Quotes About Perspective

suspect that we do not know any more than the people of the past did, but only think somewhat differently.

Let no one say and say it to your shame That all was beauty here until you came.

thought of that image as I was looking across the table at Max, at him looking back at me, old me, much older me: fifty-six. Max was born in 1906 and thus had always been—would always be—younger than I, by six years if I lied about my age, as I always did, or by seven if I was honest, which I was only in the privacy of my mind.

I didn't believe in love at first sight. In fact, as I would soon be reminded by seemingly every literate person in New York, I had written and published more than a few poems lampooning the very idea of it. But one need not believe in something for it to happen anyway.

This, I am reminded, is why I love walking in the city, taking to the streets in pursuit of some spontaneous and near-arbitrary objective. If one knocks oneself out of one's routine—and in so doing knocks others gently out of theirs—then one can now and again create these momentary opportunities to be better than one is.

When you are older and have swum out into the stream of life, you'll see -- there are no good people, little girl. We're all trying and failing, trying too hard and failing too often. Remember that. We shouldn't judge too harshly, in the end, the sins of others...

A woman who no longer cares about how she looks has given up on more than fashion – she's given up on life.

Dying," she said in her last week, "is normal. It's as normal as being born.

Be grateful for the time you did have instead of regretful for the time you didn't,' I say.

There is no master narrative nor realist perspective to provide a background of social and historical facts.

Whereas the slums in Hamburg are the slums of its sailors, Berlin is a big slum.

We live by the images of those we decide are heroes and gods.

It's not my fault that the gray of everyone else's stories makes the color stand out.

She much preferred to be safely on the outside of life, watching, than deeply involved.

to get in on both sides, and there's space for a

Why do you need to turn everything on its head, Charles", he used to ask him, half annoyed and half wondering, "isn't the world beautiful and harmonious as it is?

slight shifts in imagination can have deeper and more lasting impact on our lives than major efforts at change.

Man is incapable of seeing past the end of his nose. He huddles upon the ground staring at his own feet. It is only when he considers his own mortality that he clings to whatever God or Buddha offers him hope.

El tiempo pasó. Pero el tiempo se divide en muchas corrientes. Como en un rio, hay una corriente central rapida en algunos sectores y lenta, hasta inmóvil, en otros. El tiempo cósmico es igual para todos, pero el tiempo humano difiere con cada persona. El tiempo corre de la misma manera para todos los seres humanos; pero todo ser humano flota de distinta manera en el tiempo.

Not that Alan was being particularly subtle. Mallory was somewhat bemused to find herself, for the first time in her adult life, on the traditionally male side of things in their relationship: she was the one who was perfectly happy with casual sex a couple of times a week, no strings or promises. Alan wanted more.

The student asks: If my redstone necklace had every view of every veil that ever brightened, would I be wise? The master answers: If I had a thousand pieces of a priceless vase, would I be rich?

Like a lot of people, she thought love solved everything: just smear it over the problem, and it'll all work out. Then they had the arrogance to pity you if you saw things more rationally.

It is true that I had wanted to die , but that is peculiarly different from regretting having been born. Overwhelmingly, I was enormously glad to have been born, grateful for life, and I couldn't imagine not wanting to pass on life to someone else.

I never again looked at the sky and saw only vastness and beauty. From that afternoon on I saw that death was also and always there.