Once Upon A Time Quotes - Page 9

• Once upon a time I was riding on the top of a First Avenue bus, when I heard a mythical housewife say to another, "Molly, my dear, I would have bought that new brand of toilet soap if only they hadn't set the body copy in ten point Garamond." Don't you believe it. What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.

  David Ogilvy

  Believe, Riding, Toilets

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• Once upon a time we did not focus on a president's private life.

  Tom Ford

  Focus, President, Private Life

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• O foolish writer. Now moves. Even in storytime, dreamtime, once-upon-a-time, now isn't then.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Time, Moving, Foolish

  Ursula K. Le Guin (2012). “Tales from Earthsea”, p.9, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• So this is the young man who has intentions toward my little girl." Bobby shifted in his seat and crossed his legs. "It is not fun on this side of the table, is it, Robert?" Uncle Eddie huffed, and Kat had to remember that once upon a time her mother had been a dark-haired girl in that kitchen, and her dad had been the stray she'd brought home. She watched the two men looking at Hale as if they'd never before laid eyes on him. "He's better-looking than the last vagabond I had to take in," Eddie said, standing and carrying empty bowls to the sink. "I'll give him that.

  Ally Carter

  Girl, Mother, Uncles

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• Had I been brighter, the ladies been gentler, the Scotch been weaker, had the gods been kinder, had the dice been hotter, this could have been a one-sentence story: Once upon a time I lived happily ever after.

  Mickey Rooney

  Scotch, Stories, Dice

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• This house isn't mine anymore, but the memories are; the memories can't be sold. The building that housed my once-upon-a-time dreams stands for someone else now, as it did for the people before us, and I feel happy to let it go. Happy that I can begin again, anew, though bearing the scars of before. They represent wounds that have healed.

  Cecelia Ahern

  Dream, Memories, Healing

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• Once upon a time, government budgets were balanced, our money was sound, the streets were safe, and taxes imposed by all levels of government took less than 10% of our income.

  Harry Browne

  Government, Liberty, Income

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• Once upon a time, this moment - this last light of the evening the day before the race - was the best moment of the year for me. The anticipation of the game to come. But that was when all I had to lose was my life.

  Maggie Stiefvater

  Light, Race, Years

  Maggie Stiefvater (2011). “The Scorpio Races”, p.333, Scholastic UK

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• One hundred years ago, if someone said, 'damn,' people would take notice. Now, you can say almost anything. Secrets are the same way. Once upon a time when a secret was revealed, people paid an enormous amount of attention to it.

  Paul Levinson

  Years, People, Secret

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• Once upon a time, there were only three or four dominant women. Now, there are 10 to 15 who can vie for a Grand Slam.

  Stephane Simian

  Three, Four, Slam

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• Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter.

  Beatrix Potter

  Garden, Names, Rabbits

  The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)

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• Read to your children all of the time
  Novels and nursery rhymes
  Autobiographies, even the newspaper
  It doesn't mater; it's quality time
  Because once upon a time
  We grew up on stories in the voices in which they were told
  We need words to hold us and the world to behold us
  For us to truly know our souls

  Taylor Mali

  Children, Voice, Nurse

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• Once upon a time our traditional goal in war and can anyone doubt that we are at war? - was victory. Once upon a time we were proud of our strength, our military power. Now we seem ashamed of it. Once upon a time the rest of the world looked to us for leadership. Now they look to us for a quick handout and a fence-straddling international posture.

  Barry Goldwater

  War, Military, Goal

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• The trouble is now, with rock'n'roll and stuff, it gets so big that it loses what once upon a time was a magnificent thing, where it was special and quite elusive and occasionally a little sinister and it had its own world nobody could get in.

  Robert Plant

  Rocks, Special, World

  "A little bit country, a little bit rock'n'roll" by Sylvie Simmons, www.theguardian.com. May 15, 2008.

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• I like that "once upon a time" quality, where the telling of a tale has an elevated sense of story. There's a whimsical quality to it. Sometimes in fairy tales more things seem possible, even though often they're real world based.

  Erin Morgenstern

  Real, Quality, Stories

  "'The Night Circus' looks to enchant fans of 'Twilight' and 'Harry Potter'". Interview with Christian DuChateau, www.cnn.com. September 19, 2011.

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• Wherever a story comes from, whether it is a familiar myth or a private memory, the retelling exemplifies the making of a connection from one pattern to another: a potential translation in which narrative becomes parable and the once upon a time comes to stand for some renascent truth. This approach applies to all the incidents of everyday life: the phrase in the newspaper, the endearing or infuriating game of a toddler, the misunderstanding at the office. Our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.

  Mary Catherine Bateson

  Memories, Thinking, Games

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• Ballroom dancing: it's a wonderful thing at so many levels because you've got to follow the rules. They used to call those rules etiquette once upon a time, but you don't really have that any more.

  Anton du Beke

  Dancing, Levels, Wonderful

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• Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.

  Laini Taylor

  Angel, Devil, Ends

  "Daughter of Smoke and Bone". Book by Laini Taylor, September 27, 2011.

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• When you write your first novel you don't really know what you're doing. There may be writers out there who are brilliant, incisive and in control from their first 'Once upon a time'. I'm not one of them. Every once upon a time for me is another experience of white-water rafting in a leaky inner tube. And I have this theory that while the Story Council has its faults, it does have some idea that if books are going to get written, authors have to be able to write them.

  Robin McKinley

  Book, Writing, Ideas

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• Once upon a time . . .” “In the beginning was . . .” That’s the way it always starts off. Every story, gospel, history, chronicle, myth, legend, folktale, or old wives’ tale blues riff begins with “Woke up this mornin’. . . .

  Steven Tyler

  Wife, Stories, Legends

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• Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.

  Marissa Meyer

  Stories

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• Once upon a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Time, Valentine, Stranger In A Strange Land

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Stranger in a Strange Land”, p.11, Penguin

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• Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn, and to sing at dusk, was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.

  Terry Tempest Williams

  Simple, Bird, Joy

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• What had been became what was and a story only works when you know the ending. When the people in it don’t seem like pretend. When you can think about that girl and how she was once upon a time, and see her. When you don’t already know the story is a lie.

  Elizabeth Scott

  Girl, Lying, Thinking

  Elizabeth Scott (2009). “Living Dead Girl”, p.132, Simon and Schuster

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• You're sad-looking," she said. "My grandson used to be such a happy boy. He used to write me stories. I remember the first story he ever wrote me, 'Once upon a time, there was a boy.' And that became 'Once upon a time there was a boy who wanted to fly.' And they kept getting better and better over time. I never found out if the boy got to fly." I gave her a small smile. If only she knew the boy's wings had been clipped.

  Chris Colfer

  Writing, Boys, Wings

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