Quotes about a smile (1751 quotes, page 17)

“Man is man the world over. This fact is affirmed and admitted in any effort to deny it. The sentiments we exhibit, whether love or hate, confidence or fear, respect or contempt, will always imply a like humanity. A smile or a tear has no nationality. Joy and sorrow speak alike in all nations”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1860s, Our Composite Nationality (1869)
Context: The great right of migration and the great wisdom of incorporating foreign elements into our body politic, are founded not upon any genealogical or ethnological theory, however learned, but upon the broad fact of a common nature. Man is man the world over. This fact is affirmed and admitted in any effort to deny it. The sentiments we exhibit, whether love or hate, confidence or fear, respect or contempt, will always imply a like humanity. A smile or a tear has no nationality. Joy and sorrow speak alike in all nations, and they above all the confusion of tongues proclaim the brotherhood of man.

Love , Hate , World , Fear

“If she but smile, the crystal calm shall break
In music, sweeter than it ever gave”

Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) United States poet, novelist and travel writer

"The Return of the Goddess" (1850), later published as the Preface to The Poet's Journal (1863); also in The Poetical Works of Bayard Taylor (1907), p. 103.
Context: If she but smile, the crystal calm shall break
In music, sweeter than it ever gave,
As when a breeze breathes o'er some sleeping lake,
And laughs in every wave.

Music

“We are more apt to feel depressed by the perpetually smiling individual than the one who is honestly sad.”

Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist

Paulus : Reminiscences of a Friendship (1973)
Context: We are more apt to feel depressed by the perpetually smiling individual than the one who is honestly sad. If we admit our depression openly and freely, those around us get from it an experience of freedom rather than the depression itself.

Sadness , Feeling

“One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of the great pain. … Or so says the legend.”

Colleen McCullough book The Thorn Birds

Epigraph, The Thorn Birds (1977)
Context: There is a legend about a bird that sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. Dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of the great pain. … Or so says the legend.

God , Pain , World

“In what awe you stood of her! How miserable you were when you had offended her! And yet, how pleasant to be bullied by her and to sue for pardon without having the slightest notion of what your fault was! How dark the world was when she snubbed you, as she often did, the little rogue, just to see you look wretched; how sunny when she smiled! How jealous you were of every one about her! How you hated every man she shook hands with, every woman she kissed—the maid that did her hair, the boy that cleaned her shoes, the dog she nursed—though you had to be respectful to the last-named! How you looked forward to seeing her, how stupid you were when you did see her, staring at her without saying a word! How impossible it was for you to go out at any time of the day or night without finding yourself eventually opposite her windows!”

Jerome K. Jerome book Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)
Context: And who would not risk its terrors to gain its raptures? Ah, what raptures they were! The mere recollection thrills you. How delicious it was to tell her that you loved her, that you lived for her, that you would die for her! How you did rave, to be sure, what floods of extravagant nonsense you poured forth, and oh, how cruel it was of her to pretend not to believe you! In what awe you stood of her! How miserable you were when you had offended her! And yet, how pleasant to be bullied by her and to sue for pardon without having the slightest notion of what your fault was! How dark the world was when she snubbed you, as she often did, the little rogue, just to see you look wretched; how sunny when she smiled! How jealous you were of every one about her! How you hated every man she shook hands with, every woman she kissed—the maid that did her hair, the boy that cleaned her shoes, the dog she nursed—though you had to be respectful to the last-named! How you looked forward to seeing her, how stupid you were when you did see her, staring at her without saying a word! How impossible it was for you to go out at any time of the day or night without finding yourself eventually opposite her windows!

Hate , Stupidity , World , Dogs

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.”

Robert Herrick book Hesperides

"To the Virgins to Make Much of Time". Compare: "Gather the rose of love whilest yet is time", Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book ii. canto xii. stanza 75. ; "Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds, before they be withered", Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 8.
Hesperides (1648)
Context: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,
The higher he's a-getting
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

Flowers , Time , Flying

“Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries, whom mankind have considered, not as the pupil, but the slave of science, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstructions from the paths through which Learning and Genius press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their progress. Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.”

Samuel Johnson book A Dictionary of the English Language

Preface http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/preface.html
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
Context: It is the fate of those, who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good; to be exposed to censure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where success would have been without applause, and diligence without reward. Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries, whom mankind have considered, not as the pupil, but the slave of science, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstructions from the paths through which Learning and Genius press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their progress. Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.

Hope , Literature , Learning , Science

“Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.”
Infidi maris insidis virisque dolumque ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book II, lines 557–559 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

Time , Falseness , Sea

“She watched him with cool green eyes and smiled innocently. The eyes were alert with wonder, curiosity, and — perhaps something else — but she could apparently not see that he was in pain.”

