“Some things don’t mix. Some things don’t mix at all, but sometimes in life you have to take the risk.”

Source: Wishful Drinking

2015, Young African Leaders Initiative Presidential Summit Town Hall speech (August 2015)
Context: And the one thing I’ve learned, both in my personal life and in my political life, is that if you want more authority, then you also have to be more responsible. You can’t wear the crown if you can’t bear the cross. […] So my attitude is, if you want to participate then you have to recognize that you have broader responsibilities. […] And that is part of leadership. That’s true, by the way, for you individually as well. You have to be willing to take some risks and do some hard things in order to be a leader. A leader is not just a name, a title, and privileges and perks.

Interview at Republibot.com http://www.republibot.com/content/interview-john-varley (February 24, 2009)

Source: The Paying Guests

Source: On writing about a topic even if it is recent in “Kamila Shamsie: ‘Being a UK citizen makes me feel more able to take part in the conversation’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/27/kamila-shamsie-home-fire-man-booker-longlisted-author-interview in The Guardian (2017 Aug 27)

Variant: We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Rearview
Anastacia (2004)

of not wanting to write a preface for his first volume of verse, The Rage for the Lost Penny (1940); “A Note on Poetry”, p. 47
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)