H.P. Oliver Quotes

If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it.

History has to be rewritten because history is the selection of those threads of causes or antecedents that we are interested in.

Be willing to commit yourself to a course, perhaps a long and hard one, without being able to foresee exactly where you will come out.

If the money's right, I'll do a film.

I tell you this to break your heart, by which I mean only that it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.

Mr. President, no one is saying you broke any laws, we're just saying it's a little bit weird you didn't have to.

The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms. Very often it does not know what to do with genius.

We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe.

Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came, And the puff a dunce, he mistook it for fame; Till his relish grown callous, almost to displease, Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please.

You have to go forward: It's the only way. You have to go forward no matter what happens. This is the universal law.

Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree.

I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential.

Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dak trees that one could easily imagine its reason for being was nothing more the prettiness.

And I do not want anymore to be useful, to be docile, to lead / children out of the fields into the text / of civility, to teach them that they are (they are not) better than the grass.

It takes me several days, after I get back to Boston, to realize that the reference "the president" refers to the president of Harvard and not to a minor official in Washington.

There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.

Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel.

Every calling is great when greatly pursued.

At 11, I could say ‘I am sodium’ (Element 11), and now at 79, I am gold.

The kitchen oven is reliable, but it's made us lazy.

Music is my higher power

Take it from me: If you hear the past speaking to you, feel it tugging up your back and runing its fingers up your spine, the best thing to do-the only thing-is run.

I think our life is a series of adventures.

Sometimes it's good to remember how bad food can be, so you can enjoy the concept of flavour to the fullest.

Aromatic plants bestow no spicy fragrance while they grow; but crush'd or trodden to the ground, diffuse their balmy sweets around.

Friendship is made up of esteem and pleasure; pity is composed of sorrow and contempt: the mind may for some time fluctuate between them, but it can never entertain both at once.

Silence gives consent.

There are some people who watch NASCAR for the highly skilled driving - but most people watch it for the crashes.

Because I fear God, I have no man to fear.

Our swords are in God's hands, And our faith is in the Lord. Charge!

Rhythm is one of the most powerful of pleasures, and when we feel a pleasurable rhythm we hope it will continue. When it does, it grows sweeter.

What is my loftiest ambition? I've always wanted to throw an egg at an electric fan.

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works.

Leisure only means a chance to do other jobs that demand attention.

When I go abroad I always sail from Boston because it is such a pleasant place to get away from.

I am firmly convinced that you shouldn't necessarily emphasize hedonism, especially at the beginning of a career, but should instead focus entirely on performance.

You know, there's a right and wrong way to do everything.

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.

We have, each of us, a life story, whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives.

The memories seem like snapshots from someone else’s life.

Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled---to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.

Be good-natured and untidy in your exuberance.

Every day that you get up, it's some kind of victory if you're making a good product, or working on a project that can only help mankind.

Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.

Thinking is like exercise, it requires consistency and rigor. Like barbells in a weightlifting room, the classics force us to either put them down or exert our minds. They require us to think.

The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend. When I read a book over I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one.

I guess that's what saying good-bye is always like--like jumping off an edge. The worst part is making the choice to do it. Once you're in the air, there's nothing you can do but let go.

Stop being a vegan and start enjoying what you eat.

Make the iron hot by striking it.

Some people have food, but no appetite; others have an appetite, but no food. I have both. The Lord be praised.