Walter M. Miller, Jr. book A Canticle for Leibowitz

Ch 29
A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), Fiat Voluntas Tua
Context: She watched him with cool green eyes and smiled innocently. The eyes were alert with wonder, curiosity, and — perhaps something else — but she could apparently not see that he was in pain. There was something about her eyes that caused him to notice nothing else for several seconds. But then he noticed that the head of Mrs. Grales slept soundly on the other shoulder while Rachel smiled. It seemed a young shy smile that hoped for friendship. He tried again.
"Listen, is anyone else alive? Get —"
Melodious and solemn came her answer: "listen is anyone else alive — " She savored the words. She enunciated them distinctly. She smiled over them Her lips reframed them when her voice was done with them. It was more than reflexive imitation, he decided. She was trying to communicate something. By the repetition, she was trying to convey the idea: I am somehow like you.
But she had only just now been born.
And you're somehow different, too, Zerchi noticed with a trace of awe.

Pain

“I didn't enter into this to get any kind of affirmation or confirmation. I entered into this to see what I could do for other people — to give them my sincerity, to give them my love and my care, to take a load off, to have a smile, to have a memory or two. Singing the blues has always been about alleviating the blues, and that's apparent when you listen to them.”

Ysabella Brave (1979) American singer

"Self Esteem" (31 May 2007)
Context: I didn't enter into this to get any kind of affirmation or confirmation. I entered into this to see what I could do for other people — to give them my sincerity, to give them my love and my care, to take a load off, to have a smile, to have a memory or two. Singing the blues has always been about alleviating the blues, and that's apparent when you listen to them. Sure is nice to hear that someone else is, or has been where you are, or have been. Because we forget sometimes, that we're all in this together, and we have many, many similar experiences — all the time, all across the world, in every age.

Love , People , Memory , Singing

“Change is come, and past over, no more strife, no more learning:
Now your lips and your forehead are sealed with his seal,
Look backward and smile at the thorns and the burning.
— Sweet rest, O my soul, and no fear of returning!”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

Love is Enough (1872), Song VIII: While Ye Deemed Him A-Sleeping
Context: All wonder of pleasure, all doubt of desire,
All blindness, are ended, and no more ye feel
If your feet treat his flowers or the flames of his fire,
If your breast meet his balms or the edge of his steel.
Change is come, and past over, no more strife, no more learning:
Now your lips and your forehead are sealed with his seal,
Look backward and smile at the thorns and the burning.
— Sweet rest, O my soul, and no fear of returning!

Fear , Soul , Learning , Change

“Often, when perplexed, I longed to be like the smiling, lazy, forgetful black boys in the noisy hotel locker rooms, with no torrential conflicts to resolve. Many times I grew weary of the secret burden I carried and longed to cast it down, either in action or in resignation. But I was not made to be a resigned man and I had only a limited choice of actions, and I was afraid of all of them.”

Richard Wright book Black Boy

Black Boy (1945)

Secret , Boy , Time , Forgetting

“Gentlemen, to the lady without whom I should never have survived for eighty, nor sixty, nor yet thirty years. Her smile has been my lyric, her understanding, the rhythm of the stanza. She has been the spring wherefrom I have drawn the power to write the words. She is the poem of my life.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice

Attribution reported in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989), which states that this is not verified in works about him nor in Magnificent Yankee, the film about him. Holmes expressed a similar sentiment in a letter to Sir Frederick Pollock (May 24, 1929): "For sixty years she made life poetry for me". Mark De Wolfe Howe, ed., Holmes-Pollock Letters (1941), vol. 2, p. 243.
Attributions

Life , Spring , Understanding

“And having in thy life-depth thrown
Being and suffering (which are one),
As a child drops his pebble small
Down some deep well, and hears it fall
Smiling — so I. THY DAYS GO ON.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author

St. 23 -24.
De Profundis (1862)
Context: p>I praise Thee while my days go on;
I love Thee while my days go on:
Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost,
With emptied arms and treasure lost,
I thank Thee while my days go on.And having in thy life-depth thrown
Being and suffering (which are one),
As a child drops his pebble small
Down some deep well, and hears it fall
Smiling — so I. THY DAYS GO ON.</p

Life , Suffering

“When, O crowned Jesus; when, O loving Saviour; when, O patient and just Judge — when wilt Thou come forth from Thy hiding, and change tears to smiles, and groans to joys?”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and activist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 410
Context: When, O crowned Jesus; when, O loving Saviour; when, O patient and just Judge — when wilt Thou come forth from Thy hiding, and change tears to smiles, and groans to joys? When shall that choral song burst forth, sweeping through the air, and circling about Thy throne, which shall proclaim the redemption of the world to the Lord God?

Love , Tear , Change , Joy

“A long long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile”

Don McLean (1945) American Singer and songwriter

Song lyrics, American Pie (1971), American Pie
Context: A long long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The Day the Music Died.

Music , Time

“They say that the Soviet delegates smile. That smile is genuine. It is not artificial. We wish to live in peace, tranquility. But if anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin he deceives himself poorly. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle.”

Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Impromptu speech at a dinner for visiting East German dignitaries, Moscow (September 17, 1955), as reported by The New York Times (September 18, 1955), p. 19.

Peace , Learning , Waiting

“Begin, baby boy, to recognize your mother with a smile.”
Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem.

Virgil book Eclogues

Book IV, line 60 (tr. Fairclough)
Eclogues (37 BC)

Boy , Baby

“But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.”

