T.R. Winters > T.R.'s Quotes

“A bit of trash now and then is good for the severest reader. It provides the necessary roughage in the literary diet.”
― Phyllis McGinley

“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”
― Albert Einstein

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”
― E.L. Doctorow

“I have a different idea of elegance. I don't dress like a fop, it's true, but my moral grooming is impeccable. I never appear in public with a soiled conscience, a tarnished honor, threadbare scruples, or an insult that I haven't washed away. I'm always immaculately clean, adorned with independence and frankness. I may not cut a stylish figure, but I hold my soul erect. I wear my deeds as ribbons, my wit is sharper then the finest mustache, and when I walk among men I make truths ring like spurs.”
― Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.”
― Gertrude Stein

“I write to discover what I know.”
― Flannery O'Connor

“A book is like a vacation for the brain.”
― Rachel Adams

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
― Flannery O'Connor

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.”
― Flannery O'Connor, Flannery O'Connor: Collected Works

“The high-school English teacher will be fulfilling his responsibility if he furnishes the student a guided opportunity, through the best writing of the past, to come, in time, to an understanding of the best writing of the present. He will teach literature, not social studies or little lessons in democracy or the customs of many lands. And if the student finds that this is not to his taste? Well, that is regrettable. Most regrettable. His taste should not be consulted; it is being formed.”
― Flannery O'Connor

“The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.”
(August 9, 1955)”
― Flannery O'Connor

“The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.”
― Flannery O' Connor

“A working knowledge of the devil can be very well had from resisting him.”
― Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

“There was already a deep black wordless conviction in him that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin.”
― Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”
― Jane Goodall

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

“The shadow of someone's greatness is not a good place to dwell. Being the next someone else pales into insignificance against being the first you.”
― John Paul Bernett

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“There are no wrongs just write.”
― Beverly Gail Bernett

“In some ways, it's easier to recognize your power when you're calm and untroubled than when you're distressed. Search out your talent in quiet moments. Don't push too hard. You've done it once. You can do it again.”
― Brandon Mull, The Rogue Knight

“Temptation is the feeling we get when encountered by an opportunity to do what we innately know we shouldn't.”
― Steve Maraboli

“The Devil's Rose

You would never take a rose from a beast.
If his callous hand were to hold out a scarlet flower, his grip unaffected by pricking thorns, you would shrink from the gift and refuse it. I know that is what you would do.

But the cunning beast will have his beauty.

He hunts not in hopeless pursuit, for fear would have you sprint all the day long. Thus, he turns toward the shadows and clutches the rosebud, crunching and twisting until every delicate petal is detached. One falls not far from your feet, and you notice the red spot in the snow.

The color sparkles in the sunlight, catching your curious eye. No beast stands in sight; there is nothing to fear, so you dare retrieve the lone petal. The touch of temptation is velvet against your thumb. It carries a scent you bring to your nose, and both eyes close to float on a cloud of perfume.

As your lashes lift, another scarlet drop stains the snow at a near distance. A glance around perceives no danger, and so your footprints scar the snowflakes to retrieve another rosy leaflet as soft and sweet as the first. Your eyes shine with flecks of golden greed at the discovery of more discarded petals, and you blame the wind for scattering them mere footprints apart. All you want is a few, so you step and snatch, step and snatch, step and snatch.

Soon, there is enough velvet to rub against your cheek like a silken kerchief. Your collection of one-plus-one-more reeks of floral essence.

Distracted, you jump at the sight of the beast in your path. He stands before his lair, grinning without love. His callous hands grip at thorns on a single naked stem, and you look down at your own hands that now cup his rose. But how can it be? You would never take a rose from a beast. You would shrink from the gift and refuse it. He knows that is what you would do.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year