Holbrook Quotes

The Black Book of Economic Development - The Clandestine Art and Practical Science of Building Local Economies" is a must-read for everyone in the industry who is seeking to make a positive impact on both his or her communities and the profession. ~ Don A. Holbrook

The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practiced at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness. ~ Holbrook Jackson

If we want to understand the actions of a man in the early 1860's, put yourself back there in his shoes. As a young man he began piloting steamboats on the Mississippi, a job he loved and wanted to do the rest of his life, he said. The Civil War ended traffic on the River and his job. He wrote about it in A History of A Campaign That Failed. He said: "I joined the Confederacy, served for two weeks, deserted, and the Confederacy fell." His attachment to the Southern ideal of slavery does not appear very sturdy. ~ Hal Holbrook

Politics has become incendiary. People don't find it so funny now so I have to be careful, but I have to wake them up with some truths and the truths I aim at them are over 100 years old. Facts that no one can dispute. ~ Hal Holbrook

I was working in Lexington when I recognized this actor, Michael Shannon, and I was like, 'What do you do?' He told me to get into a theater company, so I got into a theater company near my hometown. I was a carpenter there. And then I slowly got some work. ~ Boyd Holbrook

The end of reading is not more books but more life. ~ Holbrook Jackson

History proves there is no better advertisement for a book than to condemn it for obscenity. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Those who seek happiness miss it, and those who discuss it, lack it. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Love is the most subtle form of self-interest. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Don't try to convert the elderly person; circumvent him. ~ Holbrook Jackson

My mouth is full of Oreo, ice cream, fudge, and Cool Whip, so I just nod.
This is heaven. I'm moving into one of their guest rooms.
So, Laur, do you want to come with us tomorrow? You can help me plan out furniture while Nick and Ryan dig for grubs,' she says, licking her fork.
Can we keep the rest of this dessert?
She grins. 'Sure.'
Then I'll come.'
She watches me put another bite in my mouth and close my eyes.'You're pitiful.'
No, just a chocoholic.'
She shakes her head. 'Same thing. ~ Erynn Mangum

No man is ever old enough to know better. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Pedantry is the dotage of knowledge. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Much. so there is free dessert involved here." I put my hand to my forehead. "oh, that i had discovered the job first!"
Ryan laughs. "tragic."
want to hear something tragic? my dad is going to a Christian singles' retreat."
Ryan nearly spits out his coffee. "your dad?" he is shacking.
Brandon wallops him on the back a few times. Ryan holds his hands up at him, coughing. "Stop," he croaks, standing. he inhales a few times and gets his voice back. "You would have to tell me this when my mouth was full, wouldn't you?" he sits again.
I smile broadly.
a Christian singles' retreat?" he repeats
Yep," Brandon says. "Get the name: Marley's Michigan Marriage Makers."
I cover my face
Ryan's expression twists. " thats.... interesting," he says slowly
Hallie frowns. "If its a Christian retreat, why is it called Marley's?"
Its a denomination in Michigan," Brandon says. "Marlotist. I just call them Marley for fun."
I double over until my head hits the table.
There is not a denomination called Marlotist," Hallie says.
Is too. I visited one of their churches when I went to Michigan to ski one time," Brandon says.
My eyes blur with tears from laughing so hard and holding it all in. My shoulders start shaking.
Brandon levels a good kick to my shin.
Ow!" I reach for my leg.
What is the name of it, Laurie?" Ryan asks.
Meet Your Match in Michigan"
Brandon scowls at me. " Spoilsport. ~ Erynn Mangum

I don't think of myself as fitting into a category. But I had to be careful in all of my books not to repeat things, because I have these ideas, and though the subjects were disparate, the same idea would come up through different portals. ~ Melissa Holbrook Pierson

One of the problems with putting Huck Finn into a movie or on the stage is, you always make the white people stupid and racist. The point is, they don't know they're racist. ~ Hal Holbrook

If we are imprisoned in ourselves, books provide us with the means of escape. If we have run too far away from ourselves, books show us the way back. ~ Holbrook Jackson

We are more inclined to regret our virtues than our vices; but only the very honest will admit this. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Education begins by teaching children to read and ends by making most of them hate reading. ~ Holbrook Jackson

I don't play golf. Mark Twain is golf to me. ~ Hal Holbrook

Genius is intuition on fire. ~ Holbrook Jackson

I just look for characters that have dimensions. If I don't see it written on the page, then I try to put it in there somehow. You don't want to play the same role twice. ~ Boyd Holbrook

Past and present, it is all the same, books are necromancers, they exercise an influence more varied, more lasting, than any magic known to man. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Travel, for me, is a breathtaking experience. A humbling for the soul and the realization that we are all in this together. ~ Michael Holbrook

The poor are the only consistent altruists; they sell all they have and give it to the rich. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Please don't refer to me as "channeling Mark Twain." I'm an actor. Not a channeler. That word is an iPhone shortcut. Acting is more eloquent than that. ~ Hal Holbrook

Why is nostalgia such a bad thing? Nostalgia is a longing to return. If you really loved where you came from, if, in essence, you really loved yourself, how can you not want that to exist? It's like wanting your parents keep living. ~ Melissa Holbrook Pierson

Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest form of cowardice. ~ Holbrook Jackson

We are leashed by societal norms, defined by our willingness to conform, but limited only by our imagination. ~ Michael Holbrook

If we didn't love things, then we couldn't feel their loss. The flip side of loving is losing. I mean, you can't experience one without the other. ~ Melissa Holbrook Pierson

So I was hugely thrilled that my first scene ever on camera was with Hal Holbrook. ~ Anthony Edwards

Happiness is a form of courage. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Would you rather be a fish out of water or a fish afraid of water?

The fish out of water will experience a short, exhilarating experience but will quickly die. The fish afraid of water will exist but not live.

Either way, you'll eventually die.

Choosing a path is rarely easy, but it's something we all ultimately do; whether by choice or as a spectator. Either way, water continues to flow. With or without you. ~ Michael Holbrook

Why do I keep performing at my age? What else am I going to do? Play golf? I tried that years ago and all I did was cuss. I can do that without the walk, cuss at Congress and let [Mark]Twain do it. "Imagine that you were an idiot. And then imagine that you were a member of Congress. Wait - I've repeated myself." ~ Hal Holbrook

There's no good guys and bad guys. ~ Hal Holbrook

What time do you need to be at work tomorrow, Hon?' Lexi asks.
Well, Ruby's back, so nine o'clock.'
What does Ruby being back have to do with anything?'
She's the human stopwatch, remember? Marriage doesn't change everything. ~ Erynn Mangum

There was no theater in my high school. I think even our art program was cut - it was so bad. I didn't even know that was a possibility in college or in high school; I hadn't even thought of it. It was pretty negligent. My father has run a bulldozer all of his life, and my mom is in real estate. ~ Boyd Holbrook

Be careful because cyberspace is a two way street those that hunt and stalk and troll can also become the hunted by those that they harass and attack. Cyberspace has a definite dark side. ~ Don A. Holbrook

I developed a resistance to authority. Not to discipline - I learned that. But to authority. I like to think for myself. And I like to cause trouble. ~ Hal Holbrook

Originality is only variation. ~ Holbrook Jackson

The possession of a great many things, even the best of things, tends to blind one to the real value of anything. ~ Holbrook Jackson

[Mark] Twain is pointing at you. You, the reader of the book one hundred and thirty years ago and today. That is what has made it a great American novel and the most widely read book in American Literature around the world today. ~ Hal Holbrook

To communicate with each other, we got to get mad at each other sometimes. ~ Hal Holbrook

Intuition is reason in a hurry. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Success is no longer content. It's how it sells. ~ Hal Holbrook

There are only two classes in society: those who get more than they earn, and those who earn more than they get. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Genius is initiative on fire. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Beware of your habits. The better they are the more surely they will be your undoing. ~ Holbrook Jackson

This is a deep and personal topic in our society today. Read the papers. America is hurting because of it. For God's sake, speak up. Don't we need to learn respect for people's feelings? What is going to school for? To learn how to add? ~ Hal Holbrook

Why did Nature create man? Was it to show that she is big enough to make mistakes, or was it pure ignorance? ~ Holbrook Jackson

In times of conflict, we're all peers. ~ Michael Holbrook

The better the book the more room for the reader. ~ Holbrook Jackson

We don't have truth delivered to us very often, especially in this very commercialized world. ~ Hal Holbrook

You can go into Mark Twain's material and prove anything you want. He was against war. He was for war. He was against rich people and he was for them. He was a kaleidoscope. ~ Hal Holbrook

The great revolution of the future will be Nature's revolt against man. ~ Holbrook Jackson

What are we going to do about the injuries to our country still going on right in front of our eyes? It gets me out of bed in the morning. It makes me mad enough to get my blood up and want to get out there with [Mark] Twain and get it said and that is why I still hit the road and go out on the stage and keep working at staying alive. ~ Hal Holbrook

Mark Twain married the daughter of one of New York State's leading Abolitionists, Jervis Langdon, who helped Frederick Douglass who became the great Negro leader to escape from slavery. ~ Hal Holbrook

Cyberspace or the Abyss of social media has no hiding place that technology cannot find anyone who seeks to hide their identity... so be careful what you say it may hunt and haunt you forever in the real world. ~ Don A. Holbrook

Sacrifice is a form of bargaining. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Lobbyists in Washington are making six figure salaries selling our government out to the corporate interests and we just sit and smile as if nothing is happening while the poor folks are getting poorer and their pharmaceutical bills rise. ~ Hal Holbrook

The Internet has spawned an abusive malevolent platform that cyber stalkers and trolls can use to harm people in the real world and ruin their victims lives forever with their permanent posts. Cyberspace can also be used to hunt those that prey on innocent people, so that those who live by the malicious words may also feel the repugnant feeling of being stalked and hunted even in their own false sense of anonymity. ~ Don A. Holbrook

Sean Penn, for his acting as well as his writing and directing. There are so many actors I respect, but his reach is so wide. ~ Boyd Holbrook

A mother never realizes that her children are no longer children. ~ Holbrook Jackson

Just as like finds like, love finds love. Embrace it. Be open and giving. Accept love with kindness, grace, and spirit. ~ Michael Holbrook

Maybe next time you'll take me up on dinner."
"I doubt it, Mr. Holbrook. I'm pretty sure hell will freeze over first."
Again he smiled. "Well, that may be happening sooner than you think, my dear. ~ Brynn Myers

Books worth reading are worth re-reading. ~ Holbrook Jackson

There was so much to learn and it was all fun. But the best part was getting a laugh from an audience. That was like drowning in candy. ~ Hal Holbrook

We live in a democracy. We have this extraordinary opportunity to use our mind and say what we think, speak as we think. Sometimes what we say is objectionable to other people. But that is part of a free society. ~ Hal Holbrook

Director Tom Stone is currently a potato farmer in Holbrook and could not be reached for comment. RECORDING ~ Adam Rex

A large, still book is a piece of quietness, succulent and nourishing in a noisy world, which I approach and imbibe with "a sort of greedy enjoyment," as Marcel Proust said of those rooms of his old home whose air was "saturated with the bouquet of silence." ~ Holbrook Jackson

If you can't find the spirit of the holidays in your heart, you'll never find it under a tree. ~ Michael Holbrook

Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today. ~ Holbrook Jackson

When I got into high school, I got really into basketball. I had this itch that I wanted to just move. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew that if basketball became a scholarship or something, it would be a means to that. It turned out I couldn't jump that high. ~ Boyd Holbrook

[Mark] Twain called Congress "the only distinctly native criminal class in America. We've lately sent a United States Senator to the penitentiary." That was a fact. ~ Hal Holbrook

I unloaded planes for UPS in Louisville, Kentucky. It only was bad because it was called 'Earn to Learn,' where you pay for your tuition for college, but you have to work graveyard shift - midnight to eight A.M. - and then go to school at nine or 10 A.M. I was a zombie after two semesters. ~ Boyd Holbrook

As a kid, snow served the useful purpose of closing schools. As an adult - it shuts down any activity a decent, suntanned person over the age of thirty-five enjoys. I don't do snow forts, snowballs, snow angels, snowmen, snowmobiles, or snowshoes. I don't like to walk in it, drive in it, ski on it, or sled on it. Other than that, snow is just ducky. ~ Michael Holbrook

I walked the streets of New York for two years begging for a job, and I couldn't get one. ~ Hal Holbrook

I tended to lean toward character work. I love to disguise myself. ~ Hal Holbrook

Forgive everybody but yourself. ~ Holbrook Jackson

World class communities come in all shapes and sizes, they are not determined by geography, and/or natural resources so much as by the mindset of their local leadership. ~ Don A. Holbrook

Make your own path. No reason to do what everyone else is doing. That's boring. ~ Laurie Holbrook

Only one-fourth of the sorrow in each man's life is caused by outside uncontrollable elements, the rest is self-imposed by failing to analyze and act with calmness. ~ Holbrook Jackson