Quotes by American Authors - Page 35

That these people are wandering around, looking for aliens to justify the emptiness inside them and let them feel special without effort, creeps me out.
Thomm Quackenbush
You were abducted by space aliens. Of course you want egg rolls.
Thomm Quackenbush
I lay on my back, surprised at how calm and focused I felt, strapped to four and a half million pounds of explosives.
Ron Garan
Ideally, the ISS program will just be one more incremental step on an expanding, incredible journal of exploration and understanding, taking us higher and farther.
Ron Garan
At this point I thought 'We made it,' by which I meant 'We survived.' I also was acutely aware that my childhood dream of flying into space had just come true.
Ron Garan
Billions of years from now our sun, then a distended red giant star, will have reduced Earth to a charred cinder. But the Voyager record will still be largely intact, in some other remote region of the Milky Way galaxy, preserving a murmur of an ancient civilization that once flourished — perhaps before moving on to greater deeds and other worlds — on the distant planet Earth.
Carl Sagan
I stumbled up the hill back toward the Hab. As I crested the rise, I saw something that made me very happy and something that made me very sad: The Hab was intact (yay!) and the MAV was gone (boo!).
Andy Weir
Love transcends dimensions of time and space.
Brownell Landrum
Histories of the Kennedy Space Center acknowledge without exaggeration that the obstacle posed by the mosquitoes was so serious that NASA quite literally could not have put a man on the moon by Kennedy's "before the decade is out" deadline without the invention of DDT. In this way, the challenges of spaceflight reveal themselves to be distinctly terrestrial.
Margaret Lazarus Dean
Discovery first flew in 1984, the third orbiter to join the fleet. It was named for one of the ships commanded by Captain James Cook. Space shuttle Discovery is the most-flown orbiter; today will be its thirty-ninth and final launch. By the end of this mission, it will have flown a total of 365 days in space, making it the most well traveled spacecraft in history. Discovery was the first orbiter to carry a Russian cosmonaut and the first to visit the Russian space station Mir. On that flight, in 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot an American spacecraft. Discovery flew twelve of the thirty-eight missions to assemble the International Space Station, and it was responsible for deploying the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. This was perhaps the most far reaching accomplishment of the shuttle program, as Hubble has been called the most important telescope in history and one of the most significant scientific instruments ever invented. It has allowed astronomers to determine the age of the universe, postulate how galaxies form, and confirm the existence of dark energy, among many other discoveries. Astronomers and astrophysicists, when they are asked about the significance of Hubble, will simply say that it has rewritten the astronomy books. In the retirement process, Discovery will be the “vehicle of record,” being kept as intact as possible for future study.Discovery was the return-to-flight orbiter after the loss of Challenger and then again after the loss of Columbia. To me, this gives it a certain feeling of bravery and hope. ‘Don’t worry,’ Discovery seemed to tell us by gamely rolling her snow-white self out to the launchpad. 'Don’t worry, we can still dream of space. We can still leave the earth.’ And then she did.
Margaret Lazarus Dean
The claim that the universe *began* with the big bang has no basis in current physical and cosmological knowledge. The observations confirming the big bang do not rule out the possibility of a prior universe.
Victor J. Stenger
While astronomers have been exploring outer Space, I have been exploring inner space.
Steven Magee
Part of what drives us to explore and discover is the intangible: expanding our horizons, feeding our curiosity, finding all those unexpected things, and trying to answer those profound questions discussed in previous chapters, like how did the universe begin? How did life begin? Are we alone?
Nancy Atkinson
While human spaceflight is certainly compelling – and it has always been a big part of my reporting career -- there is something about unmanned robotic spacecraft that has always tugged at my heart. These machines are our emissaries out into the cosmos, flung to faraway places that humans can’t yet visit. I grew up hearing about spacecraft like Mariner, Viking and Voyager boldly going on some of the first-ever deep space missions and making monumental discoveries that changed our view of the Solar System. They showed us worlds we previously could only dream about and artists could only imagine.
Nancy Atkinson
Innumerable arcs intersect and scatter into a vast indefinite sea.
