Andy > Andy's Quotes

“One of the most begrudging avian take-offs
is the heron's ‘fucking hell, all right, all right,
I'll go the garage for your flaming fags’
cranky departure, though once they're up
their flight can be extravagant. I watched
one big spender climb the thermal staircase,
a calorific waterspout of frogs
and sticklebacks, the undercarriage down
and trailing. Seen from antiquity
you gain the Icarus thing; seen from my childhood
that cursing man sets out for Superkings,
though the heron cares for neither as it struggles
into its wings then soars sunwards and throws
its huge overcoat across the earth.”
― Paul Farley, Selected Poems

“A happy man has no past, while an unhappy man has nothing else.”
― Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

“We are very arrogant to think we alone have a totally original mind. We are carried on the backs of all the writers who came before us.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

“A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.”
― Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

“So called 'late-bloomers' get a bad rap. Sometimes the people with the greatest potential often take the longest to find their path because their sensitivity is a double edged sword- it lives at the heart of their brilliance, but it also makes them more susceptible to life's pains. Good thing we aren't being penalized for handing in our purpose late. The soul doesn't know a thing about deadlines.”
― Jeff Brown, Love It Forward

“The path to survival was to never give up on the small things.”
― Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

“Writing is not lying, nor is it theft. It is a journey and search for transparency between one’s words and one’s soul.”
― Richard Flanagan