American Acheivement interview (1996)
Source: The Joy Luck Club
Context: Reading for me was a refuge. I could escape from everything that was miserable in my life and I could be anyone I wanted to be in a story, through a character. It was almost sinful how much I liked it. That's how I felt about it. If my parents knew how much I loved it, I thought they would take it away from me. I think I was also blessed with a very wild imagination because I can remember, when I was at an age before I could read, that I could imagine things that weren't real and whatever my imagination saw is what I actually saw. Some people would say that was psychosis but I prefer to say it was the beginning of a writer's imagination. If I believed that insects had eyes and mouths and noses and could talk, that's what they did. If I thought I could see devils dancing out of the ground, that's what I saw. If I thought lightning had eyes and would follow me and strike me down, that's what would happen. And I think I needed an outlet for all that imagination, so I found it in books.
Quotes about saw page 2
“I never saw anybody take so long to dress, and with such little result.”
Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest
“How dare you say it's nothing to me?
Baby, you're the only light I ever saw.”
John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter
Source: Continuum: Music by John Mayer
John Locke (1632–1704) English philosopher and physician
Preface to the Reader
The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
Rāmabhadrācārya (1950) Hindu religious leader
śaśāṅke kutaḥ śyāmatā jātā ।
pṛcchati jananīmatikutūhalādbālastribhuvanatrātā ॥
kṛṣṇamṛgastava śarabhayādvidhuṃ yāto naitanmātaḥ ।
kapaṭamṛgaṃ praṇihanmi nāparaṃ tasya vimohakhyātaḥ ॥
daśamukhabhayādbhuvo yātā yā vidhuṃ śyāmatā dṛṣṭā ।
kathaṃ rāhubhītoऽsau pāyānmahī mūḍhatāspṛṣṭā ॥
tvamatha vīkṣya candramasaṃ nijadayitānanarūpasamānam ।
śaśini gato śyāmaḥ kila dṛṣṭaḥ kartuṃ tadadharapānam ॥
nahi mātaḥ pīye tava stanaṃ śrutvā manujendrāṇī ।
sasmitamukhī vismitā jātā cakitā giridharavāṇī ॥
Gītarāmāyaṇam
John Chrysostom (349–407) important Early Church Father
Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110/Page_303.html, Homily L
Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman
Old and New http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/21395/Old_and_New <br class="br">From the poems written in English
“If you saw what I see for the future in Yugoslavia, it would scare you.”
Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980) Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman
As said to former Foreign Minister Mirko Tepavac in 1971. (Yugoslavia: A State that Withered Away, Dejan Jović, Purdue University Press, 2009, p.45)
Other
Lewis Carroll book Sylvie and Bruno
the Professor exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Black Light, and Nothing, look so extremely alike, at first sight, that I don't wonder he failed to distinguish them! We will now proceed to the Third Experiment."</p>
Source: Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893), Chapter 21: The Professor's Lecture
Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter
"Hey Mama", Live Grammy Performance, February 2008
Lyrics, 808s & Heartbreak (2008)
Diogenes of Sinope (-404–-322 BC) ancient Greek philosopher, one of the founders of the Cynic philosophy
Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 45
Quoted by Diogenes Laërtius
Lewis Carroll book Sylvie and Bruno
Variant: He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus:
'If this should stay to dine,' he said,
'There won't be much for us!
Source: Sylvie and Bruno (1889), Chapter 5 : A Beggar's Palace
Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012) Italian neurologist
Stanley Cohen, quoted in New York Times obituary http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/science/dr-rita-levi-montalcini-a-revolutionary-in-the-study-of-the-brain-dies-at-103.html?_r=0 <br class="br">About
Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) Kenyan environmental and political activist
Nobel lecture http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-lecture.html (10 December 2004)
Waylon Jennings (1937–2002) American country music singer, songwriter, and musician
Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys), from Music Man (1979).
Song lyrics
“We saw the Encantadas, but on the Encantadas we saw something Melville hadn't written about.”