Ashim Shanker
A kind of joy came upon him, as if borne in on a summer breeze. He dimly recalled that he had been thinking of failure-as if it mattered. It seemed to him now that such thoughts were mean, unworthy of what his life had been.
John Williams
The insistent drums were an unwelcome reminder of the existence of another world, wholly autonomous, with its own necessities and patterns. The message they were beating out, over and over, was for her; it was saying, not precisely that she did not exist but rather that it did not matter whether she existed or not, that her presence was of no consequence to the rest of the cosmos. It was a sensation that suddenly paralyzed her with dread. There had never been any question of her “mattering”; it went without saying that she mattered, because she was important to herself. But what was the part of her to which she mattered?
Paul Bowles
I wish I could see butterflies burst from cocoonsWithout tempering my amazementKnowing all beauty eventually dies.
Justin Wetch
For I do not exist: there exist but the thousands of mirrors that reflect me. With every acquaintance I make, the population of phantoms resembling me increases. Somewhere they live, somewhere they multiply. I alone do not exist.
Vladimir Nabokov
What I got in life that can't be probated I reckon I'll have to take with me. Mostly that is my thankful recollections of all the folks who crossed my trail since I shed my first tears in the year of 1880. Sometimes I had to look hard to find God in them, but most times I found Him. Usually it turned out to be easier to find than I had figured," Sheriff Bud Smith.
James Hickey
The more alien that you make your environment, the more likely it is that you will be sick.
Steven Magee
Those guards are going to be all sorts of pissed when they find out they've been following a bunny rabbit.
H.M. Ward
it's colder than a witch's tit in a steel bra
David Levithan
I had such plans for this evening. The pursuit of blind drunkenness and wayward women was my goal. But alas, it was not to be. No sooner had I consumed my third drink in the Devil than I was accosted by a delightful small flower selling child who asked me for twopence for a daisy. The price seemed steep, so I refused. When I told the girl as much, she proceeded to rob me.”“A little girl robbed you?” Tessa said.“Actually, she wasn’t a little girl at all, as it turns out, but a midget in a dress with a penchant for violence, who goes by the name of Six-Fingered Nigel.
Cassandra Clare
If I might make a suggestion,” said Will. “About twenty paces behind us, in the Council room, is Benedict. If you’d like to go back in there and try kicking him, I recommend aiming upward and a bit to the left—
Cassandra Clare
Your mindset serves as the operating system for your entire life’s experience.
Susan C.Young
To say your mindset is critical to your success is a gross understatement—it is the underpinning!
Susan C.Young
A positive attitude feels a heck of a lot better than a negative one.
Susan C.Young
Strive to be a proactive participant rather than a passive procrastinator.
Susan C.Young
Celebrate the success of others and they will be happy to see you succeed.
Susan C.Young
Project your “brand” to be remarkable and memorable. Whether through a positioning statement, product placement, advertising campaign, service, a logo, mission, or message, your brand is what makes you and/or your company remarkable—or not.
Susan C.Young
Rather than staying stuck in stress, unhappiness, or grief, use your experience to find gifts in the pain and grow.
Susan C.Young
Developing your EI will allow you to explore new depths of understanding in yourself and others. It will give you insight as to why people behave as they do and assist you in areas you may wish to improve.
Susan C.Young
Science proves that what appears to be solid is simply moving at a slower rate. Whereas, what is moving, grooving, and flowing, has a higher rate of vibration. We as humans work the same way.
Susan C.Young
Your expertise can elevate your impressions to bring you to an entirely new realm.
Susan C.Young
When you have paid the price, earned the right, and done the homework to be called an expert, people perceive you differently.
Susan C.Young
To position yourself as an expert, share your knowledge with others. Deliver presentations and teach others on your topic. Look what TED Talks have done for normal people who simply presented their passion and thereby launched careers, fame, and fortune. Interact with your target market. Maximize use of the Internet and SEO.
Susan C.Young
To position yourself as an expert, learn everything you can about a subject. Develop your knowledge: read books, attend classes, listen to your market, get training, attend seminars, find a mentor, join a mastermind group of like-minded individuals, watch videos, and study.
