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Quote by Shana Alexander

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Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander

Shana Alexander was an American journalist celebrated for her wit and elegance. She began her career as a copywriter and quickly rose to prominence as a feature writer for magazines such as 'The New Yorker' and 'Harper's Bazaar'. Alexander was also a playwright and author, with her work often reflecting her keen observations of society and human nature. more

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“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action. In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. They're both very good things. I personally prefer freedom of thought. But in England you get neither: you're ground down by convention. You can't think as you like and you can't act as you like. That's because it's a democratic nation. I expect America's worse.”

ThinkingKnowsMayDoeTwoActionAmericaNationsCan DoEnglandGood ThingsDemocraticVery GoodFranceBotherGermanyConventionsYou ChooseThings In LifeFreedom Of ThoughtGood Things In Life
Author:W. Somerset Maugham
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“I submit that Zooey's face was close to being a wholly beautiful face. As such, it was of course vulnerable to the same variety of glibly undaunted and usually specious evaluations that any legitimate art object is. I think it just remains to be said that any one of a hundred everyday menaces — a car accident, a head cold, a lie before breakfast — could have disfigured or coarsened his bounteous good looks in a day or a second.”

ThinkingLooksArtSaidBeautifulFacesLyingCoursesCarObjectsColdHundredRemainsEverydayAccidentsVulnerableVarietyBreakfastSubmitLooking GoodMenaceEvaluationCar AccidentBeautiful FaceUndaunted
Author:J. D. Salinger
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“There is not much talking now. A silence falls upon them all. This is no time to talk of hedges and fields, or the beauties of any country. Sadness and fear and hate, how they well up in the heart and mind, whenever one opens pages of these messengers of doom. Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead, for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end. The sun pours down on the earth, on the lovely land that man cannot enjoy. He knows only the fear of his heart.”

KnowsMenMindWellsHeartChildrenEndsCountryEarthLawHateFallEnjoySilenceTalkingSunGoneSadnessLandCryFieldsBrokenPagesLovelyBelovedCustomsTribesHeart And MindDoomMessengersBeloved CountryCry The Beloved Country
Author:Alan Paton
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“I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”

RealLightFatherDoubtMissingReturnOppositesCertaintyMessRememberedEmptinessTomsDiscomfortNoticing
Author:Anne Lamott
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