Other
Other
“I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.”
Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), edited with Jason A. Shulman, p. 281
General sources
“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.”
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
“If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.”
Source: Conversations with Tennessee Williams
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”
Source: On the Road: the Original Scroll
“The human imagination leaps to form the whole, to complete the scene in order to make sense of it.”
Source: The Courage to Create (1975), Ch. 7 : Passion for Form, p. 131
Context: The human imagination leaps to form the whole, to complete the scene in order to make sense of it. The instantaneous way this is done shows how we are driven to construct the remainder of the scene. To fill the gaps is essential if the scene is to have meaning. That we may do this in misleading ways — at times in neurotic or paranoid ways — does not gainsay the central point. Our passion for form expresses our yearning to make the world adequate to our needs and desires, and, more important, to experience ourselves as having significance.
“I never said to be like me, I say to be like you and make a difference.”
Variant: I never said to be like me, I say be yourself and make a difference.
“But what's real? You can't find the truth, you just pick the lie you like the best.”
“The tongue may hide the truth but the eyes—never!”
Book One in 'Nikanor Ivanovich's Dream', B/O
Variant: The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never!
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)
Context: The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never! You're asked an unexpected question, you don't even flinch, it takes just a second to get yourself under control, you know just what you have to say to hide the truth, and you speak very convincingly, and nothing in your face twitches to give you away. But the truth, alas, has been disturbed by the question, and it rises up from the depths of your soul to flicker in your eyes and all is lost.
“To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.”
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”
Source: 1890s, The Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 22
“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.”
“Fashion fades, style is eternal.”
Variant: Fashions fade, style is eternal.
