Quotes about start
page 44

Greta Thunberg photo
Greta Thunberg photo

“Today we use 100 million barrels of oil every day. […] There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground. So we can't save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.”

Declaration of Rebellion, Extinction Rebellion, Parliament Square, London, 31 October 2018.
Cited in No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, Penguin Books, 2019, page 12 (ISBN 9780141991740).
2018, "Almost Everything is Black and White" (October 2018)

Teal Swan photo
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo

“Superiority and self-centeredness is the starting point of human disintegration, and the root of all problems.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (1956) 6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Twitter 14 Aug 2019
2019

Ruhollah Khomeini photo

“At the start of their mission, the prophets first confronted the upper class; Hadrat Moses, confronted the Pharaoh. The upper class enjoys the priority of being confronted and guided first.”

Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989) Religious leader, politician

Pithy Aphorisms: Wise Saying and Counsels, Edited by Mansoor Limba, Tehra: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works -- International Affairs Department. p. 9.
Social justice

George Adamski photo
H. H. Asquith photo
John Henry Poynting photo
Michael Atiyah photo
Karl Pearson photo
Karl Pearson photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He is weak and he is ineffective. So the only way he figures he is going to be reelected and as sure as you are sitting there, is to start a war with Iran.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

A now-deleted video on his YouTube video blog. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/03/politics/kfile-trump-obama-2012-iran-war-reelection/index.html
2010s, 2011

Dan Deacon photo
Robert LeFevre photo
Tracy Chevalier photo
Tracy Chevalier photo

“Usually, I take great pleasure in finding a notebook that’s going to match the subject matter. And this time, for some reason, I was in a hurry. I hadn’t found the right one, I had started my research, and I couldn’t wait for the perfect notebook. So, I just grabbed one that I had. It’s the first time though, and it felt a little sad.”

Tracy Chevalier (1962) American writer

On choosing a notebook for each novel that she writes in “An Interview with Tracy Chevalier” https://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/an-interview-with-tracy-chevalier/ in Fiction Writers Review (2019 Sep 23)

Ernest King photo

“The defensive organization of Iwo Jima was the most complete and effective yet encountered. The beaches were flanked by high terrain favorable to the defenders. Artillery, mortars, and rocket launchers were well concealed, yet could register on both beaches- in fact, on any point on the island. Observation was possible, both from Mount Suribachi at the south end and from a number of commanding hills and steep defiles sloping to the sea from all sides of the central Motoyama tableland afforded excellent natural cover and concealment, and lent themselves readily to the construction of subterranean positions to which the Japanese are addicted. Knowing the superiority of the firepower which would be brought against them by air, sea, and land, they had gone underground most effectively, while remaining ready to man their positions with mortars, machine guns, and other portable weapons the instant our troops started to attack. The defenders were dedicated to expending themselves- but expending themselves skillfully and protractedly in order to exact the uttermost toll from the attackers. Small wonder then that every step had to be won slowly by men inching forward with hand weapons, and at heavy costs. There was no other way of doing it. The skill and gallantry of our Marines in this exceptionally difficult enterprise was worthy of their best traditions and deserving of the highest commendation. This was equally true of the naval units acting in their support, especially those engaged at the hazardous beaches. American history offers no finer example of courage, ardor and efficiency.”

Ernest King (1878–1956) United States Navy admiral, Chief of Naval Operations

Third Report, p. 174-175
U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (1946)

Natalie Wynn photo
Jessica Alba photo

“I was always in trouble with my parents for speaking up and wanting to be an equal part of the conversation. I started working young so I could get that respect.”

Jessica Alba (1981) American model, free-diver and businesswoman; TV and film actress

On working at an early age in order to communicate with her parents in “Jessica Alba's Reinvention” https://www.redbookmag.com/life/money-career/a19434170/jessicaalba/ in Redbook (2018 Mar 15)

Paulo Lins photo

“The world of the favela today is much more cruel than when I was growing up there or even as I show it in my book…If I were to write about the way things are today, I would start the book with a pile of rubber tires, gasoline and someone being burned alive.”

