Michael Thomas Ford Quotes

I think I'm in love," he said after swallowing. "I could marry that pie."
"According to the anti-gay crowd, that'll be next," said Nan. "Pies and sheep. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

No one in France cares if you tried to kill yourself. In fact, I think they like you better because you're all tragic. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I'm tired of people thinking they're doing me favours. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

The whiskey was a good start. I got the idea from Dylan Thomas. He's this poet who drank twenty-one straight whiskeys at the White Horse Tavern in New York and then died on the spot from alcohol poisoning. I've always wanted to hear the bartender's side of the story. What was it like watching this guy drink himself out of here? How did it feel handing him number twenty-one and watching his face crumple up before the fall of the stool? And did he already have number twenty-two poured, waiting for this big fat tip, and then have to drink it himself after whoever came took the body away? ~ Michael Thomas Ford

That's why teenage dating is so dumb, because it's doomed to fail. You'd think people would have learned that by now, but I guess they haven't. They go right on falling in love and thinking it's going to survive high school. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

And anyway, the truth isn't all that great. I mean, what's the truth? Planes falling out of the sky. Buses blowing up and ripping little kids into millions of pieces. Twelve-year-olds raping people and then shooting them in the head so they can't tell. I can't watch the news anymore or look at the papers. It's like whoever sits up there in Heaven has this big bag of really crappy stuff, and once or twice a day she or he reaches in and sprinkles a little bit of it over the world and makes everything crazy, like fairy dust that's past its expiration date. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

When people hurt us, the best thing to do isn't to ask why they did it but to remind ourselves that it wasn't our fault. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I mean, if I'm going to go to all the trouble of being gay and everything, I might as well tell people. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

It will go away ... The stuff in your head. Little by little. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

No one ever tells you that when your heart breaks, you can feel it. But you can. It feels like something has crumbled inside you and the pieces are falling into your stomach. It hurts more than any punch ever could. You stop breathing, and for a while you can't remember how. When you finally do, it feels like your throat has closed up, like you're trying to suck air through a straw. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I believe that God - if he exists at all - is what we want him to be. The true God is unknowable, and so we dress him up in costumes that make him visible to us. Then we come up with a lot of very silly rules that we attribute to him and tell everyone if they don't follow those rules, they can't be part of the gang. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

When The Journal of Words compiled its list of the one hundred best novels written in English, do you know that Pride and Prejudice was number twelve?" She stopped pacing and glared at Jane. "And do you know where Jane Eyre was?" she asked. She looked at the four of them in turn, but nobody answered her. "Number fifty-two!" she shrieked. "Fifty-two! Below that pornographic travesty Lolita!" She spat the title as if it were poison. "Below Huckleberry Finn! Below Ulysses. Have you ever tried to read Ulysses? Have you ever finished it? No, you haven't. No one has. They just carry it around and lie about having read it. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I'm gay," I said, not sure how else to say it.
"You're fifteen," she said. "You can't be gay. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Faith, he had learned that night in front of the flickering television, was most glorious when it was most untouched by reason. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Sometimes I think there's someone up there just sitting around thinking of ways to make me look like a complete moron. Seriously, I bet there's an angel - or, more likely, a demon - assigned just to me. And every day it gets up and asks itself what it can do to ruin my life. Well, today it got an A plus. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

To be fair he is Lord Byron," Jane said. "I don't know many people who haven't slept with him at one time or another."
Jane Fairfax ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Let me tell something, seeing your name and psychiatric ward on the same piece of paper isn't the best way to start your day. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Sometimes seeing the changes in one another had the opposite effect and actually comforted them. Seeing that they weren't alone in growing older, they stopped caring, or at least caring so much. But often this seemed to be accompanied by a kind of neutering, a gradual disappearance of anything remotely resembling sexuality, until finally the men in question were more like kindly old aunties than men who liked to fuck other men. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Given a choice between discussing the symbolism of a pig head on a stick and discussing my feelings, I'll take the pig head every time. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I asked her, 'Did you like Sadie?'
Juliet put down the book she was reading. 'I liked her the way you like a hurt dog,' she said.
'What do you mean?' I asked her.
'You feel sorry for it, and you want to help it, but you're not sure it won't bite you when you're not looking,' Juliet said. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I keep feeling like everyone wants me to apologize for something. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Straight people get married so that they can have sex. Gay men have sex so that they can get friends. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

