James Stephens Zitate auf Englisch

Zitat des Tages von James Stephens:

Sleep is an excellent way of listening to an opera.

Knowledge, may it be said, is higher than magic and is more to be sought. It is quite possible to see what is happening and yet not know what is forward, for while seeing is believing, it does not follow that either seeing or believing is knowing.

James Stephens

Women and birds are able to see without turning their heads, and that is indeed a necessary provision for they are both surrounded by enemies.

James Stephens

A man and a woman may become quite intimate in a quarter of an hour. Almost certainly will they endeavour to explain themselves to each other before many minutes have elapsed; but a man and a man will not do this, and even less so will a woman and a woman, for these are parallel lines which will never meet.

James Stephens

A woman is a branchy tree and man a singing wind; and from her branches carelessly he takes what he can find.

James Stephens

Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.

James Stephens

We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered, we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.

James Stephens

You must be fit to give before you can be fit to receive.

James Stephens

When a woman speaks to a man about the love she feels for another man, she is not liked.

James Stephens

A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust.

James Stephens

Men come of age at sixty, women at fifteen.

James Stephens

Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.

James Stephens

Sleep is an excellent way of listening to an opera.

James Stephens

Chaos is the first condition. Order is the first law. Continuity is the first reflection. Quietude is the first happiness.

James Stephens

Any fool can wash himself, but every wise man knows that it is an unnecessary labour, for nature will quickly reduce him to a natural and healthy dirtiness again.

James Stephens

To work is nothing; the king on his throne, the priest kneeling before the Holy Altar, all people in all places had to work, but no person at all need be a servant.

James Stephens

The trouble of the king becomes the trouble of the subject, for how shall we live if judgement is withheld, or if faulty decisions are promulgated?

James Stephens

The inexorable compulsion of all things is towards health or destruction, life or death, and we hasten our joys or our woes to the logical extreme. It is urgent, therefore, that we be joyous if we wish to live.

James Stephens

Women are stronger than men - they do not die of wisdom.

James Stephens