Delicate Things Quotes

• It is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be in the grasp of superficially educated people.

  Raymond Chandler

  People, Language, Educated

  Raymond Chandler, Tom Hiney, Frank MacShane (2002). “The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction, 1909-1959”, p.35, Grove Press

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• Why shouldn't we, so generally addicted to the gigantic, at last have some small works of art, some short poems, short pieces of music [...], some intimate, low-voiced, and delicate things in our mostly huge and roaring, glaring world?

  Elizabeth Bishop

  Art, Roaring, Pieces

  Elizabeth Bishop (2008). “Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters”

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• I write two pages - that's all I write. It takes me about an hour. I've learned that's all I'm capable of and to push myself beyond that is foolhardy. It's a very delicate thing, and I will not abuse it. So I write two pages, then I get up from the computer.

  Kate DiCamillo

  Writing, Two, Abuse

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• How describe the delicate thing that happens when a brilliant insect alights on a flower? Words, with their weight, fall upon the picture like birds of prey.

  Jules Renard

  Flower, Fall, Bird

  Jules Renard (2008). “The Journal of Jules Renard”, p.62, Tin House Books

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• It's a delicate thing for me, with how involved I am in social media and being a part of people's lives in a way that they want me to.

  Vera Farmiga

  Media, People, Want

  "BATES MOTEL Season 3: Vera Farmiga and Co-Showrunner Carlton Cuse". Interview with Christina Radish, collider.com. March 16, 2015.

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• When a dream is born in you With a sudden clamorous pain, When you know the dream is true And lovely, with no flaw nor stain, O then, be careful, or with sudden clutch You'll hurt the delicate thing you prize so much.

  Robert Graves

  Dream, Hurt, Pain

  Robert Graves, Beryl Graves, Dunstan Ward (1999). “Complete poems”, Carcanet Pr

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• Sometimes something becomes a lot better. It's like a puzzle . You can't force a round brick into a square. It's a delicate thing. You need to let the song decide.

  Oh Land

  Song, Squares, Bricks

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• So, it's a delicate thing, but at the same time our producers and writers are very much aware of the potential downfall that could ensue so I think they're going to be very careful about how they do that. At the same time I don't think they want to leave the characters in the same holding pattern that they've been in for a while. I think that they're all trying to put the characters in a different situation.

  Emily Deschanel

  Character, Thinking, Trying

  "Emily Deschanel Talks Bones: Season 2". Interview with Evan Jacobs, movieweb.com. September 26, 2007.

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• People from the past always seem to have much more time to create beautiful, intricate, delicate things that often reach the future in a kind of curled-up, capsized state.

  Robyn Hitchcock

  Beautiful, Past, People

  Interview with Christopher Bahn, www.avclub.com. November 13, 2007.

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• The horror genre is an extremely delicate thing. You can talk to filmmakers and even psychologists who've studied the genre, and even they don't understand what works or what doesn't work. More importantly, they don't understand why it works when it works.

  Stephen King

  Genre Is, Horror Genre, Psychologist

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• So when you're talking about lyrics in the context of music, it's not just about what the words mean, and what you were thinking about when you wrote it. It's not cognitive in that same way. It's almost like music turns words into touch, which is hard to describe, like the feeling of your shirt on your back. It's a pretty delicate thing to try to put into words. You just feel it.

  Mirah

  Mean, Thinking, Talking

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Judgment is a delicate thing and does not come overnight.

  Peter Woo

  Doe, Judgment, Delicate

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• An opening statement is like a guide or a road map. It's a very delicate thing.

  Johnnie Cochran

  Maps, Guides, Opening

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• A big heart is both a clunky and a delicate thing; it doesn't protect itself and it doesn't hide. It stands out, like a baby's fontanel, where you can see the soul pulse through.

  Anne Lamott

  Inspirational, Baby, Heart

  Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.159, Anchor

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• It is a mass language only in the same sense that its baseball slang is born of baseball players. That is, it is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be within the grasp of superficially educated people. It is not a natural growth, much as its proletarian writers would like to think so. But compared with it at its best, English has reached the Alexandrian stage of formalism and decay.

  Raymond Chandler

  Baseball, Communication, Player

  Raymond Chandler (1995). “Later Novels & Other Writings”

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• To learn your artistry and to be able to perfect that, is overwhelming. Especially when you are exuding love. The human emotion is a very delicate thing, so you have to be careful about how you present it because it can be kind of scary, or too overwhelming if you're not careful. So I try to just keep it love.

  Whitney Houston

  Perfect, Scary, Trying

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• The delicate thing about the university is that it has a mixed character, that it is suspended between its position in the eternal world, with all its corruption and evils and cruelties, and the splendid world of our imagination.

  Richard Hofstadter

  Character, Evil, Imagination

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• The questions worth asking, in other words, come not from other people but from nature, and are for the most part delicate things easily drowned out by the noise of everyday life.

  Robert B. Laughlin

  People, Everyday, Asking

  Biographical, www.nobelprize.org. 1998.

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• I revere the memory of Mr. F. as an estimable man and most indulgent husband, only necessary to mention Asparagus and it appeared or to hint at any little delicate thing to drink and it came like magic in a pint bottle; it was not ecstasy but it was comfort.

  Charles Dickens

  Memories, Husband, Men

  'Little Dorrit' (1857) bk. 1, ch. 24 (Flora Finching)

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• I finally managed to try to do away with myself, as neatly and concisely as possible. I would rather die young leaving various accomplishments, some work, my friendship with you, and some other artifacts intact, instead of pell-mell erasing all of these delicate things.

  Francesca Woodman

  Accomplishment, Leaving, Trying

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• The dance that happens, between actor and director, is a very delicate thing...it's why people tend to work together on many films over and over.

  Sydney Pollack

  People, Working Together, Directors

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• For liberalism is a delicate thing. It encompasses so much -- constitutional government, democratic elections, freedom of worship, civil rights, free trade -- that we think of it as timeless and universal. But liberalism came into being in a real place and time, like a flame it has wavered in various eras, and it can be snuffed out.

  Russell Shorto

  Real, Thinking, Flames

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• Thank you,” Skulduggery said to her. “I fear he was about to start insulting me.” “I couldn’t let that happen,” she said. “Your ego is a fragile and delicate thing.” “You see? You understand me.

  Derek Landy

  Ego, Insulting, Said

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