People Quotes (page 588)
Of course you always had that detached quality as if you were playing a game without much concern over whether you won or lost, and now that you've lost the game, not lost but just quit playing, you have that rare sort of charm that usually only happens in very old or hopelessly sick people, the charm of the defeated.
Tennessee Williams
![Peter S. Beagle quote: "You ever want to see real witchcraft, you watch people..."](/pic/354627/600x316/quotation-peter-s-beagle-you-ever-want-to-see-real-witchcraft-you-watch.jpg)
For example, when Seymour told one of the twins or Zooey or Franny or even Mme. Boo Boo (who was only two years younger than myself, and often entirely the Lady), to take off his or her galoshes on coming into the apartment, each and all of them knew he mostly meant that the floor would get tracked up if they didn't and that Bessie would have to get out the mop. When I told them to take off their galoshes, they knew I mostly meant that people who didn't were slobs. It was bound to make no...
J. D. Salinger
![J. M. Coetzee quote: "Perhaps; but I am a difficult person to live with. My..."](/pic/354568/600x316/quotation-j-m-coetzee-perhaps-but-i-am-a-difficult-person-to-live-with.jpg)
The problem was not that Americans spent beyond their means but that their means had not kept up with what the larger economy could and should have been able to provide them. the American economy had been growing briskly, and America's middle class naturally expected to share in that growth. But it didn't. A larger and larger portion of the economy's winnings had gone to people at the top.
Robert Reich
Some things are governed by common sense. Putting buttons on the front of a shirt is a matter of logic, since it would be very difficult to button them up at the side, and impossible if they were at the back.
“Other things, however, become fixed because more and more people believe that’s the way they should be. I’ll give you two examples. Have you ever wondered why the keys on a typewriter are arranged in that particular order?
Paulo Coelho
![Paulo Coelho quote: "Many people don't allow themselves to love...because there are..."](/pic/354352/600x316/quotation-paulo-coelho-many-people-dont-allow-themselves-to.jpg)
Yes, of course, there's something fishy about describing people's feelings. You try hard to be accurate, but as soon as you start to define such and such a feeling, language lets you down. It's really a machine for making falsehoods. When we really speak the truth, words are insufficient. Almost everything except things like "pass the gravy" is a lie of a sort. And that eing the case, I shall shut up. Oh, and... pass the gravy.
Iris Murdoch