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) writer

Source: This and That and the Other (1912), Ch. XXXII : The Barbarians , p. 282
Context: In a word, the Barbarian is discoverable everywhere in this that he cannot make; that he can befog or destroy, but that he cannot sustain; and of every Barbarian in the decline or peril of every civilisation exactly that has been true.
We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid.
We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us: we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.

“The wolf was smiling at him, and he had never known that a wolf could smile.”

Clifford D. Simak Highway of Eternity

Highway of Eternity (1986)
Context: He stirred again, halfway between sleep and wakefulness, and he was not alone. Across the fire from him sat, or seemed to sit, a man wrapped in some all-enveloping covering that might have been a cloak, wearing on his head a conical hat that dropped down so far it hid his face. Beside him sat the wolf — the wolf, for Boone was certain that it was the same wolf with which he'd found himself sitting nose to nose when he had wakened the night before. The wolf was smiling at him, and he had never known that a wolf could smile.
He stared at the hat. Who are you? What is this about?
He spoke in his mind, talking to himself, not really to the hat. He had not spoken aloud for fear of startling the wolf.
The Hat replied. It is about the brotherhood of life. Who I am is of no consequence. I am only here to act as an interpreter.
An interpreter for whom?
For the wolf and you.
But the wolf does not talk.
No, he does not talk. But he thinks. He is greatly pleased and puzzled.
Puzzled I can understand. But pleased?
He feels a sameness with you. He senses something in you that reminds him of himself. He puzzles what you are.
In time to come, said Boone, he will be one with us. He will become a dog.
If he knew that, said The Hat, it would not impress him. He thinks now to be one with you. An equal. A dog is not your equal...

Wolf

“Cruel and callous when on top, afraid and smiling all the way to the grave when not- that pretty much sums up the post-Reagan zeitgeist.”

Mark Ames (1965) American writer and journalist

Part VI: Welcome to the Dollhouse, page 239.
Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion, From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005)
Context: Cruel and callous when on top, afraid and smiling all the way to the grave when not- that pretty much sums up the post-Reagan zeitgeist. And if you're not just as cheerful as the rest, "you've got some personal problems." You're a weirdo if you complain. It's your own fault if you're traumatized by a massacre. It's your own fault if you're poor. It's your own fault if you get downsized, overworked, bullied, and fail. Get over it.

Way

“I like the way you smile
I could be your state and I could be your nation
It doesn’t get better than home, now does it?”

Zooey Deschanel (1980) American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter

"Home".
Volume Two (2010)
Context: Why don’t we just sit and stare and do nothing?
Nothing at all for a while
I like the way you smile
I could be your state and I could be your nation
It doesn’t get better than home, now does it?

Way , Home

“Those who are poor, smile at what they have, yet those who have good fortune, frown at what they do not have.”

Mário Quintana (1906–1994) Brazilian writer

“People may talk about the equality of the sexes! They are not equal. The silent smile of a sensible, loving woman will vanquish ten men. ”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and activist

Love , Men , People , Sex

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. ”

Phyllis Diller (1917–2012) American actress and stand-up comedianne

Cute

“When somebody tells you you're different, smile and hold your head up high and be proud.”

Angelina Jolie (1975) American actress, film director, and screenwriter

“I have no time for shallow talk, pointless interactions, fake smiles, and meaningless friendships.”

Ralph Smart

Source: yt

Time , Friendship

“Don’t give up on things that make you smile.”

Ralph Smart

Making love

“The moment I began to follow my true purpose, I woke up everyday with a smile.”

Ralph Smart

“The art of a diplomat is to conceal all turbulence behind his smile.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif (1960) Iranian politician

On his Facebook status on 24 November 2013. According to [Kamali Dehghan, Saeed, Mohammad Javad Zarif: Iran's man on a diplomatic mission, The Guardian, 2013-11-25, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/25/mohammad-javad-zarif-iran-profile, harv, 2015-04-04]
On social media

Art

“The Teacher suffered for His words of Truth. Man resists the path to Light. Darkness is more pleasing to the eyes of moles, But love and knowledge will conquer all. Your spirit will ascend and you will pass by the uncomprehending ones swiftly, as you would mileposts on the way. Smile at the difficulties upon your path. I vouch, you will conquer!”

Helena Roerich (1879–1955) Russian philosopher

116
Leaves of Morya’s Garden: Book One (The Call) (1924)

Light , Suffering , Teachers , Knowledge

“What I do not see is the argument...that we ought somehow to go on a quite different issue, a purely economic issue, to this new extreme which seems, greatly to my regret, to have inspired part of my party. There are no longer the principles of Lord Shaftesbury, Mr. Disraeli or Mr. Churchill. We are reverting to a form of neo-Cobdenism based upon the worst elements of the Manchester school, supported by aphorisms that would have done honour to that popular writer, Dr. Samuel Smiles. The paternalist elements and traditions of the Tory Party that come from its very roots are now unpopular. We are making a great error. It is because the people as a whole trusted those whom they regarded as their natural leaders to help them, support them and protect them that we have had the great authority in the past in our country.”

