Great Grandpa Quotes

More and more, when I single out the person out who inspired me most, I go back to my grandfather. ~ James Earl Jones

We did all the standard camp numbers: "Down By The Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa," "This Land is Minos's Land. ~ Rick Riordan

Looking at Great-Great Grandpa Baldwin's photograph, I think to myself: You've finally done it. It took four generations, but you've finally goddamned done it. Gotten that war against reason and uppity secularists you always wanted. Gotten even for the Scopes trial, which they say was one of many burrs under your saddle until your last breath. Well, rejoice, old man, because your tribes have gathered around America's oldest magical hairball of ignorance and superstition, Christian fundamentalism, and their numbers have enabled them to suck so much oxygen out of the political atmosphere that they are now acknowledged as a mainstream force in politics. Episcopalians, Jews, and affluent suburban Methodists and Catholics, they are all now scratching their heads, sweating, and swearing loudly that this pack of lower-class zealots cannot possibly represent the mainstream--not the mainstream they learned about in their fancy sociology classes or were so comfortably reassured about by media commentators who were people like themselves. Goodnight, Grandpa Baldwin. I'll toast you from hell. ~ Joe Bageant

I think my great-grandpa was an opera singer or something. ~ Jennifer Damiano

The memory of him tracing the lines of my face filled me. I remembered the touch of his sensitive fingers, following my jawline, running down my neck to follow the curves of my body. I remembered his warmth, his laughter, and his eyes sparkling when I twisted a phrase to mean something entirely new and naughty. I remembered the way he made me feel needed, appreciated for who and what I was, never having to apologize for it, and the contentment I found in sharing ourselves. We'd been happy together. It had been great. ~ Kim Harrison

In a certain sense, you do write to seduce the world, but when it happens, you begin to feel like a whore. The disparity between your life and your work turns out to be as great as ever. And the people seduced by your work are usually seduced by all the wrong reasons. ~ Erica Jong

I call it an old-fashioned seafood house for the new millennium. We are trying to update what we know as old fish houses and places like that, which are great, but I want to give it a new, fresh look with updated versions of the classics we all love. ~ Todd English

Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of. ~ Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

I'm really great in other peoples relationships. ~ Dane Cook

When the danger is great, one must not run away. ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Thanks for the help," said Nathaniel with a sigh.

Timothy shook his head. "I didn't do anything, That was all you."

Arthur turned around and threw his dagger into a Kalathite soldier coming through the chamber doors.

"Great reunion. Talk about it later," said Arthur as he went to get his dagger out of the soldier's face. ~ Lara Lee

A tree uses what comes its way to nurture itself. By sinking its roots deeply into the earth, by accepting the rain that flows towards it, by reaching out to the sun, the tree perfects its character and becomes great. ... Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree. ~ Ming-Dao Deng

If we don't have a vigorous questioning, aggressive journalistic community and mythology, democracy itself is in great jeopardy. ~ Milton Glaser

It is a fact of history that those who seek to withdraw from its great experiments usually end up being overwhelmed by them. ~ Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson Of Lodsworth

I started to get so many letters from unlikely people; a single mum going, "I watch your show, I'm not into survival, but I hold down four jobs and I get it when you say it's about persistence and putting a positive attitude into things during difficult times." That for me was a great liberator to realize that the show isn't about me running around, jumping off stuff and flexing muscles, it's about inspiring people. That makes me really happy. ~ Bear Grylls

I'm great at fake typing but in real life terrible. ~ Elden Henson

I'm not a great one for beds, said the muskrat. They are unnecessary furniture, really. It was the only hole I lived in, but I was happy there. Of course, it's all the same to a philosopher whether he is happy or not, but it was a good hole . . . ~ Tove Jansson

Too often we are lead to believe that our lives are at the mercy of other people or external circumstances, and in a way there is truth to that. We have no control over some things that happen around us.

But what we have total control over is the way in which we chose to meet challenges, to respond to life rather than react.
WE can make our lives great ones if we chose to ~ Steven Aitchison

At that moment, everyone walks on the sky. Maybe all great decisions are made without a net," The Wonder herself had told him. "There comes a time, in every life, when you must let go. ~ John Irving

I think our need to be loved is so great that it's the thing that damages us the most. I think that's something we can find in any person, though some people are more in tune with it or accepting of it or have moved past it and dealt with it or have a healthier thought process about it than others. ~ Kristen Stewart

So things go on as before with those who think a great deal and effect nothing, and those who think nothing evidently doing it all... ~ Saul Bellow

There is a great need today for all mankind to heed the plea to cease to find fault one with another. Some of us are so accustomed to wearing faultfinding spectacles that we cannot see past them. We need to open our eyes and ears and look for the good and the blessings around us. ~ Marvin J. Ashton

I've had a great experience with pretty much everybody I've worked with. ~ Mia Wasikowska

Human beings had ever been captivated by the great burning sphere in the heavens, he said, 'for not only does it give us warmth, but also light. The foremost craving of our souls. ~ Kate Morton

I keep saying, the older I get, the younger my audience gets. Because 'Wicked' and 'Rent' and 'Glee,' each one was a young audience, so it's a great thing to have, so then you know that as they get older and have kids, they'll maybe still buy tickets to my shows when I'm 80 and in Vegas! ~ Idina Menzel

I'm wearing out this new Coal Men record. I think it's masterful start-to-finish. Dave Coleman is one of Americana music's great songwriters, and I hope this record gets the attention it deserves. ~ Todd Snider

We'd cry great waves of love and rage for this young woman, whose resistance made our own lives look empty as nadless ball sacks and sewed-up dry cunts, a girl-woman whose body was in defiance of over stab at "living" we took and failed on a daily basis. ~ Lidia Yuknavitch

Politics remained archaically unchanged in 1999. America was economically strong but morally complacent. It was a year of evil in many ways - another great year for cartooning. ~ Michael Ramirez

The things that are important to me - being a mother, a businesswoman, an activist - are all things that were borne out of great passion. ~ Elizabeth Taylor

William Carey chides his countrymen for deciding it would be impossible for the Gospel to travel over great distances and to penetrate varied cultures when they are willing to face the same trials for the sake of commerce. ~ William Carey

Giving up my scotch? My Macallan 18? That was hard for me! Though now that doesn't even sound good, being pregnant. You crave other things. A big thing of water sounds great! ~ Jessica Simpson

It is always reassuring to discover that great writers are as fallible as oneself. W.B. Yeats once failed to obtain an academic post in Dublin because he misspelt the word 'professor' on his application. ~ Terry Eagleton

I love having Phil [Robertson] in the kitchen! Not only is he a great cook, but it means less work for me! ~ Kay Robertson

My mother was a great storyteller and a great historian in her own way. She only made it to third grade. She came from Mexico City at the tail end of the Mexican Revolution and that kind of turmoil and chaos and frenzy and also excitement. ~ Juan Felipe Herrera