Quotes by Canadian Authors - Page 61

The privacy of pride.
Guy Gavriel Kay
...Tolstoy said, happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story - then what does that make us?...
John Geddes
A brief, well-crafted story that is relevant to your topic is one of the most potent ways to maintain the attention of your audience. But the story must be kind. Benjamin Disraeli said: "Never tell unkind stories." Inconsiderate and insensitive stories do not bring grace to those who hear them, and may actually leave the audience dispirited.
Bruna Martinuzzi
But I have already told the beginning, so right now it's the middle. And Zeb is in the middle of the story about Zeb. He is in the middle of his own story.I am not in this part of the story; it hasn't come to the part with me. But I'm waiting, far off in the future. I'm waiting for the story of Zeb to join up with mine. The story of Toby. The story I am in right now, with you.
Margaret Atwood
what's real within the story is real within the story
Jo Walton
My developing sense was that the foundation of a story is an emotional foundation. If a story does not work emotionally, it does not work at all.
Yann Martel
Every story needs some sort of secret that impels it forward. Otherwise why would the reader bother to keep on turning the pages?
Deb Loughead
Nine days after Perreault first saw the woman in black, an Indonesian mother of four came out of her tent long enough to claim that the mermaid had risen, fully-formed, from the very center of the quake.One of her boys, hearing this, said that he'd heard it was the other way around.
Peter Watts
Is there anyone’s life story you don’t want to know?”“Not really.” His expression was unexpectedly serious. “Because people make a story of their lives.Gains, losses, tragedy and triumph—you can tell a lot about someone simply by what they put into eachcategory. You can learn a lot about what you put into each category by your reaction to them. Theyteach you about yourself without ever intending to do it—and they teach you a lot about life.
Michelle Sagara West
Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road.
Margaret Atwood
Once upon a time there was what there was, and if nothing had happened there would be nothing to tell.
Charles de Lint
Stay present, stay conscious.
Eckhart Tolle
Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.
Eckhart Tolle
Worry about your own neck. Don’t waste time worrying what others may or may not think. If someone is rude, if they disrespect you, recognize that this is an issue with them and not you. Don’t let it change how you behave. Be the same kind, loving and compassionate person as always. Don’t fuel the negativity. Always strive to carry peace in your heart, wherever you go. It will help to keep you in a positive frame of mind.
Akiroq Brost
Let go of all the drama, all that is superficial, all the worry over things you have no control over. Let go of the past. Don't lose yourself in competing and comparing yourself with others. Don't lose yourself in consumerism, in greed, in the acquisition of wealth. What matters the most is that you live. That you live as you, that you live IN your life as your genuine self. Don't put off living. Don't wait until the end of the day to enjoy a couple of hours of life. Don't wait until retirement. Be in whatever it is you do. If you can't, then make every effort to change what it is you do. Whatever you do, do it with care, concern and love. Don't over-complicate your life. Keep it as simple as you can. Do what you love as much as possible. Love what you do as much as possible. Love yourself. Appreciate yourself. Appreciate every drop of life you receive and make the most of it by not shying away from life. Life is meant to be lived. Don't forget to live.
Akiroq Brost
Life is simple. It is meant to be lived. Don't over-complicate things. Don't lose your life in the things that don't matter.
Akiroq Brost
Don't let fear cripple you and keep you from trying new things, changing things, exploring and living a life of adventure. Be courageous, be brave. A whole life is out there just waiting to be lived. Don't wait until it is too late. Seize the opportunity and seize the day. Don't allow yourself to get caught in regret by limiting yourself and your life. Life passes by very quickly. Make the most of every day!
Akiroq Brost
Each place is the right place--the place where I now am can be a sacred space. (3)
Ravi Ravindra
Night never had the last word. The dawn is always invincible.
Hugh B. Brown
That’s the thing about the collapse of civilization, Blake. It never happens according to plan – there’s no slavering horde of zombies. No actinic flash of thermonuclear war. No Earth-shuddering asteroid. The end comes in unforeseen ways; the stock market collapses, and then the banks, and then there is no food in the supermarkets, or the communications system goes down completely and inevitably, and previously amiable co-workers find themselves wrestling over the last remaining cookie that someone brought in before all the madness began.
Mark A. Rayner
Your steady rain of words soaked me to the skin
John Geddes
It is the dream of every white person to be able to resolve all conflicts by complaining to unrelated parties. Because of this, white people are able to endure years of frustration and anger without saying a word in the hopes that everything will just work itself out without having to make a scene.
Christian Lander
We know so little about what goes on in another person’s head.
Élise Turcotte
True communication is communion- the realization of oneness, which is love.
Eckhart Tolle
Perhaps we now need to engineer scarcity in our communications, in our interactions, and in the things we consume. Otherwise our lives become like a Morse code transmission that's lacking breaks - a swarm of noise blanketing the valuable data beneath.
Michael Harris
An ancient sage held that in different ages, humans held the senses in different ratios, according to the media by which they communicated and expressed themselves. Hence before writing, the ear was the royal sense. After writing, the eye.
Karl Schroeder
Just as he was slowly bringing order to his own internal life, he would also bring order to his language.
David Brooks
Communication is like a pressure relief valve for your body. When a little pressure gets cooked up inside and needs to be released, you can gently turn the nozzle and release it slowly and gracefully until you feel better, by way of a productive conversation. But if you choose to ignore the warning signals and leave that pressure inside, it's going to grow and inevitably explode and make a mess, by way of an overreaction and possibly an argument.
L.K. Elliott
All conversation, big or small, is about painting word pictures of your experiences for other people. The more
Nicholas Boothman
Always best to start with violence and attempt communication second. People reacted more favorably when they knew you would snuff a few lives to get what you wanted... or for no reason whatsoever.
