Zitat des Tages über Mark Twain:
Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory.
Librarians are teaching the next generation how to use digital media responsibly.
The poster boy for our superabled future is Oscar Pistorius, an increasingly famous South African sprinter who happens to have had both of his legs amputated below the knee. Using upside down question mark-shaped carbon fiber sprinting prosthetics, called Cheetah blades, Mr. Pistorius can challenge the fastest sprinters in the world.
It never seems to occur to some people, that, like beauty, a sense of humor may sometimes be fatal.
The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.
I am sensible of the velocity of the moments, and entering that part of my head alert to the motion of the world I am aware that life was never perfect, never absolute. This bestows contentment, even a fearlessness.
Our vanity is the constant enemy of our dignity.
You can love someone but not want to keep a gift from that person. It's okay to pass an item along to someone who will appreciate it more.
One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person.
Maybe it's because I'm a little naive, but I do like to think that there aren't really very many truly bad people in the world. I think that everybody has their reasons for what they do, and if you really look through their eyes, you could probably understand them.
I don't think I could ever give up music. It's what makes me tick. If there was no music, there would be no writing.
This is mainly because I spend a lot of time writing and so don't have much time to read; I hate to waste that time reading what may turn out to be junk food for the mind, when there's so much real writing to be read.
Our intelligence community was extremely poorly prepared before 9/11.
The public has lost faith in the ability of Social Security and Medicare to provide for old age. They've lost faith in the banking system and in conventional medical insurance.
Antoine 'Fats' Domino was a 1950s rock n' roll pioneer, a larger-than-life New Orleans figure, and a role model for the African-American community in a time of deep segregation.
What you do is more important than how much you make, and how you feel about it is more important than what you do.
The story of civilization is, in a sense, the story of engineering - that long and arduous struggle to make the forces of nature work for man's good.
Hamilton had one of those extraordinary 18th-century minds that touched on virtually every major topic of the day.
Almost every single commercial on television for shampoo, sports shoes, drinks, food, clothes, perfume, cars, etc., is a short fairy tale, for they are given magical qualities.
I think about my editor when I write. She's a good friend, too.
What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?
Helped are those who create anything at all, for they shall relive the thrill of their own conception and realize a partnership in the creation of the Universe that keeps them responsible and cheerful.
I majored in Chinese. I was never really good at Chinese but I really, really benefited from having been exposed to Asian philosophy early in my life.
Monorails have their own fan club, which claims more than 2,500 members who swap monorail toys and trinkets. Modern light rail can claim no such devoted fan base.
I've always been one of those people who wondered 'What if...'
People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.
It is better to have a fair intellect that is well used than a powerful one that is idle.
I am tired. My arm aches. My head boils. My feet are cold. But I am not aware of any weakness.
Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.
When it comes time to sit down and write the next book, you're deathly afraid that you're not up to the task. That was certainly the case with me after Snow Falling on Cedars.
In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time.
I've always been a fighter. If you tell me I can't, I'll die trying to prove you wrong.
I think everything we do, on one level or another, as writers, most of our writing is informed by our world view.
You know when I was 20 and 30, they were insecurities. Now they're just a new normal. I'm 60 years old, so my expectations of who I am and how I look and how I show up in the world had to shift. Not because I couldn't help it, or not because I did anything wrong, but because I had to get into the natural flow of my being as a woman.
Style really comes down to what makes you feel good.
I believe that illness has led me to a life of gratitude, so I consider Lyme disease at this point in my life to be a blessing in disguise.