Quotes About Pursuit

I sometimes try to be miserable that I may do more work, but find it is a foolish experiment. Happinesses have wings and wheels; miseries are leaden legged, and their whole employment is to clip the wings and to take off the wheels of our chariots. We determine, therefore, to be happy and do all we can, tho' not all that we would. - Letter to William Hayley, 26th November 1800

This was an adventure, I told myself, an intriguing quest, and one that I would regret not seeing through at least a little further along the way.

In his eulogy, the Marquis de Condorcet observed that whosoever pursues mathematics in the future will be guided and sustained by the genius of Euler and asserted , with much justification, that all mathematicians...are his disciples.

But I can try it. I can try to do it.

I think she was just travelling. I don't think she had any idea of finding whoever it was she was following.

The end of wisdom is to dream high enough to lose the dream in the seeking of it.

the end of wisdom is to dream high enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it... (Sartoris)

This was what I was chasing: not the exotic, but a broad-beamed understanding of what is what.

I speak as one who can no longer tolerate that simple state, the cells of my body having opted for the quixotic pursuit of individual careers.

He robbed a bank in Wichita.

There is nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you're not hunting, but - being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the jungle.

He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.

He's gaining on us, the Turk said. That is also inconceivable, the Sicilian said. Before I stole this boat we're in, I made many inquiries as to what was the fastest ship on all of Florin Channel and everyone agreed it was this one. You're right, the Turk agreed, staring back. He isn't gaining on us. He's just getting closer, that's all.

You're right," the Turk agreed, staring back. "He isn't gaining on us. He's just getting closer, that's all.

Butch: Now after we.... wait a minute... Sundance: What? Butch: You didn't see Lefors out there? Sundance: Lefors ? No. Butch: Good. For a minute there I thought we were in trouble.

Who are those guys?

All our scientific and philosophic ideals are altars to unknown gods.

The things that ask the most of us are the things most worth having.

This equation has helped many people I know identify the difference between practicing happiness and pursuing it. When my happiness feels elusive, I tend to ask myself, "What am I not being grateful for, and what am I pursuing that's distracting me from that gratitude?

dogged focus

If the pursuit of customer imagination were a religion, passion would be its hymnal.

Perhaps I believed it would give me back what wifehood had taken away. Or perhaps it is just that desire lies at the heart of human existence. When we turn away from one desire, we must find another to cleave to with all our strength—or else we die.

We're compensated metaphysically with the absolute freedom to define and pursue whatever it is we believe will make our lives worthwhile- a dubious birthright that imparts a wearisome burden of its own. Rather like choosing one all-important meal from an infinite menu.

That is the trouble with happiness-all of it is built on top of something that men want.