James A. Michener · 344 pages
Rating: (6.3K votes)
“The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“I can no longer take war or promotion or big income or a large house seriously. I reject empire and Vietnam and placing a man on the moon. I deny time payments and looking like the girl next door and church weddings and a great deal more. If you want to blame such rejection on grass, you can do so. I charge it to awakening.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“Don't put off what you can do today because if you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“They’ll hear about your husband’s fortune. The suitors will begin to gather, and I want you to promise me this. Whenever one of them proposes, as they will, Doris must say rapturously, ‘Oh, David! All my life I’ve wanted to live in Israel.’ When he hears that she intends to live there instead of bringing him to the United States, you’ll see his interest evaporate. I said evaporate. It vanishes.” He waved his hands violently back and forth across his face to indicate total abolishment.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“The Arabs can lose every war, if only they win the last one.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“The Arabs can lose every war, if only they win the last one. The Jews have gained nothing if they win all the wars but lose the last one.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“Negroes were drafted, white men weren’t; the poor were hauled off to war, the rich weren’t; the stupid were shot at, the bright boys weren’t.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“A sensible man never brags about two things. How lovable his first wife was and how good his last school was.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“She was always pleased when a young man said “I can’t” rather than “I won’t,” because the former indicated a moral conviction that could not be set aside, whereas the latter implied mere personal preference without a solid footing.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“It's the good minds that find difficulty in committing themselves”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“Tanks are nothing unless they’re kept moving. Because if you leave them static, a determined team can destroy them every time.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“In this country we get stuck with taxes, but in the old country we used to get stuck with bayonets.”
― James A. Michener, quote from Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian (Quyển 1)
“- Que ondas enormes... - exclamou Thomas Buddenbrook.- Repara como se aproximam e rebentam, se aproximam e rebentam, uma atrás da outra, sem fim, sem propósito, mecânica e desordenadamente. E, no entanto, o seu marulhar é tão tranquilizador e reconfortante, como todas as coisas simples e necessárias da vida. Aprendi a gostar cada vez mais do mar... dantes, talvez preferisse as montanhas, porque ficavam mais longe daqui. Agora já não me atraem nada. Creio que apenas sentiria medo e vergonha. É que elas são muito caprichosas, tão irregulares, tão diversas... de certeza que me iria sentir muito pequeno ao pé delas. Que espécie de pessoas serão essas que preferem a monotonia do mar? Tenho a impressão de que são as que observaram por demasiado tempo- e com demasiada profundidade- as teias do seu mundo interior e que a única coisa que exigem agora, pelo menos do mundo exterior, é simplicidade... Não se trata de comparar as escaladas audazes pela montanha com o descanso sereno na areia da praia. Adiferença reside no olhar que se dirige numa e noutra direcção. Olhos seguros, obstinados e felizes, transbordantes de iniciativa, determinação e vitalidade, erram de cume em cume, ao passo que sobre a imensidão do mar- e das ondas que, conduzidas por um fatalismo místico e hipnótico, dançam e volteiam- repousa um olhar sonhador e velado, sábio e desalentado, o olhar de quem já alguma vez espreitou as profundezas e vislumbrou o triste caos da existência... Saúde e doença, é essa a grande diferença. Intrépidos, escalamos a extraordinária diversidade das montanhas denteadas e acidentadas, das alturas que rasgam os céus, a fim de pormos à prova a nossa vitalidade, intacta ainda. Repousamos, contudo, na ampla simplicidadedo mundo exterior, quando estamos cansados do caos que reina no interior.”
― Thomas Mann, quote from Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family
“The Thematic Apperception Test was a psychological test that consisted of a series of ambiguous pictures. Subjects were supposed to tell what they thought was happening in the pictures. Since no clear story was implied by the pictures, the subjects supplied the stories. And the stories told much more about the storytellers than about the pictures.”
― Michael Crichton, quote from Sphere
“Leadership is what you need to learn next”
― Robert T. Kiyosaki, quote from Rich Dad, Poor Dad
“A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house.”
― Raymond Carver, quote from What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
“[...] the biggest failures typically come before the biggest breakthroughs. That no matter what, I should never get discouraged. Learn from my mistakes and all will be well.”
― Joelle Charbonneau, quote from The Testing
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