Paulo Lins (1958) Brazilian author

On how the favela has changed since his time in “THE SATURDAY PROFILE; Out of the Slums of Rio, an Author Finds Fame” https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/26/world/the-saturday-profile-out-of-the-slums-of-rio-an-author-finds-fame.html in The New York Times (2003 Apr 26)

Saeed Jones photo
Noah Levine photo
Uzma Jalaluddin photo

“Writing a book is so strange. You start off in one spot and end up in another. But I think when I first set out to write the book, there was a certain element of trying to right historical wrongs I saw as a voracious reader and representation of immigrants and children of immigrants…”

On what led her to write Ayesha At Last in “Interviews with authors at EMWF: Uzma Jalaluddin” https://theontarion.com/2018/09/13/interviews-with-authors-at-emwf-uzma-jalaluddin/ in The Ontarion (2018 Sep 13)

Damon Young (writer) photo

“I’m not this MFA or this academic. I didn’t come through a New York Times or New Yorker pipeline or whatever. I started a blog…Now I’ve written for some of those publications I’ve named, but I wasn’t brought up and groomed that way. Since I haven’t been, it would be fraudulent for me to try to be less accessible just because … that’s just not me.”

Damon Young (writer) (1979) American writer and editor

On remaining authentic despite having more writing opportunities in “Damon Young on How to Make It as a Writer in the 2020s: "Move to Pittsburgh" https://www.inverse.com/article/56127-damon-young-very-smart-brothas-interview in Inverse (2019 Jun 4)

Gregory Pardlo photo

“I often start with a question as big and unwieldy as why do we have children – or what are we investing in when we love and raise our children; it’s a process of looking for structures – images or rhetorical figures – that will contain my questions.”

Gregory Pardlo (1968) American writer

On writing poetry in “Gregory Pardlo: How I Write” https://www.writermag.com/writing-inspiration/author-interviews/gregory-pardlo-how-i-write/ in The Writer (2019 Jul 17)

Madhu Kishwar photo
Madhu Kishwar photo
Maylis de Kerangal photo

“I began to think about its double nature: on the one hand you have an organ in your body and on the other you have a symbol of love. From that time I started to pursue the image of a heart crossing the night from one body to another. It is a simple narrative structure but it’s open to a lot of things. I had the intuition that this book could give form to my intimate experience of death.”

Maylis de Kerangal (1967) French writer

On the heart as the focus for her book Mend the Living in “‘What is a heart? You have an organ in your body and you have a symbol of love’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/28/maylis-de-kerangal-interview-wellcome-prize-writing in The Guardian (2017 Apr 28)

Mikhail Gorbachev photo

“The Chernobyl disaster, more than anything else, opened the possibility of much greater freedom of expression, to the point that the system as we knew it could no longer continue. It made absolutely clear how important it was to continue the policy of glasnost, and I must say that I started to think about time in terms of pre-Chernobyl and post-Chernobyl.”

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931) General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

"Turning point at Chernobyl" https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2006/04/21/commentary/world-commentary/turning-point-at-chernobyl/#.XPoajKR7mUk, Japan Times (21 April 2006)
2000s

Daniella Monet photo
Benjamin Zephaniah photo

“When I start, I have a story that tends to have a lesson to be learnt. A lot of the time my novels are called novels for young adults and I think one of the reasons they are popular with young adults is because they read them and understand it…”

Benjamin Zephaniah (1958) English poet and author

On the appeal of his writings in “Interview | Benjamin Zephaniah” https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/interview-benjamin-zephaniah/ in the London Magazine (2018 Mar 5)

Jen Wang photo

“I come up with a concept and might doodle a little bit to get some ideas flowing, but I mostly write and take notes. I write an outline. In a way, I feel like I can make the art fit the story that needs to be told, so I start with the story first.”

Jen Wang (1984) American comics artist

On her creation process in “Q & A with Jen Wang” https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/81155-q-a-with-jen-wang.html in Publishers Weekly (2019 Sep 12)

Yasha Levine photo

“After coming back to America, it was really a no-brainer. When we saw the Tea Party come from out of nowhere...we had the Russian perspective coming into it...It was very obvious. When we started connecting all the dots, it went right to Charles and David Koch.”

