Source: Perdido Street Station
“Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
Source: Sigan Ŭn Hangsang Mirae Ro Hŭrŭnŭnʼga: Hokʻing Paksa Ŭi Chaemi Innŭn Chʻoesin Ujuron
Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715) philosopher
Dialogues on Metaphysics (1688) Dialogue III
Context: I am unable, when I turn to myself, to recognize any of my faculties or my capacities. The inner sensation which I have of myself informs me that I am, that I think, that I will, that I have sensory awareness, that I suffer, and so on; but it provides me with no knowledge whatever of what I am — of the nature of my thought, my sensations, my passions, or my pain — or the mutual relations that obtain between all these things … I have no idea whatever of my soul.
Petina Gappah (1971) Zimbabwean writer, journalist and business lawyer
On how being a lawyer shaped her writing in “Exclusive interview: Petina Gappah speaks about the highs and lows of her writing career, and reveals details of her next book” https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com/2017/09/04/exclusive-interview-petina-gappah-speaks-about-the-highs-and-lows-of-her-writing-career-and-reveals-details-of-her-next-book/ in the Johannesburg Review of Books (2017 Sep 4)
Frank Wilczek (1951) physicist
as quoted by Claudia Dreyfus in: [January 21, 2021, A Prodigy Who Cracked Open the Cosmos (an interview with Franck Wilczek), Quanta Magazine, https://www.quantamagazine.org/frank-wilczek-cracked-open-the-cosmos-20210112/]
Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) American artist
1980's, I don't necessarily desire a perfect photography,' 1981
James Berardinelli (1967) American film critic
Judging by sales figures and testimonials, playing the game has to be an infinitely preferable experience to watching this pathetic excuse for a movie. <br class="br"> Review http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=928 of Doom (2005). <br class="br">One-star reviews
Jesse Jackson (1941) African-American civil rights activist and politician
Speech at Anderson College in Anderson, Indiana (4 March 1979), quoted in Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith (1987) by David G. Myers and Malcolm A. Jeeves. The first sentence is a modification of a quote by Napoleon Hill: "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
“I am learning my business. Literature nowadays is a trade.”
George Gissing (1857–1903) English novelist
Vol. I, Ch. 1 : A Man of His Day, p. 8
New Grub Street : A Novel (1891)
Context: I am learning my business. Literature nowadays is a trade. Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets; when one kind of goods begins to go off slackly, he is ready with something new and appetising. He knows perfectly all the possible sources of income. Whatever he has to sell he'll get payment for it from all sorts of various quarters; none of your unpractical selling for a lump sum to a middleman who will make six distinct profits.