Harold Macmillan (1894–1986) British politician

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1986/jan/21/shops-bill-hl-1#column_159 in the House of Lords (21 January 1986) on the Shops Bill that would have ended government regulation of Sunday shopping in England and Wales
Later life

School , Country , Making love , Past

“This world is a strange world. We have to learn many lessons. One of the disciples of the Lord Jesus betrayed the Lord. Many obstacles will come to the growing aspirant at every step. We will have to show our strength. Do not be agitated by little things. Be cheerful. Smile. Walk boldly. Think and feel that nothing has happened. Don’t worry about little things. You have to do many great actions yet. Prakriti is preparing you in a variety of ways. Feel this. Be grateful to the Lord.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

You Cannot Get Away From Evil
Autobiography of Swami Sivananda

Learning , Thinking , Way , World

“The life of a mendicant during pilgrimages helped me to develop in a great measure forbearance, equal vision and a balanced mind in pleasure and pain. I met many Mahatmas and learnt wonderful lessons. On some days I had to go without food and walk mile after mile. With a smile I faced all hardships.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Introduction
Autobiography of Swami Sivananda

Pain , Food , Help , Pleasure

“A man of courage does not tremble in the hour of danger. He is not embarrassed and bewildered. He does not sink down. He is not overwhelmed by despair.. He smiles away all dangers and difficulties, blows the trumpet of triumph and attains victory in the end.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Conquest of Fear, Divine Life Society, http://dlshq.org/download/conquest_fear.pdf (circa 1960)

Despair , Courage , Victory

“Hitchcock finds women captivating but dangerous. She allures by nature but she is chief artificer in civilisation, a magic fabricator of persona whose very smile is an arc of deception.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Source: The Birds, p. 7

Women , Nature

“A distinct throat. Which breathes. A head: small, smaller than a flower. With eyes and with lips. Lips more slender than light; a smile how carefully and slowly made, a smile made entirely of dream. Eyes deeper than Spring. Eyes darker than Spring, more new... These, these are the further miracles... the breasts. Thighs. The All which is beyond comprehension — the All which is perpetually discovered, yet undiscovered: sexual, sweet, Alive!”

E.E. Cummings Him

Him (1927)

Light , Dreams , Spring , Flowers

“The earth does not stop turning, because you are unhappy, as well swallowing your tears and smiling, even if the pain is still burning.”

Doris Veillette (1935–2019) Quebec journalist

Chronicle "Interdit aux hommes" (Forbidden to men), by Doris Veillette-Hamel, Journal Le Nouvelliste, January 8, 1972, page 11.
Chronicle "Forbidden to men", 1972

Pain , Tear

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson book Nature

Source: 1830s, Nature http://www.emersoncentral.com/nature.htm (1836), Ch. 1, Nature

God , Night , Light , Beauty

“The ingredients are always the same: from the very beginnings, the Guess women have always been feminine, sensual, self-confident, independent, free and happy. This image is very far from that of traditional models, often too skinny and sad. Our campaigns express an intense yet smiling seduction, strongly different from the vulgarity dominating today’s world.”

Paul Marciano (1952) American fashion designer

Interview with Paul Marciano for Grazia magazine, May 25 2017 https://guessjournal.com/interviews/interview-paul-marciano/

Confidence , Self-confidence , World , Sadness

“He was simple living follower of Gandhi who spent many years in British jails fighting non-violently for Indians freedom. He had a big walrus like mustache and his magnificent face always seemed to be holding back a smile at the strange twist of history which took him from the British viceroy’s jail into the Viceroy’s own palace with the Viceroy’s own bodyguard. He was such a warm and unostentatious person that the great long halls and chambers must have seemed oppressive and unnatural.”

Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963) Indian political leader

Chester Bowles, American Ambassador to India in: p. 14
Presidents of India, 1950-2003

History , Freedom , Personality , Fight

“He comes silently and unannounced; yet all--how strange--yea, all recognize Him, at once! The population rushes towards Him as if propelled by some irresistible force; it surrounds, throngs, and presses around, it follows Him…. Silently, and with a smile of boundless compassion upon His lips, He crosses the dense crowd, and moves softly on.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky book The Grand Inquisitor

The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880), The Grand Inquisitor

“An honest fellow stripped of all his illusions is the ideal man. Though he may have little wit, his society is always pleasant. As nothing matters to him, he cannot be pedantic; yet is he tolerant, remembering that he too has had the illusions which still beguile his neighbor. He is trustworthy in his dealings, because of his indifference; he avoids all quarreling and scandal in his own person, and either forgets or passes over such gossip or bickering as may be directed against himself. He is more entertaining than other people because he is in a constant state of epigram against his neighbor. He dwells in truth, and smiles at the stumbling of others who grope in falsehood. He watches from a lighted place the ludicrous antics of those who walk in a dim room at random. Laughing, he breaks the false weight and measure of men and things.”

Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794) French writer

L'honnête homme, détrompé de toutes les illusions, est l'homme par excellence. Pour peu qu'il ait d'esprit, sa société est très aimable. Il ne saurait être pédant, ne mettant d'importance à rien. Il est indulgent, parce qu'il se souvient qu'il a eu des illusions, comme ceux qui en sont encore occupés. C'est un effet de son insouciance d'être sûr dans le commerce, de ne se permettre ni redites, ni tracasseries. Si on se les permet à son égard, il les oublie ou les dédaigne. Il doit être plus gai qu'un autre, parce qu'il est constamment en état d'épigramme contre son prochain. Il est dans le vrai et rit des faux pas de ceux qui marchent à tâtons dans le faux. C'est un homme qui, d'un endroit éclairé, voit dans une chambre obscure les gestes ridicules de ceux qui s'y promènent au hasard. Il brise, en riant, les faux poids et les fausses mesures qu'on applique aux hommes et aux choses.
Maximes et Pensées, #339
Maxims and Considerations, #339

Light , Personality , Forgetting , Indifference

“A few Oscars maybe. But what value are a few Oscars in front of the adulation and warmth of a billion smiles and the awe and respect of a billion salutes? I have never ceased to be amazed by the limits and standards he sets (for) himself — standards that nobody else imagines even exists!”

Kamal Haasan (1954) Indian actor

K Balachander, in “K Balachander praises Kamal Hassan! (2 September 2010)”

Imagination

“He (Del Piero) always comes to the training field with a smile for everyone, a comforting word for everyone. This is his greatness: humbleness… he’s a golden person.”

Alessandro Del Piero (1974) Italian former professional footballer

Alessio Tacchinardi, DepositFiles.com http://depositfiles.com/en/files/1234/%5BSFIDE%5D-Speciale+Alessandro+Del+Piero_sampy14.avi.html

Training , Personality

“Under what circumstances is continuing to live like this the best option? Only if you have no belief that any alternative is possible. Only then. The celebrities feel better for taking part. The callers feel better for donating. The Haitians get a bit of aid that they should rightly have been given under the covenant of brotherhood that exists between us all, and we all just smile and pretend there’s no alternative. There is another way. There is the way. To live in accordance with truth, to accept we are on a planet that has resources and people on it. We have to respect the planet so we can use the resources to nourish the people. Somehow this simple equation has been allowed to become extremely confusing.”

Russell Brand book Revolution

Revolution (2014)

People , Truth , Way , Feeling

“Aren’t we all, in one way or another, trying to find a solution to the problem of reality? If I get this job, this girl, this guy, these shoes. If I pass this exam, eat this pizza, drink this booze, go on this holiday. Learn karate, learn yoga. If West Ham stay up, if my dick stays up, if I get more likes on Facebook, more fancy cookbooks, a better kitchen, cure this itchin’, if she stops bitching. Isn’t there always some kind of condition to contentment? Isn’t it always placed in the future, wrapped up in some object, either physical or ideological? I know for me it is, and as an addict that always leads me to excess and then to trouble. Do you feel like that? Are you looking for something? It’s not just me, is it? Do you sometimes feel afraid, self-conscious, lonely, not good enough? I mean, you’re reading this, so you must want to change something. Don’t leave me out on a limb, all vulnerable and exposed. Are you reading this on a yacht, through your Ray-Bans with, I dunno, a pair of glistening Russian sisters and a gob oozing with lobster juice as the sun shines down on you and the sisters smile up at you? And even if you are, especially if you are, is it working, behind the salty tang and priapic pang, is it real, is it real, is it like God is holding your hand?”

Russell Brand book Revolution

Revolution (2014)

God , Drink , Reading , Girl

“But by that time you do not much care whether she smiles or frowns. Why could she not have smiled when her smiles would have filled you with ecstasy? Everything comes too late in this world.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)

World , Time

“The belief system that if you smiled hard enough into the face of God, you would eventually shit money.”

Dylan Moran (1971) Irish actor and comedian

on Blairism.
Yeah, Yeah (2011)

Money , God

“Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession.”

Jerome David Salinger book Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction

It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It's never been anything but your religion.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963), Seymour: An Introduction (1959)

“People tend to wear the mask that shows them off in the best possible light—humble, confident, diligent. They say the right things, smile, and seem interested in our ideas. They learn to conceal their insecurities and envy. If we take this appearance for reality, we never really know their true feelings, and on occasion we are blindsided by their sudden resistance, hostility, and manipulative actions. Fortunately, the mask has cracks in it. People continually leak out their true feelings and unconscious desires in the nonverbal cues they cannot completely control—facial expressions, vocal inflections, tension in the body, and nervous gestures. You must master this language by transforming yourself into a superior reader of men and women. Armed with this knowledge, you can take the proper defensive measures. On the other hand, since appearances are what people judge you by, you must learn how to present the best front and play your role to maximum effect.”

Robert Greene (1959) American author

Chap. 3 : See Through People’s Masks
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

Confidence , Hostility , Light , People

“Just now I'm painting a beautiful woman, smiling, burnt to a crisp, with feathers of all colors, held up by a small die of burning marble; the die is in turn held up by a little puff of smoke, churned and quite; in the sky there are asses with parrot-heads, grasses and beach sand, all about to explode, all clean, incredible objective..”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Spanish artist

Quote in Dali's letter to his art-friend Lorca, 1927; as quoted in Surrealism and the Spanish Civil War, Robin Adèle Greeley, p. 67
Dali is striving then for a rational approach of his paintings; he is very probably referring to his painting, he made earlier in 1927: ' Little Ashes' https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Little_Ashes.jpg
Quotes of Salvador Dali, 1920 - 1930

Painting , Beauty , Grass , Color

“I left home young. I returned old;
Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"”

He Zhizhang (659–744) Chinese writer

(zh-TW) 少小離家老大回，鄉音無改鬢毛衰。
兒童相見不相識，笑問客從何處來。
"Coming Home" (《回乡偶书》) in Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, trans. Witter Bynner

Home , Children

“I'd rather hear a truth that'll make me cry than a lie that'll make me smile!”