When did being single become a disease? ~ Michael Thomas Ford

How come someone always saves the people who try to kill themselves and then makes them tell everyone how sorry they are for ruining their evening? I keep feeling like everyone wants me to apologize for something. but I'm not going to. I don't have anything to apologize for. They're the ones who screwed everything up. Not me.
I didn't ask to be saved. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Trust me no matter how horrible you feel or how bad things seem, there is always a way out. Suicide is never your only option. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

He's afraid they'll tell their kids to stay away from him and cross the street when they see him. "Don't talk to the crazy man, honey. He might bite you."
Coming from someone covered in tattoos, this seemed a little strange. I mean, you can see tattoos. You can't see crazy. If I was him, I'd be more worried about people thinking he was in a gang or something. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

If they had a pill that would fix every dysfunctional family in the world, don't you think they'd be selling it?"
"I don't think the world is ready for that kind of happiness. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

He said that I have to remember that even though I've changed a lot in here, I'm going back to a world that hasn't changed ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Now I just have these reddish scars there. I guess I always will, although Goody says they'll fade over time. I don't know if I want them to fade. That probably sounds totally freaky, but part of me doesn't want to forget what it felt like, even though it hurt. If I forget about the pain, I might also forget that it was a really stupid idea to do it in the first place. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Why is it that you have to warn people about who you are? ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I guess I've learned that no matter how bad things get, there are always people who love you. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Once you realise there's nothing to be afraid of when you die, there's nothing else to worry about. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

She laughed. "Welcome to Camp Meds," She said. "Where the campers are crazy and the counselors want you to take drugs. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I swear, sometimes it feels like there's this monkey in my head who runs around turning the dials and changing channels on me. One minute I'm sitting around eating chocolate chip cookies and then all of a sudden I'm thinking about bears. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Like I said, some people think it's weird that my best friend is a girl. Sometimes I think it's weird, too. Mostly people assume that we're boyfriend and girlfriend, which I guess we could be. But that just seems too teen-movie, if you know what I mean. A boy and girl are best friends, neither of them dates anyone else, and then one night they look at each other and - bang - they realize they've been in love with each other the whole time. Everyone's happy and they go to the big dance together. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

One time Allie and I skipped school and went to see this foreign film called Los Diablos, where these villagers found a glowing blue ball and peeled pieces off of it to see what was inside. Only the ball was really radioactive, and they all died from the poison. I think that's what happens when you look too deep inside for the truth. The poison comes out, and you die, even though you have beautiful glowing pieces of blue truth in your fingers. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

People still think what you look like is who you are. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Seven little crazy kids chopping up sticks;
One burnt her daddy up and then there were six.
Six little crazy kids playing with a hive;
One tattooed himself to death and then there were five.
Five little crazy kids on a cellar door;
One went all schizo and then there were four.
Four little crazy kids going out to sea;
One wouldn't say a word and then there were three.
Three little crazy kids walking to the zoo;
One jerked himself too much and then there were two.
Two little crazy kids sitting in the sun;
One a took a bunch of pills and then there was one.
One little crazy kid left all alone;
He went and slit his wrists, and then there were none. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I didn't ask to be saved ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I thought you said you were okay with turning forty. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

So now I'm thinking about it. I'm imagining sitting down with my parents and actually saying, "I'm gay." And you know what? It makes me a little mad. I mean, straight guys don't have to sit their parents down and tell them they like girls. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Most religions are concerned about what happens when you die, about going somewhere better than here as a reward for faithful service or whatever you want to call it. Paganism teaches that being here is the reward, and that we need to make the most of it and leave the world a better place. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

There's nothing more complicated – or fragile – than the relationship between parents and their children. It's like no other relationship there is. And no one tells you how to make it work. Either you find your way or you don't. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

you either are or aren't ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I'm not even sure I want kids, by the way, even if I'm not the one who has to be pregnant. It seems too risky. I mean, what if you end up with a kid that's just plain bad? Or stupid? It's not like you can give it away or put it in a garage sale or something. You're pretty much stuck with it for a long time.
I know now they have all these tests they can do so you can find out if your kid has three arms or is retarded or whatever, but you can't test for everything. You can't test for crazy, for example, or for bad taste in music and clothes and stuff. You can't know if your kid is going to be someone you would actually want to have hanging around. You just have to take your chances. That seems like a pretty big gamble to me. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I loved Jerry, and I wanted to have his baby." She laughed. "This was before women started looking at their vaginas in hand mirrors and Gloria Steinem told us we could be more than just mothers. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

