Quotes about possible
page 11

Richard Matheson photo
Rebecca Solnit photo

“Perfection is a stick with which to beat the possible.”

Rebecca Solnit (1961) Author and essayist from United States

Source: Hope in the Dark

Irvine Welsh photo
Thich Nhat Hanh photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Edna St. Vincent Millay photo
Jonathan Safran Foer photo

“It's always possible to wake someone from sleep, but no amount of noise will wake someone who is pretending to be asleep.”

Variant: While it is always possible to wake a person who's sleeping, no amount of noise will wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.
Source: Eating Animals

Thomas Aquinas photo

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

Variant: For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice.

Anaïs Nin photo

“… we are custodians of deep and ancient thresholds. In the human face you see that potential and the miracle of undying possibility.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Neal Stephenson photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Adolf Hitler photo

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

11 April 1942.
Disputed, Hitler's Table Talks (1941-1944) (published 1953)

Anaïs Nin photo
Charles Bukowski photo
Samuel Johnson photo
Brian Andreas photo

“In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility. (17)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

Sarah Dessen photo
William Carlos Williams photo
William Gaddis photo
Ashleigh Brilliant photo
Nicholas Sparks photo
Margaret Weis photo
Maya Angelou photo
Jacques Maritain photo

“The sole philosophy open to those who doubt the possibility of truth is absolute silence -- even mental.”

Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) French philosopher

Source: An Introduction to Philosophy

Scott Lynch photo
Steven Wright photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Garrison Keillor photo
Leo Buscaglia photo
David Levithan photo

“I wonder if it's possible to start a new relationship without hurting someone else.”

Variant: I wonder if it's possible to have happiness without it being at someone else's expense.
Source: Boy Meets Boy

Janet Fitch photo
Philip K. Dick photo
China Miéville photo
John Grisham photo
Thomas Hardy photo
Henry David Thoreau photo
Joan Didion photo
Charles Bukowski photo
Arundhati Roy photo

“Another world is not only possible, she's on the way and, on a quiet day, if you listen very carefully you can hear her breathe.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

From a speech entitled Confronting Empire http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=2919 given at the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre, 28 January 2003
Speeches
Variant: Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
Source: War Talk

Esmeralda Santiago photo
Lois McMaster Bujold photo

“I have a catchphrase to describe my plot-generation technique — "What's the worst possible thing I can do to these people?"”

Lois McMaster Bujold (1949) Science Fiction and fantasy author from the USA

"Putting It Together" p. 6
The Vorkosigan Companion (2008)
Source: Cordelia's Honor

Henry Ford photo
James Baldwin photo
Elizabeth Cady Stanton photo
Jeff Lindsay photo
David Foster Wallace photo
Carl Sandburg photo

“Are you out of your mind?"
It's not polite to lie to your best friend. "It's a possibility.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

James Baldwin photo
Brandon Sanderson photo
Philip Pullman photo
Galway Kinnell photo
Sarah Dessen photo
Marilynne Robinson photo
Jeffrey Eugenides photo
Dave Eggers photo
Seth Grahame-Smith photo
Rod Serling photo

“Science fiction makes the implausible possible, while science fantasy makes the impossible plausible.”

Rod Serling (1924–1975) American screenwriter

The Twilight Zone, "The Fugitive" (1962).
The Twilight Zone
Variant: Science fiction is the improbable made possible, and fantasy is the impossible made probable.
Context: It is said that science fiction and fantasy are two different things. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, and fantasy is the impossible made probable.

Mark Rothko photo
Elie Wiesel photo
Scott Westerfeld photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Aldo Leopold photo

“Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth? The goose who trades his is soon a pile of feathers.”

“March: The Geese Return”, p. 18.
A Sand County Almanac, 1949, "January Thaw", "February: Good Oak" & "March: The Geese Return"
Source: A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

Charles Bukowski photo
Cassandra Clare photo
Benjamin Zander photo

“In the measurement world, you set a goal and strive for it. In the universe of possibility, you set the context and let life unfold.”

Benjamin Zander (1939) English conductor

Source: The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life

Thich Nhat Hanh photo
Jeanette Winterson photo
Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Maureen Johnson photo
Lurlene McDaniel photo

“If it's possible to send a message from heaven, I'll get one to you.”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer

Source: Don't Die, My Love

Cassandra Clare photo
Wilkie Collins photo
Jonathan Safran Foer photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
Guy De Maupassant photo

“Everything is false, everything is possible, everything is doubtful.”

Guy De Maupassant (1850–1893) French writer

Source: Complete Works

Cassandra Clare photo

“Being remembered, and remembered so kindly, touched him more than he would have thought possible.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Midnight Heir

John Adams photo

“Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

1820s
Source: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (19 May 1821), published in Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0807842303&id=SzSWYPOz6M8C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=kTAZL3ImRq&dq=%22Adams-Jefferson+letters%22&sig=tVGzBe0XVhXaF2p0FQLGy4GK6bk#PRA2-PR17,M1 (UNC Press, 1988), p. 573

Rick Riordan photo
John Boyne photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Nicholas Sparks photo
Salman Rushdie photo