Beth Gutcheon > Beth's Quotes

“I'll admit that I was surprised to see two decades of film journalism canonized in the same church as Lincoln, Thoreau, Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson; that's a fairly loose canon.”
― William Zinnser

“A player whose technical skill is not of the first rank will make gracenotes longer than they should be. As a result he has to shorten the theme notes (unless he is to drag the variation badly.) Short theme notes means less emphasis on the melody.”
― Kirsty Gunn, The Big Music

“I like it that they [disciples] feed me and pay for my clothes and protect me. And in return I will do for them what I can, but no more than that. Just as I cannot breathe the breath of another or help the heart of someone else to beat or their bones not to weaken or their flesh not to shrivel, I cannot say more than I can say. And I know how deeply this disturbs them, and it would make me smile, this earnest need for foolish anecdote or sharp simple patterns in the story of what happened to us all, except that I have forgotten how to smile.”
― Colm Tóibín, The Testament of Mary

“Reading isn't the opposite of doing, it's the opposite of dying.”
― Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club

“There are certain books that I mean to read and keep stacked by my bedside. I even take them on trips. Some of my books should be awarded their own frequent-flier miles, they've traveled so much. I take these volumes on flight after flight with the best of intentions and then end up reading anything and everything else. (Sky Mall! Golf Digest!)”
― Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club