I learned to trust women's ears when it comes to hearing music a lot more than other men.
My wife and daughter have accused me of being too silent at breakfast but I don't want to talk when I don't have much to say.
The prospect of a long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where I am forced to stay for hours and 'have fun'.
Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.
Doubt is my boon companion, the faithful St. Bernard ever at my side. Whether writing essays or just going about daily life, I am constantly second-guessing myself. My mind is filled with 'yes, buts,' 'so whats?' and other skeptical rejoinders. I am forever monitoring myself for traces of folly, insensitivity, arrogance, false humility, cruelty, stupidity, immaturity and, guess what, I keep finding examples. Age has not made me wiser, except maybe in retrospect.
The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, andor yes, with honesty.
In new work, we need to see the shadow, however faint, of previous literary effort.
I was number one in the ratings four times last year and twice this season. What could be more damn equal than that? If they get any more equal, I don't want it.
These two value systems [islam and U. S constitution] do not clash in any way, and my son is a member of the United States Armed Forces active duty. He`s proud to serve his country. And there are many more people who are exact same thing.
Some thoughtlessly proclaim the Muses nine: A tenth is Sappho, maid divine.
In matters of great concern, and which must be done, there is no surer argument of a weak mind than irresolution; to be undetermined where the case is so plain, and the necessity so urgent. To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating, and drinking, and sleeping, from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.