Your Favorite Quotes!

innerspaceboy · 03-26-2017, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiomara

Dew-drinker, opium-eater,
I have seen your mouth transfigured
By the fragments of ancient fevers.

It was a wild, strange sound.

Honey-seeker, sun-worshipper,
I have heard the wind in white cedars
And black poplars.

It was the colour of wet narcissus.

River-walker, crocus-gatherer,
I have tasted the petals of acanthus
And Thessalian iris.

They were but circles of salt.

-Bethany van Rijswijk, from ‘Opium-eater’

"Loneliness ripens the eccentric, the daringly and estrangingly beautiful, the poetic. But loneliness also ripens the perverse, the disproportionate, the absurd, and the illicit."
-Thomas Mann, Death in Venice

"Cut a chrysalis open, and you will find a rotting caterpillar. What you will never find is that mythical creature, half caterpillar, half butterfly, a fit emblem for the human soul, for those whose cast of mind leads them to seek such emblems. No, the process of transformation consists almost entirely of decay."
-Regeneration, Pat Barker

I confess that with each new poetic contribution from Chiomara, I feel that my own quote offerings are less and less adequate. But just the same, I'll offer a few favorites.

“Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” ~ The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs

and similarly,

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.” ~ Stephen Hawking

“In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” ~ Rollo May

“If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.” ~
Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.” ~ Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

And while far from poetic, John Perry Barlow's A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace is one of the most culturally important statements of the last twenty years. His foresight about the new frontier of freedom, free thought, and free speech back in 1996 is as relevant, no - is more relevant today than ever before. I was able to secure a vinyl copy of the anniversary recording and transcript from the Department of Records, with instrumental accompaniment by Drazen Bosnjak. But for anyone who hasn't yet read or heard this critically important piece, please give it your attention.