Ray Bradbury: Trending quotes (page 19)

“Joy is the grace we say to God.”

“I feel like I own all the kids in the world because, since I've never grown up myself, all my books are automatically for children. … It's mutual delight and love made manifest. For one thing, kids love me because I write stories that tell them about their capacity for evil. I'm one of the few writers who lets you cleanse yourself that way.”

“I don’t believe in optimism. I believe in optimal behavior. That’s a different thing.”

“Trapped in the blood, athirst for air,
Christ, who once was employed as single Son of God
Now finds Himself among three billion on a billion
Brother sons, their arms thrown wide to grasp and hold
and walk them everywhere
Now weaving this, now weaving that in swoons…”

“Anna said, “Must they have a reason?”
“No, not if they’re insane, no,” said Juliet. “In that case no reasons are necessary.””

“I just can’t imagine being in a world and not being fascinated with what ideas are doing to us.”

“Magazines today are almost all stupid and moronic to start with. And it makes me furious that I can't find any articles to read anymore. I used to enjoy Forbes and Fortune, but now the pages are completely cluttered with ads.”

“My stories run up and bite me in the leg — I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.”

“Those who live in the best cliffs think they are better than us. That is always man’s attitude when he has power.”

“Timothy looked at the deep ocean sky, trying to see Earth and the war and the ruined cities and the men killing each other since the day he was born. But he saw nothing. The war was as removed and far off as two flies battling to the death in the arch of a great high and silent cathedral. And just as senseless…
“What are you looking at so hard, Dad?”
“I was looking for Earthian logic, common sense, good government, peace, and responsibility.”
“All that up there?”
“No. I didn’t find it. It’s not there any more. Maybe it’ll never be there again. Maybe we fooled ourselves that it was ever there.””

“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.”

“Grandma, he had often wanted to say, Is this where the world began? For surely it had begun in no other than a place like this. The kitchen, without doubt, was the center of creation, all things revolved about it; it was the pediment that sustained the temple.”

“The women in my life have all been librarians, English teachers, or booksellers. If they couldn't speak pidgin Tolstoy, articulate Henry James, or give me directions to Usher and Ox, it was no go. I have always longed for education, and pillow talk's the best.”

“Libraries raised me. I don't believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don't have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

“I can work anywhere.”

“Never question the miraculous when it happens. ”

“I took the candy wrappers shamefacedly, and felt the extra ten pounds sag around my middle as I held these flags of defeat.”

“We all just gave up on that and stayed friends.”

“Will power is the answer. Will power. No white bread, no Nestle's Crunch bars… I flinched and felt the last of the bars melting in my pockets.”