Tennessee Williams Suddenly Last Summer
Mrs. Venable, Scene One
Suddenly Last Summer (1958)
W.B. Yeats book The Tower
V, st. 2 <br class="br">The Tower (1928), Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1547/
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2014, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall Speech (November 2014)
Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) American painter
second side of the first tape
1975 - 1992, Oral history interview with Joan Mitchell, 1986
Apollonius of Tyana (15–100) Ancient Greek philosopher
Quoted from Ram Swarup (2000). On Hinduism: Reviews and reflections, Chapter India and Greece
Different translation: In India I found a race of mortals living upon the Earth, but not adhering to it. Inhabiting cities, but not being fixed to them, possessing everything but possessed by nothing. quoted in The Transition to a Global Society (1991) by Kishor Gandhi, p. 17, and in The Age of Elephants (2006) by Peter Moss, p. v
Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury
The Life, Martyrdom, and Selections from the Writings of Thomas Cranmer https://books.google.com/books?id=FvNeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=The+Life,+Martyrdom,+and+Selections+from+the+Writings+of+Thomas+Cranmer+...&source=bl&ots=LbXiMjz5Zp&sig=0pi5SHuxfdt_YUoiJcxvLgr7x5E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzmZL_wsfaAhVl6YMKHWubBkcQ6AEILDAB by Thomas Cranmer, p.139-142, (1809)
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
My Twisted World (2014), Thoughts at 17
Michael Moorcock book The War Hound and the World's Pain
Source: The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981), Chapter 18 (p. 166)
Dadasaheb Phalke (1870–1944) Indian producer-director-screenwriter
In [Jain, Manju, Narratives of Indian Cinema, http://books.google.com/books?id=ORE9TDOoU1IC&pg=PA22, 2009, Primus Books, 978-81-908918-4-4, 22]
Quote
John S. Hall (1960) Poet, author, singer, lawyer
"I'm Sorry"
Lyrics, Happy Hour (1992)
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Memoirs of Childhood and Youth (1924)
Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) American evangelist and publisher
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 40.
Jean De La Fontaine (1621–1695) French poet, fabulist and writer.
Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Port-Royal (1752), as cited by M. A. Screech in Laughter at the Foot of the Cross (1997), p. 69
Fabio Lanzoni (1961) Italian model, actor and author
Fabio: confessions of the original male supermodel https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/jul/15/fabio-confessions-original-male-supermodel (July 15, 2015)
Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter
after Monet's death
Source: Denis Rouart (1972) Claude Monet, p. 22 : About the first steps in his career
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) public figure, First Lady to 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy
The "Camelot" interview (29 November 1963)
“I never saw a more beautiful woman, enormous eyes, skin the color of Devonshire cream.”
Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) American playwright
After meeting Anna Magnani, as quoted in Tennessee Williams : Rebellious Puritan (1961) by Nancy Marie Patterson Tischler, p. 175
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath
Glimpses of Bengal http://www.spiritualbee.com/tagore-book-of-letters/ (1921)
Kelly Rowland (1981) singer, songwriter, actress
It's Kelly Rowland vs. Freddy and Jason! http://ew.com/article/2003/08/14/its-kelly-rowland-vs-freddy-and-jason/ (August 14, 2003)
Linda Blair (1959) actress, producer, animal rights activist
Linda Blair Interview http://www.horrorgalore.com/interview/linda-blair (March 24, 2015)
Friedrich Nietzsche book On the Genealogy of Morality
Essay 2, Section 7
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)
Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French
Robert G. Ingersoll, The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child
About
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1930s, Power: A New Social Analysis (1938), Ch. 9: Power over opinion
“It was just a moment, and I saw myself. Then I no longer could say what I was.”
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 66
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Foi só um momento, e vi-me. Depois já não sei sequer dizer o que fui.
Hugh Laurie (1959) British actor, comedian, writer, musician and director
Then he'll go and send down some big disaster.
Stargazing: Heather's Angry, Jane is Ill, Hugh is Anxious Kansas City Star, Wed, Oct. 31, 2007
Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French
The earliest publication yet located of this famous palindrome is in the "Witty and Whimsical" section of The Saturday Reader, Vol. II, No. 30 (31 March 1866), p. 64:
It is said that Napoleon, when asked by Dr. O'Meara if he really thought he could have invaded England at the time he threatened to do so, replied in the following ingenious anagram [sic]: — "Able was I ere I saw Elba." The reader will Observe that it reads the same backward or forward.
Of such attributions to Napoleon, there is little credence, as stated by William Irvine in Madam I'm Adam and Other Palindromes (1987): "The well-known ABLE WAS I, ERE I SAW ELBA, for example, is conveniently attributed to Napoleon, whose knowledge of English wordplay was certainly questionable, at best." There is no mention of such a palindrome in O'Meara's own work, Napoleon in Exile : or, A Voice from St. Helena (1822).
