Mat Quotes

I don't know. They could put up a warning sign or something. Hello. Welcome to Hindstrap. We will murder you in the night and eat your bloody face if you stay past sunset. Try the pies. Martna Maily makes them fresh daily. ~ Robert Jordan

There is an open circle."
This mantra is what my high school coaches would say to me during wrestling practice when they knew that I was physically exhausted and was about to rest for a moment. There was an open circle on the wrestling mat, and if I was interested I could get out there and do more.
"There is an open circle."
Meaning there is still more that you could do. Don't rest now; this is where the difference is made. To work when you are mentally and physically exhausted gets you to the next level.
"There is an open circle. ~ JohnA Passaro

I still had moments when my nerves got to me, but whenever I'd start to get anxious, Kyla Ross would remind me, "Simone, just do what you do in practice." And before I went out for each event, she'd high-five me and say, "Just like practice, Simone!" I'd say the same thing to her when it was her turn to go up. "Just like practice" became our catchphrase.
As I walked onto the mat to do my floor exercise, I held on to that phrase like it was a lifeline, because I was about to perform a difficult move I'd come up with in practice - a double flip in the layout position with a half twist out. The way it happened was, I'd landed short on a double layout full out earlier that year during training, and I'd strained my calf muscle on the backward landing. Aimee didn't want me to risk a more severe injury, so she suggested I do the double layout - body straight with legs together and fully extended as I flipped twice in the air - then add a half twist at the end. That extra half twist meant I'd have to master a very tricky blind forward landing, but it would put less stress on my calves.
I thought the new combination sounded incredibly cool, so I started playing around with it until I was landing the skill 95 percent of the time. At the next Nationals Camp, I demonstrated the move for Martha and she thought it looked really good, so we went ahead and added it to the second tumbling pass of my floor routine. I'd already performed the combination at national meets that year, bu ~ Simone Biles

And immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Mat 8:3). To one who had lain in the grave four days He cried, "Lazarus, come forth," and the dead came forth. The stormy wind and the angry waves were hushed at a single word from Him. A legion of demons could not resist His authoritative command. ~ Arthur W. Pink

Leave home. Fail marvelously, and succeed even better. Kick your feet up and wonder when you will be back. Stay out late. Make telephone calls from unfamiliar street corners. When your mother's voice comes from far away and asks where you are, squint down the road and tell her you aren't sure. Make uncertainty your home. Put the mat out for yourself. Look at your watch and think of how you're almost home. ~ Nick Burd

Mat had tried to make her say she saw a hat floating around Mat's head. That would persuade Tuon to stop trying to get rid of his, would it not? ~ Robert Jordan

There are many ways to portray darkness and evil and it isn't all in being mean and tough. ~ Mat McNerney

What did the mat say to the door? You must be really aDOORable to open up to everyone who knock at you. And I welcome everyone and what do I get? People stepping all over me ~ Ana Claudia Antunes

wind stiffened as dusk closed in. Mat began to ask querulously ~ Robert Jordan

Let mercy be your mosque, faith your prayer-mat, and honest living your Koran. Make modesty your circumcision, and good conduct your fast. In this way, you shall be a true Muslim. Let good conduct be your Kaabaa, Truth your spiritual guide, and the karma of good deeds your prayer and chant. Let your rosary be that which is pleasing to His Will. ~ Sant Singh

You ain't as hard as you act.
When I GPS 'pussy,' I end up at your welcome mat ... ~ Vakill

The concrete highway was edged with a mat of tangled, broken, dry grass, and the grass heads were heavy with oat beards to catch on a dog's coat, and foxtails to tangle in a horse's fetlocks, and clover burrs to fasten in sheep's wool; sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed, every seed armed with an appliance of dispersal, twisting darts and parachutes for the wind, little spears and balls of tiny thorns, and all waiting for animals and for the wind, for a man's trouser cuff or the hem of a woman's skirt, all passive but armed with appliances of activity, still, but each possessed of the anlage of movement. ~ John Steinbeck

