Worthwhile Quotes - Page 16

• Nothing worthwhile is ever without complications.

  Nora Roberts

  Complication

  Nora Roberts (2012). “All the Possibilities: The MacGregors”, p.94, Penguin

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• I think I'm one of the most patriotic people that I've ever encountered in America. I consider myself a bedrock patriot. I participate very actively in local politics, because my voice might be worthwhile. I participate in a meaningful way - not by donations; I work at it.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Meaningful, Patriotic, Thinking

  Hunter S. Thompson (2012). “Ancient Gonzo Wisdom”, p.319, Pan Macmillan

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• Most of the time I've worked in labs if I didn't encounter something in a week entirely unexpected and surprising I'd consider it a lost week. Lots of that is due to mistakes and stupidity, but it could open a new line of inquiry. Something really good turns up once in a hundred times, but it makes the whole day worthwhile.

  Lewis Thomas

  Mistake, Stupidity, Encounters

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• No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect.

  Edward Teller

  Simple, Perspective, Retrospect

  Edward Teller (1981). “The Pursuit of Simplicity”, Pepperdine Press

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• Nothing matters but the writing. There has been nothing else worthwhile... a stain upon the silence.

  Samuel Beckett

  Writing, Silence, Matter

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• The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not. Their self-esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success. They feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement, talent, beauty, or intellect are large enough.

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Self Esteem, Numbers, Achievement

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• Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.

  Edward de Bono

  Hope, Fun, Creativity

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• The struggle is always worthwhile, if the end be worthwhile and the means honorable; foreknowledge of defeat is not sufficient reason to withdraw from the contest.

  Steven Brust

  Struggle, Mean, Defeat

  Steven Brust (2009). “Five Hundred Years After”, p.525, Macmillan

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• I don't believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you're spending your time doing something worthwhile.

  Helen Mirren

  Believe, People, Trying

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• I have never been in a natural place and felt that it was a waste of time. I never have. And it's a relief. If I'm walking around a desert or whatever, every second is worthwhile.

  Viggo Mortensen

  Hair, Desert, Waste

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• Writers and artists never pay attention to advice given by their elders, quite rightly. The only worthwhile advice is the most general: Keep trying, don't give up, don't be discouraged, don't pay attention to detractors. Everyone knows this.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Giving Up, Don't Give Up, Artist

  "Joyce Carol Oates interviews herself". Interview with Joyce Carol Oates, www.washingtonpost.com. September 13, 2013.

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• Do we talk about the dignity of work? Do we give our students any reason for believing it is worthwhile to sacrifice for their work because such sacrifices improve the psychological and mental health of the person who makes them?

  Sargent Shriver

  Believe, Sacrifice, Dignity Of Work

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• We need to recognise that what really matters isn't buying more and more consumer goods, but family, friends, and knowing that we are doing something worthwhile with our lives. Helping to reduce the appalling consequences of world poverty should be part of that reassessment.

  Peter Singer

  Knowing, Needs, World

  "Tackling poverty in hard times" by Peter Singer, www.theguardian.com. March 15, 2009.

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• There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different.

  Alfred P. Sloan

  Leadership, Courage, Ambition

  Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1941). “Adventures of a White-Collar Man”

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• If I leave this Earth, I want to leave this Earth just knowing I've tried to give something back and tried to do something worthwhile with myself.

  Patrick Swayze

  Knowing, Giving, Earth

  "Film heartthrob Patrick Swayze dies of cancer at 57". edition.cnn.com. September 15, 2009.

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• This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.

  Wislawa Szymborska

  Morning, Wake Up, World

  Wislawa Szymborska (2015). “Map: Collected and Last Poems”, p.291, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Women who work with animals hear this all the time: that their love for animals must arise out of a sublimated child-rearing urge. Ana's tired of the stereotype. She likes children just fine, but they're not the standard against which all other accomplishments should be measured. Caring for animals is worthwhile in and of itself, a vocation that need offer no apologies.

  Ted Chiang

  Children, Tired, Apology

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• When you believe that you are not worthwhile in and of yourself, in the back of your mind you also begin to believe that life is not worthwhile in and of itself. It is only worthwhile insofar as it relates to your crusade. It is a kamikaze mission.

  Marya Hornbacher

  Believe, Mind, Life Is

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• A good lover will do that, see something worthwhile in you that you never knew was there. And when there's something you don't like to see in yourself a good lover won't see it either.

  Ana Castillo

  Lovers, Good Lovers

  Ana Castillo (2000). “Peel My Love Like an Onion: A Novel”, Anchor

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• You couldn't relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole--like the world, or the person you loved.

  Stewart O'Nan

  Love, Life, Acceptance

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• There's so much I wish for these days, but most of all, I wish you were here. It's strange, but before I met you, I couldn't remember the last time that I cried. Now, it seems that tears come easily to me...but you have a way of making my sorrows seem worthwhile, of explaining things in a way that lessens my ache. You are a treasure, a gift, and when we're together again, I intend to hold you until my arms are weak and I can do it no longer. My thoughts of you are sometimes the only things that keep me going.

  Nicholas Sparks

  Together Again, Sorrow, Wish

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• Love is a wonderful thing. It makes life worthwhile. I love being in love.

  Nicholas Sparks

  Being In Love, Love Is, Wonderful

  Nicholas Sparks (2010). “The Choice”, p.90, Hachette UK

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• Sometimes the most worthwhile things are right in front of our eyes. We just make them hard because we think that gives them more value.

  Karen Rose

  Eye, Thinking, Worthwhile Things

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• For most people, art is only valuable if other people say it is; and artists are only worthwhile if they are either rich and famous, or dead.

  Wayne Gerard Trotman

  Art, People, Rich

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• It was worthwhile to come here only to see why Europe is rottening, why all this people - good for nothing - are the cause of all the Hitlers and Mussolinis.

  Frida Kahlo

  Europe, People, Causes

  Frida Kahlo (2006). “Frida by Frida: Selection of Letters and Texts”, Editorial Rm Rio Panuko

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