Melanie Mylvaganam > Melanie's Quotes

“There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep and still be counted as warriors.”
― Adrienne Rich

“The earth was overwhelmed with beauty and indifferent to it, and I went with a heart ready to crack for its unbearable loveliness.”
― Josephine Winslow Johnson, Now in November

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its strength.”
― A.J. Cronin

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
― Herman Melville

“Art, art of any kind, shows that folks are trying.”
― Walter Kirn, Mission to America

“To this generation I would say:
Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology

“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability.”
― H.P. Lovecraft

“She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.”
― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

“Dare to be strong and courageous. That is the road. Venture anything.”
― Sherwood Anderson

“To learn something, to master something, anything, is as sweet as first love.”
― Geoffrey Wolff

“Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them. ”
― Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”
― Gustave Flaubert

“The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.”
― Abigail Van Buren

“Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking.”
― Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
― Anais Nin

“The future has an ancient heart.”
― Carlo Levi

“These woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
― Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.”
― Ben Okri

“I've got the guts to die. What I want to know is, have you got the guts to live?”
― Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L'Amour

“The basic premise of religion– that if you live a good life, things will go well for you– is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet He had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.”
― Tim Keller

“Read and listen to one thinker and you become a clone; Read two and you become confused; Read ten and you get your own voice; Read a hundred and you start to become wise.”
― Tim Keller

“God made you to love him supremely, but he lost you. He returned to get you back, but it took the cross to do it. He absorbed your darkness so that one day you can finally and dazzlingly become your true self and take your seat at his eternal feast.”
― Tim Keller

“Every one of our sinful actions has a suicidal power on the faculties that put that action forth. When you sin with the mind, that sin shrivels the rationality. When you sin with the heart or the emotions, that sin shrivels the emotions. When you sin with the will, that sin destroys and dissolves your willpower and your self-control. Sin is the suicidal action of the self against itself. Sin destroys freedom because sin is an enslaving power.”
― Tim Keller

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”
― Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God

“Everyone has talent. What's rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.”
― Erica Jong

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.”
― August Wilson

“What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well...”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

“Is it nothing to hold one's peace? Is it a simple matter to keep silence? No, it is not simple. There is a silence which lies.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Miserables