TEKELI-LI. Tekeli-li, Tekeli-li. I got that from Pym. I got that from Poe. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, specifically. Pym that is maddening, Pym that is brilliance, Pym whose failures entice instead of repel. Pym that flows and ignites and Pym that becomes so entrenched it stagnates for hundreds of words at a time. A book that at points makes no sense, gets wrong both history and science, and yet stumbles into an emotional truth greater than both. ~ Mat Johnson

When ink joins with a pen, then the blank paper
can say something. Rushes and reeds must be woven
to be useful as a mat. If they weren't interlaced, the wind would blow them away. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi

I have lived for four centures," he said. "Perhaps I am still a youth, in that all of us are, compared to the timeless age of the Wheel itself. That said, I am one of the oldest people in existence."
Moiraine smiled. "Very nice. Does that work on the others?"
He hesitated. Then, oddly, he found himself grinning. "It worked pretty well on Cadsuane."
Moiraine sniffed. "That one ... Well, knowing her, I doubt you fooled her as well as you assume. You may have the memories of a man four centuries old, Rand al'Thor, but that does not make you ancient. Otherwise, Matrim Cauthon would be the patriarch of us all."
"Mat? Why Mat?"
"It is nothing," Moiraine said. "Something I am not supposed to know. You are still a die-eyed sheepherder at heart. ~ Robert Jordan

Can you make it past me, thief-catcher?" Mat called, careful not to take his eyes off the man waiting for him with blade poised to strike. Sandar had insisted irritably on "thief-catcher," not "thief-taker," though Mat could not see any difference.
"I cannot," Sandar called from behind him. "If you move to let me by, you will lose room to swing that oar you call a staff, and he will spit you like a grunt."
Like a what? "Well, think of something, Tairen. This ragamuffin is grating my nerves."
The man in the gold-striped coat sneered. "You will be honored to die on the blade of the High Lord Darlin, peasant, if I allow it so." It was the first time he had deigned to speak. "Instead, I think I will have the pair of you hung by the heels, and watch while the skin is stripped from your bodies - "
"I do not think I'd like that," Mat said. ~ Robert Jordan

There's something so sweet about being on your yoga mat, whether that be at Jivamukti, Dharma Mittra, or in my living room. ~ Stephanie Ellis

We need to remember that the primary goal of Aikido is harmony and good relations between people. If we don't cultivate a harmonious heart along with technical skill, there will be a lack of integration in our practice, which will show up in behavior off the mat. ~ Linda Holiday

I have found that, in the African American oral tradition, if the words are enunciated eloquently enough, no one examines the meaning for definitive truth. ~ Mat Johnson

Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive, today. ~ Robert Jordan

It's OK to have boundaries. You can tell someone "no" without having bad feelings toward them. You also never need to explain your boundaries once laid. A wise friend often states that "no" is a complete sentence. ~ Mat Auryn

When I give up the helm I know that the time has come for thee to take it. What there is to do will be instantly done. Vain is this struggle.
Then take away your hands and silently put up with your defeat, my heart, and think it your good fortune to sit perfectly still where you are placed.
These my lamps are blown out at every little puff of wind, and trying to light them I forget all else again and again.
But I shall be wise this time and wait in the dark, spreading my mat on the floor; and whenever it is thy pleasure, my lord, come silently and take thy seat here. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

I can set up shop anywhere. I've got my oils, I've got my yoga mat and I'm good to go. I must know good yoga classes in about 25 cities on this planet. ~ Minnie Driver

Forgiveness comes later in life, after you've created enough disasters of your own. ~ Mat Johnson

MY TOUGHEST MATCH; is not on the mat. It's at the dinner table and it's at fast food restaurants. It's hearing about the party I can Never go to. It's realizing being a Great Wrestler isn't a sport, It's a LIFE. ~ Stephen Neal

I've been writing forever, 20 years. ~ Mat Johnson

Mat - Red and Jayne's Matt, Frankie's Matt, my Matt - died of a broken heart. ~ Sarah Ockler

