Eric Shaffer > Eric's Quotes

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
― Paul Farmer

“What sphinx of cement and aluminium bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?

- Howl”
― Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems

“Literature is news that stays news.”
― Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”
― Charles Darwin, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809–82

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
― Stephen King

“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

“Don't be afraid to make an ass of yourself. I do it all the time, and look what I got." (Spoken at a graduation ceremony while holding aloft an honorary doctoral degree from McGill University)”
― William Shatner with Chris Regan

“I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively, instead of skeptically and dictatorially.”
― E.B. White

“I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake.”
― Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

“Alliteration seems to offend people.”
― Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas

“If you're 50 years old or younger, give every book about 50 pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up.

If you're over 50, which is when time gets shorter, subtract your age from 100 - the result is the number of pages you should read before deciding whether or not to quit. If you're 100 or over you get to judge the book by its cover, despite the dangers in doing so.”
― Nancy Pearl

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West

“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Stories

“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will provide plenty of time for silence.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“Information coming directly from a politician or his team, without being vetted by reporters, is little more than propaganda.”
― Katy Tur, Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
― Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves

“I'm fighting racism one book at a time to open minds and change hearts.”
― Jacquie Abram, HUSH MONEY: How One Woman Proved Systemic Racism in her Workplace and Kept her Job

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, Different Seasons

“Never trust a survivor,” my father used to warn me, with Vartan Mamigonian in mind, “until you find out what he did to stay alive.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Bluebeard