“This middle age thing is a little weird. Some friends and mentors are gone, and there's a very forward-looking new generation coming up behind me. So it's very much finding my own place.” LittlesAgeMy OwnBehindsGoneGenerationsMiddleFindingsMentorMiddle AgesNew Generation Author:Yo-Yo Ma
“I lived, particularly in childhood but with lessening intensity right on to middle age, in a world that was peculiarly and intimately my own, scarcely to be shared with others or even made plausible to them. I habitually read special meanings into things, scenes and places qualities of wonder, beauty, promise, or horror for which there was no external evidence visible or plausible to others. My world was peopled with mysteries, seductive hints, vague menaces, "intimations of immortality.” WorldMadeAgeMy OwnQualityWonderMysteryChildhoodMiddleSpecialPromiseHorrorSceneEvidenceImmortalityVisibleIntensityVagueMiddle AgesHintsSeductiveMenacePlausible Book:MEMOIRS 1925-1950 Source: MEMOIRS 1925-1950
“It may sound surprising when I say, on the basis of my own clinical practice as well as that of my psychological and psychiatric colleagues, that the chief problem of people in the middle decade of the twentieth century is emptiness.” PeopleWellsMayProblemSoundMy OwnPracticeMiddleCenturyBasesDecadesPsychologicalChiefsEmptinessSurprisingColleaguesTwentieth CenturyClinicalsPsychiatric Book:Man's Search for Himself Source: Man's Search for Himself
“What happened is that in the middle of my life I went away and in my own sense of hubris, pride, cynicism, thought, I am an autonomous being in the world, I can control things, I am God.' But my experiment at being God failed! And they do have a great saying in AA: 'Get down off the cross, we need the wood!' And the important thing is to realise you are not the centre of the universe, you are not God.” WorldNeedsI CanImportantUniverseMy OwnHappenedMiddleHumourPrideCrossesImportant ThingsWoodsExperimentsRealisingCynicismCentreHubrisAutonomous Author:John Waters
“For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom, and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.” LongDifferentHelpingNamesNationsCommunityMy OwnCommonMiddleApproachDemocraticStriveIncludingEastOppressionPeacefulStabilityMiddle EastReformersDifferent Approach Author:George W. Bush
“I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever I go. So there it is, with all its beautiful purposelessness, and it has become very familiar to me though I do not know "what it is." Or even if it is an "it." Not to be foolish and multiply words, I'll say simply that it seems to me that Zen is the very atmosphere of the Gospels, and the Gospels are bursting with it. It is the proper climate for any monk, no matter what kind of monk he may be. If I could not breathe Zen I would probably die of spiritual asphyxiation.” IfsKnowsWayKindMayMatterReasonSeemsBeautifulSpiritualDiesMy OwnWalksMiddleNo Matter WhatClimateBreatheFoolishFamiliarAtmosphereIf I CouldMonkBurstingPurposelessnessAsphyxiation Book:Encounter: Thomas Merton & D.T. Suzuki Source: Encounter: Thomas Merton & D.T. Suzuki
“I'm going to sound a little weird here, but I like to spend a lot of time on my own in the woods. I don't exactly sneak off in the middle of the night, but I like to be in a place where no one can reach me by phone or e-mail.” LittlesNightSoundMy OwnMiddlePhonesWoodsMailSneakMiddle Of The Night Author:Joaquin Phoenix
“I write my books to challenge my own feelings and theories. Perhaps most surprising was what I learned about rice farming. It was really interesting to think of how different Asian and Western cultures are as a result of the kinds of agricultural practices that our ancestors used for thousands of years. The life of a Chinese peasant in the Middle Ages was so dramatically different from the life of a European peasant - night and day different.” ThinkingWritingYearsKindBookDifferentFeelingsAgeUsedNightCultureChallengesMy OwnInterestingResultsPracticeMiddleTheoryWesternChineseAncestorSurprisingAsianFarmingMiddle AgesRicePeasantsReally InterestingWestern Culture Author:Malcolm Gladwell