Quotes

Kurt Vonnegut photo
Kate Bush photo

“I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)

Paulo Freire photo

“The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 1, on the oppressors

Napoleon I of France photo

“Nothing is so contrary to military rules as to make the strength of your army known, either in the orders of the day, in proclamations, or in the newspapers.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Bram van Velde photo

“In this world that destroys me, the only thing that I can do is to live my weakness. That weakness is my only strength.”

Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter

1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)

Fortunato Depero photo

“Futurism attracted me and made me better, gave me a new strength, showed me new fields and possibilities.”

Fortunato Depero (1892–1960) Italian painter, writer, sculptor and graphic designer

Source: So I think, so I paint (1947), p. 14; Cited in: Maurizio Scudiero, ‎David Leiber, ‎Fortunato Depero (1986) Depero futurista & New York: il futurismo e l'arte pubblicitaria, p. 112

Dag Hammarskjöld photo

“Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible — not to have run away.”

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961) Swedish diplomat, economist, and author

"1925-1930" http://books.google.com/books?id=Zvi195aKdvMC&q=%22Life+only+demands+from+you+the+strength+you+possess+Only+one+feat+is+possible+not+to+have+run+away%22&pg=PA4#v=onepage
Markings (1964)

James McCosh photo

“The picture placed the busts between
Adds to the thought much strength;
Wisdom and Wit are little seen,
But Folly's at full length.”

Jane Brereton (1685–1740) Welsh writer (b. Flintshire 1685)

On Beau Nash's Picture at full length between the Busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope., in Dyce, Specimens of British Poetesses. This epigram is generally ascribed to Chesterfield. See Campbell, English Poets, note, p. 521. Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Abraham Joshua Heschel photo

“Renewal of prayer calls for a renewal of language, of cleansing the words, of revival of meanings.
The strength of faith is in silence, and in words that hibernate and wait.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi

"No Religion is an Island", p. 264
Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays (1997)
Context: One of the results of the rapid depersonalization of our age is a crisis of speech, profanation of language. We have trifled with the name of God, we have taken the name and the word of the Holy in vain. Language has been reduced to labels, talk has become double-talk. We are in the process of losing faith in the reality of words.
Yet prayer can happen only when words reverberate with power and inner life, when uttered as an earnest, as a promise. On the other hand, there is a high degree of obsolescence in the traditional language of the theology of prayer. Renewal of prayer calls for a renewal of language, of cleansing the words, of revival of meanings.
The strength of faith is in silence, and in words that hibernate and wait. Uttered faith must come out as a surplus of silence, as the fruit of lived faith, of enduring intimacy.
Theological education must deepen privacy, strive for daily renewal of innerness, cultivate ingredients of religious existence, reverence and responsibility.

Rollo May photo

“Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men.”

Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist

Man’s Search for Himself (1953)
Context: Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men. … One person with indigenous inner strength exercises a great calming effect on panic among people around him. This is what our society needs — not new ideas and inventions; important as these are, and not geniuses and supermen, but persons who can be, that is, persons who have a center of strength within themselves.

William Saroyan photo

“A trapeze to God, or to nothing, a flying trapeze to some sort of eternity; he prayed objectively for strength to make the flight with grace.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

"The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
Context: Through the air on the flying trapeze, his mind hummed. Amusing it was, astoundingly funny. A trapeze to God, or to nothing, a flying trapeze to some sort of eternity; he prayed objectively for strength to make the flight with grace.

Thich Nhat Hanh photo

“This deep meditation brings forth non-fear, non-anger, and non-despair, the strengths we need for our work.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

The Sun My Heart (1996)
Context: We think that we have been alive since a certain point in time and that prior to that moment, our life did not exist. This distinction between life and non-life is not correct. Life is made of death, and death is made of life. We have to accept death; it makes life possible. The cells in our body are dying every day, but we never think to organize funerals for them. The death of one cell allows for the birth of another. Life and death are two aspects of the same reality. We must learn to die peacefully so that others may live. This deep meditation brings forth non-fear, non-anger, and non-despair, the strengths we need for our work. With non-fear, even when we see that a problem is huge, we will not burn out. We will know how to make small, steady steps. If those who work to protect the environment contemplate these four notions, they will know how to be and how to act.

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave Negroes some part of their rightful dignity, but without the vote it was dignity without strength.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, How Long, Not Long (1965)
Context: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave Negroes some part of their rightful dignity, but without the vote it was dignity without strength. Once more the method of nonviolent resistance was unsheathed from its scabbard, and once again an entire community was mobilized to confront the adversary. And again the brutality of a dying order shrieks across the land. Yet, Selma, Alabama, became a shining moment in the conscience of man. If the worst in American life lurked in its dark streets, the best of American instincts arose passionately from across the nation to overcome it. There never was a moment in American history more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes.

KT Tunstall photo

“It's about gambling, fate, listening to your heart, and having the strength to fight the darkness that's always willing to carry you off.”

KT Tunstall (1975) Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist

As quoted in "What's On: Soul's latest talent" in Birmingham Evening Mail (12 February 2005).
Context: "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is inspired by old blues, Nashville psycho hillbillies & hazy memories. It tells the story of finding yourself lost on your path, and a choice has to be made. It's about gambling, fate, listening to your heart, and having the strength to fight the darkness that's always willing to carry you off.

Xenophon photo

“It is only for those to employ force who possess strength without judgment; but the well advised will have recourse to other means.”

Xenophon (-430–-354 BC) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Memorabilia of Socrates Bk. 1, ch. 2, as translated by Sarah Fielding in The Whole Works of Xenophon (1840), p. 523.
Context: It is only for those to employ force who possess strength without judgment; but the well advised will have recourse to other means. Besides, he who pretends to carry his point by force hath need of many associates; but the man who can persuade knows that he is himself sufficient for the purpose; neither can such a one be supposed forward to shed blood; for, who is there would choose to destroy a fellow citizen rather than make a friend of him by mildness and persuasion?

John Donne photo

“Absence, hear thou my protestation
Against thy strength,
Distance, and length;
Do what thou canst for alteration”

John Donne (1572–1631) English poet

Poem Present in Absence http://www.bartleby.com/101/197.html
Attribution likely but not proven http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7937(191107)6%3A3%3C383%3ATAO%22HT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B

“Dartmouth is the place I’ve devoted my life to, so it’s very sad to see this kind of decline in the intellectual strength of the institution.”

Jon Appleton (1939) American composer

Quoted in "Long-time music prof leaves for Stanford", The Dartmouth, 30 September 2005 http://thedartmouth.com/2005/09/30/news/longtime/

John Milton photo

“Then lies him down the lubber fiend,
And stretched out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength.”

John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet

Source: L'Allegro (1631), Line 110