Vincent Starrett Quotes

Old books, yes! They are the true comforters; and principally because they are old and familiar. Many excellent new tales and poems and dramas are added yearly to the catalogues, and and some of these in time will stand beside the great companions under discussion; but only Time (and you and I and all other lovers of good books) will bring about their survival. ~ Vincent Starrett

Well, let me try again,' he said. 'If it be true, and no doubt it is, that the proper study of mankind is man, it is also true that man is best studied in the books that he has written about himself; and all books, whatever their subject matter, are in essence autobiographical... Wherefore, it is clear - or is it? - that writers of books are what I have called them, the most fascinating people in the world. ~ Peter Ruber

A book collector is mad enough to begin with, Watson; but tempt him with some such bait as this Shakespeare quarto and he is bereft of all sanity. ~ Vincent Starrett

Grant Allen once said that an Englishman's idea of God was another Englishman twelve feet high, and I suppose that is more or less everybody's idea of God- with the necessary geographical adjustment. Zenith Brown has an idea about God that pleases me. 'God,' says Mrs. Brown, 'is obviously a friendly enough Old Gentleman most of the time, Who wishes us well and tries to see to it that we are reasonably happy. It is equally obvious the He has an idiot brother who takes over the reins whenever God Himself goes fishing. It is when the idiot brother is in charge of things that the world goes wrong and we have wars, famines, and pestilences on earth. ~ Vincent Starrett

A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane
As night descends upon this fabled street;
A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,
The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.
Here, though the world explode, these two survive,
And it is always eighteen ninety-five. ~ Vincent Starrett

Man wants what he cannot have, or what is difficult to procure, or what he must wade through the blood of other men to get. So with collectors. ~ Vincent Starrett

Book collecting! First editions and best editions; old books and new books - the ones you like and want to have around you. Thousands of 'em. I've had more honest satisfaction and happiness collecting books than anything else I've ever done in life. ~ Peter Ruber

Superficially it may appear that I am more interested in books than in people; but I think it nearer the mark to say that I am more interested in people as they are revealed to me in books than as they reveal themselves to me in daily contact. ~ Vincent Starrett

I hold a theory that, sooner or later, if a man but live long enough, certain books destined for his peculiar delight will find him, however obscure they or he may be. ~ Vincent Starrett

It is possible that the most misunderstood man upon earth is the collector of books ... ~ Vincent Starrett

My second meeting with Vincent Starrett began on a cool Sunday afternoon in May of 1962. After a short interlude, he returned from the kitchen precariously balancing a large cup of tea on a very small saucer. It was the largest tea cup I had ever seen, large enough to startle, I am inclined to suspect, even the Mad Hatter in 'Alice in Wonderland. ~ Peter Ruber

Every new search is a voyage to the Indies, a quest for buried treasure, a journey to the end of the rainbow; and whether or not at the end there shall be turned up a pot of gold or merely a delightful volume, there are always wonders along the way. ~ Vincent Starrett

The day before yesterday always has been a glamour day. The present is sordid and prosaic. Time colors history as it does a meerschaum pipe. ~ Vincent Starrett

Some delightful inscriptions are found in second-hand books. One, the most famous of all, may be found in every bookshop in the nation, repeated in a thousand and one volumes with only a single change of phrase in each. It is this: '______, with love from Momma. ~ Vincent Starrett

Man is not on the earth solely for his own happiness. He is there to realize great things for humanity. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

But I owe something to Vincent, and that is, in the consciousness of having been useful to him, the confirmation of my own original ideas about painting. And also, at difficult moments, the remembrance that one finds others unhappier than oneself. ~ Paul Gauguin

To die for the sake of dying - I prefer to die of passion than to die of boredom! ~ Vincent Van Gogh

What the customer demands is last year's model, cheaper. To find out what the customer needs you have to understand what the customer is doing as well as he understands it. Then you build what he needs and you educate him to the fact that he needs it. ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

Looking back, my greatest regret is not that I didn't love them enough (to the brink of insanity and back again), but that I couldn't save them from themselves. ~ Bailey Vincent

Every man must bear his own burden. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

I shouldn't precisely have chosen madness if there had been any choice, but once such a thing has taken hold of you, you can't very well get out of it. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

I didn't start playing music really until I was 18/19, so it was a relatively new thing. I didn't play much music in school. ~ James Vincent McMorrow

It's kind of like when a clock battery runs down. The hour and minute hands don't disappear, but they don't keep ticking either. They freeze on the last minute they measured. ~ Rachel Vincent

I feel the reasons my songs might seem dark is because of how I viewed the situations I was in and it was just something I always felt like documenting. ~ James Vincent McMorrow

But more than any of that, I was thankful for the possibility he'd shown me: that a man really could love a woman enough that he'd do anything to protect her. That's how much Tod loved Addy.
That's how much I wanted Nash to love me. ~ Rachel Vincent

