Alan Quotes

Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

I felt pride, wonderful pride, when I was captain. It was an honour to take over from Labby. Anybody who has ever captained a big club, which Everton are, will tell you it's a great honour.

It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation.

Do we really think that a government-dominated education is going to produce citizens capable of dominating their government, as the education of a truly vigilant self-governing people requires?

You change the past when you change the way you see it.

The past can't hurt you anymore, not unless you let it.

Humility is born of the spirit, humiliation of the ego.

What your heart desires is not too good to be true. It is good enough to be true.

I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God.

An educated man is thoroughly inoculated against humbug, thinks for himself and tries to give his thoughts, in speech or on paper, some style.

Don't use the past as an excuse to miss out on your future.

I'm hooked on my baby's love, there ain't nothing in the jug this strong.

My academic identity is that of a folklorist, and for many years I have taught only folklore courses.

Never draw more in the morning than you can erase in the afternoon

Any actor who judges his character is a fool - for every role you play you've got to absorb that character's motives and justifications.

We are the eyes of the cosmos. So that in a way, when you look deeply into somebody's eyes, you're looking deep into yourself, and the other person is looking deeply into the same self.

When I'm in Italy on a Friday night, my first supper there is a big bowl of fresh pasta and a glass of local wine, sitting outside. There's nothing better.

I think that in an increasingly virtual world, lovingly produced artefacts are at a premium.

A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just as a shoe is shaped by the foot.

Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.

That Beatle euphoria has always been there, and it's hard to be in a room with a Beatle and try to be totally natural. You never shake that off.

The way past despair and false hope is just letting go. It doesn't improve your odds of survival, but it doesn't waste mental energy.

There is no "slippery slope" toward loss of liberty, only a long staircase where each step down must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders.

I am hellbent on defying your expectations, at every turn, and even if you don't like what's being done, I dare you to find it uninteresting.

If we cling to belief in God, we cannot likewise have faith, since faith is not clinging but letting go.

I have always found that actively loving saves one from a morbid preoccupation with the shortcomings of society.

But the one thing that has power completely is love, because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.

I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously.

Sorrow is better than fear. Fear is a journey, a terrible journey. But, sorrow is at least an arriving.

All of the factors that make up a quality city - safe streets, high paying jobs, strong neighborhoods, etc. - emanate from a strong educational premise.

Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.

We can no longer let the threat of an early frost send a chill of fear throughout a large portion of our workforce. Diversification is the only answer.

Self-improvement is a dangerous form of vanity.

It is not insult from another that causes you pain. It is the part of your mind that agrees with the insult. Agree only with the truth about you, and you are free.

We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings.

If you think squash is a competitive activity, try flower arranging.

The majority of people perform well in a crisis and when the spotlight is on them; it's on the Sunday afternoons of this life, when nobody is looking, that the spirit falters.

You, yourself, are the eternal energy which appears as this Universe. You didn't come into this world; you came out of it. Like a wave from the ocean.

The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependant upon God, and know it.

What keeps us from happiness is our inability to fully inhabit the present

When you learn to say yes to yourself, you will be able to say no to others, with love.

Your soul isn't in your body; your body is in your soul!

The way to be successful is through preparation. It doesn't just happen. You don't wake up one day and discover you're a lawyer any more than you wake up as a pro football player. It takes time.

One of the most persistent of all delusions is the conviction that the source of our dissatisfaction lies outside ourselves.

Let's face it. Rock and Roll is bigger than all of us

In my introductory course, Anthropology 160, the Forms of Folklore, I try to show the students what the major and minor genres of folklore are, and how they can be analyzed.

The difference between being an actor and a director is simple. The director has to hide his panic; the actor doesn't.

The law is agnostic about truth. It's very skeptical of ultimate truth. That's why freedom of speech permits lies to be told.

The darker the subject, the more light you must try to shed on the matter. And vice versa.