Meteors Quotes

• New ideas come into this world somewhat like falling meteors, with a flash and an explosion.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Fall, Ideas, World

  Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1865). “Letters to Various Persons”, p.158

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• I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

  Jack London

  Sleep, Atoms, Writing Words

  Quoted in Bulletin (San Francisco), 2 Dec. 1916.

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• Great men are meteors, consuming themselves to light the world

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Greatness, Men, Light

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• I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

  Jack London

  Inspirational, Life, Ambition

  Quoted in Bulletin (San Francisco), 2 Dec. 1916.

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• Great men are meteors designed to burn so that earth may be lighted.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Life, Men, Earth

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• I entered literary life as a meteor, and I shall leave it like a thunderbolt.

  Guy de Maupassant

  Thunderbolts

  Guy de Maupassant (2015). “Guy de Maupassant – The Complete Works: Short Stories, Novels, Plays, Poetry, Memoirs and more: Original Versions of the Novels and Stories in French, An Interactive Bilingual Edition with Literary Essays on Maupassant by Tolstoy, Joseph Conrad and Henry James”, p.4383, e-artnow

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• Better was it to go unknown and leave behind you an arch, then to burn like a meteor and leave no dust.

  Virginia Woolf

  Dust, Arches, Behind You

  Virginia Woolf (2006). “Orlando (Annotated): A Biography”, p.146, HMH

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• I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.

  Jack London

  London, Sparks, Atoms

  Quoted in Bulletin (San Francisco), 2 Dec. 1916.

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• The night is falling down around us. Meteors rain like fireworks, quick rips in the seam of the dark... Every second, another streak of silver glows: parentheses, exclamation points, commas - a whole grammar made of light, for words too hard to speak.

  Jodi Picoult

  Rip, Rain, Fall

  Jodi Picoult (2009). “My Sister's Keeper - Movie Tie-In: A Novel”, p.200, Simon and Schuster

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• Men of genius are meteors destined to burn themselves out in lighting up their age.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Art, Philosophy, Men

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• The bay-trees in our country are all withered,
  And meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven.
  The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth,
  And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change.
  Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap;
  The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
  The other to enjoy by rage and war.
  These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.

  William Shakespeare

  Country, Stars, Kings

  William Shakespeare, Anthony B. Dawson, Paul Yachnin (2011). “The Oxford Shakespeare: Richard II”, p.201, Oxford University Press

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• The function of man is to live, not to exist.

  Jack London

  Short Life, Men, Atoms

  Quoted in Bulletin (San Francisco), 2 Dec. 1916.

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• My dad took me out to see a meteor shower when I was a little kid, and it was scary for me because he woke me up in the middle of the night. My heart was beating; I didn't know what he wanted to do. He wouldn't tell me, and he put me in the car and we went off, and I saw all these people lying on blankets, looking up at the sky.

  Steven Spielberg

  Dad, Lying, Heart

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• Meteors are not needed less than mountains:
  shine, perishing republic.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Shining, Mountain, Republic

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.23, Stanford University Press

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• Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone.

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Inspirational, Men, Genius

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, J. D. McClatchy (2000). “Poems and Other Writings”, p.729, Library of America

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• Misled by fancy's meteor ray, By passion driven; But yet the light that led astray Was light from heaven.

  Robert Burns

  Passion, Light, Heaven

  Robert Burns, John Gibson Lockhart, James Currie (1835). “The works of Robert Burns: containing his life, by John Lockhart, esq. ; the poetry and correspondence of Dr. Currie's edition ; biographical sketches of the poet by himself, Gilbert Burns, Professor Stewart, and others”, p.141

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• A moody child and wildly wise
  Pursued the game with joyful eyes,
  Which chose, like meteors, their way,
  And rived the dark with private ray.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Wise, Children, Philosophical

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.112, Graphic Arts Books

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• The few bright meteors in man's intellectual horizon could well be matched by women, were she allowed to occupy the same elevated position.

  Ernestine Rose

  Men, Intellectual, Horizon

  Ernestine Louise Rose (2008). “Mistress of herself: speeches and letters of Ernestine L. Rose, early women's rights leader”, The Feminist Press at CUNY

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• Like mimic meteors the snow, In silence out of Heaven sifts.

  Frank Dempster Sherman

  Snow, Silence, Heaven

  Frank Dempster Sherman (1917). “The Poems of Frank Dempster Sherman”

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• The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

  Jack London

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Quoted in Bulletin (San Francisco), 2 Dec. 1916.

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• I have seen the glories of art and architecture, and mountain and river; I have seen the sunset on the Jungfrau, and the full moon rise over Mont Blanc; but the fairest vision on which these eyes ever looked was the flag of my country in a foreign land. Beautiful as a flower to those who hate it, terrible as a meteor to those who hate it, it is the symbol of the power and glory, and the honor, of fifty million Americans.

  George Frisbie Hoar

  Beautiful, Country, Art

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• A friend of mine described it this way: When they were born it was like a meteor landed in our house and blew everything apart. We had to just put all the pieces back.

  Christine Lahti

  Swag, House, Pieces

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• They are so confident that they will run on forever. But they won't run on. They don't know that this is all one huge big blazing meteor that makes a pretty fire in space, but that some day it'll have to hit.

  Ray Bradbury

  Running, Space, Fire

  Ray Bradbury (2016). “Fahrenheit 451”, p.50, Hamilton Books

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• I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.

  Ian Fleming

  Motivational, Witty, Time

  Ian Fleming (2012). “You Only Live Twice: James Bond 007”, p.273, Random House

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• Seventy percent of Earth's surface is water and over 99 percent is uninhabited, so you would expect nearly all impactors to hit either the ocean or desolate regions on Earth's surface. So why do movie meteors have such good aim?

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Ocean, Water, Earth

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