Luiz Carlos Alborghetti (1945–2009) Italian-Brazilian radio commenter, showman and political figure

Original: (pt) Eu prefiro uma verdade que me faça chorar a uma mentira que me faça sorrir!

Truth , Lie , Cry , Making love

“You have no business to be an unbeliever. You ought to stand for all the things these stupid people call superstitions. Come now, don't you think there's a lot in those old wives' tales about luck and charms and so on, silver bullets included? What do you say about them as a Catholic?'
'I say I'm an agnostic,' replied Father Brown, smiling.
'Nonsense,' said Aylmer impatiently. 'It's your business to believe things.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

'Well, I do believe some things, of course,' conceded Father Brown; 'and therefore, of course, I don't believe other things.' .
The Dagger with Wings (1926)

Business , Bad luck , People , Thinking

“I'm headed out to Denver
to see if I can't find that lovin' Colorado girl of mine
The promise in her smile shames the mountains tall
She can bring the sun to shining.
She can tell the rain to fall”

Townes Van Zandt (1944–1997) singer-songwriter

Colorado Girl

Sun , Mountain , Girl

“The promise in Her smile, shames the mountains tall. She can bring the sun to shine, tell the rain to fall.”

Townes Van Zandt (1944–1997) singer-songwriter

Colorado girl

Feeling , World , Sun , Boy

“This age proclaims the sovereignty of the citizen, and the inviolability of life; it crowns the people, and consecrates man. In art, it possesses all varieties of genius,—writers, orators, poets, historians, publicists, philosophers, painters, sculptors, musicians; majesty, grace, power, force, splendour, colour, form, style; it renews its strength in the real and in the ideal, and bears in its hand the two thunderbolts, the true and the beautiful. In science it accomplishes unheard-of miracles; it makes of cotton salt petre, of steam a horse, of the voltaic battery a workman, of the electric fluid a messenger, of the sun a painter; it waters itself with subterranean streams, pending the time when it shall warm itself with the central fire; it opens upon the two infinites those two windows, the telescope upon the infinitely great, the microscope upon the infinitely little, and it finds stars in the first abyss, and insects in the second, which prove to it the existence of God... It annihilates time, it annihilates space, it annihilates suffering; it writes a letter from Paris to London, and has an answer in ten minutes; it cuts off a man's leg, the man sings and smiles.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Conclusion, Part Second, II
Napoleon the Little (1852)

Singing , God , Time , Sun

“I will say, finally, that I despair of the republic while slavery exists therein. If I look up to God for success, no smile of mercy or forgiveness dispels the gloom of futurity; if to our own resources, they are daily diminishing; if to all history, our destruction is not only possible, but almost certain. Why should we slumber at this momentous crisis? If our hearts were dead to every throb of humanity; if it were lawful to oppress, where power is ample; still, if we had any regard for our safety and happiness, we should strive to crush the Vampire which is feeding upon our life-blood. All the selfishness of our nature cries aloud for a better security. Our own vices are too strong for us, and keep us in perpetual alarm; how, in addition to these, shall we be able to contend successfully with millions of armed and desperate men, as we must eventually, if slavery do not cease?”

William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) American journalist

Address to the Colonization Society http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=562 (4 July 1829)

Despair , Selfishness , God , Forgiveness

“Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars. We shall be all alike – brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers' hands upon the face of the earth. For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying. I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.”

Chief Joseph (1840–1904) Nez Percé Chieftain

Lincoln Hall Speech (1879)

Time , Waiting , Country , War

“Ideology, legitimacy, authority: Such topics used to interest academics no end. The mania for quantifying the social sciences and the attendant decline in foreign-language acquisition have changed things. I remember Sovietologists lamenting this trend when I was at school in the 1980s. It’s gone much, much further since. What cannot be researched with the proper statistical-numerical methodology is thought beneath serious analysis. On the rare occasions when a non-quantifier takes the microphone at a conference, the Gradgrinds lean back with an indulgent smile: Time for some light relief.”

Brian Reynolds Myers (1963) American professor of international studies

2010s, League Confederation Goes Outer-Track (September 2018)

School , Time , Light , Science

“A group of women around a shattered man.
I said with a smile: Let's call him Qais, Laila's mad lover.
The termperature sank abruptly.
Never in my life did I see eyes like those with trailing dresses.
The moment I left him they had, of course, to come after me.
And there they waited for me, one after the other.
I was in a rural city, a strange place on the banks of a river.
And even without my smiling, the shattered man had tired me.
It was in the old house that our meeting took place, and my jokes turned into blood.
I killed them with classic boredom.”