You ride to battle?" Karede asked.
"I was thinking more of a saunter," Mat said. He shook his head. "I need a feel for what Demandred is doing ... I'm going out there, Karede, and putting you fellows between me and the Trollocs sounds delightful. Are you coming? ~ Robert Jordan

This health-care plan is all about the destruction of the creation of wealth in America and the socialization of this country, and it won't work - never has anywhere else - and we're going to go to the mat here to see to it that they don't succeed. ~ Rush Limbaugh

I'm watching you, big boy, my eyes say, but his are closed so it's an optical monologue. ~ Mat Johnson

Before the 90s, black metal wasn't a selling tool [and didn't] have money behind it. Then it became a pop sensation. Now that the record industry has collapsed and started to rot, things are livening up a bit again. ~ Mat McNerney

Being alone is best. I mean, it's true, isn't it? In the end you'll be absolutely alone; therefore, being alone is natural. If you accept that, nothing bad can happen. That's why I shut myself away in my six-mat one-room apartment. ~ Tatsuhiko Takimoto

They could put up a warning sign or something. Hello. Welcome to Hinderstap. We will murder you in the night and eat your bloody face if you stay past sunset. Try the pies. Martna Baily makes them fresh daily. ~ Robert Jordan

Know you got a roommate, call me when it's no one there. Put the key under the mat and you know I'll be over there ~ Drake

When the Lord's hand actively pushes you down in terms of external position, He is issuing you an invitation to communion. He is removing some of the peripheral busyness and distraction, and He is drawing you near. He is inviting you to the mat where wrestling results in the hard, deep experiential knowledge of Him. ~ Anna Blanc

Yes, I'm alive," Mat said. "I'm usually pretty good at staying alive. I've only failed one time that I can remember, and it hardly counts. ~ Robert Jordan

First, make sure
the ocean is rolled
by an older woman
whose quick fingers
have been rolling the ocean
for as long as you've been alive –
She'll fatten the rice in hot,
sugared water spiked
with rice vinegar
then make a soft bed of it to wrap
a slip of fish muscle,
squeezing the bamboo rolling mat
until the ocean's circumference
is compacted in seaweed's
brittle corsetry.
It takes her just moments
to dress the ocean,
its nudity a pink tongue
poking
from iridescent green nori wrap ~ Jalina Mhyana

What we do internally affects the world around us and the world around us affects our inner world. With this notion, nothing is separate, and our inner and outer worlds are intricately tied to one another. ~ Mat Auryn

Crackheads destroy things. First, their lives, obviously. And then their families. But they also destroy houses. They light fires and they have poor judgment; both things are required if you're going to be a crackhead. They make houses burn down. They're not as thorough as meth heads, who have the benefit of their exploding labs, but crackheads have left a respectable number of ruined buildings in their wake. A crackhead did it is a reasonable cause of destruction on any forensic report. A history of crackhead infestation is a legitimate explanation for loss of property. ~ Mat Johnson

Trying to find a heart that's not walking away. ~ Mat Kearney

Mattie," he said silently to no one in the room, "you're a little girl. But nobody stays a little girl or a little boy long - take me, for instance. All of a sudden little girls wear lipstick, all of a sudden little boys shave and smoke. So it's a quick business, being a kid. Today you're ten years old, running to meet me in the snow, ready, so ready, to coast down Spring Street with me; tomorrow you'll be twenty, with guys sitting in the living room waiting to take you out. All of a sudden you'll have to tip porters, you'll worry about expensive clothes, meet girls for lunch, wonder why you can't find a guy who's right for you. And that's all as it should be. But my point, Mattie - if I have a point, Mattie - is this: kind of try to live up to the best that's in you. If you give your word to people, let them know that they're getting the word of the best. If you room with some dopey girl at college, try to make her less dopey. If you're standing outside a theater and some old gal comes up selling gum, give her a buck if you've got a buck - but only if you can do it without patronizing her. That's the trick, baby. I could tell you a lot, Mat, but I wouldn't be sure that I'm right. You're a little girl, but you understand me. You're going to be smart when you grow up. But if you can't be smart and a swell girl, too, then I don't want to see you grow up. Be a swell girl, Mat. ~ J.D. Salinger

