Morley Quotes

A party: one arrives long after it's started, and one's going to leave long before it's over. ~ Robert Morley

Surely there is a fitness in the institution of the Lord's Supper as a standing memorial by which the church at large may commemorate the grandest act, and by which the heart of each individual believer may be reminded of his dearest friend. You, who have learned to love the Saviour, will prize His ordinance for the Saviour's sake. You who rejoice in the salvation purchased by His dying, will not fail with gratitude and faith to show the Lord's death until He come. ~ William Morley Punshon

There is only one trait that makes the writer. He is always watching. ~ Morley Callaghan

All the world over it is true that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, like a wave on the streamlet, tossed hither and thither with every eddy of its tide. A determinate purpose in life and a steady adhesion to it through all disadvantages, are indispensable conditions of success. ~ William Morley Punshon

Why do they put the Gideon bibles only in the bedrooms, where it's usually too late? ~ Christopher Morley

Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it ~ Christopher Morley

Linda hadn't exaggerated her fear of the golden orb weaver spider. Up north at her cabin in Morley, I had once teased her by asking "Have we ever seen this kind of vireo before?" And then, instead of showing her a photo of a bird, I thrust a picture of the black-and-yellow spider at her. She shrieked. I laughed. Oh, the fun we had. ~ Bob Tarte

I had my success too soon. Three books published with Scribner's in New York before I was 30. ~ Morley Callaghan

All life is a complex of systems. Some creatures perform as networks (like mycelia), some as superorganisms (like ants and bees), some as individuals that cooperate (like humans, ravens, and wolves). But all living beings, as far as we know, have some kind of subjectivity that connects them to other subjectivities. ~ Julie J. Morley

It is always disarming to treat with the enemy, so to speak. ~ Morley Safer

It is so easy to let life go by us in its swift amusing course, that sometimes it hardly seems worthwhile to attempt any bold strokes for truth. Truth, of course, does not need assistance; it can afford to ignore our errors. But in this quiet place, among the whisper of the trees, I seem to have heard a disconcerning sound. I have heard laughter, and I think it is the laughter of God. ~ Christopher Morley

Dr. Johnson's enticing images and language give us a fundamentally sound and memorable way of managing change." - Albert J. Simone, President ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY "Spencer Johnson's unique insights and storytelling make this a rare book that can be read and understood quickly by everyone who wants to do well in these changing times." - Randy Harris, Former Vice-Chairman MERRILL LYNCH INTERNATIONAL "This book is a simple, understandable road map for us to use as we deal with our own individual circumstances around change." - Michael Morley, Senior Vice President EASTMAN KODAK "This wonderful book is an asset to any person or group that applies its lessons." - John A. Lopiano, Senior V.P. XEROX CORPORATION ~ Spencer Johnson

God made man merely to hear some praise of what he'd done on those Five Days. ~ Christopher Morley

Frank Morley, who had worked in London at Faber and Faber, was the new head of Harcourt Brace, and he hired me to start in 1940. The early years at Harcourt were wonderful. Almost my first assignment was Virginia Woolf's novel 'Between the Acts.' ~ Robert Giroux

The paintings have a lot to do with the idea of seeing and doing, and the relationship between your hand and your eye, and the object. ~ Malcolm Morley

You understand, don't you, Mrs. Mackenzie?" Blackwell murmured, his hard mouth barely moving as the intensity of his regard pinned her to her seat. "The deeds of a willful youth."
A thrill of danger kissed her spine.
"Horseshit!" Morley roared.
Dorian turned back to face him, and Farah was able to let out a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding as the black spell he'd woven over her suddenly dissipated.
"For shame, Morley," he mockingly chided. "Such language in front of a lady."
"She is my employee," Sir Morley gritted through clenched teeth. "And I'll thank you not to bother about her if you want to keep the vision in the eye you have left."
"I can hardly help myself. She's such a ripe piece of skirt. ~ Kerrigan Byrne

Of what earthly value is Christianity if it leaves no indelible mark on one's lifestyle? It is of no value (in this life) to be Christian if you do not think Christianly--if you do not have a Christian life view. ~ Patrick Morley

The Margaret Thatcher syndrome, that is, the woman who achieves seniority, but refuses any gender identification and indeed whose policies harmed many women, highlights that gender sensitivity is more significant in leading change than the biological sex of post-holders. ~ Louise Morley

Kids' views are often just as valid as the teachers'. The best teachers are the ones that know that. ~ Morley Safer

