C. L. R. James Quotes

The hero was the sort of character you could feel yourself falling in love with, no matter how much you tried to convince yourself that he wasn't real

It was exactly the sort of thing I needed to be reading that afternoon: a story where, no matter how bad things got, you knew everything was going to turn out fine in the end.

I don't know if it was the cold sincerity in my voice or the shock of being straddled by a wild, mud covered woman, but he didn't try to argue. "Give me your ring. Now.

They're terrified of us Firefly, all of them are.""Well, good, " I replied, forming a tiny ball of flames in my fingertips, which were curled round the handle on the back of the bike. "They should be.

We were the only humans - the only forms of life, in fact - for hundreds of miles in each direction, unreaching and unreachable as we rocketed back towards civilisation.

We can make up for our actions. But for our inactions, what we fail to do ...

Each imagining himself to be the first last and only alone, whereas he is neither first last nor last nor only not alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.

Dead’s not good, but at least it’s simple.

...[we] has left nothing durable to signalize his stay upon this planet.[we]eventually dies to the honest regret of [our] associates.

Each man is an island unto himself. But though a sea of difference may divide us, an entire world of commonality lies beneath.

I am made of a thousand ghosts, only you can shoot me down.

I'm over the hill for come-on lines. On a quiet day, I can hear my liver rotting. For exercise, I fall down. ~ Clete

Aaron's therapist calls him a wounded bird, but, I ask you, who wouldn't care for a wounded bird? What kind of person sees a bird with a broken wing, cat on the horizon, and walks on by?

How may times can you lose the one you love?

It takes courage to stand for what you believe in.

Some day...as you grow older, you will find imagination sometimes produces a truth that is greater than any fact.

Of all the things I dislike, I hate women worst.

Forgive, forget, learn the lesson and move forward…!

Apparently Burgess shares the gutter press assumption that those who achieve fame should be made to suffer from it.

Fayez whistled low. “That is not dead which can eternal lie. Or, y’know, whatever.

Our sole concern with the long dead is aesthetic

The platinum Omega watch he gave me at breakfast on our first morning in London obscures the red line. The inscription still makes me swoon. AnastasiaYou are My MoreMy Love, My LifeChristian

I was simultaneously elated and depressed, a common enough state of mind these days when people are offered a great deal of money to do something repugnant.

Blessed are the mendacious, for they shall grow wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

Write about only three things: what you love, what you hate, and what you’re deeply conflicted about.

Rule #1: Writing is for the creative brain. Editing is for the critical brain. Separate them appropriately.

This is not a "guilty pleasure" of mine, simply because I don't believe in "guilty" pleasures. Snobbery is just the public face of insecurity.

Lifelong pain, an unwanted pregnancy, and even death may be the reward for such a brief window of pleasure. What a foolish gamble!

But before you set out to make your mark, you should ask yourself, "For whom will this be done?

The bullies literally cram their will down the throats of those who are weaker.

I’m a long-flight pilot. Pushing a little bubble of air-filled metal across an ocean of nothing is what I was born to do.

Then, in that case, all the rest, all that I thought I thought and all that I felt I felt, all the rest before me now, in fact... O, give it up old chap! Sleep it off!

There is a third choice besides being busy and killing time, something profound.

A real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things that can be named.

Thomas felt his spirits lift, but immediately squashed them back down. Getting his hopes up was something he’d sworn never to do again. Not until all this was over.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? But to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Yes I am dark, but my eyes are full of stars.

Does not people's preoccupation these days with drugs, alcohol, medication and self deception prove that the truth not only hurts, but it is torture to bear?

You want a shadow, you got to have light and something to get in its way.

Seeking excellence means choosing to forge your own sword to cut through the limitations of your life...

A really well-done first draft of a book bares your soul. The purpose of revision is so that everyone who reads the published version believes you were writing about theirs.

If God rewards the faithful with earthly rewards, then what leverage does the devil have?

It is wisdom to know who you are, but not to the point of excluding who you might become.

I also wish I'd been born with a clearly defined talent for something, or else stupid.

it's all a popularity contest, which unfortunately often has more to do with good looks rather than actual talent.

Puberty flicked a switch inside of them and dreams were replaced by hormones and college prep courses and varsity sports while I continued to look for faeries in the woods behind my house.

Geniuses don't become geniuses until they find the right moron to compare themselves to.

It has been written that so much of life is preparation, so much is routine, and so much is retrospect that the purest essence of anyone's genius contracts itself to a precious few hours.

An idle genius is an oxymoron.

Don't question your conscience so much--it will get out of tune like a strummed piano. Keep it for great occasions.