“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett book Worstward Ho
Worstward Ho (1983)
Variant: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Context: All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
“Everything we are is at every moment alive in us.”
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
"As Much Truth As One Can Bear" in The New York Times Book Review (14 January 1962); republished in The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (2011), edited by Randall Kenan<!-- , also quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 114 -->
Context: Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. … Most of us are about as eager to change as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.
“The place in which I'll fit will not exist until I make it.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
“Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
"Fifth Avenue, Uptown: a Letter from Harlem" in Esquire (July 1960); republished in Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (1961)
James Baldwin book Nobody Knows My Name
"In Search of a Majority: An Address" (Feb 1960); reprinted in Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_My_Name (1961)
James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time
"Me and My House" in Harper's (November 1955); republished in Notes of a Native Son (1955)
Source: The Fire Next Time
“We are born not with purpose, but with potential.”
Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents
Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 1 (p. 1)
“A tree cannot grow in its parents’ shadows.”
Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Sower
Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 7 (p. 82)
“Sometimes, one must become a master to avoid becoming a slave.”
Source: Wild Seed (1980), Chapter 1 (p. 11)
“Life was treasure. The only treasure.”
Octavia E. Butler book Imago
Source: Imago (1989), Chapter I, “Metamorphosis” section 6 (p. 564)
“In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn.”
Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents
Variant: In order to rise
From its own ashes
A phoenix
First
Must
Burn.
Source: Parable of the Talents
“A pet. In pets, free will was tolerated only as long as the pet owner found it amusing.”
Octavia E. Butler book Mind of My Mind
Source: Mind of My Mind (1977), Chapter 5 (p. 344)
“Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
“He who truly knows has no occasion to shout.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
