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Folklore Quotes

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Folklore Quotes

“Because we remember pain and the menace of death more vividly than pleasure, and because our feelings toward the beneficent aspects of the unknown have from the first been captured and formalised by conventional religious rituals, it has fallen to the lot of the darker and more maleficent side of cosmic mystery to figure chiefly in our popular supernatural folklore.”

FirstsFeelingsPainRememberSidesReligiousPleasureMysteryFiguresAspectFallenRitualCosmicConventionalCapturedMenaceFolkloreReligious RitualsMaleficent
Book:The Complete Fiction Collection vol III
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“It was Sci-Fi and fantasy that got me reading, and Sci-Fi writers in particular have pack rat minds. They introduce all sorts of interesting themes and ideas into their books, and so for me it was a short leap to go from the fantasy and Sci-Fi genres to folklore, mythology, ancient history and philosophy. I did not read philosophy because I set out to become a philosopher; I read it because it looked interesting.”

MindBookIdeasPhilosophyReadingInterestingFantasyParticularAncientPhilosopherMythologyGenreThemeLeapSci FiIntroducingPacksRatsFolkloreAncient History
Author:Terry Pratchett
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“I'm obsessed with the countryside: woods, forests, fields, lakes, mountains. I'm really into folk music and folklore. But more so I'm into electronic music. I'm into bands that have both aspects, like Boards of Canada is a perfect example. You could listen to that type of music running through a woods. It's kind of what I wanted to achieve.”

KindRunningWantedRomancePerfectAchieveExampleFieldsTypeBandMountainAspectFolksWoodsForestsObsessedBoardsCanadaLakesCountrysideFolkloreFolk MusicElectronic MusicWoods And Forests
Author:Ellie Goulding
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“A professional entertainer who allows himself to become known as a singer of folk songs is bound to have trouble with his conscience provided, of course, that he possesses one. As a performing artist, he will pride himself on timing and other techniques designed to keep the audience in his control ... his respect for genuine folklore reminds him that these changes, and these techniques, may give the audience a false picture of folk music.”

GivingMayArtistSongCoursesKnownAudienceTroublePrideConscienceBoundsFolksTechniqueSingersGenuinePerformingTimingEntertainersFolkloreFolk MusicPerforming ArtsFolk SongsPerforming Artist
Author:Sam Hinton
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“So, too, if, to our surprise, we should meet one of these morons whose remarks are so conspicuous a part of the folklore of the world of the radio--remarks made without using either the tongue or the brain, spouted much like the spoutings of small whales--we should recognize him as below the level of nature but not as below the level of the imagination.”

IfsWorldShouldMadeImaginationLevelsBrainSurpriseRadioTongueRemarksWhalesMoronFolklore
Book:The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imagination
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“Imagine an American Hans Christian Andersen, conceive of the Brothers Grimm living in Missouri, and you will approximate Howard Schwartz, a fable-maker and fable-gatherer seduced by the uncanny and the unearthly. In Lilith's Cave, he once again reaches into a magical cornucopia of folklore and fantasy and spreads before us, in enchanting language, the marvels and shocks of dybbuks, ghosts, demons, spirits, and wizards.”

ChristianSpiritLanguageFantasyImagineBrotherSpreadGhostDemonShockMakersCavesWizardsFablesFolkloreUncannyEnchantingMissouriLilithGrimmBrothers Grimm
Author:Cynthia Ozick
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“Coming from the South and growing up in L.A. where it was so segregated - worse than the South in many ways - all the people in my neighborhood were from the South. So you had that Southern cultured environment. The church was very important. And there were these folk ways that were there. I was always fascinated by these Southern stories, people would share these mystified experiences of the South. I wanted to talk about folklore.”

PeopleWayImportantStoriesWantedChurchGrowing UpEnvironmentGrowingShareSouthFolksNeighborhoodSouthernFascinatedFolkloreStory People
Author:Charles Burnett
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“William Ferris has long reigned as the unimpeachable source of the entire southern experience. His work on southern folklore and the composition of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture have made him both legendary and necessary. His book, The Storied South , is a love song to the South Bill helped illuminate. It's a crowning achievement of his own storied career.”

