R.S. Thomas Quotes

The times that tried men's souls are over-and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished.

I know not whether taxes are raised to fight wars, or wars are fought in order to raise taxes.

Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches.

All men can understand what representation is; and that it must necessarily include a variety of knowledge and talents.

The NT, compared with the Old, is like a farce of one act.

Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion.

He, who survives his reputation, lives out of despite himself, like a man listening to his own reproach.

The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind.

Action and care will in time wear down the strongest frame, but guilt and melancholy are poisons of quick dispatch.

Titles do not count with posterity.

Calumny is a vice of curious constitution; trying to kill it keeps it alive; leave it to itself and it will die a natural death.

Sorrow and scarlet leaf, Sad thoughts and sunny weather. Ah me, this glory and this grief Agree not well together!

When you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu, my friend Lee Saunders has said, and he is correct.

I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it.

If I don't have a project going, I sit down and begin to write something - a character sketch, a monologue, a description of some sight, or even just a list of ideas.

Yes, in my books I do edit myself to keep from becoming the Village Explainer.

Much of what we do in life has a huge component of luck.

I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.

America's wealth comes from the efforts of people striving for success. Take away their incentive with badmouthing success and you take away the wealth that helps us take care of the needy.

Without precisely defined sources, methods, and concepts, it is possible to see absolutely everything and its opposite.

I am not political. It is not my job. But I would be happy if politicians could read my work and draw some conclusions from it.

Income inequality matters more on a day-to-day basis. Wealth matters more for political influence.

To have humanism we must first be convinced of our humanity. As we move further into decadence this becomes more difficult.

Through the machineries of greed, pettiness, and the abuse of power, love occurs.

There is nothing so loathsome as a sentimental surrealist.

Teamwork," Koteks snarled, "is one word for it, yeah. What it really is is a way to avoid responsibility. It's a symptom of the gutlessness of the whole society.

Explosion without an objective', declared Miles Blundell, 'is politics in its purest form'.

Let me be unambiguous. I prefer not to be photographed.

Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph! But wait, there's more!

But as with Maxwell's Demon, so now. Either she could not communicate, or he did not exist.

Our history is an aggregate of last moments

She thougt of sunrise over the library slope at Cornell University that nobody out on it had seen because the slope faces west.

The good-news stories in medicine are early detection, early intervention.

What I did wrong had nothing to do with drugs or cocaine.

Now is the dwelling place of God himself.

Every indication of wisdom, taken from the effect, is equally an indication of power to execute what wisdom planned.

For, until the wisdom of men bear some proportion to the wisdom of God, their attempts to find out the structure of his works, by the force of their wit and genius, will be vain.

For the perception of the beautiful we have the term "taste"--a metaphor taken from that which is passive in the body and transferred to that which is active in the mind.

Photographs are still always depictions, it's just that for my generation the model for the photograph is probably not reality any more, but images we have of that reality.

Do good work. Don't worry about expressing yourself. Figure out what you do well and make it better.

I'm interested in human vulnerability. We are alone, and my portraits reflect this quality. I don't want anything to get in the way of this feeling.

I have never painted as well as I thought I should, so frustration came early.

Have you ever hung a piece of black velvet behind you and looked at yourself in the mirror? We are each of us quite alone, and that's what I try to paint.

A single model enables me to focus on one thing at a time, separating design and form and color into three successive stages.

All forces are a deterrent to and would be employed in a general war. Most of our forces could be employed in a limited war, if required

Courage is required to make an initial thrust towards ones coveted goal, But even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.

One cannot remember mother and forget God.

No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty, the fulfillment of which brings true joy.

God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.

From the Book of Mormon come other precious promises, including promises of peace, freedom, and blessings if we 'will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ' (Ether 2:12).