Ultimately I want my metal in a bar and not an art gallery. ~ Mat McNerney

Well, I never made a record to be in the Christian market. So when I made my record it was to exist in all of the markets. I grew up not really listening to tons of Christian music and if I did it was in the context of all the other music I listened to. So when I made the record I definitely had plans and visions and dreams. ~ Mat Kearney

I love creating. I am addicted to the drug of creation and creating things. I get a little depressed when I am struggling to find what I know is locked inside. If it's a lyric or something that is challenging me, I can be very depressed, but when it's like heaven opens up and it gives you a song, it's amazing. There's nothing else that I enjoy more probably. ~ Mat Kearney

Well, you finally got me, Helen had whispered to him, tearfully, but Garp had sprawled there, on his back on the wrestling mat, wondering who had gotten whom. ~ John Irving

In many interviews he had identified himself as a man outraged by death, but that was pretty much the same old big-balls crap he'd been selling throughout his career. He was terrified of death, that was the truth, and as a result of spending his life honing his imagination, he could see it coming from at least four dozen different directions... and late at night when he couldn't sleep, he was apt to see it coming from four dozen different directions at once. Refusing to see the doctor, to have a checkup and let them peek under the hood, would not cause any of those diseases to pause in their approach or their feeding upon him--if, indeed, the feeding had already begun--but if he stayed away from the doctors and their devilish machines, he wouldn't have to know. You didn't have to deal with the monster under the bed or lurking in the corner if you never actually turned on the bedroom lights, that was the thing. And what no doctor in the world seemed to know was that, for men like Johnny Marinville, fearing was sometimes better than finding. Especially when you'd put out the welcome mat for every disease going. ~ Stephen King

Witchcraft is not inherently a religion, thought it can be for some. Witchcraft is more of a spirituality, or rather how one relates to the world of spirit, and that's going to be unique and individual for each witch. ~ Mat Auryn

The stories that are too personally vulnerable to write are the ones that must be told. ~ Mat Kearney

My artistic goal was to write something that's one hundred percent real and true to me and to this world. I tried to touch on truths that really connect with people from every avenue of life. Ultimately, when you write from a vantage point of faith, humility and openness to the world around you, people have to respond because those same truths are instilled in them. Honestly, I don't have any agenda other than being sincere, real, and passionate about these songs and the music I make. ~ Mat Kearney

I have never got on with the quietist movements: they lapse too easily into self-congratulations: I have found the oneness, you have not. I prefer to look outside myself if I possibly can, not inside. Meditation reminds me too forcibly of being made to lie on a mat at nursery school and take an hour's nap. ~ Fay Weldon

...the more violent the boy, the more I see that he creates, and when he kicks the others with his big boots, treads on fingers on the mat, hits another over the head with a piece of wood or throws a stone, I put clay in his hands, or chalk. He can create bombs if he likes or draw my house in flame, but it is the creative vent that is widening all the time and the destructive one atrophying, however much it may look to the contrary. And anyway I have always been more afraid of the weapon unspoken than of the one on the blackboard. ~ Sylvia Ashton-Warner

For what seemed a long time Mat knelt there with his father's dead wrist in his hand, while his mind arrived and arrived and yet arrived at that place and time and that body lying still on the soiled and bloodied stones. ~ Wendell Berry

Twelve thousand years after walking the plank, Rakesh woke on the floor of his tent. He was lying face-down on a blue and gold sleeping mat; he drew in a deep breath to savour the rich scent of its fibres. This was the tent he'd carried with him on all his travels on Shab-e-Noor, and it remained with him wherever he went. ~ Greg Egan

As all things come from and are imbued with the quintessence of Spirit, all things are holy and alive in their own right - and anything that has a physical existence contains within it a unique personality, energy, and expression of Spirit. ~ Mat Auryn

The religion and it's many barbed indoctrinating tendrils just start to become what makes you who you are, so you have to kind of destroy yourself to be able to rebuild yourself and make yourself whole again. ~ Mat McNerney

Both psychics and witches know that the Universe is not random but instead has patterns, cycles, structure, and most of all, meaning. ~ Mat Auryn

I'll become stronger by purposely facing what I am afraid of. It's OK that I'm anxious right now. I can handle these sensations. I can handle this uncertainty. I want this anxiety. I want this uncertainty. Love the mat. Run toward the roar. ~ R. Reid Wilson

Let me put it another way. Most people are what they sense and if all you see day after day is a mat on a floor that belongs to the rats and four walls with tiny piles of plaster at the bottom, and all you eat is starch, and all you hear is continuous music, you smell garbage and piss which drips through the walls continually, and all the people you know live like you, it's not horrible, it's just... Who they are. ~ Kathy Acker

He looks up, sees me in the window, and jumps a little. Good. Let him think I'm a weird Mexican place mat ghost. ~ Anna Breslaw

Rand, maybe that's the answer they give to everybody. Those snake people, I mean. Got to Rhuidean. Maybe we don't have to be here at all.' He did not believe it, but with that fog staring him in the face ...
Rand turned his head to look at him, not speaking. Finally he said, 'They never mentioned Rhuidean to me, Mat.'
'Oh, burn me,' he muttered. ~ Robert Jordan

I love words," Mat said. "There are some deliciously pretty words out there. 'Smile.' That's always sounded like a pretty word to me. Don't you think? Or, perhaps, the words 'I promise not to kill Egwene right now for trying to touch me, the Empress, may I live forever, because we really bloody need her for the next couple of weeks or so.'" He eyeed Fortuona pointedly. ~ Robert Jordan

Mat snorted. "I don't want to be any bloody hero. ~ Robert Jordan

Are you sure you want to come, Mat?" Rand asked.
Mat shrugged and affected a grin, not a very confident one. "Who could pass up a chance to see bloody Rhuidean?" Egwene raised her eyebrows at him. "Oh, pardon my language, Aes Sedai. I've heard you say as bad, and for less cause, I'll wager. ~ Robert Jordan

My first injury ever was a broken toe, and my mother made me run laps around the mat for the rest of the night. She said she wanted me to know that even if I was hurt, I was still fine. ~ Ronda Rousey

He that is not with me is against me (Mat 12:30). If you are not gathering, then you are scattering. If you are not walking in light, then you are walking in darkness! There is no neutral position; there is no middle ground! ~ Ken Ham

Everybody just gets on my nerves after like, 10 minutes, you know. ~ Mat Johnson

My weak suit is whatever each reader hates about each book. ~ Mat Johnson

When I set out to write, I want to write something that will rip your heart out. ~ Mat Kearney

Just as a stone, a tree, a straw, grain, a mat, a cloth, a pot, and so on, when burned, are reduced to earth (from which they came), so the body and its sense organs, on being burned in the fire of Knowledge, become Knowledge and are absorbed in Brahman, like darkness in the light of the sun. ~ Adi Shankara

Jared was completely gone now, holding his stomach and laughing so hard that tears were running down his face. Matt turned on him and snapped, "It's not funny," which only made Jared laugh harder.
"Any of you guys strict about top or bottom?" Angelo asked, "'Cause if so, you'll screw it all up-"
"Literally," Cole said.
"And we'll have to start all over." Angelo turned to Matt. "If you got a strong preference you better say so now."
"Lay it all out, so to speak," Cole said.
"On the table." Angelo said.
"For all to see."
"Zach does like to watch," Angelo said, winking at me, and I was relieved that with the direction the conversation was going, nobody took him seriously.
"Then it's settled!" Cole said. "Who's going where with whom first? Zach, I think you're up." He winked at me. "Or you soon will be."
"Oh dear God," Mat moaned, hanging his head. "I knew I shouldn't have come."
"Don't worry about it a bit," Cole said. "I'm sure Zach can coax at least one more out of you."
Jared laughed so hard, I was amazed he managed to stay in his chair. ~ Marie Sexton