Misattributed
Ian Smith (1919–2007) Prime Minister of Rhodesia
Peter Hain, Foreign Office Minister in Tony Blair's British government, The Observer, 1999
About
Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797) African abolitionist
Chap. IX
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789)
Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594) cartographer, philosopher and mathematician
Evangelicæ Historiæ: Quadripartita Monas Sive Harmonia Quatuor Evangelistarum ("Harmonization of the Gospels") (1592), dedicatory letter. Quoted in Jean Van Raemdonck, Gerard Mercator: sa vie et ses oeuvres (1869), p. 25, footnote 2 http://books.google.com/books?id=18NNAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA25
Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet
Y algo golpeaba en mi alma,
fiebre o alas perdidas,
y me fui haciendo solo,
descifrando
aquella quemadura
y escribí la primera línea vaga,
vaga, sin cuerpo, pura,
tontería
pura sabiduría
del que no sabe nada,
y vi de pronto
el cielo
desgranado
y abierto.
Poesía (Poetry) from Memorial de Isla Negra (Memorial of Isla Negra) (1964), Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda [Houghton Mifflin, 1990, ISBN 0-395-54418-1] (p. 457).
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
About General U.S. Grant, as quoted in The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln: A Narrative and Descriptive Biography http://www.granthomepage.com/grantgeneral.htm, by Francis Fisher Brown, p. 520 <br class="br">1860s
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1910s, The World Movement (1910)
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 148.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
1860s, First State of the Union address (1861)
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
Speech about the Space Shuttle disaster http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm(28 January 1986) <br class="br">1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989)
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French artist
In a letter to a friend, Nice 1918, as quoted in 'Matisse & Picasso', Paul Trachtman, Smithsonian Magazine, February 2003, p. 6
1910s
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist
Quoted in The New Yorker, October 2006. According to writer Ian Parker, this was Hitchens' response to a dinner-party guest who made a favourable comment about Howard Dean. Parker states that Hitchens appeared heavily drunk at the time.
2000s, 2006
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Reverence for Life (1969)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Letter to Lord Gladwyn, November 14, 1964.There is an artist imprisoned in each one of us. Let him loose to spread joy everywhere.
1960s
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) Norwegian painter and printmaker
written in Saint Cloud, 1889
Quotes from his text: 'Saint Cloud Manifesto', Munch (1889): as quoted in Edvard Much – behind the scream, Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, pp. 120 -121
1880 - 1895
Galén (129–216) Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher
Galen, Exhortation to Study the Arts, Coxe (1846), p. 479; cf. Diogenes Laërtius, vi. 32.
Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments
Jace Herondale and Alec Lightwood, pg. 437-438
The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
My Twisted World (2014), 19-22, UC Santa Barbara, Building to Violence
“You saw his weakness, and he will never forgive you.”
Friedrich Schiller William Tell
Act III, sc. i
Wilhelm Tell (1803)
Novalis (1772–1801) German poet and writer
Novalis here alludes to Plutarch's account of the shrine of the goddess Minerva, identified with Isis, at Sais, which he reports had the inscription "I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised."
Pupils at Sais (1799)
Giannina Braschi book United States of Banana
United States of Banana (2011)
Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) Swedish painter
Quote from Friedrich's Diary-note, 1803; as cited by C. D. Eberlein in C. D. Friedrich - Bekenntnisse, pp. 72-73; translated and quoted by Linda Siegel in Caspar David Friedrich and the Age of German Romanticism, Boston Branden Press Publishers, 1978, p. 45
1794 - 1840
George Takei (1937) American actor and author
He is a disgrace to America. <br class="br"> Fox 10 News (Phoenix) interview https://www.facebook.com/FOX10Phoenix/videos/868880156493866/, <br class="br">regarding Clarence Thomas writing "Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them." in his Obergefell v. Hodges dissent,
Ozzy Osbourne (1948) English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter
I've been doing it now for 30 years. Some of the fans are older, but I've picked up new fans along the way.
Launch.com, October 30, 1998
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer
Introduction http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/frankenstein/1831v1/intro.html to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein
Joanne K. Rowling (1965) British novelist, author of the Harry Potter series
"For Girls Only, Probably..." at her website in "Section: Extra Stuff" http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=22. <br class="br">2000s
Tom Ford (1961) American fashion designer
Vogue Voices: Tom Ford, Vogue, January 10, 2014, April 18, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpTvfYC71d8,
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer
Variant translation: While I venture out beyond this tiny globe
Into reaches past the bounds of starry night
I leave behind what others strain to see afar.
On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584)
Sia (musician) (1975) Australian singer
Diamonds, Unapologetic (2012). Cowritten with Benjamin Levin, Mikkel Eriksen and Tor Hermansen.
Songs