I have never doubted the truth of signs, Adso; they are the only things man has with which to orient himself in the world. What I did not understand is the relation among signs . . . I behaved stubbornly, pursuing a semblance of order, when I should have known well that there is no order in the universe.But in imagining an erroneous order you still found something. . . .What you say is very fine, Adso, and I thank you. The order that our mind imagines is like a net, or like a ladder, built to attain something. But afterward you must throw the ladder away, because you discover that, even if it was useful, it was meaningless . . . The only truths that are useful are instruments to be thrown away.

Action is transitory, a step, a blow,The motion of a muscle, this way or that,'Tis done--And in the after-vacancy, We wonder at ourselves, like men betrayed.

William Wordsworth, The Borderer

Why are so many of us enspelled by myths and folk stories in this modern age? Why do we continue to tell the same old tales, over and over again? I think it's because these stories are not just fantasy. They're about real life. We've all encountered wicked wolves, found fairy godmothers, and faced trial by fire. We've all set off into unknown woods at one point in life or another. We've all had to learn to tell friend from foe and to be kind to crones by the side of the road. . . .

Terri Windling

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

Steve Martin

When you're truly awesome, you know that it's actually a burden and wish day after day to be relieved of such a curse. Think of about 95% of the superheroes.

Criss Jami

Having achieved and accomplished love... man... has become himself, his tale is told.

David Herbert Lawrence

Somebody just back of you while you are fishing is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder while you write a letter to your girl.

Ernest Hemingway

I wished to go completely outside and to make a symbolic start for my enterprise of regenerating the life of humankind within the body of society and to prepare a positive future in this context.

Joseph Beuys

I had to stop driving my car for a while... the tires got dizzy.

Steven Wright

If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either.

Source Unknown

Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy.

Cynthia Nelms

In life, the hardest decisions often have to be made more than once. But each time, it gets easier.

Matthew J. Kirby

If a man character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.

William Makepeace Thackeray