I've been frozen solid against the wall in Mazzo's, staring at my index finger for a couple of hours, when my dead brother Morton shows up. He does that literally. I mean, I look down on one side and see him coming up through the floor. Nothing special about that. People have been showing up through the floor all evening. They pop up and mushroom in bursts, clumps of people that explode and disappear. In the Mazzo theme park it's another of those acid nights. ~ John David Morley

Man is unconquerable because he can make even his helplessness so entertaining. His motto seems to be Even though He slay me, yet will I make fun of Him! ~ Christopher Morley

The ball is man's most disastrous invention, not excluding the wheel. ~ Robert Morley

I've thrilled and shouted with patriotic pride, like everyone. Music and flags and men marching in step have bewitched me, as they do all of us. And then I've gone home and sworn to root this evil instinct out of my soul. God help us - let's love the world, love humanity - not just our own country! That's why I'm so keen about the part we're going to play at the Peace Conference. Our motto over there will be America Last! Hurrah for us, I say, for we shall be the only nation over there with absolutely no axe to grind. Nothing but a pax to grind! ~ Christopher Morley

The best photographs are made by the best people. ~ Morley Baer

To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness. ~ Robert Morley

Arrogance and snobbism live in adjoining rooms and use a common currency. ~ Morley Safer

Cowardice asks: Is it safe? Expediency asks: Is it politic? But Conscience asks: Is it right? ~ William Morley Punshon

Morley joined them, and after a long, uncomfortable moment, Mrs. Grant decided to ignore his presence. The
guards didn't. Their knuckles were white on their weapons.
May I assist?" he asked, and put his hands behind his back. "I promise not to eat anyone."
Very funny," Mrs. Grant said. Morley gave her a grave look.
I wasn't joking, dear lady," he said. "I do promise. And I never make a promise I don't intend to keep. You
should feel quite secure."
Well, I'm sorry, I don't," she said. "You're just - "
Too overwhelmingly dashing and attractive?" Morley grinned. "A common problem women face with me.
It'll pass. You seem like the no-nonsense sort. I like that."
Claire smiled at the look on Mrs. Grant's face, reflected in the white LED light of the lantern she was holding.
You are really - odd," the older woman said, as if she couldn't quite believe she was even having the
conversation. ~ Rachel Caine

There is only one trait that marks the writer. He is always watching. It's a kind of trick of the mind and he is born with it.
~ Morley Callaghan

The word 'hope' for me is always infused with action. ~ Morley

Most owners are at length able to teach themselves to obey their dog. ~ Robert Morley

It is intolerable for a human being to go on doing any task as a penance, under duress. ~ Christopher Morley

The people in books become more real to you than any one in actual life. ~ Christopher Morley

There is something remarkably and peculiarly English about the passion for sitting on damp seats watching open-air drama only the English have mastered the art of being truly uncomfortable while facing up to culture. ~ Sheridan Morley

We've had bad luck with our kids – they've all grown up. ~ Christopher Morley

What is remarkable in Burke's first performance," wrote his great nineteenth-century biographer John Morley, "is his discernment of the important fact that behind the intellectual disturbances in the sphere of philosophy, and the noisier agitations in the sphere of theology, there silently stalked a force that might shake the whole fabric of civil society itself."4 A caustic and simplistic skepticism of all traditional institutions, supposedly grounded in a scientific rationality that took nothing for granted but in fact willfully ignored the true complexity of social life, seemed to Burke poorly suited for the study of society, and even dangerous when applied to it. Burke would warn of, and contend with, this force for the rest of his life. ~ Yuval Levin

Any man worth his salt has by the time he is forty-five accumulated a crown of thorns, and the problem is to learn to wear it over one ear. ~ Christopher Morley

A critic is a gong at a railroad crossing clanging loudly and vainly as the train goes by. ~ Christopher Morley

Harris looked up at the sky and then stared at Stuart. "The sun will set soon. Follow Lieutenant Morley to the aid station."
"I'm all right, Sergeant. I want to stay with my brother."
Harris looked Stuart up and down. "You're covered in blood."
Stuart looked Harris up and down. "So are you, Ser- geant."
Harris looked at his own uniform and pursed his lips. "Good point; well made. All right, stay if you want. ~ R.J. MacDonald

There was a writer in the '20s called Christopher Morley, who I remember a little bit of, who had some influence on me, but I couldn't tell you what it was. ~ Jack Vance

I did three tours in Vietnam. I guess a total of about almost two years. ~ Morley Safer

