“In such a world as ours the idle man is not so much a biped as a bivalve; and the wealth which breeds idleness, of which the English peerage is an example, and of which we are beginning to abound in specimens in this country, is only a sort of human oyster bed, where heirs and heiresses are planted, to spend a contemptible life of slothfulness in growing plump and succulent for the grave-worms' banquet.” MenWorldHumansCountryWealthGrowingExampleBedGravesIdleWormsIdlenessHeirsOystersBanquetsHeiressSucculentsSlothfulness Book:A Few Thoughts for a Young Man: A Lecture, Delivered Before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, on Its 29th Anniversary Source: A Few Thoughts for a Young Man: A Lecture, Delivered Before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, on Its 29th Anniversary
“Whenever I hear about a child needing something, I ask myself, 'Is it what he needs or what he wants?' It isn't always easy to distinguish between the two. A child has many real needs which can and should be satisfied. His wants are a bottomless pit. He wants, for example, to sleep with his parents. He needs to be in his own bed. At Christmas he wants every toy advertised on television. He needs only one or two.” WantNeedsShouldChildrenTwoRealAsksEasyParentSleepResponsibilityExampleTelevisionBedSatisfiedToysPits Author:Haim Ginott
“For most Northerners, Texas is the home of real men. The cowboys, the rednecks, the outspoken self-made right-wing millionaires strike us as either the best or worst examples of American manliness.... The ideal is not an illusion nor is it contemptible, no matter what damage it may have done. Many people who scorn it in conversation want to submit to it in bed. Those who believe machismo reeks of violence alone choose to forget it once stood for honor as well.” PeopleMenWantBelieveWellsMayMadeRealSelfMatterDoneHomeForgetViolenceWorstExampleHonorBedConversationIllusionIdealsNo Matter WhatWingsStrikesDamageTexasSubmitCowboyScornForget ItMillionaireRight WingRedneckReal MenSelf MadeOutspokenManlinessMachismoNortherners Author:Edmund White
“I believe in positive despotism. That means an exchange between people. I'm thinking about the fact that someone serves me breakfast in my bed. I can not see anything wrong in that. Because everything is a question of exchanges between people. Everyone has some specific possibilities and can to a certain extent do whatever they want. If one wants to become rich one can study economy and if one wants to be poor one can choose to become a professor in butterfly wings for example. So we can choose.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantBelieveMeanI CanFactsCertainI BelievePoorEconomyStudyRichExamplePossibilityBedWingsI Believe InBreakfastProfessorsButterflyCan NotDespotismBecome RichButterfly Wings Author:Odd Nerdrum
“I've come to realize that making it your life's work to be different than your parents is not only hard to do, it's a dumb idea. Not everything we found fault with was necessarily wrong; we were right, for example, to resent, as kids, being told when to go to bed. We'd be equally wrong, as parents, to let our kids stay up all night. To throw out all the tools of parenting just because our parents used them would be like making yourself speak English without using ten letters of the alphabet; it's hard to do.” IdeasDifferentHardWould BeKidsUsedNightFoundSpeakParentRealizingExampleBedTenToolsLettersFaultsDumbAll NightResentAlphabetSpeak EnglishUp All NightLetters Of The Alphabet Author:Paul Reiser
“There is some consensus: There's obsession, there's never satiety, and there's always remorse. For me, the big thing is that you're always breaking a promise - for example, you promise yourself you're just going to have coffee with a man, then before you know it, you're in bed together.” KnowsMenBigsTogetherExamplePromiseBedCoffeeObsessionBig ThingsRemorseConsensusSatiety Author:Susan Cheever