaugurated the kingdom.
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The great power of separating the watching mind from the thinking mind is that the watching mind is innately loving. Some call this part of the psyche the 'compassionate witness.' Sharing our difficult feelings with a compassionate witness is the crucial step that heals the infinite small wounds inflicted upon the soul by everyday life.
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I know something about the civilization of China, with my background, obviously, and I think I know something about American history. But that's about all. And I've traveled all over the world, and for a long time I didn't know very much about it, really.
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The line is a way of thinking in poetry, by poetry..it paces the poem.
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Irresponsibility breeds irresponsibility. The finances of government are so central. You'd think that would be pretty obvious.
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Having a beard is natural. When you think about it, shaving it off is quite weird.
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I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.
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May not machines carry out something which ought to be described as thinking but which is very different from what a man does?
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Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?
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I had my first kiss when I was 11, but I think I've blocked it out of my mind because it was so bad. I'm not even sure it counts as a kiss.
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Does housekeeping interest you at all? I think it really ought to be just as good as writing and I never see where the separation between the too comes in. At least if you must put books on one side and life on the other, each is a poor and bloodless thing; but my theory is that they mix indistinguishable.
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Contrary to Warhol's 15 minutes of fame, I think that today in front of insatiable curiosity of the crowd, we would be better off to remain secret as long as possible, work in the denser part of shadows.
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How could anybody think of Bach as 'cold' when these [cello] suites seem to shine with the most glittering kind of poetry," Casals said. "As I got on with the study I discovered a new world of space and beauty... the feelings I experienced were among the purest and most intense in my artistic life!
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You are 100% emotional in everything you think, feel and decide. You decide emotionally and justify logically.
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I was just trying out and having some fun. I don't think I'd want to pursue singing as a career; it's an on-the-side thing. It would be great if I could make a career out of it but if I can't, that's OK too.
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I'm not always what I think I am, but I am what I think.
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I think the diversity of authors and readers is expanding, which is wonderful, because it means the type of story being told is also expanding.
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To some extent I'm guilty of wishful thinking. The absence of the interstitial I find unbearable.
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I'm grateful for my whole family, but my dad is like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Superman, and Evel Knievel all at one time. I can think I have it all figured out, and he'll say, 'But did you look at that side of it?' He shows me just how much more there is than what appears to be.
