Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist
TV Series and Specials (Includes DVDs), Trick of the Mind (2004–2006)
“I'd woken up early, and I took a long time getting ready to exist.”
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Source: The Book of Disquiet
Last update Jan. 12, 2026. History
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Fernando Pessoa288
Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publi… 1888–1935Related quotes
William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying
Variant: ... the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.
Source: As I Lay Dying
“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …
Free Inquiry (Spring 1982) <!-- p. 9 -->
General sources
Context: I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.
““Are you ready?” Jane asked.
“Before I existed, I was ready.””
Michael Swanwick book The Iron Dragon's Daughter
Source: The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993), Chapter 22 (p. 394)
Stephen Vincent Benét book The Devil and Daniel Webster
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1937)
Context: Finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightning and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they thickened as he watched them. Then he saw what he'd been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who's just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.
For it was him they'd come for, not only Jabez Stone. He read it in the glitter of their eyes and in the way the stranger hid his mouth with one hand. And if he fought them with their own weapons, he'd fall into their power; he knew that, though he couldn't have told you how. It was his own anger and horror that burned in their eyes; and he'd have to wipe that out or the case was lost. He stood there for a moment, his black eyes burning like anthracite. And then he began to speak.
Walter Goffart (1934) American historian
Source: Quotaes, Barbarian Tides (2010), p. 25