Binns And Stevens Quotes

THE POEMS OF OUR CLIMATE

I
Clear water in a brilliant bowl,
Pink and white carnations. The light
In the room more like a snowy air,
Reflecting snow. A newly-fallen snow
At the end of winter when afternoons return.
Pink and white carnations - one desires
So much more than that. The day itself
Is simplified: a bowl of white,
Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round,
With nothing more than the carnations there.

II
Say even that this complete simplicity
Stripped one of all one's torments, concealed
The evilly compounded, vital I
And made it fresh in a world of white,
A world of clear water, brilliant-edged,
Still one would want more, one would need more,
More than a world of white and snowy scents.

III
There would still remain the never-resting mind,
So that one would want to escape, come back
To what had been so long composed.
The imperfect is our paradise.
Note that, in this bitterness, delight,
Since the imperfect is so hot in us,
Lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds. ~ Wallace Stevens

Writing [my journal] was the only way I could keep track of the last experience before a new one came along and erased the old one from my thoughts. ~ Kristine K. Stevens

The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The reader became the book; and summer night
Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The words were spoken as if there was no book,
Except that the reader leaned above the page,
Wanted to lean, wanted much to be
The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom
The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
The house was quiet because it had to be.
The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.
And the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,
In which there is no other meaning, itself
Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself
Is the reader leaning late and reading there. ~ Wallace Stevens

Dance to forget yourself.
Dance to forgive
Let your body and your mind agree
If only for this breathe right now
Dance like you're free ~ Courtney C. Stevens

Sometimes it is one step at a time, and things don't always work out the way we would like them to, but as you allow God to direct you He will bring you to a place of peace. ~ Anna Stevens

In my mid-20s, I was directing episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock' and 'Peter Gunn.' I was pretty much on course and - as I sometimes joke - was prepared to devote my life to become the second best film director in my family. ~ George Stevens, Jr.

In Islam there is a line between let's say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again. ~ Cat Stevens

It was soldier's went marching over the rocks,
and still they came in watery flocks,
because it was spring and the birds had to come,
No doubt that soldier's had to be marching,
and that the drums had to be rolling, rolling, rolling ~ Wallace Stevens

I don't think it's so hard to be commercial and interesting. Look at Prince, or Neil Young. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Two things of opposite natures seem to depend
On on another, as Logos depends
On Eros, day on night, the imagined
On the real. This is the origin of change.
Winter and spring, cold copulars, embrace
And forth the particulars of rapture come.
Music falls on the silence like a sense
A passion that we feel, not understand.
Morning and afternoon are clasped together
And North and South are an intrinsic couple
And sun and rain a plural, like two lovers
That walk away together as one in the greenest body. ~ Wallace Stevens

Morals, principles and laws are when faith is reduced to standards and those standards basically just bind us, and we become prejudicial, racist, self-serving when we're guided by these laws ... When a developed country uses Christianity in its policies, in government, in maintaining corporate wealth, that's a bastardized rendering of a faith. ~ Sufjan Stevens

The greatest measure of the nineteenth century was passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America. ~ Thaddeus Stevens

After all, a district judge who gives harsh sentences to Yankees fans and lenient sentences to Red Sox fans would not be acting reasonably even if her procedural rulings were impeccable. ~ John Paul Stevens

Just because your lover died doesn't mean you can't find another. Besides, if
you don't start dating again your parents will intervene and I've met your parents, they scare the crap out of me."
Anthony shivered at the memory of his parents'
matchmaking skills. "Last time they fixed me up with a fairy."
Steven snorted. "I thought you didn't like labels."
"No. He was an actual fairy, you know, from Faeland."
That got Steven's full attention. "What happened?"
Anthony shrugged. "Let's just say it didn't work out. ~ Amber Kell

She grinned up at him, her eyes sparkling and mischievous and her mouth slightly swollen from his kiss. He wasn't entirely certain if forever would be enough for him. He knew that no matter what, this woman, once his blood slave, then his greatest downfall, and finally his salvation would never fail to amaze him, never fail to bring joy and love to his life, and would him captive for eternity. ~ Erica Stevens

No matter what policy initiatives we take on, we are going to need a permanent repository for nuclear fuel based on the law and sound science. ~ Craig Stevens

If he touches me, I'll kill him.
Rattle on a snake, a dog's growl to prevent a bite, her warning was meant to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and the burden of taking life, because as surely as the earth turned, if that man put a hand on her, instinct and history would overwhelm reason and she would destroy him or die trying. ~ Taylor Stevens

One foot in front of the other, more aimless than direct, Bradford left the waiting room for the outside world. Called for a taxi and then dialed Munroe again, desperate for her voice, for one ray of light in the darkness, afraid of what he might say if she did answer, afraid of himself and the inner deadening that pointed to a danger far more lethal than any rage he'd felt. ~ Taylor Stevens

One must have a mind of winter, I thought, to behold the nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
- from The Snow Man, by Wallace Stevens ~ Robert B. Parker

We say
This changes and that changes. Thus the constant
Violets, doves, girls, bees and hyacinths
Are inconstant objects of inconstant cause
In a universe of inconstancy. ~ Wallace Stevens

One of the best things about paintings is their silence - which prompts reflection and random reverie. ~ Mark Stevens

Lex, this'll sound weird, but when I was a kid I believed in monsters. You know, like vampires. Werewolves. Ghosts. And I believed in them because I knew at least one other monster existed. He wore a shirt with his name stitched across the pocket. And carried a fifth for a weapon. ~ Courtney C. Stevens

When we saw a destitute-looking man trying to sell worn flip-flops, I vowed never to complain about a job again. When I considered the steady paycheck and quality of life it provided, most of my past gripes - primarily about unproductive meetings, back-biting office politics and panty hose - were just whining. ~ Kristine K. Stevens

Divinity must live within herself:
Passions of rain, or moods in the falling snow;
Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty
Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights;
All pleasures and all pains, remembering
The boughs of summer and the winter branch.
These are the measures destined for her soul. ~ Wallace Stevens

I didn't go to university or get a degree, but I hired somebody as a mentor - and that I considered my university education. ~ Chevy Stevens

I thought everybody would embrace and understand my reasons for becoming Muslim. ~ Cat Stevens

Because I don't play guitar any more, African harmonies and rhythms have been an inspiration to me. I love the raw origin of the sound. It complements my voice and words naturally. ~ Cat Stevens

If we have a heart to learn and a willingness to follow the example of children, their divine attributes can hold a key to unlocking our own spiritual growth. ~ Jean A. Stevens

I was reading a poem by my idol, Wallace Stevens, in which he said, 'The self is a cloister of remembered sounds.' My first response was, Yesss! How did he know that? It's like he's reading my mind. But my second response was, I need some new sounds to remember. I've been stuck in my little isolation chamber for so long I'm spinning through the same sounds I've been hearing in my head all my life. If I go on this way, I'll get old too fast, without remembering any more sounds than I already know now. The only one who remembers any of my sounds is me. How do you turn down the volume on your personal-drama earphones and learn how to listen to other people? How do you jump off one moving train, marked Yourself, and jump onto a train moving in the opposite direction, marked Everybody Else? I loved a Modern Lovers song called, 'Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste,' and I didn't want to waste mine. ~ Rob Sheffield

For a business to strengthen its position on the market, its managers should become skillful at helping their subordinates to set and achieve specific and measurable goals with realistic deadlines and clear expectations. Managers should also mentor employees through challenges, helping them grow and develop new skills. ~ Anna Stevens

I know your story.
Got one of my own.
Yeah, I know lonely and alone.
Happen in a crowd, happen in a kiss.
But I know how to change all this. ~ Courtney C. Stevens

I lay in the pile, rolling through his slight scent, which I pretended was still there. I whispered his name, as if he could hear me, and I hugged the thought of him kissing me and holding me in his arms. The tears of my pained heart released on the sleeve of Steven's favorite T-shirt, and I fell more and more into my sorrow. ~ Brittainy C. Cherry

Do not let her hear your language, the source had said, she will use language as a weapon. Keep the area around her free of objects, everything will be used as a weapon. Stay clear of her reach, she doesn't need a weapon to kill you. Don't use restraints, she will find a way out of them, and they will only give a false sense of safety. Do not touch her, the source said. Leave her in peace, and treat her respectfully, only then will the violence stay muted. Disrespect these and make no mistake, she will kill you. ~ Taylor Stevens

The spiritual ambiguity growing up made me really latch onto a faith - Protestantism - that was somewhat conventional. Everyone else was rebelling against traditions and institutions, whereas I was rebelling against the upheaval and uncertainty in my family. ~ Sufjan Stevens

Music is feeling, then not sound;
And thus it is what i feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,

Thinking of your blue- shadowed silk
Is music. It is like the strain
Waked in elders... ~ William Stevens

I care not whether the soldiers are of Milesian, Teutonic, African or Angelo-Saxon descent. I despise the principle that make a difference between them in the hour of battle and of death. ~ Thaddeus Stevens

In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American
on the other hand, is expressed in an eager amateurish way. A European gives a sense of scope, of survey, of consideration. An American is strained, sensational. One is artistic gold; the other is bullion. ~ Wallace Stevens

There is a perfect rout of characters in every man - and every man is like an actor's trunk, full of strange creatures, new & old. But an actor and his trunk are two different things ~ Wallace Stevens