Yasha Levine journalist

Yasha Levine: using the web to fight 'journalistic malpractice', June 14, 2012 https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/14/3076664/yasha-levine-the-exiled-journalism-interview

“I like to think a thought and then I like to follow it, like a little seed, for a long time and see where that growth leads me. Sometimes it leads me to an entirely different place from where it started and that gives me joy.”

Yiyun Li (1972) Chinese American writer

On her thought process in “What I think: Yiyun Li” https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/12/10/what-i-think-yiyun-li (Princeton University; 2018 Dec 10)

Paul Volcker photo
Chris Martin photo
Vivek Agnihotri photo
Vivek Agnihotri photo
Frederica of Hanover photo

“It was my advanced research in physics that had started me on a spiritual quest. It culminated in me accepting the non-dualism or absolute monism of Shankara as my philosophy of life and science.”

Frederica of Hanover (1917–1981) Queen consort of Greece as the wife of King Paul; daughter of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick

Queen Fredricka of Greece, wife of King Paul.Quoted from Gewali, Salil (2013). Great Minds on India. New Delhi: Penguin Random House.

Franz Bardon photo
Maxime Bernier photo
Peter Mandelson photo
Koenraad Elst photo
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar photo
Chris Martin photo
Lena Waithe photo

“Stop giving a s— what other people think of you. We make decisions too often based on that…When we start to live for ourselves, and be a little bit more selfish, I think we’ll lead more fulfilling lives. So I think what we need to do, is stare at ourselves in the mirror a little bit longer, and really own who we are and not try to be what we think others want us to be.”

Lena Waithe (1984) American actress, producer, and screenwriter

On how women should embrace their true selves in “Lena Waithe's Message to Women: 'Stop Giving a S--- What Other People Think'” https://variety.com/video/lena-waithe-message-to-women-variety-cover-shoot/ in Variety Magazine

“We haven’t gotten a chance to tell those stories for Latina women. If you look at what’s in the landscape right now, it’s very stuck in its lane, and I love that we have no lanes. There’s no road. There’s nothing. We start off somewhere and it just detours, regarding the characters…”

Tanya Saracho Mexican-American actress, playwright and showrunner

On her television series Vida which stars a Latino cast in “‘Vida’ Creator Tanya Saracho on Exploring Underrepresented Perspectives with Her Starz Drama” https://collider.com/vida-interview-tanya-saracho/#starz in Collider Magazine (2018 May 5)

“From the earliest memory every day started with prayer and ended with prayer…And it is still in my bloodstream, even though I am not conventionally religious. I am not good at belonging to groups. But doesn’t everyone think about God?”

Celia Paul (1959) British artist

On her daily mantra in “Celia Paul on life after Lucian Freud: ‘I had to make this story my own’” https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/27/celia-paul-self-portrait-memoir-interview-lucian-freud in The Guardian (2019 Oct 27)

Nilo Cruz photo
Charles Stross photo
Charles Stross photo
Francisco Aragón photo
Bernie Sanders photo

“In the richest country in the history of the world, it is not radical to demand that when people turn on their taps, the water they drink is safe and clean. It has been 5 years since the start of the Flint water crisis. This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

Twitter post, https://twitter.com/SenSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor (25 April 2019), quoted in * 2019-04-25 City flags fly at half-staff as mayor tells Flint to 'never forget’ water crisis Ron Fonger MLive https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2019/04/city-flags-fly-at-half-staff-as-mayor-tells-flint-to-never-forget-water-crisis.html
Ref: en.wikiquote.org - Bernie Sanders / Quotes / 2010s / 2019
2010s, 2019, April 2019

Mary McCarthy photo
J. Howard Moore photo
J. Howard Moore photo
William H. McRaven photo
Joe Biden photo

