Quotations

"Now all my teachers are dead except silence."

— W. S. Merwin, American poet, born 1927

"We are asleep with compasses in our hands."

— W. S. Merwin, American poet, born 1927

"An hour comes to close a door behind me; the whole of night opens before me."

— W. S. Merwin, American poet, born 1927

"But sometimes the world disrobes, slips its dress off a shoulder, stops time for a beat. If we look up at that moment, it's not due to any ability of ours to pierce the darkness, it's the world's brief bestowal. The catastrophe of grace."

— Anne Michaels, Canadian poet, born 1958

"Something happened when I took your picture. I became enchanted by the sight of you, standing there. looking at the book, perfect in that gentle light. I took the photograph over and over, again and again, compulsively, knowing that when I stopped and set the camera down, the moment would be lost, as the dream dies when one awakens, and I could not bear to let it go."

— Duane Michals, American photographer, born 1932

"He who has rejected his demons badgers us to death with his angels."

— Henri Michaux, Belgian-French poet and painter, born May 24, 1899

"It is necessary to keep one's compass in one's eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges."

— Michelangelo, Italian artist, born 1475

"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?"

— Michelangelo, Italian artist, born 1475

"The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has."

— Michelangelo, Italian artist, born 1475

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

— Michelangelo, Italian artist, born 1475

"An age is called "dark," not because the light fails to shine but because people refuse to see it."

— James Michener, American author, born February 3, 1907

"Find your Light; They can't love you if they can't see you."

— Bette Midler, American singer, born 1945

"Twenty-seven people sang 'Wind Beneath My Wings' before I got around to it. A lot of people saw the movie that I sang it in, Beaches, and what they came away with was that song. They turned to their loved ones and said, 'You know, you are the wind beneath my wings!' The song expressed how they felt in a way a simple 'I love you' would not have."

— Bette Midler, American singer, born 1945

"The only thing Madonna will ever do like a virgin is give birth in a stable."

— Bette Midler, American singer, born 1945