It's a plant." Burke's father stared at the laptop's screen, peering over his glasses at the photos as Burke brought them up.
"It's not just a plant, Ed," Lucy said, looking at Burke and shaking her head. "It's about the feeling of the image."
Burke's father snorted. "Well, it feels like a plant." He turned to his son. "I'm not saying it's not pretty. But it's a plant. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I have to keep her in line somehow or she'll think she's the boss of everything. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Who uses crunchy peanut butter?" he asked the room. "You might as well eat squirrel shit. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I'm still kind of a mess. But I think we all are. No one's got it all together. I don't think you ever do get it totally together. Probably if you did manage to do it you'd spontaneously combust. I think that's a law of nature. If you ever manage to become perfect, you have to die instantly before you ruin things for everyone else. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Anyone can be crazy. That's usually just because there's something screwed up in your wiring, you know? But suicide is a whole different thing. I mean, how much do you have to hate yourself to want to just wipe yourself out? ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Here's what I think. One, people should figure out that if they go around bothering bears, chances are they're going to end up bear snacks. Second, people suck. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

And just because your life isn't as awful as someone else's, that doesn't mean it doesn't suck. You can't compare how you feel to the way other people feel. It just doesn't work. What might look like the perfect life - or even an okay life - to you might not be so okay for the person living it. God, ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I've been thinking about that ever since. Am I lucky? Am I lucky that I didn't die? Am I lucky that, compared to the other kids here, my life doesn't seem so bad? Maybe I am, but I have to say, I don't feel lucky. For one thing, I'm stuck in this pit. And just because your life isn't as awful as someone else's, that doesn't mean it doesn't suck. You can't compare how you feel to the way other people feel. It just doesn't work. What might look like the perfect life - or even an okay life - to you might not be so okay for the person living it. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Why is it okay to put someone to death, but it's not okay for those people to do it themselves? ~ Michael Thomas Ford

How do you really know if anyone loves you? ~ Michael Thomas Ford

The sound was still off. In the movie, the girl and the woman had gotten into a car and were driving somewhere. They were still arguing. I watched their mouths without anu sound coming out. And the more I watched them, the more I thought that that's exactly how most people are. They move their mouths, but nothing important comes out. They just talk and talk and talk. That's what Cat Poop wants me to do: talk. But like I keep telling him, there's nothing to say.

"Suicide Notes ~ Ford Michael Thomas

I know all about dreams that make you want to scream. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

I'm not sure what a good person is, exactly. On the one hand, it could be someone who always play by the rules. But someone can follow the rules and still be a real jerk, you know? In fact, some of the biggest idiots I know are people who follow the rules, usually because they make you feel like crap when you don't. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

That's what people do. Kill the things they're afraid of. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

Then he asked me which one I thought was most likely to happen. I wish I knew. I really do. But I don't. You'd think that after living with these people for fifteen years I'd know a little something about them. But right now I feel like I don't know my parents at all. I guess
when you get down to it, I've never really thought about them as people. They've always been my parents. Now I have to think about them as people with feelings. What a pain.
The funny thing is, I bet they feel the same way. ~ Michael Thomas Ford

There is a lady sweet and kind,
Was never a face so pleased my mind;
I did but see her passing by. And yet I'll love her till I die. Her gesture, motion, and her smiles,
Her wit, her voice my heart beguiles,
Beguiles my heart, I know not why,
And yet I'll love her till I die. Cupid is winged and he doth range,
Her country, so, my love doth change. But change she earth, or change she sky,
Yet, I will love her till I die. ~ Thomas Ford

Classical music is an unbroken, living tradition that goes back over 1,000 years, and every one of those years has had something unique and powerful to say to us about what it's like to be alive. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

The real deep text of music and the whole reason that it has continued with the profundity and urgency that it has for over a thousand years, has to do with what the notes say, what the notes witness, different experiences of hope or doubt that people are able to distill and encode and pass on in this way. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

Being a conductor is kind of a hybrid profession because most fundamentally, it is being someone who is a coach, a trainer, an editor, a director. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

There are about 300,000 neighborhoods in the United States, and more than half of them have at least one millionaire living there. Most millionaires drive American cars. Out of the top 30 or 40 makes and models, Ford is number one, with about 10 percent of the market share. ~ Thomas J. Stanley

Balanced relationships are always based in freedom, not obligation. ~ Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

