I never lie. I believe everything I say, so it’s not a lie.
There is something inherently valuable about being a misfit. It’s not to say that every person who has artistic talent was a social outcast, but there is definitely a value for identifying yourself differently and being proud that you are different.
In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand.
Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
Everybody is a political person, whether you say something or you are silent. A political attitude is not whether you go to parliament; it’s how you deal with your life, with your surroundings.
People thought I was cocky because I didn’t talk much. When I first turned pro, reporters asked me who was going to win. I’d say, ‘I am’ because it was the easier than giving some long, drawn-out answer.
The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.
I don’t care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right.
What shall I say further? Shall I not stop short and leave to your imaginations to portray the tragic deeds of war? Is it not enough that I here leave it even to unexperience to fancy the hardships, the anxieties, the dangers, even of the best life of a soldier?
People say I look so happy – and I say, ‘That’s the Botox.’
Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‘people.’ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.
The bad thing about being a famous comedian is that every now and then someone approaches me to tell an old joke. Don’t tell me jokes – I have that. People also say the weirdest things, sometimes sarcastic things, and even evil things. They like to provoke to get a reaction.
Some people say my humor focuses too much on stereotypes. It doesn’t. It focuses on facts.
I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people, ‘I am deaf.’ If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession, it is a terrible handicap.
In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and to the young, it comes with bitterest agony because it takes them unawares. I have had experience enough to know what I say.
God just has a way of working things out the way he wants to and you have no say in that.
As we say in the hood, I’m a stoop kid.
A poem is a naked person… Some people say that I am a poet.
Stupid as a man, say the women: cowardly as a woman, say the men. Stupidity in a woman is unwomanly.
To say that gender is performative is a little different because for something to be performative means that it produces a series of effects. We act and walk and speak and talk in ways that consolidate an impression of being a man or being a woman.
I’ll say this: The scariest monster in the world is human beings and what we are capable of, especially when we get together.
When you say you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time.
When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.
I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.
My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others!
It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.
What people say isn’t going to stop me. I have to do things for myself.
When I’m tired, I rest. I say, ‘I can’t be a superwoman today.’
It’s funny because I’ve made a living off of words, but words get in the way of what you really want to say.
Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
A lasting marriage, they say, is one where the two reach for different sections of the Sunday paper. Me, I go right for the obituaries, just like those very elderly characters in Muriel Spark’s spooky novel, ‘Memento Mori.’
You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
Before you speak ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.
You can win more friends with your ears than with your mouth. People who feel like they’re being listened to feel accepted and appreciated. They feel like they’re being taken seriously and what they say really matters.
Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.
I don’t say we all ought to misbehave, but we ought to look as if we could.
I can’t say enough about Ireland. I can’t. I’d move there.
To say ‘I love you’ one must first be able to say the ‘I.’
We actually say in ‘Nightbreed,’ ‘God is an astronaut, Oz is over the rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters go.’ There’s a lovely sense in which there’s a simple thesis being played out here. These are things you understand as a child out on the play yard.
I don’t think Africa gets as much credit as it should have on the world stage. People tend to think of us as coming from The Dark Continent, where nothing good goes on. That’s not true. A huge amount of, as I say, entrepreneurship goes on.
What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things.
I always laugh and say I met God on the way up, and I got to know him on the way down. And so, as I’m crashing and losing everything, a lot of people run to God when they are struggling. And I was no exception.
I say the law should be blind to race, gender and sexual orientation, just as it claims to be blind to wealth and power. There should be no specially protected groups of any kind, except for children, the severely disabled and the elderly, whose physical frailty demands society’s care.
Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.
You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I wouldn’t say musically, though.
Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?
You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.
The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.
I can admit and say that I have feelings.
Just because you say something doesn’t make it controversial, and it doesn’t make you a bad person.
It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite.
There are people who try to judge. I’m cool with that. I don’t care what nobody say – the only thing that can defeat hate is love.
I have heard some people say I have a low profile. Why should somebody be high profile, anyway? I am just doing my job.
Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
When a woman isn’t beautiful, people always say, ‘You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair.’
If you get down and quarell everyday, you’re saying prayers to the devil, I say.
Parents must lead by example. Don’t use the cliche; do as I say and not as I do. We are our children’s first and most important role models.
The football field, I’d definitely say that’s my safe place.
I had a speech class in elementary school. And you know how teachers, when a kid is struggling to pronounce a word, used to lead him and say, ‘Johnny, sounds like… ? Johnny, sounds like… ?’ I said out loud, ‘Sounds like Johnny can’t read.’ Teacher told me to leave the room.
People say ‘dream big,’ that’s kind of one of those motivational sayings, but I would dream hard, meaning I just wanted it so badly, I could feel it.