Susan C.Young
ASK YOURSELF: Who are the people you are drawn to who bring out the best in you? How do they make you feel? Is your positive energy doing the same thing for others?
Susan C.Young
How is destruction beautiful?" He asked in a challenging tone."You may think that a broken egg is ugly and messy," she answered, "but the cake it goes into is beautiful and won't hold together without it.""Eggs don't get blown up. They get broken.""You've never seen me bake," she replied with a smirk.
Amy Neftzger
Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?
Eleanor Roosevelt
When you unlock your pleasure, you unlock your power. And that can change anything..." -Sheerah, Donny and Ursula Save the World.
Sharon Weil
How easy is it for one benevolent being to diffuse pleasure around him, and how truly is a kind heart a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity to freshen into smiles.
Washington Irving
Of the thousands who have paid homage to virtue, barely one has thought to inspect the pedestal on which it stands.
Frances Wright
Better a long ignoble life of shallow pleasures than a short stab at heroism, ending with a short stab. And just because one man plays another doesn’t always mean that it’s not the right direction for both of them.
Mark Lawrence
Somewhere I’d heard, or invented perhaps, that the only pleasures found during a waning moon are misfortunes in disguise. Superstition aside, I avoid pleasure during the waning or absent moon out of respect for the bounty this world offers me. I profit from great harvests in life and believe in the importance of seasons.
Roman Payne
I disagree with the advice of 'write about what you know.' Write about what you need to know, in an effort to understand.
Donald Windham
Do you know what the difference is between PR and advertising? Advertising is when you say how great you are. PR is when other people say how great you are. PR is better.
Guy Kawasaki
Writing is about allowing yourself to become a vessel of creativity. Writers are avatars of creation. We have tender hearts, and strong emotions. It's hard not to when you have a million different people's personalities playing out in your head.
Sai Marie Johnson
According to Wallace, the expectation that art amuses is a 'poisonous lesson for a would-be artist to grow up with,' since it places all of the power with the audience, sometimes breeding resentment on the part of the author. 'I can see it in myself and in other young writers,' he told McCaffery: 'this desperate desire to please coupled with a kind of hostility to the reader.' Wallace expressed his 'hostility' by writing unwieldy sentences, refusing to fulfill readers' expectations, and 'bludgeoning the reader with data'--all strategies he used to wrestle back some of the power held by modern audiences.
Dorothy M. Kennedy
Aspiring authors, get this through your head. Cover art serves one purpose, and one purpose only, to get potential customers interested long enough to pick up the book to read the back cover blurb. In the internet age that means the thumb nail image needs to be interesting enough to click on. That’s what covers are for.
Larry Correia
When it comes to creating compelling fiction, the devil may be in the details, but it is your imagination that ultimately allows your work to spread its wings and take flight. And fly it must. Only by soaring above the clouds of doubt can one truly achieve a suspension of disbelief
Max Hawthorne
Only God gets it right the first time and only a slob says, "Oh well, let it go, that's what copyeditors are for.
Stephen King
Writing is a solitary endeavor, being an author is not.
Karen A. Chase
about clichés. Avoid them like the plague.
Khaled Hosseini
The fact that they viewed their wealth as a result of their own hands, without any honor other than lip service being given to the god that had blessed them, gave perfect openings to the liars slithering up their legs.
Lee Goff
In choosing to exchange precious principles for worthless impulses, I have far too often bankrupted my soul in order to bankroll my ego.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
But you can’t give them everything they want—they will always want more than they have.
Marie Lu
I constantly pack my pockets full of worthless trinkets, and in such misguided gorging I leave my heart empty and my soul emaciated because I have forgotten everything but trinkets.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
Conversion was turning out to be quite far from the greeting-card moment promised by televangelists, when Jesus steps into your life, personally saves you, and becomes your lucky charm forever. Instead, it was socially and politically awkward, as well as profoundly confusing. I wasn't struck with any sudden conviction that I now understood the "truth." If anything, I was just crabbier, lonelier, and more destabilized.
Sara Miles