James Baldwin // "For nothing is fixed, forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."
John Lewis // "My dear friends, your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union. Not too long ago, people stood in unmovable lines. They had to pass a so-called literacy test, pay a poll tax…all to keep them from casting their ballots… Too many people struggled, suffered and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. We have come too far together to ever turn back. So we must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up and speak out. We must march to the polls like never before."
Hedy Lamarr // "I’ll read you something pretty: People are unreasonable, illogical and self centered; love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, alternative motives; do good anyway. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shut down by the smallest people with the smallest minds; think big anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build anyway. Give the world the best you have and you’ll be kicked into defeat; give the world the best you’ve got anyway."
Georgia O’Keeffe // "It’s not enough to be nice in life. You’ve got to have nerve."
Gilles Deleuze // "The thing is, people only have charm through their madness…that is what is so difficult to understand. The real charm of a person is the side where they lose control a little, it is the side where they no longer really know where they are… That doesn’t mean they fall apart, on the contrary, these are people who don’t fall apart…but if you can’t grasp the root or seed of madness in someone, you can’t truly like them…you can’t truly love them. It’s the unhinged side, where we all are somewhat insane… If you don’t grasp one’s hint of insanity, the point where…I am afraid, or on the contrary, I am very happy…that point of madness is the very source of their charm."
Jeff Buckley // "I have no advice for anybody; except to, you know, be awake enough to see where you are at any given time, and how that is beautiful, and has poetry inside. Even places you hate."
Miles Davis // "There’s no shortcut. I’m no accident. People like to say it’s natural. It’s not so. You have to practice and you have to study."
Hermann Hesse // "The world does not give us very much now; it often seems to consist of nothing but noise and fear, and yet grass and trees still grow."
Leo Tolstoy // "Once we’re thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost, but it’s only here that the new and the good begins."
Anais Nin // "I can only connect deeply or not at all."
Georgia O’Keeffe // "To create one’s own world...takes courage."
Maya Angelou // "Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure...and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed."