Knox College commencement address http://www.knox.edu/colbert.xml (3 June 2006)
Context: Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.
“Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes’, otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.”
Source: Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (1964), Ch. 2
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Ian Fleming 44
English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer 1908–1964Related quotes
“Life is pain. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.”
Variant: Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Source: The Princess Bride
“If I had followed my better judgment always, my life would have been a very dull one.”
“Life is too long to say anything definitely; always say perhaps.”
Source: War and Peace
“Life is a helluva lot more fun if you say yes rather than no”
“The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.”
As quoted in Know Your Limits — Then Ignore Them (2000) by John Mason, p. 46
From Nothing Personal, a collaboration with the photographer Richard Avedon (1964). Baldwin's text for the volume can be found " here https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=cibs".
Context: One must say Yes to life, and embrace it wherever it is found - and it is found in terrible places. … For nothing is fixed, forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.