When I step on the mat I know there is no other place I'd rather be. ~ Marcelo Garcia

Yamada might be a good general - Mat did not know - but he had never stood a chance against Riselle and that marvelous bosom. ~ Robert Jordan

If we think of our body as a building, we can choose to treat it like a haunted house with unknown aspects of ourselves roaming around freely and creating chaos, or we can treat it as a divine temple, honoring and having a personal relationship with the aspects of ourselves that dwell there. ~ Mat Auryn

I love being vulnerable. It's scary. I feel like the best stuff that I have ever written can come from real vulnerable places. ~ Mat Kearney

The diaper bag, the car seat, the bottles, the pacifiers, the changing mat, the wipes, and all the toys in their primary colored glory; none of which would compliment my outfit. ~ Dina Silver

On the way out to the car, Philip turns to me. "How could you be so stupid? I shrug, stung in spite of myself. "I thought I grew out of it." Philip pulls out his key fob and presses the remote to unlock his Mercedes. I slide into the passenger side, brushing coffee cups off the seat and onto the floor mat, where crumpled printouts from MapQuest soak up any spilled liquid. "I hope you mean sleepwalking," Philip says, "since you obviously didn't grow out of stupid. ~ Holly Black

Tuon's eyes snapped open, and despite the dim light, she focused directly on Mat. She saw the knife in his hand, ready to throw.
Then she looked over her shoulder. ~ Robert Jordan

Here I was, on the cusp of my own great dream, my own impossible truth, and this gluttonous man was crowding it with his improbable vision. There wasn't enough magic in the universe for both of us. Worse, Garth's mad theory put mine in an altogether new light. Was I as crazy as his fat ass? ~ Mat Johnson

The most common form of sacred space to the witch is the magick circle. The circle is a symbol of the infinite and finite. It is everything and nothing. It is the Ouroboros, the serpent eating its own tail, symbolic of the never-ending cycle of creation and destruction, birth and death, and a symbol of the cosmos without beginning or end. ~ Mat Auryn

The Soul selects her own Society
Then - shuts the Door
To her divine Majority
Present no more
Unmoved - she notes the Chariots - pausing
At her low Gate
Unmoved - an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat
I've known her - from an ample nation
Choose One
Then - close the Valves of her attention
Like Stone - ~ Emily Dickinson

Another rain-swept day leaves everything water-logged - ponds, drains, streets, and rivers - everywhere water is overflowing. The green blades of grass in the garden lie submerged under a rippling shallow sheet of water. Through refraction, they take on magical underwater seaweed shapes. Except here, the grass is evenly cropped, so it appears as a glazed woven mat of wet-green. Rain has also left the plants and trees gleaming, bursting in plentitude.

Natural irrigation in excess creates its own slow rot, a sublime slime of wet decay and birth, profusion and irresistibility. Rain has this special seductive appeal - its innocuous wet, its piercing strength, its gentle drizzle-caresses, its ability to douse and arouse. The entire charm lies in its simplicity. ~ Sudeep Sen

I don't like bands who would play music like Code. I mean I hate most bands with emotional singing parts (I adore metal singing like Iron Maiden though!) ~ Mat McNerney

I don't want people to feel like they'd overdosed on too much candy. ~ Mat McNerney

My heart was beating in my stomach by the time he'd made his way past the welcome mat. His green eyes, intrigued by my fear, which I knew was clearly visible by now. ~ Victoria Leader

The children of the Fulcrum are all different: different ages, different colors, different shapes. Some speak Sanze-mat with different accents, having originated from different parts of the world. One girl has sharp teeth because it is her race's custom to file them; another boy has no penis, though he stuffs a sock into his underwear after every shower; another girl has rarely had regular meals and wolfs down every one like she's still starving. (The instructors keep finding food hidden in and around her bed. They make her eat it, all of it, in front of them, even if it makes her sick.) One cannot reasonably expect sameness out of so much difference, and it makes no sense for Damaya to be judged by the behavior of children who share nothing save the curse of orogeny with her. ~ N.K. Jemisin

