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James A. Michener

James A. Michener Quotes

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Famous James A. Michener Quotes

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”

PeopleIfsWorldInspirationalHomeMightFunnyJourneyThis WorldAdventureTravelSillyAll TimeWanderRejectsDestinationCustomsTime TravelTraveledTravelerFunny TravelTourismTravellerTravel WritingGreat TravelInspiring TravelTravel The WorldTravel AdventureStay At HomeSuitcasesAdventure And TravelSeeing The WorldNomadPhotography And TravelLuggageInspirational AdventureRoads TraveledWant To TravelBackpackingNomadicTravel And TourismRoads And JourneysNext AdventureInspirational Adventure TimeTravellers FunnyTravel BugInspirational VacationFunny AdventureSightseeingTravel And CultureFeet And TravelVacation TimeTwo RoadsCultures Of The WorldJourney Home
Author:James A. Michener
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“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.”

KnowsLoveInspirationalMindLittlesDoeArtPlayBodyReligionWorkInspiringVisionInformationMastersLaborExcellenceLeavingPursueDistinctionLeisureBeing HappyHis LovePyramidsRecreationArt Of LivingWork And PlayWork Play
Author:James A. Michener
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“I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working eight and ten hours a day and accomplishing little; they want to have been writers, garnering the rewards of having completed a best-seller. They aspire to the rewards of writing but not to the travail.”

PeopleWantWritingLittlesHas BeensYoungHoursTalkingTenRewardsEightAspireSellersBest Sellers
Author:James A. Michener
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“I write at eighty-five for the same reasons that impelled me to write at forty-five; I was born with a passionate desire to communicate, to organize experience, to tell tales that dramatize the adventures which readers might have had. I have been that ancient man who sat by the campfire at night and regaled the hunters with imaginative recitations about their prowess. The job of an apple tree is to bear apples. The job of a storyteller is to tell stories, and I have concentrated on that obligation.”

MenWritingHas BeensReasonStoriesMightJobsDesireNightBornFiveTreeAdventureBearsReaderAncientPassionateCommunicateObligationTalesSatApplesFortyOrganizeStorytellerHuntersImaginativeEightyCampfireProwessApple TreesRecitationPassionate Desire
Book:The World Is My Home: A Memoir
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“I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific. The way it actually was. The endless ocean. The infinite specks of coral we called islands. Coconut palms nodding gracefully toward the ocean. Reefs upon which waves broke into spray, and inner lagoons, lovely beyond description. I wish I could tell you about the sweating jungle, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes, and the waiting. The waiting. The timeless, repetitive waiting.”

WayWishWaitingBehindsMoonOceanInfiniteSouthWaveLovelyEndlessBrokeIslandsRisingDescriptionTimelessPalmsJunglePacificSprayVolcanoesRepetitiveSpecksFull MoonReefsSweatingNoddingCoconutsLagoons
Author:James A. Michener
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“. . . Luddites were those frenzied traditionalists of the early 19th century who toured [England] wrecking new weaving machines on the theory that if they were destroyed . . . old jobs and old ways of life could be preserved . . . At certain times in his life each man is tempted to become a Luddite, for there is always something he would like to go back to. But to be against all change-against change in the abstract-is folly.”

IfsMenWayLifeJobsCertainCenturyTheoryMachinesEnglandDestroyedAbstractFollyTempted19th CenturyWeavingOld WaysOld Job
Author:James A. Michener
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“We risk great peril if we kill off this spirit of adventure, for we cannot predict how and in what seemingly unrelated fields it will manifest itself. A nation that loses its forward thrust is in danger, and one of the most effective ways to retain that thrust is to keep exploring possibilities. The sense of exploration is intimately bound up with human resolve, and for a nation to believe that it is still committed to a forward motion is to ensure its continuance.”

IfsWayBelieveHumansStillsSpiritNationsLosesRiskDangerFieldsPossibilityAdventureFutureBoundsCommittedResolveExplorationManifestExploringPredictionsPerilThrustContinuanceSpirit Of AdventureForward Motion
Author:James A. Michener
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