“We have suppressed the black man for 300 years and the white man is now far ahead in the race for everything our society offers. In order to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start, or even hold the white man back, to even the race.’ I don’t buy that.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Quoted by Norman Solomon in Here Comes Joe Biden and It's Worse Than You Thought,Common Dreams, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/11/here-comes-joe-biden-and-its-worse-you-thought (11 March 2019)
2019

Jack Vance photo

“Humanity many times has had sad experience of superpowerful police forces…As soon as (the police) slip out from under the firm thumb of a suspicious local tribune, they become arbitrary, merciless, a law unto themselves. They think no more of justice, but only of establishing themselves as a privileged and envied elite. They mistake the attitude of natural caution and uncertainty of the civilian population as admiration and respect, and presently they start to swagger back and forth, jingling their weapons in megalomaniac euphoria. People thereupon become not masters, but servants. Such a police force becomes merely an aggregate of uniformed criminals, the more baneful in that their position is unchallenged and sanctioned by law. The police mentality cannot regard a human being in terms other than as an item or object to be processed as expeditiously as possible. Public convenience or dignity means nothing; police prerogatives assume the status of divine law. Submissiveness is demanded. If a police officer kills a civilian, it is a regrettable circumstance: the officer was possibly overzealous. If a civilian kills a police officer all hell breaks loose. The police foam at the mouth. All other business comes to a standstill until the perpetrator of this most dastardly act is found out. Inevitably, when apprehended, he is beaten or otherwise tortured for his intolerable presumption. The police complain that they cannot function efficiently, that criminals escape them. Better a hundred unchecked criminals than the despotism of one unbridled police force.”

Source: Demon Princes (1964-1981), The Star King (1964), Chapter 3 (pp. 32-33)

“I want to take poetry to walk other genres. I want poetry to walk through other genres. When I started writing, this was my main concern: get out of poetry. Let poetry walk the streets of New York. Make her cosmopolitan. See the world. Not in these estrofas, not in these stanzas, which are camisas de fuerza. I have to get out of poetry. I have to do what James Joyce did to the novel: he took the novel out of the novel…”

Giannina Braschi (1953) Puerto Rican writer

On how she hopes to change poetry by bringing it towards visual art in “A Graphic Revolution Talking Poetry & Politics with Giannina Braschi” https://www.academia.edu/36916781/A_Graphic_Revolution_Talking_Poetry_and_Politics_with_Giannina_Braschi in Chiricú Journal (2018)

Kwame Nkrumah photo
Tony Benn photo
Frantz Fanon photo
Claude Louis Hector de Villars photo

“I was unable before starting to formulate a plan of campaign because I did not know whether I should find an army there … In fact I found the troops in a deplorable condition, without clothes, without arms, and without bread.”

Claude Louis Hector de Villars (1653–1734) Marshal General of France

Villars reflecting on the state of the French army in 1709 when he took command, quoted in Winston Churchill, Marlborough: His Life and Times

John Conyers photo

“I’m not here to tell you my troubles with the administration or — I’m happy to be on the program, because I’ve already read 96 percent of the book, and we’re investigating, but for me to start telling you what might be available and what the problems are and what the challenges are going to be, I think, is very unprofessional in an investigation of this seriousness… It’s under investigation and consideration right now. But the importance of this discussion today is critical not only to the committees — there are four committees, and how they relate to each other will come forward very shortly — but there is also the question of the media, the Fourth Estate, the press. This is now public information that, it seems to me, shouldn’t be great breaking news over a progressive news program, but this has to be investigated by the rest of the media, unless they consider this to be irrelevant or too late, or whatever reasons are, that they’re coerced or afraid themselves, too timid… I consider the relationship of the committees on the subject matter, the responsibility of the media, and the American people being brought into this discussion as the citizens, that in a representative democracy, that’s what all of us are supposed to be working on.”

