„I was honestly very nervous of Constance Wheatcroft. And I wasn't the only one. Her entire family was afraid of her. Dogs were afraid of her. Bindweed in the hedge would wither as she passed; birds would forget their nesting instincts and fly back to north Africa at the sound of her hideous cries.“

— Tom Baker

Last update May 7, 2019.

Tom Baker42

English actor 1934

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„Bird.
A good name for her. She wasn't a sparrow or a songbird, though. She stood so straight, and her face was strong.“

— Patricia Reilly Giff American children's writer 1935

Source: Water Street (2006), Chapters 1-10, p. 27-28

Strong, Bird

„Gloria Estefan was a huge influence for me. Of course, she was one of the few Latina women around who had this major international success. She sang in Spanish and English, and she was very much the sort of woman I recognised from my culture. I go to her home, and I think that she is a woman who has got it just right. She has her music, she has her family, she has her relationship. I admire her so much because she has always put her family before everything. All her priorities are in place and she is still an amazingly creative artist.“

— Gloria Estefan Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada 1957

comment by "close friend" Jennifer Lopez, arts.guardian.co.uk (March 30, 2007)
2007, 2008

Success, Thinking, Home, Music

„He had no picture of her. She would be a memory that would fade as her warmth would fade, but would fade over the years, and he would forget the passion that gave life to this face.“

— Bernard Cornwell British writer 1944

Major Richard Sharpe (describing his murdered wife, Teresa Moreno) p. 339
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

Forgetting, Passion, Memory, Life

„In every message she spoke of birds, of flight, of the world away. Even back then, she flew against what was presented to her. I wanted to cling to her wings and soar, no matter how intimidated I was.“

— Lisa See, book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Source: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Bird, World

„And weeping fast as she had breath
Janet implored us, "Wake her from her sleep!"
And would not be instructed in how deep
Was the forgetful kingdom of death.“

— John Crowe Ransom American poet 1888 - 1974

"Janet Waking", line 25, from Two Gentlemen in Bonds (1927).

Forgetting, Sleep, Death

„She stumbled back a step. “Carlos was the…?”
“Panther, aye.”
“He’s a cat?” And her boss was a dog. She shook her head. Was her next door neighbor a goldfish?“

— Kerrelyn Sparks American writer 1955

Source: The Vampire and the Virgin

Cats, Dogs

„And her joy would become a restless thing, flapping its wings inside her, as though looking for an opening to fly away.“

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, book Americanah

Source: Americanah

Flying, Joy

„Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts to touch her—doubt, fear, moodiness, care, shame. She knew that they were waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light, but she had long spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there.“

— Thomas Hardy English novelist and poet 1840 - 1928

Source: Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Forgetting, Past, Waiting, Light

„A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.“

— Muhammad Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam 570 - 632

Bukhari 4:538 http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh4/bh4_541.htm This is an extraordinary hadith, because following the Sunnah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), prostitutes can be extremely despised figures among most Muslims, yet it expresses the idea that even someone working in one of the most despised of professions, in showing mercy to an animal, can merit the forgiveness of Allah, and the wise.
Sunni Hadith

Water, Shoe, Dogs

„She let out a laugh, and then she put her hand over her mouth, like she was angry at herself for forgetting her sadness.“

— Jonathan Safran Foer, book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Forgetting, Sadness

„I hated to leave her and I hated to
be near her,
because she made me remember what I wanted most to forget.“

— Jenny Han American writer 1980

Source: It's Not Summer Without You

Forgetting, Hate

„The girl's mouth was chapped, tight and pinched, her skin dry. Mama would say she looked woebegone, but as Bird looked at her eyes, the word she thought of was desperate.“

— Patricia Reilly Giff American children's writer 1935

Source: Water Street (2006), Chapters 21-29, p. 127

Bird, Girl

„She began to feel the sense of wonderful elation that always came to her when beauty took hold of her and made her forget her fears.“

