Sheila Ballantyne Quotes

• Some of my best friends are illusions. Been sustaining me for years.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Inspirational, Years, My Best Friend

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  45 Copy quote

• The trouble with going crazy is that you have to go around making it up to everyone afterwards. It seems they should be making something up to you.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Crazy, Up To You, Trouble

  Sheila Ballantyne (1975). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Doubleday Books

  10 Copy quote

• You can always trust information given you by people who are crazy; they have an access to truth not available through regular channels.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Inspirational, Crazy, People

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  12 Copy quote

• If you have enough fantasies, you're ready, in the event that something happens.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Events, Fantasy, Enough

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  4 Copy quote

• Sundays are terrible because it is clear that there is no one in charge of the world. And this knowledge leave you drifting around, grappling with unfulfilled expectations and vague yearnings.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Sunday, Expectations, World

  7 Copy quote

• The moon develops the imagination, as chemicals develop photographic images.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Moon, Imagination, Chemicals

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  13 Copy quote

• Inner resources are like natural resources; they both dry up eventually when the demands on them are heavy.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Dry Up, Demand, Natural

  Sheila Ballantyne (1975). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Doubleday Books

  6 Copy quote

• Illusions are crucial to the maintenance of life functions.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Maintenance, Illusion, Function

  4 Copy quote

• Ghetto humor is the social twin of fantasy; together they sustain the powerless, who accomplish miracles through illusion.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Humor, Ghetto, Miracle

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  4 Copy quote

• There is no irritant as painful as an ace up your sleeve that you can never use; it's the kind of thing that causes oysters to produce pearls.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Oysters, Use, Pearls

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Imaginary crimes”, Penguin Group USA

  4 Copy quote

• I can’t wait fifteen years to do my work: Because my ideas are coming now.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Years, Ideas, Waiting

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  4 Copy quote

• It's unbelievable the primitive feelings that are aroused by rapid change.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Change, Feelings, Rapids

  Sheila Ballantyne (1975). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Doubleday Books

  4 Copy quote

• It's expectation that differentiates you from the dead.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Expectations, Differentiate

  "Norma Jean the Termite Queen". Book by Sheila Ballantyne, 1975.

  7 Copy quote

• The freeway is the last frontier. It is unsurpassed as a training ground for the sharpening of survival skills.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Skills, Survival, Training

  Sheila Ballantyne (1975). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Doubleday Books

  4 Copy quote

• in California death is one of the most successfully kept secrets there is. If you doubt this, try to find a cemetery.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  California, Doubt, Secret

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  4 Copy quote

• Life is like a great jazz riff. You sense the end the very moment you were wanting it to go on forever.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Forever, Life Is Like, Goes On

  Sheila Ballantyne (1988). “Life on Earth: Stories”, Simon & Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• everything is ambiguous. It's exciting, in a way, if you can tolerate ambiguity. I can't, but I'm taking a course where it's taught, in the hope of acquiring the skill. It's called Modern Living, and you get no credit.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Skills, Credit, Way

  Sheila Ballantyne (1975). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Doubleday Books

  4 Copy quote

• You might not have thought it possible to give birth to others before one has given birth to oneself, but I assure you it is quite possible, it has been done; I offer myself in evidence as Exhibit A.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Giving, Done, Might

  Sheila Ballantyne (1983). “Norma Jean, the termite queen”, Viking Pr

  4 Copy quote

• Californians are good at planning for the earthquake, while simultaneously denying it will happen.

  Sheila Ballantyne

  Earthquakes, Planning, Californians

  Sheila Ballantyne (1988). “Life on Earth: Stories”, Simon & Schuster

  4 Copy quote

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