We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.

Vigny, more secretAs if in his tower of ivory, retired before noon.N.B.: Vigny refers to Comte de Vigny, who locked himself in an ivory tower to work without the influences of man and desire.

Charles Augustin SainteBeuve, Pe

It was clear to me that the forms of consciousness of our inherited and acquired historical education - aesthetic consciousness and historical consciousness - presented alienated forms of our true historical being.

Hans-Georg Gadamer

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven.

Walter Benjamin

As far as writing, I like watching bad movies. Nothing stops me in my tracks more than watching a great film like 'The Godfather' or 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'The Graduate.' You watch one of those, and you never want to write again. Whereas with bad movies, it makes you think, If that counts, I certainly could write.

Jason Reitman

It is a lesson which all history teaches wise men, to put trust in ideas, and not in circumstances.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I mean, we're going to probably debate the Iraq war for at least as long as I'm alive.

Paul Wolfowitz

I don't normally talk about my religion publicly because I don't want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful if you learn it the right way.

Dave Chappelle

If there is anything a public servant hates to do it is something for the public.

Kin Hubbard

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.

William Shakespeare

I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich.

Gertrude Stein

You don't have to make something that people call art. Living is an artistic activity, there is an art to getting through the day.

Viggo Mortensen

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx