Interesting Times Quotes

There are interesting times. The game is more fun when you are experimenting. One day yuor great, the next day scatterlog. But your learning. No that's not right. I probably have forgotten more about golf than I will ever learn. What you do is remember some of the things you thought you would never forget. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If someone is telling you to live in interesting times, they are basically telling you they want you to die horribly, and to suffer terribly before you do. Seriously, they are not your friend. This is a tip I am giving you for free. ~ John Scalzi

There is a curse.
They say:
May you live in interesting times. ~ Terry Pratchett

The Chinese say, 'It's good to live in interesting times.' ~ Kenneth Branagh

Maybe he was what Lucian would have turned out to be if the old sheriff hadn't have lived in such interesting times. A couple of years in a Japanese prison camp might be just what Turk needed. But I didn't have a bridge over the river Kwai for him to build so we had to settle for Powder Junction. ~ Craig Johnson

Nothing was easy. Every move, each decision, a matter of life and death. It made for interesting times. Small human lives were so limited. And for that very reason, so fascinating. Shadowed by death, life became immediate. Intense. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Cohen looked at the forest of lances and pennants. Hundreds of thousands of men looked like quite a lot of men when you saw them close to.
"I suppose," he said, slowly, "that none of you has got some amazing plan you've been keeping quiet about?"
"We thought you had one," said Truckle. ~ Terry Pratchett

There's a saying: "May you live in interesting times." To begin, it's a curse. "Interesting" in this case uniformly means "Oh god, death is raining down upon us and we shall all perish wailing and possibly on fire. ~ John Scalzi

May you live in interesting times ~ Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen,

Many an ancient lord's last words had been, You can't kill me because I've got magic aaargh. ~ Terry Pratchett

I feel like a million dollars don't you? ... Good, Lets go get some. ~ Terry Pratchett

Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized. ~ Terry Pratchett

Are you a devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good, then you can be my most trusted advisor. ~ Terry Pratchett

I was blessed to grow up in really interesting times and to go back to a home where I was very safe. ~ Dennis Lehane

For the fortunate amongst us, the fourth danger is comfort; the temptation to follow the easy and familiar path of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of an education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort."

Robert F. Kennedy Speeches
Day of Affirmation Address, University of Capetown, Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966 ~ Robert F. Kennedy

Rincewind could scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four. ~ Terry Pratchett

I'm not Chinese. I thrive in interesting times. ~ Charles De Lint

Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort. ~ Robert Kennedy

He'd always felt he had a right to exist as a wizard in the same way that you couldn't do proper maths without the number 0, which wasn't a number at all but, if it went away, would leave a lot of larger numbers looking bloody stupid. ~ Terry Pratchett

I graduated in 2009, which - if you think back to where the economy was at that time - was an interesting time to graduate. ~ Ryan Lewis

Besides…where Rincewind went' – he lowered his voice – 'trouble followed behind.'
Ridcully noticed that the wizards drew a little closer together.
'Sounds all right to me,' he said. 'Best place for trouble, behind. ~ Terry Pratchett

We are living in interesting times where truths and propaganda are all mixed up and all you have to do is push a Hashtag and sell 'your truth. ~ DON SANTO

Luck is my middle name," said Rincewind, indistinctly. "Mind you, my first name is Bad. ~ Terry Pratchett

I thought this life of thoughtful liberalism was my birthright, too. Before I understood that my generation was to be born in interesting times. ~ Maureen F. McHugh

Coming as a kind of pleasure-package with her parents and sisters, as a girl Theodora performed acrobatic tricks and erotic dances in and around the hippodrome – part of the fringe of shows, spectacles and penny theatricals that accompanied the games. It was said by contemporary chroniclers that one of Theodora's most popular turns was a re-enactment of the story of Leda (the mother of Helen of Troy) and the Swan (Zeus in disguise). The Greek myth went that Zeus was so enraptured with Queen Leda when he espied her bathing by the banks of the River Eurotas that he turned himself into a swan so that he could ravish the Spartan Queen. Theodora, as Leda, would leave a trail of grain up on to (some said into) her body, which the 'swan' (in Constantinople in fact a goose) then eagerly consumed. The Empress's detractors delighted in memorialising the fact that Theodora's services were eagerly sought out for anal intercourse, as both an active and a passive partner. As a child and as an adolescent woman Theodora would have been considered dirt, but she was, physically, right at the heart of human affairs in a burgeoning city in interesting times.

Theodora was also, obviously, wildly attractive. Born in either Cyprus or Syria, as a teenager – already the mother of a young girl and with a history of abortions – she left Constantinople as the companion of a Syrian official, the governor of Libya Pentapolis. The two travelled to North Africa, where, after four years of maltre ~ Bettany Hughes

Since the last tour I have done a lot of extensive travel to Iraq, Kuwait, Siberia, South Korea and other places and picked up some hopefully interesting stories. We are living in interesting times and as bad as things are, I draw considerable inspiration from some of the things I'm seeing and people I'm meeting. I'm looking forward to getting out on the road and talking about it all. ~ Henry Rollins

Manticor in Arabia

(The manticors of the montaines
Mighte feed them on thy braines.--Skelton.)


Thick and scented daisies spread
Where with surface dull like lead
Arabian pools of slime invite
Manticors down from neighbouring height
To dip heads, to cool fiery blood
In oozy depths of sucking mud.
Sing then of ringstraked manticor,
Man-visaged tiger who of yore
Held whole Arabian waste in fee
With raging pride from sea to sea,
That every lesser tribe would fly
Those armed feet, that hooded eye;
Till preying on himself at last
Manticor dwindled, sank, was passed
By gryphon flocks he did disdain.
Ay, wyverns and rude dragons reign
In ancient keep of manticor
Agreed old foe can rise no more.
Only here from lakes of slime
Drinks manticor and bides due time:
Six times Fowl Phoenix in yon tree
Must mount his pyre and burn and be
Renewed again, till in such hour
As seventh Phoenix flames to power
And lifts young feathers, overnice
From scented pool of steamy spice
Shall manticor his sway restore
And rule Arabian plains once more. ~ Robert Graves

Google makes so much money that it's now worth three times more than every U.S. airline combined. ~ Peter Thiel

Because in the end, isn't that what matters? That we're still here. And although the ride might get bumpy at times, the view is still so beautiful. ~ Kylie Jude

If you want to keep on being relevant as a director, I think you have to embrace the times. And with the times come technologies and formats. ~ Alfonso Cuaron

I was delighted to hear that a number of people returned to see Orphée (as much as five or six times), to the amazement of the managements. This is significant, for the cinema is usually regarded as a place where one drops in for a little entertainment as one would for a glass of beer.
This is why film societies, those Courts of Appeal, have so important a part to play, and why they deserve all the support we can give them. This is why I accepted nomination as President of the fédération des Cinéclubs. But, alas, even film societies are sometimes unable to retrieve old films, which the industrial squall sweeps away in order to clear a space for new ones. We had imagined that great actresses like Greta Garbo would be granted the privilege which was denied to a Rachel or a Sarah Bernhardt. But we were wrong. Today it is impossible to show Garbo in The lady of the Camelias for instance, to the young people who could not see the film when it came out, for all the copies have been meticulously destroyed. The lady of the Camelias is to be remade with new stars and new methods, using all the latest technical inventions, colour, three dimensions, and what not. It is a real disaster. Mrs B., the head of the new York Film Library, finds herself confronted with the same difficulties as Langlois of the Cinémathèque française whenever she endeavours to save a film from oblivion. She finds that she cannot obtain a single copy. Chaplin alone escapes that terrible destruction, because h ~ Jean Cocteau

The world is a very serious and, at times, very sad place - but at other times it is all such a joke. ~ George Harrison

When I was a kid, my mom once told me that God was an artist and how on occasion He'd throw a bucketful of paint across the sky for us all to see. I asked her why the paint disappeared by morning, and she told me that if the sky was always like that we might take it for granted. I suppose she was right. Maybe that's what war is all about - so we can appreciate times of peace. ~ Kristina McMorris

I have decided to keep a full journal, in the hope that my life will perhaps seem more interesting when it is written down. ~ Sue Townsend

I was a prisoner inside my own body. I felt desperate, angry, stupid, confused, ashamed, hopeless and absolutely alone... and that this was of my own making. I could speak at home, how come I couldn't outside it? I have never been able to find the right words to describe what it was like. Imagine that for one day you are unable to speak to anyone you meet outside your own family, particularly at school/college, or out shopping, etc., have no sign language, no gestures, no facial expression. Then imagine that for eight years, but no one really understands. It was like torture, and I was the only person that knew it was happening. My body and face were frozen most of the time. I became hyperconscious of myself when outside the home and it was a relief to get back as I was always exhausted. I attempted to hide it (an impossible task) because I felt so ashamed that I couldn't do what other people seemed to find so natural and easy - to speak. At times I felt suicidal. ~ Carl Sutton

As soon as my watch showed 5:00 p.m., I walked in. Gene was at the lectern of the darkened theatre, still talking, apparently oblivious to time, responding to a question about funding. My entrance had allowed a shaft of light into the room, and I realized that the audience's eyes were now on me, as if expecting me to say something.
'Time's up,' I said. 'I have a meeting with Gene. ~ Graeme Simsion

Life is not perfect

It's a place of pain,

a place of shame,

a place of danger,

and maybe a place of joy,

No, life is not perfect,

And it doesn't matter what aspect.

Some times it's a sunset and a sunrise,

Or the blue skies,

Or a prize in disguise,

But sometimes it's also sour,

A wail and a roar,

With no one to implore,

Life is a test

It throws problems at us

And waits for us to crumble,

under the distress,

And looks as we struggle,

And gathers the pieces that are left,

But if we look at it differently,

We can carry on brilliantly,

It's just a matter of will power,

And being courageous,

A matter of refusing to be a coward,

and facing what is dangerous,

Life doesn't throw problems at us,

to see us lose hope,

No, it expects us to become strong,

It doesn't expect us to mope

Or mourn,

Life is like a teacher,

It teaches a lesson,

That whatever the situation,

Life must go on

Time won't stop,

And wait for you to gain hope

No, it'll carry on,

And let you mope,

Time can't be reversed,

No amount of crying will change the situation,

So stop thinking that y ~ Rida Altaf

I'm not trying to write cinematic novels, but I have been told several times that my style is cinematic. ~ Nicholas Royle

Sometimes if you've got a story that's interesting enough, you don't need to pour sugar on ice cream. The ice cream is great. ~ Paul Schneider

YOU WISH TO KNOW ME?

POSIT YOURSELF AS THE PINPOINT CENTER OF ONE OF YOUR KALEIDOSCOPES, AND GRASP TIME AS THE COLORFUL FRAGMENTS ERUPTING FROM YOU IN A MULTITUDE OF DIMENSIONS THAT CONSTANTLY EXPAND OUTWARD IN AN EVER-WIDENING, EVER-SHIFTING, INFINITE ARRAY. SEE THAT YOU CAN CHOOSE AND EXPAND FROM ANY OF THOSE UNCOUNTABLE DIMENSIONS AND THAT, WITH EACH CHOICE, THOSE DIMENSIONS WIDEN AND SHIFT AGAIN. INFINITY COMPOUNDED EXPONENTIALLY. UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS REALITY: THE FALSE GOD YOUR RACE WORSHIPS WITH SUCH BLIND DEVOTION. REALITY IMPLIES A SINGLE POSSIBLE.

YOU ACCUSE ME OF ILLUSION. YOU - WITH YOUR ABSURD CONSTRUCT OF LINEAR TIME. YOU FASHION FOR YOURSELF A PRISON OF WATCHES, CLOCKS, AND CALENDARS. YOU RATTLE BARS FORGED OF HOURS AND DAYS, BUT YOU'VE PADLOCKED THE DOOR WITH PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

PUNY MINDS NEED PUNY CAVES.

YOU CANNOT GAZE UPON TIME'S TRUE FACE ANY MORE THAN YOU CAN BEHOLD MINE.

TO APPREHEND YOURSELF AS THE CENTER, TO SIMULTANEOUSLY PERCEIVE ALL COMBINATIONS OF ALL POSSIBLES, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO MOVE IN ANY DIRECTION - "DIRECTION" BEING A VERY LIMITED METHOD OF ATTEMPTING TO CONVEY A CONCEPT FOR WHICH YOUR RACE HAS NO WORD - THAT IS WHAT IT IS TO BE ME. ~ Karen Marie Moning

Don't be discouraged. At times the path to truth is circuitous. The point is not to succeed, only to smile eternally. ~ Frederick Lenz

I have at all times written my writings with my whole heart and soul: I do not know what purely intellectual problems are. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

'It Girl' is supposed to be something that only lasts a certain amount of time. They keep calling me an 'It Girl,' and at this point it makes me laugh, because I've done that so many times: 'You're it;' 'You're not it.' What is 'it?' ~ Zooey Deschanel

[Patricia Highsmith] was a figure of contradictions: a lesbian who didn't particularly like women; a writer of the most insightful psychological novels who, at times, appeared bored by people; a misanthrope with a gentle, sweet nature. ~ Andrew Wilson

In due course one learns, where individuals and emotions are concerned, that Time's slide-rule can make unlikely adjustments. ~ Anthony Powell

Forest air is the epitome of healthy air. People who want to take a deep breath of fresh air or engage in physical activity in a particularly agreeable atmosphere step out into the forest. There's every reason to do so. The air truly is considerably cleaner under the trees, because the trees act as huge air filters. Their leaves and needles hang in a steady breeze, catching large and small particles as they float by. Per year and square mile this can amount to 20,000 tons of material. Trees trap so much because their canopy presents such a large surface area. In comparison with a meadow of a similar size, the surface area of the forest is hundreds of times larger, mostly because of the size difference between trees and grass. The filtered particles contain not only pollutants such as soot but also pollen and dust blown up from the ground. It is the filtered particles from human activity, however, that are particularly harmful. Acids, toxic hydrocarbons, and nitrogen compounds accumulate in the trees like fat in the filter of an exhaust fan above a kitchen stove. But not only do trees filter materials out of the air, they also pump substances into it. They exchange scent-mails and, of course, pump out phytoncides, both of which I have already mentioned. ~ Peter Wohlleben

When you break it all down, my punk rock is my dad's blues. It's music from the underground, and it's real, and it's written for the downtrodden in uncertain times. ~ Frank Iero

I surround myself with a talented group of people that are opinionated and interesting. I try to remain very open to what others have to say. ~ Anna Wintour

It's always nice when you do something and it's well received as opposed to the other way which God knows happens to everybody. When the good times come around, you take a deep breath, appreciate it, but not take it too seriously. ~ Laura Linney

He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. 'For you a thousand times over!' he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. ~ Khaled Hosseini

we each

at times

should

remember

the most

elevated

and

lucky

moment

of

our

lives.

for me

it

was

being

a

very young

man

and

sleeping

penniless

and

friendless

upon a

park

bench

in a

strange

city

which

doesn't say

much

for all

those

many

decades

which

followed. ~ Charles Bukowski

My spirituality is more private. I've got my own personal relationship with god. I know that there's a god because I was able to survive everything that I've been through - all of the tough times - and I'm still at the top of my game. With all the rumors and all the hate, I'm still strong, still happy, still blessed. ~ Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

God, I thank You that You always hear my prayers. Give me patience to wait for the answers to come in Your way and in Your perfect timing. Give me peace to accept Your answer - even if it is no. Help me to never take matters into my own hands to try and make something happen that is not Your will. I trust You know what is best for me at all times. ~ Stormie O'martian

And thus, the men won the Battle of the Sexes in Milesian times, so that from the Golden Age of Athens until the Golden Age of Rome, when all citizens were free to speak & vote at the State Assemblies, only women, barbarians & slaves were excluded.[INTRO] ~ Nicholas Chong

We have taught a generation to feast and play but the times demand we fast and pray. ~ Lou Engle

The road of life can be tough at times. when the road gets bumpy and rough you must buckle up and go for the ride.
Every road in life is a teacher if you are willing to learn from it. In order to grow and prosper you must take the ride, just buckle up put on your sunglasses and enjoy the ride. ~ Charles E Hudson

Since 1955 the oceans have absorbed roughly twenty times more heat than the atmosphere. ~ Joseph J. Romm

I am a buyer of blank books. Kids find it interesting that I would buy a blank book. They say, "Twenty-Six dollars for a blank book! Why would you pay that?" The reason I pay twenty-six dollars is to challenge myself to find something worth twenty-six dollars to put in there. All my journals are private, but if you ever got hold of one of them, you wouldn't have to look very far to discover it is worth more than twenty-six dollars ~ Jim Rohn

I just had the idea that all the covergirls should be gorgeous, and not just interesting, not beautiful in an offbeat or exotic way, just plain yummy gorgeous. ~ Helen Gurley Brown

I got out of that immediately was that now, all of a sudden, rock music had become a spectator sport, that corporate labels and their bands were the new establishment, and punk was there to fight them the way the activist hippies must have fought what the establishment must have been ten years before. And it was interesting to see the reactions in different parts of the country. ~ Jello Biafra

Most psychologists believe that nature - genetics - accounts for about half of the reason why we tend to act the way we do. His point is simply that there are certain times and places and conditions when much of that can be swept away, that there are instances where you can take normal people from good schools and happy families and good neighborhoods and powerfully affect their behavior merely by changing the immediate details of their situation. This ~ Malcolm Gladwell

I always try to practice what I preach. I meditate for fifteen minutes every day and do yoga several times a week. ~ Arianna Huffington

At a certain moment, when I started doing my own shows, I felt it would be really interesting to know what is the history of my profession. I realized that there was no book, which was kind of a shock. ~ Hans Ulrich Obrist

The Lord God Almighty says this to all people on this planet earth,"Do not take your lives through Euthanasia or any way, for your life belongs to me who gave it to you,trust in me at all times, lean on me, my ways are different from your ways, I am the Lord, the One who created you. Yeah. ~ Stellah Mupanduki

Sometimes I really regret that I did not live in those times when there was still so much that was new; to be sure enough much is yet unknown, but I do not think that it will be possible to discover anything easily nowadays that would lead us to revise our entire outlook as radically as was possible in the days when telescopes and microscopes were still new. ~ Heinrich Hertz

Child, now I will teach you how to wave at a crowd."
"Teacher, do I really need to learn something like waving ?"
"Child, using your normal speed of waving, if you wave continuously for one minute, how many times will you wave in total ?"
One minute later...
"Teacher, I waved eighty-eight times."
"Then, the last time I went on a parade with the king, how much time did it take ?"
"About three hours."
"Now, child, let's do some math ! If you waved eighty-eight times in one minute, after waving for three hours, how many times will you wave in total ?"
"Fifteen thousand eight hundred and forty times."
"Child, now let me ask you a health education question : if you wave continuously for fifteen thousand eight hundred and forty times, what will your hand look like ?"
"...I don't know."
"That is why, child, you are now learning how to use one thousand waves to handle one parade. Or do you want to wave a full fifteen thousand eight hundred and forty times during all of your parades in the future ?"
"Teacher ! Please, you must teach me how to wave ! ~ Yu Wo

They stuffed the air between my clothes and me with ice-cubes from my neck to my ankles, and whenever the ice melted, they put in new, hard ice cubes. Moreover, every once in a while, one of the guards smashed me, most of the time in the face. The ice served both for the pain and for wiping out the bruises I had from that afternoon. Everything seemed to be perfectly prepared. People from cold regions might not understand the extent of the pain when ice-cubes get stuck on your body. Historically, kings during medieval and pre-medieval times used this method to let the victim slowly die. The other method, of hitting the victim while blindfolded in inconsistent intervals, was used by the Nazis during World War II. There is nothing more terrorizing than making somebody expect a smash every single heartbeat. ~ Mohamedou Ould Slahi

Jesus, thank you for remembering the truth faithfully on our behalf. You worshiped your Father daily, with unwavering faith and unshakable hope in his goodness. Cherishing the Father's unchangeable character, you submitted to his perfect wisdom and trusted him completely in all the circumstances of your life, even when it was most painful. You took refuge in him often in your times of need and never turned toward false gods. Now your obedience becomes our strong encouragement to hope in the midst of continuing weakness, and you continue to advocate our cause as our heavenly High Priest. We have no other hope, nor do we need one. ~ Barbara R. Duguid

My specialty is mythology.There are artifacts like the hallows scattered through just about every mythology.However, what makes the Celtic hallows so interesting is that they are a self-contained group of objects. ~ Michael Scott

It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

… I can only wish to remember the good times
and forget the things I refuse to remember. They are nothing but heartache."
-Sophia to Zarah, The Forest of Evergreen: Found in the Wilderness ~ Teresa May B. Bandiola

Don't follow someone into the dark, Stevie. I've seen it happen too many times. ~ Maureen Johnson

Yes. I'm going to sink into what I feel for you. I'm going to sink into the good times and the scary shit. I'm going to sink with you, because I'm tired of drifting and treading, never committing to anything. I want to sink with you. ~ Steph Campbell