Quotes About Perspective

Things change all the time; but how much of it is real? Does any choice any of us ever makes, no matter how important it seems, really cause a ripple in the greater scheme of things?

Was it all worth it? The King might have said that without his extravagant spending, the luxurious experiences for which his country is still celebrated would not have come into existence. The businessman might have added that without it, tourism would not be France's number-one industry today.

It is very unfair to judge of anybody's conduct, without an intimate knowledge of their situation. Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be'" (E 1:18).

I don't expect to have a fully verified story of how Jo's disorder developed, but I don't think that historical accuracy is as important as what I call "emotional truth." People attach different levels of significance to the same events. No two participants in any event remember it in exactly the same way. A single broken promise, for example, among thousands of promises kept, might not be remembered by a parent, but may never be forgotten by the child who was disappointed. (34)

The accuracy of my memories, whether things happened exactly the way that the personalities remember, doesn't really matter. If my memory, combined with the memories of the other personalities, provides some coherent past, then that is far better than the blankness I have. Whatever inaccuracies may occur because of the passage of time or because of the colored intensity of "emotional truth" harm no one. All that matters is that I gain a firm grasp on what is real. (165)

I'm going through hell," I cried, "and Steve wants me to be thankful he baked a pie." (272)

When you grow as old as I am you can't any longer say this was someone's fault, and that was someone else's. It isn't so clear when you take a long view. Blame seems to lie everywhere. Or nowhere. Who can say where unhappiness begins?

You can write books, but there's only ever one book that's really you.

Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole.

Why climb a mountain? Look! a mountain there. I don't climb mountain. Mountain climbs me. Mountain is myself. I climb on myself. There is no mountain nor myself. Something moves up and down in the air. Nanao Sakaki

They call them the bad old days, and in a way they were. But at least they taught us the value of money, and it was something yer had to work for. These days, the youngsters seem to get everything they want. And what gets me is, they believe they're entitled to it!

It's only when ye're older that yer look back and think how stupid it was to be wishing yer life away.' Molly

Growing old is something no one can change. It happens to everyone, rich or poor. All the money in the world can't keep yer young. But it's the way yer grow old that makes the difference. Some people give up the ghost in their fifties and sixties, while others grow old gracefully. And

The real menace in dealing with a five-year-old is that in no time at all you begin to sound like a five-year-old.

Any artist is insulted by the suggestion that art is merely a matter of recording reality, and knows that it is impossible to explain how imagination can transform not only events and people, but the artist as well, into quite different "realities".

She sat staring at the heavy curtains that shut out the gentle twilit garden, thinking how few things in life were un-muddled, firmly outlined as they were surely intended to be? One could organize, direct, plan each hour in advance and still the muddle persisted. Nothing in life was really water-tight, nothing secret, nothing secure.

Sometimes it's easier not to try to understand people.

Choices were so easy when I was a child. Good guy versus bad guy, and the good guys always won. But I'm no longer a child.

I don't exercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.

I enjoy life when things are happening. I don't care if it's good things or bad things. That means you're alive.

I'm Jewish. I don't work out. If God had wanted us to bend over, He would have put diamonds on the floor.

Don't tell your kids you had an easy birth or they won't respect you. For years I used to wake up my daughter and say, 'Melissa you ripped me to shreds. Now go back to sleep.'.

If God wanted us to bend over he would put diamonds on the floor

People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.