I don’t think there’s anything in the world I can’t do… In my creative source, whatever that is, I don’t see why I can’t sculpt. Why shouldn’t I? Human beings sculpt. I’m a human being.

—Maya Angelou

Whether one walks, rides a camel, flies, or dives deep into the sea, it is for the sole purpose of crossing a frontier beyond which man ceases to feel himself the master, sure of his techniques, upheld by by his inheritance, backed by the crowd. The more powerless he is, the more his spirit permeates his being. The horizon of the world and the horizon of thought coincide within him. Then the water, the rocks, and the sand become vital nourishment, and perhaps a poem.

—Philippe Diole

 

If there’s an original thought out there, I could use one right now.

—Bob Dylan

There is one thing that both supporters and opponents of a memorial to World War II agree on: the entire war took less time than the fight over the project itself.

—Elaine Sciolino (The New York Times)

They want to save the Mall. Well, we wanted to save the world. The Mall was part of the world. And we did our job.

—World War II veteran and former Senator Bob Dole

Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house. Courage tastes of blood. Stand up straight. Admire the world. Relish the love of a gentle woman. Trust in the Lord.

—John Cheever, The Wapshot Chronicle

There is no sin except stupidity.

—Oscar Wilde

Religious poverty is, in one, the expression of real poverty, and in another, a protest against real poverty. Religion is the sigh of a heavy laden creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

—Karl Marx

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling “darkness” on the walls of his cell.

—C.S. Lewis

Send me your poor, your deadbeats, your filthy… all of them free to live together in peace and harmony in their little, separate sections where they feel safe, and break your head if you go in there.

 —Archie Bunker

You’ve got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I bet he was glad to get rid of it.

 —Groucho Marx

A nation that can’t tell the difference between their television screens and their lives deserves everything that happens to them.

—Ian Shoales

There is no boredom or misery to equal the pursuit of distraction alone. We do not slip into happiness. It is strenuously sought and earned. A nation glued to the television screen is not simply at a loss before the iron pioneers of the new collective society. It isn’t even having a good time.

 —Adlai Stevenson

The New England conscience… does not stop you from doing what you shouldn’t – it just stops you from enjoying it.

 —Cleveland Amory

We can say without exaggeration that the present national ambition of the United States is unemployment. People live for quitting time, for weekends, for vacations, and for retirement…

—Wendell Berry

To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?

 —Katharine Graham

Working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays… are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation.

 —Winston Churchill

My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.

—Cary Grant

(Each week this column features quotations gleaned from the readings and experiences of our editors, reporters, readers, and friends. All are invited to submit quotations for inclusion here. They may be sent to Gleanings, c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470 or emailed to editor@thebee.com.)