Masters Quotes - Page 18

• Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Stars, Fate

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 1, sc. 2, l. 134

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The Ogre does what ogres can,
  Deeds quite impossible for Man,
  But one prize is beyond his reach,
  The Ogre cannot master Speech:
  About a subjugated plain,
  Among its desperate and slain,
  The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
  While drivel gushes from his lips.

  W. H. Auden

  Men, Hands, Doe

  "August 1968". Poem by W. H. Auden,

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.

  Lewis Carroll

  Mean, Different, Wonderland

  1871 Through the Looking-Glass, ch.6,'Humpty Dumpty'.

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

  Albert Camus

  Struggle, Heart, Night

  Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus) "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942)

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• But this I know; the writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master--something that at times strangely wills and works for itself. He may lay down rules and devise principles, and to rules and principles it will perhaps for years lie in subjection; and then, haply without any warning of revolt, there comes a time when it will no longer consent.

  Charlotte Bronte

  Lying, Years, Creative

  Emily Bronte, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë (1851). “Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey: In Two Volumes”, p.19

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense, and this man made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play. It was hard-core, more than anything I had ever heard. After a few listenings I realized that, on some level, I had found the master, and that following this man's example would be my life's work.

  Eric Clapton

  Men, Play, Listening

  Eric Clapton (2007). “Clapton: The Autobiography”, Broadway

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

  Winston Churchill

  Peace, Military, War

  Winston Churchill (2010). “My Early Life: 1874-1904”, p.227, Simon and Schuster

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• Human reason is beautiful and invincible. No bars, no barbed wire, no pulping of books, No sentence of banishment can prevail against it. It puts what should be above things as they are. It does not know Jew from Greek nor slave from master.

  Czeslaw Milosz

  Beautiful, Book, Greek

  Czeslaw Milosz, “Incantation”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical. When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same.

  Alan Watts

  Buddhism, Hands, Knives

  Alan Watts (2010). “What Is Zen?”, p.29, New World Library

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Never let me lose the marvel of your statue-like eyes, or the accent the solitary rose of your breath places on my cheek at night. I am afraid of being, on this shore, a branchless trunk, and what I most regret is having no flower, pulp, or clay for the worm of my despair. If you are my hidden treasure, if you are my cross, my dampened pain, if I am a dog, and you alone my master, never let me lose what I have gained, and adorn the branches of your river with leaves of my estranged Autumn.

  Federico Garcia Lorca

  Dog, Pain, Regret

  Federico García Lorca, “Sonnet Of The Sweet Complaint”

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our knowledge we cannot do either.

  Jonathan Swift

  Taught Us, Opinion, Remember

  Jonathan Swift (2005). “Gulliver's Travels - Literary Touchstone Edition”, p.233, Prestwick House Inc

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Tug looked nervously at his master. Horses aren't supposed to fly, he seemed to be saying.

  John Flanagan

  Horse

  7 Copy quote

• It is the poor man who clenches so tightly to the gold he is given - for fear of losing it. The man of wealth spends his gold freely to accomplish his will in the world. It is the same with life.' Suddenly ashamed of my conspicuous poverty, I lowered my eyes. But Scatha placed a hand beneath my chin and raised my head. 'Cling too tightly to your life and you will lose it, my Reluctant Warrior. You must become the master of your life, not its slave.

  Stephen R. Lawhead

  Eye, Warrior, Men

  9 Copy quote

• The master swordsman isn't interested in killing people. He only wants to perfect his art.

  Helen DeWitt

  Art, People, Perfect

  Helen DeWitt (2016). “The Last Samurai”, p.48, New Directions Publishing

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• Ack!" I said. Fearless master of the witty dialogue, that's me.

  Jim Butcher

  Witty, Fearless, Harry Dresden

  Jim Butcher (2010). “Changes: A Novel of the Dresden Files”, p.29, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• But worse things were about to be found in the bedroom: on the jeweller’s wife’s ottoman, in a casual pose, sprawled a third party- namely, a black cat of uncanny size, with a glass of vodka in one paw and a fork, on which he had managed to spear a pickled mushroom, in the other. , The Master and Magarita

  Mikhail Bulgakov

  Party, Cat, Glasses

  Mikhail Bulgakov (2016). “THE MASTER AND MARGARITA: 50th-Anniversary Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.74, Penguin

  40 Copy quote

  Show source

• Perfectionism doesn't believe in practice shots. It doesn't believe in improvement. Perfectionism has never heard that anything worth doing is worth doing badly--and that if we allow ourselves to do something badly we might in time become quite good at it. Perfectionism measures our beginner's work against the finished work of masters. Perfectionism thrives on comparison and competition. It doesn't know how to say, "Good try," or "Job well done." The critic does not believe in creative glee--or any glee at all, for that matter. No, perfectionism is a serious matter.

  Julia Cameron

  Jobs, Believe, Practice

  5 Copy quote

• Simone’s mother was an unfortunate mistake. Palackas, Simone’s father, was a bound demon who stumbled across her one night while he was carrying out an order for his master. One thing led to another…he inserted part A into slot B, and he fell in love with her... (Jaden)

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Mother, Father, Mistake

  4 Copy quote

• Control is illusory. No matter what university you go to, no matter what degree you hold, if your goal is to becomes master of your own destiny, you have more to learn.

  Michael J. Fox

  Destiny, Goal, Degrees

  11 Copy quote

• Asmodeus! You don’t see her, do you hear me? (Jericho) Completely blind, Minor Master. Hearing is intact. Is there anyone here besides the two of us? No? Good. I’m leaving now unless Minor Master has another preferably nonpainful task for me. (Asmodeus) You're dismissed. (Jericho) Cool beaners. (Asmodeus)

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Two, Leaving, Tasks

  4 Copy quote

• You rang, Mino- well, you’re not really the Minor Master anymore, are you? What should I call you? (Asmodeus) Think of a polite term, demon. (Jericho) Mister Master it is. What can I do for you? (Asmodeus)

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Thinking, Asmodeus, Demon

  6 Copy quote

• Our character is composed of our ideas and our feelings: and, since it has been proved that we give ourselves neither feelings nor ideas, our character does not depend on us. If it did depend on us, there is nobody who would not be perfect. If one does not reflect, one thinks oneself master of everything; but when one does reflect, one realizes that one is master of nothing

  Voltaire

  Character, Thinking, Ideas

  Francois Voltaire (1977). “The Portable Voltaire”, p.67, Penguin

  54 Copy quote

  Show source

• Instruments of coercion, once created, have a tendency to find their own natural masters.

  George F. Kennan

  Coercion, Natural, Tendencies

  George F. Kennan (2013). “Encounter with Kennan: The Great Debate”, p.208, Routledge

  28 Copy quote

  Show source

• The Frenchman works until he can play. The American works until he can’t play; and then thanks the devil, his master, that he is donkey enough to die in harness. But the Englishman, as he has since become, works until he can pretend that he never worked at all.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Play, Devil, Thanks

  10 Copy quote

• It was very different when the masters of science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand: but now the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth.

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

  Ambition, Reality, Views

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (2009). “Frankenstein: Easyread Edition”, p.42, ReadHowYouWant.com

  6 Copy quote

  Show source