Quotations

"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years."

— Simone Signoret, German-French actress, born March 25, 1921

"Anger begins with folly, and ends with repentance."

— Beverly Sills, American soprano, born May 25, 1929

"Art is the signature of civilizations."

— Beverly Sills, American soprano, born May 25, 1929

"In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us."

— Beverly Sills, American soprano, died July 2, 2007

"I believe that jazz music has the strongest healing potential, and it's not just because I play it and love it so much. I feel that it's the improvisation in jazz that makes it so strong as a healing tool, what each individual gives to a tune from their heart and their soul when they take a solo. It's all spontaneous, and it's all love, and from the heart."

— Horace Silver, American pianist and composer, born September 2, 1928

"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 poet and author, died May 8, 1999

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

— Shel Silverstein, American poet and author, born September 25, 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 poet and author of children's books, born September 25, 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