“Look at all the happiest, sanest people you've known, Nelson. Really listen to them. I bet you'll find they don’t fear a little inconsistency or uncertainty now and then. Oh, they try always to be true to their core beliefs, to achieve their goals and keep their promises. Still, they also avoid too much rigidity, forgiving the occasional contradiction and unexpected thought. They are content to be many.”

—  David Brin , book Earth

Part XI (p. 630)
Earth (1990)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Look at all the happiest, sanest people you've known, Nelson. Really listen to them. I bet you'll find they don’t fear …" by David Brin?
David Brin photo
David Brin 123
novelist, short story writer 1950

Related quotes

Margaret Atwood photo

“Now we come to forgiveness. Don’t worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don’t let them suffer too much.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 30 (pp. 194-195)
Context: (She is reciting the Lord’s prayer) Now we come to forgiveness. Don’t worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don’t let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.

Zale Parry photo

“Keep diving and get really good at it. Too many folks try many other activities and don’t get good at any of them.”

Zale Parry (1933) American scuba diver and actress

Source: Dive Fitness Perspectives: An interview with Zale Parry http://floridadiver.net/dive-fitness-perspectives-an-interview-with-zale-parry/ (April 3, 2016)

Glen Cook photo
James Morrison photo

“Oh it tears me up
I try to hold on but it hurts too much
I try to forgive, but it's not enough to make it all okay.”

James Morrison (1984) English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Broken Strings
Song lyrics, Undiscovered (James Morrison album) (2006)

Niki Lauda photo

“Don’t talk too much, be focused on the goal and achieve it.”

Niki Lauda (1949–2019) Austrian former Formula 1 racing driver
George Soros photo

“Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.”

George Soros (1930) Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

As quoted in "Great Money Minds" by Chris Stallman at TeenAnalyst.com (5 May 2005) http://www.teenanalyst.com/general/topmoneyminds.html

Pete Doherty photo

“Oh promises, promises
I know you've heard them all before
Love is, love is, love is, love is, love is…

Oh well, it's just around the corner”

Pete Doherty (1979) English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist

"Back From The Dead"
Lyrics and poetry

Farah Pahlavi photo

“Regardless of all the pressures upon them, people are fighting bravely against this suppression. The success of Iranians all across the world is also the happiest thought. What I always say is that goodwill wins over bad.”

Farah Pahlavi (1938) Empress of Iran

Interview: Farah Pahlavi Recalls 30 Years In Exile http://www.rferl.org/content/Interview_Farah_Pahlavi_Recalls_30_Years_In_Exile/2111354.html, Radio Free Europe, (July 27, 2010).
Interviews

Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Stephen King photo

“Drive away and try to keep smiling. Get a little rock and roll on the radio and go toward all the life there is with all the courage you can find and all the belief you can muster. Be true, be brave, stand.”

Page 1087
Source: It (1986)
Context: Not all boats which sail away into darkness never find the sun again, or the hand of another child; if life teaches anything at all, it teaches that there are so many happy endings that the man who believes there is no God needs his rationality called into serious question...So drive away quick, drive away while the last of the light slips away...drive away from Derry, from memory...but not from desire. That stays, the bright cameo of all we were and all we believed as children, all that shone in our eyes even when we were lost and the wind blew in the night. Drive away and try to keep smiling. Get a little rock and roll on the radio and go toward all the life there is with all the courage you can find and all the belief you can muster. Be true, be brave, stand. All the rest is darkness.
Context: So you leave, and there is an urge to look back, to look back just once as the sunset fades, to see that severe New England skyline one final time... Best not to look back. Best to believe that there will be happily ever afters all the way around - and so there may be; who is to say there will not be such endings? Not all boats which sail away into darkness never find the sun again, or the hand of another child; if life teaches anything at all, it teaches that there are so many happy endings that the man who believes there is no God needs his rationality called into serious question... So drive away quick, drive away while the last of the light slips away... drive away from Derry, from memory... but not from desire. That stays, the bright cameo of all we were and all we believed as children, all that shone in our eyes even when we were lost and the wind blew in the night. Drive away and try to keep smiling. Get a little rock and roll on the radio and go toward all the life there is with all the courage you can find and all the belief you can muster. Be true, be brave, stand. All the rest is darkness.

Related topics