Category: Thought of the Day

"No matter how high you sit on your throne, you are still sitting on your own behind." —Montaigne (via KQED’s Forum)

"In a country that has, at best, a conflicted relationship with public
support for the arts, we are made to think more and more every year
that art is a luxury. I was raised to believe it is a necessity. Art,
in all its forms, is the expression of who, why, and where we are at
any given time in history. It allows us to question, in a nonliteral,
academic, or linear way, who we are, why we do what we do, and where we
are going. Incorporating art into the fabric of everyday life is an
obligation and a sign of a healthy democratic society."

— Stanley Tucci (via Brad Graham)

"Music, of all the arts, stands in a special region, unlit by any star
but its own, and utterly without meaning … except its own."

—Leonard Bernstein (a hero of mine whose birthday is today.)

(via The Writer’s Almanac)

"And every bird in the universe chittering, jabbering, clucking, chirruping, squawking, gurlging, going crazy because God-bless-it another day has ended, as if it never had yesterday and never will tomorrow. Just because it’s today, today. With no thought of the future or past. Today. Hooray, hooray!"

—Sandra Cisneros (in Woman Hollering Creek, which I just finished reading).

"The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond."

—Rumi (on a particularly bad day)

"I have no politics other than I am against tyrants."

— Fernando Arrabal (via The Writer’s Almanac)

"Always leave them wanting less."

—Andy Warhol (via The Writer’s Almanac)

"We are never more beautiful than when we are most ugly."

—Chris Abani (also at TED)

"Prepare to be lucky." —E.B. White

Read: In this awesome book.

"All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are."

—Pablo Neruda (via The Writer’s Almanac)