J. D. Vance Quotes

I suffer from a spiritual malaise which manifests itself in outbursts of vicious rage.

Beauty is a luster which love bestows to guile the eye. Therefore it may be said that only when the brain is without love will the eye look and see no beauty.

I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self-esteem and I am skeptical of praise.

Notice this rent in my garment; I am at a loss to explain its presence! I am even more puzzled by the existence of the universe.

Then there was Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote for Weird Tales and who had a wild imagination. He wasn't a very talented writer, but his imagination was wonderful.

I do read books. I suppose it's more or less the same thing, but at least I'm alone and I'm an individual. I can stop anytime I want, which I frequently do.

In fact, almost every job you get somebody watching you.

There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is impossible.

I never worked in an office in my life.

In the end, death came uniformly to all, and all extracted as much satisfaction from their dying as this essentially graceless process could afford.

I must cite an intrinsic condition of the universe. We set forth in any direction which seems convenient; each leads to the same place: the end of the universe.

Well, I think everything I've ever read contributes to the background from which I write.

When you demand the nature of my motives, you reveal the style of your thinking to be callow, captious, superficial, craven, uncertain and impudent.

Mischief moves somewhere near and I must blast it with my magic.

Why make plans? The sun might well go out tomorrow.

I don't read other science fiction. I don't read any at all.

I got done writing Ports of Call and suddenly realized I have far too much material for the book.

The universe is eight billion years old, the last two billion of which have produced intelligent life. During this time not one hour of absolute equity has prevailed.

Jack Vance's Lyonesse books are the greatest fairy tale of the twentieth century.

This is no science, this is art, where equations fall away to elements like resolving chords, and where always prevails a symmetry either explicit or multiplex, but always of a crystalline serenity.

If there were no such creatures as minstrel-maidens, it would be necessary to invent them.

I'd forgotten how challenging comics can be until I started working on Ropes. Yes, you're restricted by the boundaries of the page, but we all work within technical limitations of some kind.

The message from the hedge-leaves, Heed it, whoso thou art; Under lowly eaves Lives the happy heart.

Survivors are cooperators. In order to survive in anything we need others to cooperate with or partner with.

Dreams that are realistic, often come out of fantasies.

I tell people I'm big in the music business like a barnacle is big in shipping.

The music pot is broad. It's just unfortunate that the record companies cry the blues as frequently as they do.

Plenty of church members are shaky about what they believe, while not many are shaken by what they believe.

Humility is not thinking meanly of oneself, but rather it means not thinking of oneself at all.

To the average professed Christian today, living so far below normal, New Testament Christianity would be a shock.

The devil's not fighting churches today, he's joining churches.

I can conceive of no greater, more romantic and interesting adventure than to undertake to live like Jesus in this complicated day.

Most of the notable turn out to be the not-able. God's greatest truths still belong to babes.

We are the salt of the earth, mind you, not the sugar. Our ministry is to truly cleanse and not just to change the taste.

Beware of being a religious poseur, trying to live up to a dramatized version of yourself.

We can often do more by doing less. God is not particularly interested in quantity production. That is an American standard, not a Bible standard.

The first step towards the evangelizing of the world is the christianizing of the church.

It's hard to be optimistic when you have a misty optic.

There is great need today for the New Testament prophet who speaks to edification, exhortation, and comfort, a strengthening, stirring and soothing ministry.

If you would try out a preacher, send him to preach to farmers: if he cannot make the grade there, let him reconsider his call - or maybe he needs to be converted.

Popularity has killed more prophets than persecution.

We need to be preaching a dynamic Gospel and living firecracker lives.

If the fire of hell is not literal, it is worse than actual fire, and if the gates of the Celestial City are not actual gold, they are far finer.

The soul would have no rainbow, had the eyes no tears.

Good music always defeats bad luck.

...Mom equated money with affection...but I never cared about the money. I just wanted her to be healthy.

I understand the gist of your speculation, ' said Rhialto. 'It is most likely nuncupatory.

I am not Cugel the Clever for nothing!

One becomes sated with platitudes no less than honey, so that one often breaks another's bones in one's vexation.

I would offer congratulations were it not for this tentacle gripping my leg.