Alyssa > Alyssa's Quotes

“ROSE of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
The tall thought-woven sails, that flap unfurled
Above the tide of hours, trouble the air,
And God’s bell buoyed to be the water’s care;
While hushed from fear, or loud with hope, a band
With blown, spray-dabbled hair gather at hand.
Turn if you may from battles never done,
I call, as they go by me one by one,
Danger no refuge holds, and war no peace,
For him who hears love sing and never cease,
Beside her clean-swept hearth, her quiet shade:
But gather all for whom no love hath made
A woven silence, or but came to cast
A song into the air, and singing past
To smile on the pale dawn; and gather you
Who have sought more than is in rain or dew
Or in the sun and moon, or on the earth,
Or sighs amid the wandering starry mirth,
Or comes in laughter from the sea’s sad lips;
And wage God’s battles in the long grey ships.
The sad, the lonely, the insatiable,
To these Old Night shall all her mystery tell;
God’s bell has claimed them by the little cry
Of their sad hearts, that may not live nor die.

Rose of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
You, too, have come where the dim tides are hurled
Upon the wharves of sorrow, and heard ring
The bell that calls us on; the sweet far thing.
Beauty grown sad with its eternity
Made you of us, and of the dim grey sea.
Our long ships loose thought-woven sails and wait,
For God has bid them share an equal fate;
And when at last defeated in His wars,
They have gone down under the same white stars,
We shall no longer hear the little cry
Of our sad hearts, that may not live nor die.

The Sweet Far Thing”
― William Butler Yeats, The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”
― John Locke

“Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals Of Ralph Waldo Emerson, With Annotations - 1841-1844

“You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.”
― Norman Douglas

“Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.”
― Aesop

“It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.”
― Anne Tyler

“Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.”
― Philip K. Dick

“Your very silence shows you agree.”
― Europides

“Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.”
― Oscar Wilde

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
― Bill Clinton

“Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”
― Gore Vidal, Screening History

“Anger at lies lasts forever. Anger at truth can't last.”
― Greg Evans

“Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry.”
― Henry Ward Beecher

“I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me.”
― Dave Barry

“It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.”
― Pierre Beaumarchais

“I have too much respect for the idea of God to make it responsible for such an absurd world.”
― Georges Duhamel

“I don't know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn't.”
― Jules Renard

“If it turns out that there is a God...the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.”
― Woody Allen

“I happen to feel that the degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.”
― Lisa Alther

“Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.”
― E. Joseph Cossman

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
― Anne Frank

“Just because you are blind, and unable to see my beauty doesn't mean it does not exist.”
― Margaret Cho

“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.”
― Gerry Spence, How to Argue and Win Every Time: At Home, At Work, In Court, Everywhere, Every Day

“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.”
― Austin Phelps

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

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
― Groucho Marx

“Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?”
― Henry Ward Beecherr

“Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.”
― John Witherspoon

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
― Mark Twain