Quotes
Quotes about Age
But as for all the rest, There's hardly one (I may say none) who stands the Artist's test. The Artist is a rare, rare breed. There were but two, forsooth, In all me time (the stage's prime!) and The Other One was Booth.
On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting 'Twas only that when he was off, he was acting.
Everybody has his own theatre, in which he is manager, actor, prompter, playwright, sceneshifter, boxkeepeer, doorkeeper, all in one, and audience into the bargain.
And Tragedy should blush as much to stoop To the low mimic follies of a farce, As a grave matron would to dance with girls.
To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold, Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold-- For this the tragic Muse first trod the stage.
Your scene precariously subsists too long, On French translation and Italian song. Dare to have sense yourselves; assert the stage; Be justly warm'd with your own native rage.
The play bill which is said to have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark being left out.
What one has, one ought to use; and whatever he does he should do with all his might. [Lat., Quod est, eo decet uti: et quicquid agas, agere pro viribus.]
Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year.
Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.
There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
Where there's Marriage without Love, there will be Love without Marriage.
And these vicissitudes come best in youth; For when they happen at a riper age, People are apt to blame the Fates, forsooth, And wonder Providence is not more sage. Adversity is the first path to truth: He who hath proved war, storm, or woman's rage, Whether his winters be eighteen or eighty, Has won experience which is deem'd so weighty.
Ah, gentle dames! it gars we greet, To think how mony consels sweet, How mony lengthened, sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises.
Everyone in our culture wants to win a prize. Perhaps that is the grand lesson we have taken with us from kindergarten in the age of perversions of Dewey-style education: everyone gets a ribbon, and praise becomes a meaningless narcotic to soothe egoistic distemper.
Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.
One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin, and then the work will be completed.
You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
The hunger and thirst for knowledge, the keen delight in the chase, the good humored willingness to admit that the scent was false, the eager desire to get on with the work, the cheerful resolution to go back and begin again, the broad good sense, the unaffected modesty, the imperturbable temper, the gratitude for any little help that was givenâall these will remain in my memory though I cannot paint them for others.
Profundity of thought belongs to youth, clarity of thought to old age.
Euphemisms are not, as many young people think, useless verbiage for that which can and should be said bluntly; they are like secret agents on a delicate mission, they must airily pass by a stinking mess with barely so much as a nod of the head, make their point of constructive criticism and continue on in calm forbearance. Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.
Elegance of language may not be in the power of all of us; but simplicity and straight forwardness are. Write much as you would speak; speak as you think. If with your inferior, speak no coarser than usual; if with your superiors, no finer.
There is a sort of veteran woman of condition, who, having lived always in the grand monde, and having possibly had some gallantries, together with the experience of five and twenty or thirty years, form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him. Wherever you go, make some of those women your friends; which a very little matter will do. Ask their advice, tell them your doubts or difficulties as to your behavior; but take great care not to drop one word of their experience; for experience implies age, and the suspicion of age, no woman, let her be ever so old, ever forgives.
Beware of men on airplanes. The minute a man reaches thirty thousand feet, he immediately becomes consumed by distasteful sexual fantasies which involve doing uncomfortable things in those tiny toilets. These men should not be encouraged, their fantasies are sadly low-rent and unimaginative. Affect an aloof, cool demeanor as soon as any man tries to draw you out. Unless, of course, he's the pilot.