No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. ~ John Morley

The enemies of the future are always the very nicest people. ~ Christopher Morley

Evolution is not a force but a process. Not a cause but a law. ~ John Morley

The twenty-seventh was Blackstar, or simply (the symbol of blackstar) - a suggestion that the A-Z was over, but there was more to come, beyond the known alphabet, beyond ordinary language; a second set of letters, communications, a rebirth. Inside the A to Z, and all the possible combinations of songs, styles, secrets, themes, discoveries, redirections, emotional climaxes, sheer drama, tension, relief, beauty, there was all you needed to know in order to construct and understand the language of Bowie
(re morley's alphabet of bowie albums) ~ Paul Morley

The British tourist is always happy abroad as long as the natives are waiters. ~ Robert Morley

Man makes a great fuss about this planet which is only a ballbearing in the hub of the universe. ~ Christopher Morley

Hope is like compassion to me. It's like possibility and living in possibility. ~ Morley

I am not ashamed that I was once a vacuum-cleaner salesman, only that I was a *good* vacuum-cleaner salesman. ~ Robert Morley

Embodied devotion and dedication is about how we give ourselves to the world; it's about our relationships with other embodied beings. ~ Julie J. Morley

Don't you agree?"
"Indeed," Robert answered without thought, and then sharply shook his head. "I beg your pardon. You were saying?"
"That Mr. Warner is a thorough investigator, and despite his doubts, I believe he will succeed in ferreting out our master criminal." She stared up at him from the settee, looking quite at ease.
"Master criminal?"
"Yes, Les and Morley could hardly be accused of the cleverness needed for such a planned endeavor."
"Yes … no…" With a frown, Robert scanned the room. "Indeed, a master … Where is Mr. Warner?"
Lydia laughed, a delightful carillon. "Robert, my dear friend, you were woolgathering. I thought as much; your expression was rather blank."
"Was it?" Robert was very glad to know that he did not look the lovesick calf he felt. ~ Cindy Anstey

Show me the man who has enjoyed his schooldays and I will show you a bully and a bore. ~ Robert Morley

So much crap passes as information that not only does the audience sometimes miss the distinction between news and crap, the editors sometimes miss the distinction. ~ Morley Safer

This book Is intended to be read in bed. Please do not attempt to read it anywhere else. ~ Christopher Morley

For the most part, I think American armies are awfully good in the business of protecting civilians, of not going over the line. ~ Morley Safer

The curse of imagination is picturing the world as it should be. ~ Morley

Names were not so much dropped as thrown in a perpetual game of catch. ~ Robert Morley

That's what this country needs -- more books! ~ Christopher Morley

The unluckiest insolvent in the world is the man whose expenditure of speech is too great for his income of ideas. ~ Christopher Morley

Continually one faces the horrible matter of making decisions. The solution is, as far as possible, to avoid conscious rational decisions and choices; simply to do what you find yourself doing; to float in the great current of life with as little friction as possible; to allow things to settle themselves, as indeed they do with the most infallible certainty. ~ Christopher Morley

There are fashions in saying things just as there are fashions in clothes. You wear what other people are wearing not so much because it's attractive but so as not to be conspicuous; so you can go on bind yourself underneath without being noticed too much. ~ Christopher Morley

The darkness is not so dense as it was; there are faint streaks on the horizon's verge; mist is in the valleys, but there is a radiance on the distant hill. It comes nearer
that promise of the day. The clouds roll rapidly away, and they are fringed with amber and gold. It is, it is the blest sunlight that I feel around me
Morning! It is morning! ~ William Morley Punshon

It's barely changed since the faceless colour committee originally selected it in 1908 when the first map of the Underground was designed and the Bakerloo conclusively became brown, a very early twentieth-century brown, which brings something of the nineteenth century with it - the colour of Sherlock Holmes's pipe, a Gladstone bag, a grandfather clock. ~ Paul Morley

Jack and Stella rushed over to the edge just in time to see Charming disappearing into the reduction duality universe. ~ Simon J. Morley

I would trust citizen journalism as much as I would trust citizen surgery. ~ Morley Safer

All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful, but the beauty is grim. ~ Christopher Morley

If we discovered that we had only five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them. ~ Christopher Morley

There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning, and yearning. A man should be learning as he goes; and he should be earning bread for himself and others; and he should be yearning, too: yearning to know the unknowable. ~ Christopher Morley

Stories keep the fire burning inside us, stories keep us form dashing our heads against the wall. Without stories we'd be lost, dead, forgotten. ~ Isla Morley

