Quotations

"The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are."

— Mark Nepo, American philosopher, born 1951

"The flower doesn’t dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes."

— Mark Nepo, American philosopher, born 1951

"As fish must keep their gills open in order to survive moving through the water, humans must keep their heart open in order to move through the difficult and wondrous river of experience. Letting life move through an open heart is how we make medicine out of our suffering."

— Mark Nepo, American philosopher, born 1951

"If each day falls inside night, there exists a well where clarity is imprisoned. We need to sit on the rim of the well of darkness and fish for fallen light with patience."

— Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, born 1904

"Tie your heart at night to mine, love, and both will defeat the darkness."

— Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, born 1904

"Then I speak to her in a language she has never heard, I speak to her in Spanish, in the tongue of the long, crepuscular verses of Díaz Casanueva; in that language in which Joaquín Edwards preaches nationalism. My discourse is profound; I speak with eloquence and seduction; my words, more than from me, issue from the warm nights, from the many solitary nights on the Red Sea, and when the tiny dancer puts her arm around my neck, I understand that she understands. Magnificent language!"

— Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, born 1904

"If you can't read your poem to a fruit vendor, a construction worker, a crossing guard, then your poem is worthless."

— Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, born 1904

"So long as there's a gap in your life, fill it with love."

— Amado Nervo, Mexican poet, born 1870

"Who loves a lot, forgives a lot."

— Amado Nervo, Mexican poet, born 1870

"Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living."

— Jo Nesbo, Norwegian writer, born 1960

"A white lace curtain on the window was for me as important as a great work of art. This gossamer quality, the reflection, the form, the movement. I learned more about art from that than I did in school."

— Louise Nevelson, American sculptor, born 1899

"It gave me great pleasure to think that I could take wood, make it good, and make people like Rockefeller buy it with paper money."

— Louise Nevelson, American sculptor, born 1899

"I wanted to acknowledge Luck: the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others; made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it."

— Paul Newman, American actor, born 1925

"The embarrassing thing is that my salad dressing is out-grossing my films."

— Paul Newman, American actor, born 1925