Edges Quotes - Page 20

• Or if the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's Utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torment, what except a specifical and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain?

  William James

  Lonely, Independent, Science

  William James (2012). “The Will to Believe and Human Immortality”, p.133, Courier Corporation

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• In America, we hurry-which is well; but when the day's work is done, we go on thinking of losses and gains, we plan for the morrow, we even carry our business cares to bed with us...we burn up our energies with these excitements, and either die early or drop into a lean and mean old age at a time of life which they call a man's prime in Europe...What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and renew our edges!

  Mark Twain

  Work, Mean, Loss

  Mark Twain, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (2009). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.7, Courier Corporation

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• ...if we expended all our energies solely on taking care of our own needs we would stop growing. In that respect what we call "soul" can be viewed as the surplus energy that can be invested into change and transformation. As such, it is the cutting edge of evolution.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Change, Business, Cutting

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.113, Penguin

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• Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be close to freezing, utterly exhausted, and in danger of falling into a bottomless crevasse, yet he wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Sipping a piña colada under a palm tree at the edge of the turquoise ocean is idyllic, but it just doesn't compare to the exhilaration he feels on the windswept ridge.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Business, Stress, Ocean

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.34, Penguin

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• I have me brave women who are exploring the outer edge of human possibility, with no history to guide them, and with a courage to make themselves vulnerable that I find moving beyond words.

  Gloria Steinem

  Courage, Moving, Brave

  Gloria Steinem (2012). “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions”, p.190, Open Road Media

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• Dance on the edge of mystery.

  Alan Cohen

  Dance, Dancing, Mystery

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• The human animal dances wildest on the edge of the grave.

  Rita Mae Brown

  Death, Dance, Animal

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• What has happened makes the world. Live on the edge, looking.

  Robert Creeley

  Inspirational, Vision, World

  Robert Creeley (1982). “The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945-1975”, p.364, Univ of California Press

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• Today social justice represents one of the most serious challenges to the conscience of the world. The abyss between those who are within the world 'order' and those who are excluded is widening day by day. The use of leading-edge technologies has made it possible to accumulate wealth in a way that is fantastic but perverse because it is unjustly distributed. Twenty-percent of humankind control eighty percent of all means of life. That fact creates a dangerous imbalance in the movement of history.

  Leonardo Boff

  Mean, Technology, Order

  Leonardo Boff (2001). “The Prayer of Saint Francis: A Message of Peace for the World Today”, p.43, Orbis Books

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• They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God gets hardly a mention.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Lonely, Religious, Science

  Neil deGrasse Tyson (2007). “Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries”, p.353, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Age enlarges and enriches the powers of some musical instruments - notably those of the violin - but it seems to set a piano's teeth on edge.

  Mark Twain

  Piano, Musical, Age

  Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.5802, Delphi Classics

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• In fact, at this point in history, the most radical, pervasive, and earth-shaking transformation would occur simply if everybody truly evolved to a mature, rational, and responsible ego, capable of freely participating in the open exchange of mutual self-esteem. There is the 'edge of history.' There would be a real New Age.

  Ken Wilber

  Real, Self Esteem, Ego

  Ken Wilber (2004). “The Simple Feeling of Being: Visionary, Spiritual, and Poetic Writings”, p.143, Shambhala Publications

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• You start in April and cross to the time of May
  One has you as it leaves, one as it comes
  Since the edges of these months are yours and defer
  To you, either of them suits your praises.
  The Circus continues and the theatre's lauded palm,
  Let this song, too, join the Circus spectacle.

  Ovid

  Song, Spring, Theatre

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• Spring slattern of seasons
  you have soggy legs
  and a muddy petticoat
  drowsy
  
  is your hair your
  eyes are sticky with
  dream and you have a sloppy body from
  
  being brought to bed of crocuses
  when you sing in your whisky voice
  the grass rises on the head of the earth
  and all the trees are put on edge
  
  spring
  of the excellent jostle of
  thy hips
  and the superior

  e. e. cummings

  Dream, Spring, Eye

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• The best thing about living at the water's edge: You only have assholes on three sides of you, and if they come this way you can hear them splash.

  George Carlin

  Stupid, People, Water

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• The winner's edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner's edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success.

  Denis Waitley

  Attitude, Successful, Aptitude

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• You will always be too much of something for someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge. Apologize for mistakes. Apologize for unintentionally hurting someone - profusely. But don't apologize for being who you are.

  Danielle LaPorte

  Being Yourself, Hurt, Mistake

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• A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air.

  Eric Sloane

  Fall, Autumn, Lakes

  Eric Sloane (2013). “Weather Almanac”, p.151, Courier Corporation

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• You should never feel comfortable. There is something wrong if you are. You should always feel under threat, on the edge of your seat and pushing yourself. Win one and you want to win more. It's never-ending.

  Damon Hill

  Athlete, Winning, Want

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• When you've learned to believe in yourself, there's no telling how good a player you can be. That's because you have the mental edge.

  Rod Carew

  Basketball, Baseball, Believe

  Rod Carew, Frank Pace, Armen Keteyian, Joe Mauer (2012). “Rod Carew's Hit to Win: Batting Tips and Techniques from a Baseball Hall of Famer”, p.88, MVP Books

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• We took special pride in the fact that climbing rocks and icefalls had no economic value in society...We were like a wild species living in the edges of an ecosystem - adaptable, resilient and tough.

  Yvon Chouinard

  Adventure, Pride, Rocks

  Yvon Chouinard (2006). “Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman”, p.18, Penguin

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• It's possible to have too much in life. Too many clothes jade our appreciation of new ones; too much money can out us out of touch with life; too much free time and dull the edge of the soul. We need sometimes to come very near the bone so tha we can taste the marrow of life, rather than its superfluities.

  Joan D. Chittister

  Appreciation, Clothes, Soul

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• People will then often say, 'But surely it's better to remain an Agnostic just in case?' This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I've been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would choose not to worship him anyway.)

  Douglas Adams

  Atheist, Thinking, Hair

  Douglas Adams (2005). “The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time”, p.103, Del Rey

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• Although we give lip service to the notion of freedom, we know the government is no longer the servant of the people but, at last has become the people's master. We have stood by like timid sheep while the wolf killed - first the weak, then the strays, then those on the outer edges of the flock, until at last the entire flock belonged to the wolf.

  Gerry Spence

  Sheep, Government, Giving

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• Chance does not speak essentially through words nor can it be seen in their convolution. It is the eruption of language, its sudden appearance. It's not a night twinkle with stars, an illuminated sleep, nor a drowsy vigil. It is the very edge of consciousness.

  Michel Foucault

  Stars, Sleep, Night

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