John Quotes

I love the description of Gothic churches before the printed word, that they were the bibles of the poor.

Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact that there are no formal manners. I mean some people have beautiful manners but there's no kind of agreed form of manners.

The way I see it is that all the ol' guff about being Irish is a kind of nonsense. I mean, I couldn't be anything else no matter what I tried to be. I couldn't be Chinese or Japanese.

Yes, though I have nothing but gratitude for my upbringing in the church.

With my team I am an absolute czar. My men know it. I order plays and they obey. If the don't, I fine them.

You think the greatest thing in the whole world would be to become a baseball player - if best things already happened, what's next?

I believe everybody is spiritual and no one is any more spiritual than anyone else.

I'm never trying to preach to anybody with my music, but I'm aware of the universal nature of the human experience and I try to reach out and connect with people in that manner.

The music dictates to me which instrument I use. I'm basically waiting for orders as it were.

I don't have any particular goals in making a recording. In a way the recording is itself the goal. The music comes into my mind, and from there the main job is to give form to it.

The summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone.

Before I did any action movies, I did a couple of thrillers. That's hung around for me.

The most dangerous states in the international system are continental powers with large armies.

Empathy works so well because it does not require a solution. It requires only understanding.

To improve short-term memory significantly, reduce the stress in your life. And choose your parents wisely.

When people are afraid, they make emotional decisions.

I'm using my art to comment on what I see. You don't have to agree with it.

I would never say John Kerry would be a great president. I will say that George Bush has divided us; he has filled this country with hatred.

I need a lover that won't drive me crazy, someone that knows the meaning of hey, hit the highway.

It's a lonely ol' night. Can I put my arms around you?

When you live life for yourself it's hard on everyone. And that hasn't changed. For me, if anything, it's gotten worse.

I think it's ridiculous to try to sell records to teenagers, because teenagers don't buy my records. And there ain't that many teenagers out there in the marketplace.

The simple man, baby, pays for the thrills, the bills, and the pills that kill.

To say that we're doomed is just an obvious remark.

Slovakias joining the OECD in 1999 is totally dependent on meeting economic reforms required such as transparency and legislation that permits fair and open conduct of trade and business.

They've just gone over the line in my opinion, and again, there's a proper time for a pat down, there's a proper time for an advanced technology body search, but it has to be done with some thought.

Yes, I do agree we need health care reform; however, this bill badly misses the mark. Congress can and must do better for the American people.

I wonder if it's ethical to watch a man with binoculars and a long-focus lens? D'ya suppose it's ethical even if you prove that he didn't commit a crime? I'm not much on rear window ethics.

I'm a Navy brat. You find that a lot of stage actors are Army or Navy brats, because they have the ability to make a big impression, make friends, and then leave just a few months later.

The only other style of music that attempts to go to the deeper place of the silence that is music is New Age music.

Writing requires a great deal of skill, just like painting does. People don't want to learn those skills.

Egotism is not a good quality. It's not something to be admired or even tolerated. It wouldn't be tolerated in a field commander and it shouldn't be tolerated in a movie director.

No, you're either born a writer, a storyteller, or you're not.

The filmmakers always have a great level of control.

I've always had trouble with authority.

I hardly said a word to my wife until I said 'yes' to divorce.

No man at all can be living forever and we must be satisfied.

Foreign languages are another favourite topic, and as these men are bilingual they have a fair notion of what it means to speak and think in many different idioms.

What is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only?

It is the timber of poetry that wears most surely, and there is no timber that has not strong roots among the clay and worms.

In a good play every speech should be as fully flavored as a nut or apple.

Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than War.

For liberty hath a sharp and double edge, fit only to be handled by just and virtuous men; to bad and dissolute, it becomes a mischief unwieldy in their own hands.

Goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems.

Apt words have power to suage the tumors of a troubled mind.

Danger will wink on opportunity.

Lords are lordliest in their wine.

Prudence is the virtue by which we discern what is proper to do under various circumstances in time and place.

A bevy of fair women.

Come to the sunset tree! The day is past and gone; The woodman's axe lies free, And the reaper's work is done.