Michael R. Fletcher
Every new form of communication brings with it a perennial angst about what it is doing to our brains. We are not the first to feel that everything is changing too quickly around us, and we won't be the last. Throughout history, communication technologies have been catalysts of societal and cultural change that upset the status quo.
Alfred Hermida
Remember, no one can read your mind. People’s actions or lack of, are not always purposeful. If you have a problem that you wish solved, you must communicate it. If you don’t want to communicate your problem, then you also give away your right to worry, stress or complain about it. You are accountable for yourself.
Akiroq Brost
In the event of a communication breakdown, decide whether you will dwell in the negative or rise above the angst and turmoil in a firm, positive manner and encourage all parties to listen and be heard.
Lorii Myers
We may well find that if we are to fulfill God's mandate on earth, we will need to communicate less often so we can communicate more. We will need to forsake the ease and the pace of quantity for the reflective significance of quality.
Tim Challies
It's much easier to be convincing if you care about your topic. Figure out what's important to you about your message and speak from the heart.
Nicholas Boothman
Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.
Cory Doctorow
No one can tell, when two people walk closely together, what unconscious communication one mind may have with another
Robert Barr
Philosophers say man forms himself in dialogue.
Anne Carson
How could he possibly bow deeply enough to honor a thousand-year-old samurai queen?
Nadia Scrieva
Respect for the dignity of others includes treating them as rational creatures capable of being persuadad by rational argument, even in the face of frequent evidence to the contrary.
Richard John Neuhaus
I don't think you comprehend the depth of my feeling for you. It goes beyond wanting to be near you, or protect you. I want you to be happy, and I want you to be treated with respect.
Sylvain Reynard
When your elders are millennia-old demigods, you’d best take the injunction to respect your elders seriously.
Nalo Hopkinson
We all have different beliefs, ways of worshipping, and ideas about religion. I believe it is a very personal subject, and so everyone should respect each other's beliefs. I simply live my life, and if someone is uncomfortable with who I am or what I believe in, then I have found that I am better off not having them in my life. --Kristen Adams
Arin Murphy-Hiscock
Putting his head down on the dog's neck, he vowed to himself fervently that he would always have some money on hand, no matter what became of him, so that he would be able to protect all that was truly valuable from the practical people in the world.
Morley Callaghan
The notion that the only way you can critically engage with a person’s ideas is to take a shot at them, is to be openly critical — this is actually nonsense. Some of the most effective ways in which you deal with someone’s idea are to treat them completely at face value, and with an enormous amount of respect. That’s actually a faster way to engage with what they’re getting at than to lob grenades in their direction…If you’re going to hold someone to what they believe, make sure you accurately represent what they believe.
Malcolm Gladwell
Timothy bit the inside of his lip and pretended to nod sagely. Things were starting to sound a little far-fetched again. "Man," he said, "that's... that's rough. I've heard that being a dragon servant totally stinks. I think I saw a talk show about that once. 'I'm a dragon servant and I want respect,' or something like that.
Adrienne Kress
To gain self-respect, you need to put yourself first.
Lorii Myers
I would take care you speak of her with respect for, of course, I will interpret any disrespect for her as disrespect for me.
Margaret Moore
When we love and respect people, revealing to them their value, they can begin to come out from behind the walls that protect them.
Jean Vanier
Wait, Armand, he heard behind him but kept walking, ignoring the calls. Then he remembered what Emile had meant to him and still did. Did this one bad thing wipe everything else out?That was the danger. Not that betrayals happened, not that cruel things happened, but that they could outweigh all the good. That we could forget the good and only remember the bad.But not today. Gamache stopped.
Louise Penny
Life is choice. All day, everyday. Who we talk to, where we sit, what we say, how we say it. And our lives become defined by our choices. It's as simple and as complex as that. And as powerful. so when I'm observing that's what I'm watching for. The choices people make
Louise Penny
What is there left to understand? Choice is an illusion. Freedom is conceit. The hands that reach out to guide your every step, your every thought, come not from the gods, for they are no less deluded than we - no, my friends, those hands come to each of us... from each of us.
Steven Erikson
The choices she's made have left her without choice.
Steven Galloway
Lilies used to be a movie theatre, before. Students went there a lot; every spring they had a Humphrey Bogart festival, with Lauren Bacall or Katherine Hepburn, women on their own, making up their minds. They wore blouses with buttons down the front that suggested the possibilities of the word 'undone'. These women could not be undone; or not. They seemed to be able to choose.
Margaret Atwood
You know, kid, ethics isn't about choosing between right and wrong; it's about choosing between grey and grey. It's about choosing between two equally desirable but mutually exclusive courses of action. Freedom or security? Courage or comfort? Self-examination or blissful happiness? Column A or Column B?
Will Ferguson
There's a way that money is freedom, but it isn't money, it's that money stands for having a choice.
Jo Walton
Every choice is a renunciation. Indeed. Every choice is a thousand renunciations. To choose one thing is to turn one's back on many others.
Ronald Rolheiser
Don't apologize.""I wasn't-""Not in words, but it was clear from your tone. Apology suggests that you are keeping me from doing what I need to do, which implies I am somehow powerless to do otherwise. It's a choice, Olivia.
Kelley Armstrong
Have to wait my turn.Have to follow the rules.Have to smile like I agree.Have toHave toHave toHave toChoose him.
Holly Bodger
Are you fixing to stay in this country, then, Walter? After you've dug yourself a patch, and made yourself a pile?''I expect my luck will decide that question for me.''Would you call it lucky to stay, or lucky to go?''I'd call it lucky to choose,' said Moody—surprising himself, for that was not the answer he would have given, three months prior.
Eleanor Catton