John Conyers (1929–2019) American politician from Michigan

After Ron Suskind Reveals Bush Admin Ordered Iraq-9/11 Fakery, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers Opens Congressional Probe https://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/14/after_ron_suskind_reveals_bush_admin, DemocracyNow! (14 August 2008)

Mahatma Gandhi photo
Chris Cornell photo

“Every time I know we have to go out on tour, there’s about three or four weeks where I’m terrified—where I start thinking: That’s not me. I’m not Freddie Mercury.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

Then I go out onstage and it’s like diving into the cold Puget Sound after spending five weeks in Hawaii—there’s a shock to the system, but the fear goes away. You get used to it, which is pretty cool, because if I stopped performing, I could just disappear and end up being some weird chattering man that walks the streets in rags, staring only at the pavement. At first you rationalize that going to a club where people recognize you is a bad idea; then going to a neighborhood bar becomes a bad idea, too. Going to the grocery store becomes a bad idea. Answering the phone becomes a bad idea. Then every time the dog barks, you think the National Guard is on your roof ready to drill holes in the shingles and shoot at you. So I have to deal with the outside world on sort of a maintenance level—go out to a bar every so often and just be around people.
Interview with Details Magazine, December 1996 https://pitchfork.com/features/article/10081-chris-cornell-searching-for-solitude/,
On being anti-social

Chris Cornell photo
Tulsi Gabbard photo

“I served in a war in Iraq, a war that was launched based on lies and a war that was launched without evidence. And so the American people were duped… As a soldier, as an American, as a member of Congress, it is my duty and my responsibility to exercise skepticism any time anyone tries to send our service members into harm’s way or use our military to go in and start a new war.”

Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

Quoted by Kevin Gosztola in CNN Foreign Policy Gatekeepers Vilify Tulsi Gabbard for Her Anti-Intervention Dissent, Mintpress News https://www.mintpressnews.com/cnn-foreign-policy-gatekeepers-vilify-tulsi-gabbard-for-her-anti-intervention-dissent/256221/ (13 March 2019)
2019

Annie Dillard photo
Philip Roth photo
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto photo
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez photo
Barney Frank photo
Clement Attlee photo
Clement Attlee photo
Ernest Becker photo
D.H. Lawrence photo
Vikram Sarabhai photo

“He informed the whole of his team about any new project and started working on it only after having discussed with everyone.”

Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971) (1919-1971), Indian physicist

About, Pride Of The Nation: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Salman Khan photo
Jiddu Krishnamurti photo

“The answer is in the problem, not away from the problem. I go through the searching, analysing, dissecting process, in order to escape from the problem. But, if I do not escape from the problem and try to look at the problem without any fear or anxiety, if I merely look at the problem — mathematical, political, religious, or any other — and not look to an answer, then the problem will begin to tell me. Surely, this is what happens. We go through this process and eventually throw it aside because there is no way out of it. So, why can’t we start right from the beginning, that is, not seek an answer to a problem?”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

which is extremely arduous, isn’t it? Because, the more I understand the problem, the more significance there is in it. To understand, I must approach it quietly, not impose on the problem my ideas, my feelings of like and dislike. Then the problem will reveal its significance. Why is it not possible to have tranquillity of the mind right from the beginning?
"Eighth Talk in The Oak Grove, 7 August 1949" http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=320&chid=4643&w=%22The+answer+is+in+the+problem%2C+not+away+from+the+problem%22, J.Krishnamurti Online, JKO Serial No. 490807, Vol. V, p. 283
Posthumous publications, The Collected Works

Yuval Noah Harari photo
Kevin Plank photo

“Give it a chance, try to make it happen. This is our greatest asset as a nation and one that we have to continue to encourage. You don’t have to go broke, you don’t have to bet everything on it, but you can start one day at a time by taking a chance and seeing if you too can build a great company.”

Kevin Plank (1972) American entrepreneur and philanthropist

Social Growth Technologies Wins U-Maryland Cupid’s Cup Business Competition Under Armour’s Kevin Plank and BB&T Sponsor Fifth Annual Event https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/social-growth-technologies-wins-u-maryland-cupids-cup-business-competition-under-armours-kevin, University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business (May 10, 2010)

Poul Anderson photo

“Let’s stop making wild guesses and start gathering data.”

Poul Anderson (1926–2001) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Epilogue (p. 122)
Short fiction, The Book of Poul Anderson (1975)