Ounsi el-Hajj (1937–2014) Lebanese poet, journalist, and translator

An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry, p. 75
Poetry, Rendezvous

Housing , Waiting , Lovers , Life

“Kiss a little baby
Give the world a smile
If you take an inch
Give 'em back a mile
Cause if you lie like a rug
And you don't give a damn
You're never gonna be
As happy as a clam
So I'm sitting in a hotel
Trying to write a song
My head is just as empty
As the day is long.”

John Prine (1946–2020) American country singer/songwriter

"It’s a Big Old Goofy World"
Song lyrics, The Missing Years (1991)

Baby , Happiness , Kiss , Lie

“Now, when you pass my way
I guess I'll smile and say
To think that boy was mine
Once upon a time”

Dusty Springfield (1939–1999) English singer and record producer

"Once Upon a Time", written by Springfield
Lyrics, Ooooooweeee!!! (1965)

Time , Boy , Thinking , Way

“The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise,
Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries;
The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,
And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies,
And with superior greatness smiles.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

Translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii

“Death and the devil, what are these to him?
His being accuses him — and yet his face is firm
In resolution, in absolute persistence;
The folds of smiling do for steadiness;
The face is its own fate — a man does what he must —
And the body underneath it says: I am.”

Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist

"The Knight, Death and the Devil," lines 34-39
The Seven-League Crutches (1951)

Death , Fate

“Our souls are tied across universes,
there is unbroken continuity,
you see the love is more powerful than death,
so let the winds of the heavens to dance with you
and give your smile at the other's welcome.”

alexis karpouzos

philosophy and awareness

Soul , Death , Universe , Dance

“It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
As if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free
I thought I was a child, until you turned and smiled”

Jackson Browne (1948) American singer-songwriter

I Thought I was Child For Everyman (1973)

Girl

“I am the dreamer and the doer
I the hearer and the knower
I the giver and the taker
I the sword and the wound of sword.
If this be true, then let sword fall free from hand.
I embrace myself.
I laugh until I weep
And weep until I smile…”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Christ, Old Student in a New School (1972)

“We clothe ourselves in flame
And trade new myths for old.
The Greek gods christen us
With ghosts of comet swords;
God smiles and names us thus:
Arise! Run! Fly, my Lords!”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

"We March Back to Olympus" in Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns (1977), p. 11

Clothes , God , Flying

“I’ll smash your face in,
But with a smile,
All together you’ll never
Be stronger than me.”

Ronnie James Dio (1942–2010) American singer

"I" on Dehumanizer (1992)
Lyrics

“When'er with soft serenity she smiled,
Or caught the orient blush of quick surprise,
How sweetly mutable, how brightly wild,
The liquid lustre darted from her eyes?”

William Mason (poet) (1724–1797) poet

Source: On the Death of a Lady (1760), The poems of William Mason, vol. 1, 1822, p. 86 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101032743732&view=1up&seq=94

“Cruel and callous when on top, afraid and smiling all the way to the grave when not- that pretty much sums up the post-Reagan zeitgeist. And if you're not just as cheerful as the rest, "you've got some personal problems."”

Mark Ames (1965) American writer and journalist

You're a weirdo if you complain. It's your own fault if you're traumatized by a massacre. It's your own fault if you're poor. It's your own fault if you get downsized, overworked, bullied, and fail. Get over it.
Part VI: Welcome to the Dollhouse, page 239
Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion, From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005)

Way , Problem , Personality

“I am what I am. I am Christ and Antichrist, God and Satan, Heaven and Hiroshima, Arcadia and Auschwitz.” Smiling devilishly, Sarkos lumbered up to Lovett. “Get it, fat boy? God is a duality. Dr. Jehovah and Mr. Hyde.” He lobbed the bottle cap into his mouth and chewed. “Allow me to tell you a bedtime story. It’s called ‘The Day the Gas Chambers Malfunctioned at Auschwitz.’ On second thought, why bother? You know the plot—the title gives it away—I’m surprised Braverman and Kelvin left it out of their overblown epic. Can you imagine how it feels to be a seven-year-old Jewish child, standing in line with hundreds of other Jewish children, waiting your turn to be thrown alive onto an open fire?”

James K. Morrow (1947) (1947-) science fiction author

Swallowing the bottle cap, Sarkos swerved toward Martin. “Don’t you see? It’s the only solution that can possibly work. No other theory comes close. Of course God has a dark side. Not just dark—evil. Radically, radically evil.”
Source: Blameless in Abaddon (1996), Chapter 15 (p. 390; spoken by the Devil, named Jonathan Sarkos in the book)

God , Imagination , Waiting , Children

“This is life to come, —
Which martyred men have made more glorious
For us who strive to follow. May I reach
That purest heaven, — be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused,
And in diffusion ever more intense!
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.”