A man who has never made a woman angry is a failure in life. ~ Christopher Morley

The princess reiterated to Sarah that "her faithful Morley . . . will never part with you till she is fast locked in her coffin. ~ Anne Somerset

What about e-mail? It is e-mail, yes?" Morley asked, leaning even closer. "E-mail is a kind of electronic letter. It travels through the air." He seemed very smug that he knew that.
"Well, not exactly, and would you please either BACK OFF or go find a shower? ~ Rachel Caine

You cannot demonstrate an emotion or prove an aspiration. ~ John Morley

We have all sorts of conditions of booksellers: one is fanatic on the subject of libraries. He thinks that every public library should be dynamited. Another thinks that moving pictures will destroy the book trade. What rot! Surely everything that arouses people's minds, that makes them alert and questing, increases their appetite for books. - Roger Mifflin ~ Christopher Morley

I once lived a life almost ruled by anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and paralyzing fear. I spent years looking for the thing that would release me, and when I finally found it, it wasn't medication or therapy. It was running. ~ Stephen Morley

It's funny how we hate to face realities. I knew a commuter once who rode in town every day on the 8.13. But he used to call it the 7.73. He said it made him feel more virtuous. ~ Christopher Morley

I had a million questions to ask God: but when I met Him, they all fled my mind; and it didn't seem to matter. ~ Christopher Morley

I know it may sound silly, but I think my short stories have a life and identity of their own. They crop up in all sorts of places. ~ Morley Callaghan

Nothing is so rare as a collection of really intelligent short stories. ~ Morley, Christopher

As a screenwriter, there's so many layers you have to go through in order to tell your story. You have to write the script, get money for the script, shoot it, find distributors, make it into film festivals, all of that just to get to your audience. ~ Morley

A right without an attendant responsibility is as unreal as a sheet of paper which has only one side. ~ Felix Morley

The question is," Harry whispered, trying desperately to joke, "whether it's better to be dead from the neck up or the neck down," and the doctor smiled, knowing Harry was protecting himself with his sense of irony. ~ Morley Callaghan

I would have tested the furniture if they'd asked me. ~ Karen Morley

A doctor is advertised by the bodies he cures. My business is advertised by the minds I stimulate. And let me tell you that the book business is different from other trades. People don't know they want books. I can see just by looking at you that your mind is ill for lack of books but you are blissfully unaware of it! ~ Christopher Morley

Pilgrims who are looking for a cure are soon looking for a curio. ~ Morley Safer

Some people, you have to grit your teeth in order to stay in the same room as them, but you get on and ask the questions you assume most of the people watching want to ask. ~ Morley Safer

New York, the nation's thyroid gland. ~ Christopher Morley

There is indeed a heaven on this earth, a heaven which we inhabit when we read a good book. ~ Christopher Morley

Very often human beings don't become available for the purposes of art until they have shaken off some of their dogged, self-preserving sanity. ~ Christopher Morley

Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water. ~ Christopher Morley

And that, Claire thought, was why Morley had been right about this, even if he was a complete vampire about
it.
You had to save what you could.
Amelie had understood that all along, Claire realized. That was why Morganville existed. Because you had to
try. ~ Rachel Caine

Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries. ~ Christopher Morley

BBC Radio is not so much an art or industry as it is a way of life ... a mirror that reflects ... the eccentricities, the looniness that make Britons slightly different from other humans. ~ Morley Safer

You can never have enough garlic. With enough garlic, you can eat The New York Times. ~ Morley Safer

In the future, I'll be braver, she told herself. In the future, I will always speak my mind, eloquently, passionately. ~ David Nicholls

What really shifted my understanding of my potential placement in the world of art is when I had a chance to choreograph a show for ... It was just this incredible production with all these masters. ~ Morley

Men talk of "finding God," but no wonder it is difficult; He is hidden in that darkest hiding-place, your heart. You yourself are a part of Him. ~ Christopher Morley

Let a man be firmly principled in his religion, he may travel from the tropics to the poles, it will never catch cold on the journey. ~ William Morley Punshon

Life's a lot different from what people pretend. That's why pretending is fun. I used to think it was some special wickedness of my own that made such queer things happen. Now I'm beginning to guess that everybody's like that. ~ Christopher Morley

[Dust]
Agatha Morley
all her life
grumbled at dust
like a good wife

...

Six feet under
the earth she lies
with dust at her feet
and dust in her eyes. ~ Sydney King Russell