Martin Svoboda

@quick, member from April 4, 2011
Martha Graham photo

“People have asked me why I chose to be a dancer. I did not choose: I was chosen to be a dancer, and, with that, you live all your life.”

Martha Graham (1894–1991) American dancer and choreographer

I Am A Dancer (1952)
Source: Blood Memory

Will Ferrell photo
Sören Kierkegaard photo

“Do it or do not do it - you will regret both.”

Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both. Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it… Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy.
Source: Either/Or

Martin Heidegger photo
Ennio Morricone photo
Henry James photo

“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”

Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic

Overheard by his nephew, Billy James, in 1902; quoted in Leon Edel, Henry James: A Life, vol V: The Master 1901-1916 (1972).

Jiri Lev photo

“We don’t need natural disasters. We’re building our own.”

Jiri Lev (1979)

Source: The Australian Architects Offering Pro-Bono Design Services to Bushfire Survivors https://hivelife.com/architects-assist/.

“Why do things have to die? It is nature. And nature is flawed.”

Raised by Wolves, season 1, episode 4. Character Mother.

Karen Blixen photo
John Nash photo

“You don't have to be a mathematician to have a feel for numbers.”

John Nash (1928–2015) American mathematician and Nobel Prize laureate

Statement of 2006, partly cited in Stop Making Sense: Music from the Perspective of the Real (2015) by Scott Wilson, p. 117
2000s
Context: You don't have to be a mathematician to have a feel for numbers. A movie, by the way, was made — sort of a small-scale offbeat movie — called Pi recently. I think it starts off with a big string of digits running across the screen, and then there are people who get concerned with various things, and in the end this Bible code idea comes up. And that ties in with numbers, so the relation to numbers is not necessarily scientific, and even when I was mentally disturbed, I had a lot of interest in numbers.

Steve Jobs photo

“It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.

As quoted in Fortune (9 November 1998); also quoted in "TIME digital 50" in TIME digital archive (1999) http://web.archive.org/web/20000612103032/http://www.time.com/time/digital/digital50/08.html
1990s
Context: Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.

Joseph Campbell photo
Ricky Gervais quote: “If you try to please everyone you’ll please no one.”
Ricky Gervais photo

“If you try to please everyone you’ll please no one.”

Ricky Gervais (1961) English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician, writer, and former radio presenter
Rudyard Kipling photo

“He wrapped himself in quotations - as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”

The Finest Story in the World http://www.telelib.com/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/ManyInventions/fineststory.html (1893).
Other works
Source: Many Inventions
Context: When next he came to me he was drunk—royally drunk on many poets for the first time revealed to him. His pupils were dilated, his words tumbled over each other, and he wrapped himself in quotations—as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.

Jiddu Krishnamurti photo
Jiddu Krishnamurti photo