You have first to experience what you want to express. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

I worked with young directors all my life, only young directors. ~ Vincent Cassel

Letter from Van Gogh to Gauguin: Ah! my dear friend, to make of painting what the music of Berlioz and Wagner has been before us ... a consolatory art for distressed hearts! There are as yet only a few who feel it as you and I do!!! [Letter 739, Arles, 21 January 1889] ~ Liesbeth Heenk

I hope to find the perfect band as well, I really do, and I'm working very hard to find that band. ~ Vinnie Vincent

Often we have no choice about doing things, but we can always choose how to do them. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

When fate throws a dagger at you, there are ways to catch it. If you catch it by the blade, you can harm yourself. But if you catch it by the handle, you can use it to help you fight through the obstacles ahead. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Sometimes, something meaningless occurs, somewhere with meaning. ~ F. Thomas Vincent

I don't know about folk music. I play guitar, so there's a feeling I make folk music. ~ James Vincent McMorrow

Make an effort to serve good bread and good meat and not to sell the better wine so as to serve what is inferior ... ~ Vincent De Paul

I needed targets, different things to go for on a daily basis - a distance on the treadmill or a weight goal. Without them, I wasn't celebrating myself enough, and I got really good at beating myself up. ~ Ali Vincent

Oh! I must somehow manage to do a figure in a few strokes. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Why do they call it losing your virginity, anyway? It's Not Like I don't know where I left it."
"You'd be surprised how many people don't. ~ Rachel Vincent

If there is any danger in the present weather, in the name of God, Monsieur, wait until spring ~ Vincent De Paul

Nothing of great value in this life comes easily. The things of highest value sometimes come hard. The gold that has the greatest value lies deepest in the earth, as do the diamonds. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

I believe it is one's duty to paint the rich and magnificent aspects of nature. We need gaiety and happiness, hope and love. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

As long as it makes you happy. For the rest of my life, I will do whatever it takes to ensure it. As my wife, you will not want for anything. What you desire, I will provide. ~ Renee Vincent

When I was in graduate school, my thesis included both poetry and essays. Influenced by the personal essays of James Baldwin and Norman Mailer, I loved the form, but pretty much stopped. ~ Stephen Vincent Benet

God pity us indeed, for we are human,And do not always seeThe vision when it comes, the shining change,Or, if we see it, do not follow it,Because it is too hard, too strange, too new,Too unbelievable, too difficult,Warring too much with common, easy ways,And now I know this, standing in this light,Who have been half alive these many years,Brooding on my own sorrow, my own pain,Saying I am a barren bough. ExpectNor fruit nor blossom from a barren bough. ~ Stephen Vincent Benet

What if I was the sexual equivalent of popcorn? Suitable for light snacking only? ~ Rachel Vincent

A wish is an attitude of mind to which wings have been attached. You wish and you dream, and your whole nature focuses to bring your wishes and dreams to pass. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

I've worked with actors before where I was like, this is not working, and then I've seen their work on the screen and I've been like, Wow, that was a really great performance. Because there are a lot of elements with film. It's not like stage. It's not a kind of performance art anymore; it's a highly tuned kind of collaboration - a symphony. ~ Vincent Kartheiser

You are greater than anything that can happen to you. In a big and terrifying crisis, people find within themselves a power and a strength and also a wisdom they had no idea they possessed. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

No matter how dark things become, someone is always with you - and that someone is God. He helps by giving you peace and a positive mental attitude. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

It's easier to do Shakespeare than Spelling, and I know that sounds crazy, because the challenge of Shakespeare is living up to Shakespeare, living up to that word, not failing, you know, where with Aaron Spelling it's like, just try to look good. Or maybe don't use Spelling there, that's bad. No - you can. He's dead. ~ Vincent Kartheiser

Honey the party went away quickly, but thats the trouble with ticking and talking. ~ St. Vincent

Well, what do you owe yourself? Do you dare take time out to listen to the grass grow, or can you even afford the expense of getting far enough away from life's daily cacophony to hear it grow if you took the time? ~ Vincent Price

I loved Vincent and he loved me in the abiding way most couples in good marriages love each other, that way in which every once in a while there is a longing for someone you haven't yet met. A longing that comes upon you while you are loading the dishwasher or weeding the garden or sitting in front of the television or turning out the light to go to sleep, and you don't even know what it is, this longing, and you think maybe you're in need of a vacation or maybe you are dying because the ache of it hurts so fucking much…That ache, it went away when I met Henry; it went away as if it had been a headache instead of located nowhere precisely. Its not that I *wanted* to fall in love with Henry, but I did just the same because you can't keep from falling in love any more than you can keep snow from falling from the sky in winter. Gravity is gravity.
~ Binnie Kirshenbaum