Yoga has been something that's always there to take with me and practice throughout any journey. There's no place I've ever been where yoga hasn't fit itself in. I currently work on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska and I am still able to find time to lay my mat on the deck and practice what makes me the best me I can be, thanks to yoga. ~ Nelly

That's nice to hear," Rand said, smiling. "No wisecracks about my nice coat?" "What? Wisecracks? You aren't still sore because I teased you a little a couple of years ago?" "Teased?" Rand said. "You spent weeks refusing to talk to me." "Here now," Mat said. "It wasn't all that bad. I remember that part easily. ~ Anonymous

And I knew that in spite of all the roses and kisses and restaurant dinners a man showered on a woman before he married her, what he secretly wanted when the wedding service ended was for her to flatten out underneath his feet like Mrs. Willard's kitchen mat ... I also remembered Buddy Willard saying in a sinister, knowing way that after I had children I would feel differently, I wouldn't want to write poems any more. So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterward you went about numb as a slave in some private, totalitarian state. ~ Sylvia Plath

A few hours later, lying on a mat during rest time, Vladimir embraced the tiny curled-up creature beside him, his first best buddy, just as Mother had promised. Maybe tomorrow they could go to the Piskaryovka mass grave together with their grandmothers and lay flowers for their dead. Maybe they would even be inducted into the Red Pioneers side by side. What good fortune that he and Lionya were so alike and that neither of them had siblings ... Now they would have each other! It was as if Mother had created someone just for him, as if she had guessed how lonely he had been in his sick bed with his stuffed giraffe, the months spinning away in twilight gloom until it was June again, time to go down to sunny Yalta to watch the Black Sea dolphins jump for joy. ~ Gary Shteyngart

Just because you've written a song doesn't mean that you have pulled through. There are definitely songs where I embodied someone else's pain and that was purely to serve the listener because I knew they needed to hear something. But most of the good stuff comes from my life. ~ Mat Kearney

An imaginary throne is more glorious than a mat of house ~ Santosh Avvannavar

Once the smoke of the market crash clears off, you know, the Internet will pick back up and go. Take a look at what's happening to some of the big companies like eBay and Yahoo, the publicly traded stocks. You know, they're all coming back up off the mat now. ~ Michael Nesmith

This is Mat's secret weapon, his passport, his get-out-of-jail-free card: Mat makes things that are beautiful. ~ Robin Sloan

I just proposed to Isabelle," (Simon) announced.
Beatriz screamed with excitement. Some of the students, fearing a demon attack, also screamed. One of them fell off a rafter and thumped to the ground on a training mat. Clary burst into happy tears and threw her arms around Simon.
Jace lay down on the floor, arms thrown wide. "We're going to be family," he said glumly. "You and me, Simon, we're going to be brothers. People will think we're related."
"No one will think that," Simon said, his voice muffled against Clary's hair. ~ Cassandra Clare

I like looking for myself in the whitest of pages. I like finding evidence of myself there, after being told my footprints did not exist on that sand. I think the work of the great white writers is important, but I think it's most important when it's negotiating me and my people, because I am as arrogant and selfish a reader as any other. ~ Mat Johnson

I was participating in something horrible, and my only defense is that I was motivated by my own fear, which of course is no defense at all. ~ Mat Johnson

At some point each day (well, most days) I unroll my mat and practice for an hour. I sit in meditation for a while. This can be five minutes or twenty minutes, but the daily practice - simply showing up for it - is centering. ~ Dani Shapiro

Saadi's dictum, in the Bostan: 'The Path is not in the rosary, the prayer-mat and the robe ~ Idries Shah

The innocent died along with the guilty. And if you did nothing, then only the innocent died. ~ Robert Jordan

In my head, I was getting 'gangsta,' which I've always felt showed greater intent than getting 'gangster' in that it expresses a willful unlawfulness even upon its own linguistic representation. ~ Mat Johnson