— Madeleine L'Engle, book And Both Were Young

Source: And Both Were Young

Forgetting, Sense, Feeling, Beauty

„Soon she saw the dining room light shining through the parted curtains. Its humble glow provoked a goodness in her heart that was no longer calculating or defiant, nor a kind of currency with which to barter and exchange; what she felt was an infinite, poignant affinity for this life that was her family’s. No longer did it seem harassed and restricting, but rather made beautiful from start to finish like a lighthouse beam before her. Home would take her in, home would cure her. Her hand on the doorknob, she paused for one long, ineffable moment. Then she pushed open the door. And it was as if an arctic wind chilled her frail efforts to make a fresh beginning.“

— Gabrielle Roy, book The Tin Flute

Source: The Tin Flute (1945), P. 257

Parting, Heart, Light, Effort

„A mother’s traditional role prepared her to love her family by being with the family she loved.“

— Warren Farrell author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate 1943

Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000)

Family, Love

„The real thing she wanted was to play women with real depth, and a challenge, and something that she could resonate with – women that had intelligence and strength, and maturity and passion. […] She's very close to her family – her parents, and her sisters, and her brother; very, very bonded. At some point she became aware that this is where her roots are. […] She was always a wonderful mother. And it didn't make any difference how difficult the scene was, after the meal, Jessica spent that lunchtime with Shura, and was totally into Shura. […] Anyone would be attracted to Sam, I would think. He's a very intelligent person and a very sweet person, first; and then he's so talented; and, on top of that, he looks great. He has a look like a pioneer, and that's very exciting. Maybe not for everybody, but it certainly would be for Jessica.“

— Sandra Seacat American acting teacher and actress 1936

Commenting, respectively, on Jessica Lange's participation in Postman Always Rings Twice, on her decision to purchase land in Minnesota, on the absolute priority placed on parenting throughout the intense Frances shoot, and on the beginning of Lange's relationship with Sam Shepard; as heard in "Jessica Lange: On Her Own Terms," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KvxVFiDVls on A&E's Biography; broadcast November 26, 2001

Personality, Passion, Sister, Parent

„The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.“

— Steven Pressfield United States Marine 1943

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Forgetting, Love

„I think Marilyn is bound to make an almost overwhelming impression on the people who meet her for the first time. It is not that she is pretty, although she is of course almost incredibly pretty, but she radiates, at the same time, unbounded vitality and a kind of unbelievable innocence. I have met the same in a lion-cub, which my native servants in Africa brought me. I would not keep her, since I felt that it would in some way be wrong…I shall never forget the almost overpowering feeling of unconquerable strength and sweetness which she conveyed. I had all the wild nature of Africa amicably gazing at me with mighty playfulness.“

— Karen Blixen Danish writer 1885 - 1962

Written of her experience with actress Marilyn Monroe in a letter to the American author, Fleur Cowles Meyer, in 1961. As quoted in Fragments, by Stanley Buchthal and Bernard Comment (2010)

Forgetting, Time, Thinking, Nature

„Sth, I know that woman. She used to live with a flock of birds on Lenox Avenue. Know her husband, too. He fell for an eighteen-year-old girl with one of those deepdown, spooky loves that made him so sad and happy he shot her just to keep the feeling going. When the woman, her name is Violet, went to the funeral to see the girl and to cut her dead face they threw her to the floor and out of the church. She ran, then, through all that snow, and when she got back to her apartment she took the birds from their cages and set them out the windows to freeze or fly, including the parrot that said, "I love you."“

— Toni Morrison, book Jazz

Jazz (1991) First lines

Happiness, Dead, Flying, Bird

„I didn't even know that chickens could fly, and suddenly one was landing on me. It happened when I was visiting a farm sanctuary. If I had been younger I would have asked my parents if I could take her home, please! After all, she chose me. Never mind that she chose everybody; she was a particularly friendly chicken. She made soft, strange cooing sounds and nestled into my arms like a happy kitten. … In fact she was an ordinary chicken, but simply one who had no reason to believe that people were after her. This is how chickens and humans would relate to one another if one was not exploited and the other doing the exploiting. Very much like cats and dogs. They just wait for the chance.“

— Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson American writer and activist 1941

Source: The Pig Who Sang to the Moon (2003), Ch. 2, p. 57

Happiness, Flying, Waiting, Chance

Tom Baker42

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