Facing and embracing grief allows us to experience the shock, anger, disappointment, and other feelings that need to be processed before we can move through this transition. ~ Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

But without the experience of actually singing or playing these things yourself, you don't have the same kind of involvement or understanding of what these musical moves mean. And that is a very big problem in addressing the future of music. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

One of my central maxims is how a major part of what a conductor tries to do is get a large group of people to agree on where "now" actually is. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

The Catholic Inquisition is well-known for its persecutions, but the Protestants were no better. An infamous example of Protestant evil, an example given by Thomas Jefferson, is the execution of Michael Servetus. A Spanish physician, Servetus wrote that the doctrine of the Trinity makes no sense, that it contradicts the idea that there is only one God. Servetus was condemned to die by the Catholic Inquisition, but he wasn't present, so they couldn't kill him. He had fled to Protestant Switzerland, expecting to be protected there. Instead, the city leaders in Geneva, with the approval of John Calvin (one of the great fathers of Protestant thought) and other Protestant leaders across Europe, had Servetus burned alive (with green wood to give him longer to repent) in 1553. ~ Russ Kick

Anybody in public life is well aware of how important the judgments of the press are. I'm firmly convinced that if the good Lord had made the world today, he would have spent six days creating the heavens and earth and all the living creatures upon it. But on the seventh day, he would not have rested. He would have had to justify it to Helen Thomas. (Gerald Ford as quoted by Helen Thomas.) ~ Helen Thomas

Pop music, which I deeply admire and wish I could play better than I can, is based on expressing one mood, one feeling at a time. Classical music is by its very nature involved with different kinds of music, constantly transforming one another, which is more akin to the way our experience of life really is. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

NEW YORK Climate change is likely to exact enormous costs on U.S. regional economies in the form of lost property, reduced industrial output and more deaths, according to a report backed by three men with vast business experience. The report, released Tuesday, is designed to persuade businesses to factor in the cost of climate change in their long-term decisions and to push for reductions in emissions blamed for heating the planet. It was commissioned by the Risky Business Project, which describes itself as nonpartisan and is chaired by former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Thomas F. Steyer, a former Bay Area hedge fund manager. ~ Anonymous

Thomas nodded towards Keane. 'He doesn't want to be a priest and you don't want to be a monk. Now you're both Hellequin.'
Brother Michael looked disbelieving. 'I am?' He asked excitedly.
'You are,' Thomas said.
'So all we need now is a pair of ripe young girls who don't want to be nuns,' Keane said cheerfully. ~ Bernard Cornwell

Maybe that was it - they were just afraid. Strange, they have me outnumbered and outgunned, but they're still so afraid. It's amazing the amount of cowardice privilege can afford. ~ Michael Thomas

I wonder if this is what it feels like, falling out of love: feeling yourself fading out of existence - the gray sky, the coffee shop limbo - everything a way station of sorts. Making promises you know you can't keep. Making promises - period. People in love shouldn't have to vow or demand, petition or exhort. Nothing. Not even question. No collisions with your surroundings or yourself - you move gently, unknowing, in time. ~ Michael Thomas

Our mind can move directly and aggressively on impulse, while our spirit moves gently and calmly on our intuition. ~ Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

The underlying morality of society is getting worse because we have literally transferred our God-given power to the politician (Man's government). ~ Michael DeLance Thomas

And at the same time, you are of course a performer, but it's very important that you understand that your role as a performer is to get the best performance from those wonderful colleagues that you have the chance to work with. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

How do you judge the professionals you patronize? Too many people judge them by display factors. Extra points are given to those who wear expensive clothes, drive luxury automobiles, and live in exclusive neighborhoods. They assume a professional is likely to be mediocre, even incompetent, if he lives in a modest home and drives a three-year-old Ford Crown Victoria. Very, very few people judge the quality of the professionals they use by net worth criteria. Many professionals have told us they must look successful to convince their customers/clients that they are. ~ Thomas J. Stanley

Without doubt, Thomas Edison is my greatest contemporary. ~ Henry Ford

That is to say, under the old way any time we wish to add to the national wealth we are compelled to add to the national debt. Now, that is what Henry Ford wants to prevent. He thinks it is stupid, and so do I, that for the loan of $30,000,000 of their own money the people of the United States should be compelled to pay $66,000,000 - that is what it amounts to, with interest. ~ Thomas A. Edison