LongMadeBookSongCultureCareersSourceAchievementBillsSouthSouthernCompositionFolkloreLegendaryEncyclopediaSouthern Culture
Author:Pat Conroy
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“People get overwhelmed with folklore as fact. Take the Exodus. The Exodus did not occur. It could not have occurred. Wasn't necessary for it to occur. The Jews walked into Africa over a 16-mile land until they built the Suez Canal - that land is still there. Why would they have to leave by the sea. They didn't come by the sea. Certain people think you are against their religion when you use common sense.”

PeopleThinkingStillsFactsUseCertainCommonSeaLandBuiltJewMilesCommon SenseOverwhelmedFolkloreCanalsExodus
Author:John Henrik Clarke
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“I look at all of world mythology and folklore as my toy to play with. There are just so many characters and creatures there I want to put on paper. It's a really exciting thing for me to take material that I really love and put a new coat of paint on it and present it to this audience. And I don't have to make up any of the characters. I can just pull a book of mythology off the shelf and say, "I'll use this guy." I also hate making up names for fantasy characters. I'll just flip through these books and say, "Wow, this is way crazier than anything I could make up".”

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Author:Mike Mignola
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“I think being raised within a Mexican Catholic family made magical realism a very natural part of who I am as a person and as a writer. My parents always told us great stories that often had magical elements and roots within Mexican folklore. Also, I remember my father reading a book to me, when I was very young, about the lives of saints. Those were crazy scary stories! Maybe he was trying to scare me into being a good person. In the end, magical realism offers me untethered freedom to explore human frailty and the way we clumsily cobble together our lives on this strange planet.”

ThinkingTryingBookTogetherRememberReadingFatherParentNaturalCrazyStrangeCatholicSaintScaryScareMexicanGood PersonFolkloreBeing A Good PersonHuman Frailties
Author:Daniel Olivas
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“Non- Euclidean calculus and quantum physics are enough to stretch any brain; and when one mixes them with folklore, and tries to trace a strange background of multi-dimensional reality behind the ghoulish hints of Gothic tales and the wild whispers of the chimney-corner, one can hardly expect to be wholly free from mental tension. (Dreams In The Witch-House)”

TryingEnoughDreamRealityHouseBehindsBrainStrangeCornersPhysicsBackgroundsTalesTensionWitchQuantumGothicHintsQuantum PhysicsFolkloreCalculusChimneys
Book:Dreams in the Witch House
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“Our behavior is different. How often have you seen a headline like this?--TWO DIE ATTEMPTING RESCUE OF DROWNING CHILD. If a man gets lost in the mountains, hundreds will search and often two or three searchers are killed. But the next time somebody gets lost just as many volunteers turn out. Poor arithmetic, but very human. It runs through all our folklore, all human religions, all our literature--a racial conviction that when one human needs rescue, others should not count the price.”

IfsMenNeedsShouldHumansChildrenTwoDifferentRunningDiesTurnsThreeNextLiteratureLostPoorMountainBehaviorConvictionRescueNext TimeVolunteerAttemptingDrowningHeadlinesFolkloreArithmeticHuman NeedsSearchers
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
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“There are two kinds of truth; the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Without art science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery.”

WayFirstsHeartKindArtTwoWarHandsLightWould BeScienceEmotionalScientistMessUselessPairsCrudeFolklorePlumberQuackery
Author:Raymond Chandler
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“I detest my past, and anyone else's. I detest resignation, patience, professional heroism and obligatory beautiful feelings. I also detest the decorative arts, folklore, advertising, voices making announcements, aerodynamism, boy scouts, the smell of moth balls, events of the moment, and drunken people.”

PeopleArtMomentsFeelingsPastBeautifulVoiceBoysEventsBallsSmellAdvertisingHeroismResignationMy PastFolkloreMothsDetestAnnouncementsBoy Scout
Author:Rene Magritte
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