April 4, 2014

Good Morning!

Today is the birthday of Marguerite Duras (1914 – 1996) who said:

“That she had so completely recovered her sanity was a source of sadness to her. One should never be cured of one's passion.”

and

“When it's in a book I don't think it'll hurt any more ...exist any more. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them.”

It is also the birthday of Maya Angelou (1928 - ) who said:

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

and

“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.”

and

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

Happy Birthday to Andrei Tarkovsky (1932 – 1986) who said:

“Some sort of pressure must exist; the artist exists because the world is not perfect. Art would be useless if the world were perfect, as man wouldn’t look for harmony but would simply live in it. Art is born out of an ill-designed world.”

and

“A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he’s worth something.”

Also to Dan Simmons (1948 - ) who said:

“In the beginning was the Word. Then came the … word processor. Then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature. And so it goes.”

and

“Words assail me. The thought of books makes me ache. Poetry echoes in my mind, and if I had the ability to banish it, I would do so at once.”

Finally, a heartstricken birthday greeting to an author who left us too soon, Ned Vizzini (1981 – 2013), who said:

“People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.”

and

“Things to do today:

1) Breathe in.

2) Breathe out.”

and

“I work. And I think about work, and I freak out about work, and I think about how much I think about work, and I freak out about how much I think about how much I think about work, and I think about how freaked out I get about how much I think about how much I think about work.”