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I Quotes

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All I Quotes

“I wish I could take back some of the things I said and some of the things I did. But in the bigger picture, I don't feel that it was violent and terrible. I feel like it was primarily--obviously not completely--moral, based on a vision that the government should be better, and that people could be better, and that democracy should be real.”

“I wish I could take language And fold it like cool, moist rags. I would lay words on your forehead. I would wrap words on your wrists. 'There, there,' my words would say - Or something better. I would ask them to murmur, 'Hush' and 'Shh, shhh, it's all right.' I would ask them to hold you all night. I wish I could take language And daub and soothe and cool Where fever blisters and burns, Where fever turns yourself against you. I wish I could take language And heal the words that were the wounds You have no names for.”

“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.”

“I wish I could tell you how much your silence means to me. It's like I find my heart sinking at the mere thought of your numbness. I wish I could tell you how much I want to speak to you, to know you, to breathe in all of you, to tell you how I would paint my sky with the stardust of your soul. I wish I could tell you how much I want to wash away all your frozen tears and choking words and give you all my light just to see a smile on your heart. I wish I could tell you how much I want to hold you in my arms and together we could melt in our own world of dreams. I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me, in this mad world of harrowing voices I love your soulful silences that keep comforting me in so many ways. And even when you are always the listener while I am the outspoken one, I wish I could tell you all of this and yet I find no word good enough to pour my soul out only to find that you know it already.”

“I wish I could tell you that all the comfort and luxuries in the world are a sign of progress, but they are not - they are a sign of disparities - and these disparities can only go away with our sacrifice - with the sacrifice of the humanitarians - some must give all, all must give some, only then will there be actual civilized, sane, healthy and whole progress - progress that includes all of humanity, not just the privileged few.”

“I wish I could tell you to always follow your heart, but I think it is bad advice. You have a heart, yes, it is true, but also a brain and also a soul. I've come to believe that we love with our brains as much as our hearts. Real Love is not just instinct, but intent...... From year to year, you may not always be the same Jane. This is perfectly normal. A Jane is many Janes in a lifetime.”

“I wish I could wrap up the glitter star-green of this moment and hand it to you like an angel gift. Give you the heat lightning flying in jagged silence over the distant mountains. And the smell of September prairie grass and the even fainter scent of October pine now descending . . .”

“I wish I could write a book that will be read for as long as our civilization lasts. I would value it much more highly than any business success if I could contribute to an understanding of the world in which we live or, better yet, if I could help to preserve the economic and political system that has allowed me to flourish as a participant.”

“I wish I could write their individual stories in the book of our lives with indelible ink, because we cannot compel the world to share our affliction, but we still have the duty to honour our dead. Tina said it: all it takes is for one person, just one, to burst into grief for the others to take up the song of mourning. That is our mission. That is our duty as survivors. We are all survivors in this country, to varying degrees. To survivors, the Lord, in His languid Mercy, grants unending years of contrition. This, at least, is necessary; otherwise, where would the salty water in the oceans come from?”