Quotations

"Tell me I'm clever, Tell me I'm kind, Tell me I'm talented, Tell me I'm cute, Tell me I'm sensitive, Graceful and wise, Tell me I'm perfect - But tell me the truth."

— Shel Silverstein, American author, born 1930

"It's amazing the difference a bit of sky can make."

— Shel Silverstein, American author, born 1930

"Listen to the mustn'ts child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn't haves, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me. Anything can happen child. Anything can be."

— Shel Silverstein, American author, born 1930

"The plain truth is we are going to die. Here I am, a teeny spec surrounded by boundless space and time, arguing with the whole of creation, shaking my fist, sputtering, growing even eloquent at times, and then-poof! I am gone. Swept off once and for all. I think that is very, very funny."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"The world is beautiful but not sayable. That's why we need art."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"He who cannot howl will not find his pack."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"One writes because one has been touched by the yearning for and the despair of ever touching the Other."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"The religion of the short poem, in every age and in every literature, has a single commandment: Less is always more. The short poem rejects preamble and summary. It's about all and everything, the metaphysics of a few words surrounded by much silence. The short poem is a match flaring up in a dark universe."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"We name one thing and then another. That’s how time enters poetry. Space, on the other hand, comes into being through the attention we pay to each word. The more intense our attention, the more space, and there’s a lot of space inside words."

— Charles Simic, Serbian-American poet, born 1938

"Every actress has to face the facts there are younger, more beautiful girls right behind you. Once you've gone beyond the vanity of the business, you'll take on the tough roles."

— Jean Simmons, English-American actress, born 1929

"I was constantly being dragged out of movies for laughing too loud."

— Neil Simon, American playwright, born 1927

"I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called Mother and Child Reunion. It's chicken and eggs. And I said, I gotta use that one."

— Paul Simon, American singer, born 1941