I think music needs to be presented in a way so that kids can grasp songs, dances, simple music that's associated with some particular defining moment in human experience. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

Being an American musician means being adventurous. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

This extraordinary group has absolutely captivated my imagination, knocked my socks off - what more can I say? ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

What happens when the music stops? Where does it go? ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

We're all adolescents now," writes Thomas Bergler. "When are we going to grow up?"17 Bergler explains that churches and parachurch organizations first began to provide youth-oriented programs - mainly to help at-risk kids in the cities (e.g., the YMCA). Then the "teenager" was invented as a unique demographic in society. As a result, the youth group was created, offering adolescent-friendly versions of church. "In the second stage, a new adulthood emerged that looked a lot like the old adolescence. Fewer and fewer people outgrew the adolescent Christian spiritualities they had learned in youth groups; instead, churches began to cater to them." Eventually, churches became them. ~ Michael S. Horton

Charley looked over at him. "About how much you and Jesse have in common."

Jesse said, "Why don't you tell it, Bob; if you remember."

Bob inched forward in his chair. "Well, if you'll pardon my saying so, it is interesting, the many ways you and I overlap and whatnot. You begin with my daddy, J.T. Ford. J stands for James! And T is Thomas, meaning 'twin.' Your daddy was a pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church; my daddy was part-time pastor of a church at Excelsior Springs. You're the youngest of the three James boys; I'm the youngest of the five Ford boys. You had twins as sons, I had twins as sisters. Frank is four and a half years older than you, which incidentally is the difference between Charley and me, the two outlaws in the Ford clan. Between us is another brother, Wilbur here (with six letters in his name); between Frank and you was a brother, Robert, also with six letters. Robert died in infancy, as most everyone knows, and he was named after your father, Robert, who was remembered by your brother's first-born, another Robert. Robert, of course, is my Christian name. My uncle, Robert Austin Ford, has a son named Jesse James Ford. You have blue eyes; I have blue eyes. You're five feet eight inches tall; I'm five feet eight inches tall. We're both hot-tempered and impulsive and devil-may-care. Smith and Wesson is our preferred make of revolver. There's the same number of letters and syllables in our names; I mean, Jesse James and Robert Ford. Oh m ~ Ron Hansen

Part of my big message with all this is that if you are alive, you know all you need to know about the message of classical music, because more than any other music, it is about the way life really is. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

Earlier in my life, I performed a lot of music. Some of it because I felt it was a demonstration, or a representation of certain intellectual concepts that were very exciting and important. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

When I first was conducting as guest conductor in Europe 25 years ago, I would propose doing American pieces and grudgingly it would be accepted from time to time. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

Change is difficult, but it can be managed when you stay aware of the power of your choices, even if it's simply your attitude. ~ Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

Following your intuition will always lead you to the best experience for your growth right now. ~ Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

It was on the steamer carrying him through the Golden Gate that he happened to reach down into the hole in the lining of the right pocket of his overcoat and discover the envelope that his brother had solemnly handed to him almost a month before. It contained a single piece of paper, which Thomas had hastily stuffed into it that morning as they all were leaving the house together for the last time, by way or in lieu of expressing the feelings of love, fear, and hopefulness that his brother's escape inspired. It was the drawing of Harry Houdini, taking a calm cup of tea in the middle of the sky, that Thimas had made in his notebook during his abortive career as a librettist. Josef studied it, feeling as he sailed toward freedom as if he weighed nothing at all, as if every precious burden had been lifted from him. ~ Michael Chabon

St. Thomas explains that for a law to be just, it must conform to the demands of reason and have an effect which is both good and for the benefit of those for whom it is intended. A law can cease to bind without revocation on the part of the legislator when it is clearly harmful, impossible, or irrational. It would certainly constitute an abuse of authenticity for a pope to forbid the celebration of so hallowed, venerable and Catholic a rite as the Tridentine Mass. Should it be done, there is a sound case to justify the faithful in resisting him, based upon accepted norms within Catholic theology. (p. 25). ~ Michael Treharne Davies

It's kind of scary sometimes, I've seen this a lot in Asia. Children are given music lessons, very intensively I might add and involving great technical expertise sometimes, but you can tell that they have been told only to play happy pleasant music. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael J. Fox is nice. I'm not in close contact with him. ~ Thomas F. Wilson

If you're alive, you have all the experience necessary to understand classical music. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

Some of your most powerful intentions are born in your moments of greatest contrast. ~ Michael Thomas Sunnarborg