He had been educated in no habits of application and concentration. The system which had addressed him in exactly the same manner as it had addressed hundreds of other boys, all varying in character and capacity, had enabled him to dash through his t...
I used to think that finding the right one was about the man having a list of certain qualities. If he has them, we'd be compatible and happy. Sort of a checkmark system that was a complete failure. But I found out that a healthy relationship isn't s...
For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and r...
We like to think of individuals as unique. Yet if this is true of everyone, then we all share the same quality, namely our uniqueness. What we have in common is the fact that we are all uncommon. Everybody is special, which means that nobody is. The ...
We have a bad habit of seeing books as sort of cheaply made movies where the words do nothing but create visual narratives in our heads. So too often what passes for literary criticism is "I couldn't picture that guy", or "I liked that part", or "thi...
I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others than sharing our qualities and successes.
We are less interested in the number of disciples and more interested in the quality of discipleship.
We never know the quality of someone else's life, though we seldom resist the temptation to assume and pass judgement.
Between two brains, there will always be misunderstandings and lies caused by parasitic smells, drafts and poor-quality reception.
People could say a lot of negative things about the apocalypse, but there was no arguing the air quality in Los Angeles had really improved.
She understood children, and knew that they were adults handicapped by a humiliating disguise and had their adult qualities within them.
It's about the quality of the worry," I said. "I have happier worries now than I used to.
Anyone who's read all of Proust plus The Man withour Qualities is bound t be missing out on a few other titles.
Hope is such a tenuous quality. To feel it and then to be denied what one most longs for ... Better, surely, not to hope at all, than to open the heart to a hope that is impossible.
No person of quality ever remembers social restrictions save when considering how most piquantly to break them.
I go back to family: 'Ice Age' was about disparate characters rejected by their own kind. They come together to save the child. 'Despicable Me' is about redefining what a family could be. It has a visual distinction and an experimental quality.
When that happens - when risk is taken and the filmmakers dive into the subject matter without a parachute - very often what you get it something with those qualities that make it age well with the public.
I like a boyish quality in a man, somebody who is still adventurous. But I have no rules. I do not care - within reason - about your chronological age. I care whether you have passion in your life.
With George Clooney, the distinctive quality is a unique kind of American phoniness - charming because it's aware of itself as phony. It's as old as old Huck Finn, but, in our age, it has migrated from the fringes to the center.
A poem may be an instance of morality, of social conditions, of psychological history; it may instance all its qualities, but never one of them alone, nor any two or three; never less than all.
No matter what it is you are cooking, buy the best ingredients you can afford. I don't care if it's a simple salad or Beef Wellington. A quality product stands alone and won't need any dressing up.
