Quotes

Stanisław Lem photo
Euripidés photo

“So often the pain of our life is no more than a reminder to take our hand off the stove.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Carousel

Anaïs Nin photo

“The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Frequently attributed to Nin, but without cited source in her work (possibly due to a quotation in Living on Purpose: Straight Answers to Universal Questions (2000) by Dan Millman that attributed the quote to Nin without source).
In March 2013, a former Director of Public Relations at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Elizabeth Appell, claimed she had authored the quote in 1979 for an inspirational header on a class schedule: http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/2013/03/who-wrote-risk-is-the-mystery-solved/
Disputed
Variant: The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Frida Kahlo photo

“pain, pleasure and death are no more than a process for existence. The revolutionary struggle in this process is a doorway open to intelligence”

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) Mexican painter

Source: The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait

Confucius photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Perhaps it is a benevolent provision of Nature that we remember more what touches than what pains us.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The Monthly Magazine

Henry James photo
Asger Jorn photo
Pyotr Stolypin photo

“People sometimes forget about their national tasks; but such peoples perish, they turn into land, into fertilizer, on which other, stronger nations grow and grow stronger.”

Pyotr Stolypin (1862–1911) Russian politician

May 5, 1908; The State Duma; P. A. Stolypin's speech about Finland.
Source: https://ru.citaty.net/tsitaty/484174-piotr-arkadevich-stolypin-narody-zabyvaiut-inogda-o-svoikh-natsionalnykh-zadacha/
Source: https://histrf.ru/lichnosti/biografii/p/stolypin-pietr-arkad-ievich
Source: http://www.myshared.ru/slide/138476/
Source: https://politus.ru/v-rossii/937-citaty-pastolypina.html
Source: https://books.google.ru/books?id=3iSeDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT216&lpg=PT216&dq=%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B+%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%8B%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82+%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B4%D0%B0+%D0%BE+%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%85+%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D1%85+%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%85;+%D0%BD%D0%BE+%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5+%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B+%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82,+%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8+%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%89%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8F+%D0%B2+%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BC,+%D0%B2+%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5,+%D0%BD%D0%B0+%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC+%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82+%D0%B8+%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82+%D0%B4%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B5,+%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B5+%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5+%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B&source=bl&ots=bf14PULA74&sig=ACfU3U3rVMX-mwa8NstIIW64SFRW_P3xFA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiiv8fSmuLmAhWk1aYKHa5lCU8Q6AEwBnoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B%20%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%8B%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82%20%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B4%D0%B0%20%D0%BE%20%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%85%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D1%85%20%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%85%3B%20%D0%BD%D0%BE%20%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B%20%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82%2C%20%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%20%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%89%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8F%20%D0%B2%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BC%2C%20%D0%B2%20%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5%2C%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC%20%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82%20%D0%B8%20%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82%20%D0%B4%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B5%2C%20%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B5%20%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B&f=false

Prem Rawat photo
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn photo
Walter Benjamin photo

“The destructive character knows only one watchword: make room. And only one activity: clearing away. His need for fresh air and open space is stronger than any hatred.”

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)

"The Destructive Character" Frankfurter Zeitung (20 November 1931)
Source: Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings

Jeannette Walls photo
Ian Bremmer photo

“State capitalism is about more than emergency government spending, implementation of more intelligent regulation, or a stronger social safety net. It’s about state dominance of economic activity for political gain.”

Ian Bremmer (1969) American political scientist

"The End of the Free Market: Six Questions for Ian Bremmer," http://harpers.org/archive/2010/05/hbc-90006994 Harper's (May 7, 2010).

Nico photo

“I would say the time has not yet come. I rebel against the present, whenever it is, because I have not seen any change, other than oppositions grow stronger.”

Nico (1938–1988) German musician, model and actress, one of Warhol's superstars

On the decade which she fit in best, as quoted in Life and Lies of an Icon (1995) by Richard Witts.
Context: I would say the time has not yet come. I rebel against the present, whenever it is, because I have not seen any change, other than oppositions grow stronger. I would be a communist if it was more anarchist. Otherwise, I see only everything as an absurdity, so I can laugh and cry. I have lived in a continuation, from birth and growing towards death in a chain that cannot end. I don't see this decade then that decade. The same things happen in different guises. I am bohemian but at one time you would call me a hippie or a punk. I remain a bohemian whatever you call me. So maybe I am locked in the fifties. But I have never desired to grow up from my world as a child, which is when things are most clear and utopian. They are clear because you are at the center and you see all around you. When you get older you lose your sight … I lost something of my childishness when people around me start dying. Four of my family died within a year.

William Gilbert (astronomer) photo
Tzvetan Todorov photo

“American society has always exercised a stronger pressure on individual behavior than Western European societies; but in time of war this pressure is notched a few degrees, and starts to become quite alarming.”

Tzvetan Todorov (1939–2017) Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist

The New World Disorder: Reflections of a European (2005)