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator

O May I Join the Choir Invisible (1867)

Soul , Music , World , Love

“Every day is a blank sheet on which to write notes of music, notes coming from the depths of the soul. A sheet on which to blow a smile, to give it life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Ogni giorno è un foglio bianco su cui scrivere note di musica, note provenienti dal profondo dell’anima. Un foglio su cui soffiare un sorriso, per donargli vita.
Source: prevale.net

Music , Soul , Life

“Difficult or sad events belong to every being. Whenever it happens to have, it must seriously think if that situation is really worth getting a smile. Who has and knows how to give smile, is the master of the whole world.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Eventi duri, difficili o tristi appartengono ad ogni essere. Ogniqualvolta dovesse capitare di averne, bisogna seriamente pensare se per quella situazione valga davvero la pena farsi togliere il sorriso. Chi ha e sa donare sorriso, è padrone del mondo intero.
Source: prevale.net

World , Sadness , Thinking

“Who has and knows how to give smile, is the master of the whole world.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Chi ha e sa donare sorriso, è padrone del mondo intero.
Source: prevale.net

World

“The value of a soul is understood from the smile.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) È dal sorriso che si intuisce il valore di un'anima.
Source: prevale.net

Soul

“The noblest gesture to do to a friend is to give him your smile.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Il gesto più nobile da fare ad un amico, è donargli il tuo sorriso.
Source: prevale.net

“It's Christmas every time you smile at a child, holding his hand. It's Christmas every time you recognize your limits, your mistakes. It's Christmas every time you stay silent to hear each other. It's Christmas every time you give your sweetness with love. It's Christmas every time you listen to the song of the heart.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) È Natale ogni volta che sorridi a un bimbo, tenendogli la mano. È Natale ogni volta che riconosci i tuoi limiti, i tuoi errori. È Natale ogni volta che rimani in silenzio per ascoltare l'altro. È Natale ogni volta che doni con amore la tua dolcezza. È Natale ogni volta che ascolti la canzone del cuore.
Source: prevale.net

Time , Heart , Christmas , Love

“It feeds the heart of music and the soul of smiles.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Alimenta il cuore di musica e l'anima di sorriso.
Source: prevale.net

Music , Soul , Heart

“I want to be the thought that makes you smile on the street for no reason.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Voglio essere il pensiero che ti fa sorridere per strada senza motivo.
Source: prevale.net

Making love

“Your smile will give you a positive countenance that will make people feel comfortable around you.”

Les Brown (1945) American politician

Positive , Cute , Making love , People

“With everything that Palestine has been through and continues to go through, their smiles never go away. Your joy and freedom is their biggest fear, never forget that. The world is watching you and we are proud of you. Free Palestine, always.”

Massin Akandouch (2001) Amazigh activist

May 17, 2021. Comments on Palestinian-Israeli conflict. https://twitter.com/MAS8IN/status/1178285515210215424

Joy , Freedom , World , Fear

“A woman's smile deactivates reason.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Il sorriso di una donna disattiva la ragione.
Source: prevale.net

“The national character of the three kingdoms was strongly marked in my army. I found the English regiments always in the best humour when we were well supplied with beef; the Irish when we were in the wine countries, and the Scotch when the dollars for pay came up. This looks like an epigram, but I assure you it was a fact, and quite perceptible; but we managed to reconcile all their tempers, and I will venture to say that in our later campaigns, and especially when we crossed the Pyrenees, there never was an army in the world in better spirits, better order, or better discipline. We had mended in discipline every campaign, until at last (smiling) I hope we were pretty near perfect.”

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) British soldier and statesman

Remarks to John Wilson Croker (20 October 1825), quoted in L. J. Jennings (ed.), The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of the Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, LL.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Admiralty from 1809 to 1830, Vol. I (1884), p. 353

Perfection , Country , World , Wine

“Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace.”

Christie Brinkley (1954) American model

Peace , Friendship , World , Friendship

“Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth.”

Unknown author

Life , Funny , Cute

“In life, the smile gives harmony to existence.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Nella vita, il sorriso dona armonia all'esistenza.
Source: prevale.net

Life

“For the first time, I will smile without feeling guilty, because joy is not a sin.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Our fate

Time , Joy , Feeling

“I like to think of smiling as a cause not an effect. Smile all the time.”

Brooke Bundy (1944) American actress

Brooke Bundy Interview https://trainwreckdsociety.com/2018/05/14/brooke-bundy-interview/ (May 14, 2018)

Time , Thinking

“I would like every day to feel the scent of your skin, like the taste of your kiss, admire your sensuality, perceive your sweetness, listen to the beating of your heart, understand the depth of your soul, rejoice with your smile, have fun with your liking and be able to fully live your harmony.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Vorrei ogni giorno poter sentire il profumo della tua pelle, gradire il sapore di un tuo bacio, ammirare la tua sensualità, percepire la tua dolcezza, ascoltare il battito del tuo cuore, comprendere la profondità della tua anima, gioire con il tuo sorriso, divertirmi con la tua simpatia e poter vivere appieno la tua armonia.
Source: prevale.net

Soul , Understanding , Kiss , Heart

“Always make sure that your woman is smiling, feeling loved and happily alive.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Fate sempre in modo che la vostra donna sorrida, si senta amata e felicemente viva.
Source: prevale.net

Love , Feeling

“Love exists. It's in the little things: simple, spontaneous and concrete. It's in a smile, in a job, in a song…. Love is all that is given without asking any question.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) L'amore esiste. È nelle piccole cose: semplici, spontanee e concrete. È in un sorriso, in un lavoro, in una canzone... . L'amore, è tutto ciò che si dona senza porsi alcuna domanda.
Source: prevale.net

Question , Love