Quotations

"Difficult things we do quickly. The impossible takes a little longer."

— David Ben-Gurion, Israeli statesman, born 1886

"I’ve enjoyed every age I've been, and each has had its own individual merit. Every laugh line, every scar, is a badge I wear to show I've been present, the inner rings of my personal tree trunk that I display proudly for all to see. Nowadays, I don't want a "perfect" face and body; I want to wear the life I've lived."

— Pat Benatar, American singer, born 1953

"I would like to be Jupiter, and lie down in the firmament and make love to everybody."

— Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, born 1952

"I remember in the circus learning that the clown was the prince, the high prince. I always thought that the high prince was the lion or the magician, but the clown is the most important."

— Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, born 1952

"I remember hearing someone say that good acting is more about taking off a mask than putting one on, and in movie acting, certainly that's true. With the camera so close, you can see right down into your soul, hopefully. So being able to do that in a way is terrifying, and in another way, truly liberating. And I like that about it."

— Annette Bening, American actress, born 1958

"You come to see that suffering is required; and you no more want to avoid it than you want to avoid putting your next foot on the ground when you are walking. In the spiritual path, joy and suffering follow one another like two feet, and you come to a point of not minding which "foot" is on the ground. You realize, on the contrary, that is extremely uncomfortable hopping all the time on the joy foot."

— John G. Bennett, British scientist, born 1897

"Since we tend to see ourselves primarily in the light of our intentions, which are invisible to others, while we see others mainly in the light of their actions, which are all that's visible to us, we have a situation in which misunderstanding and injustice are the order of the day."

— John G. Bennett, British scientist, born 1897

"I've taken stuff from people, too. You know though, if you steal from one person, you're just a thief. But if you steal from everyone, that's research."

— Tony Bennett, American singer, born 1926

"Someday, when I'm awfully low, and the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight."

— Tony Bennett, American singer, born 1926

"Age is mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter."

— Jack Benny, American comedian, born 1894

"I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either."

— Jack Benny, American comedian, born 1894

"My wife Mary and I have been married for forty-seven years and not once have we had an argument serious enough to consider divorce; murder, yes, but divorce, never."

— Jack Benny, American comedian, born 1894

"I have a sort of inner conviction that for all the possible limitations of my mind and the disturbing effects of my processes, for all the contradicting struggles and failures I have gone through, I have come to something that is in the image of America and the American people of my time."

— Thomas Hart Benton, American painter, born 1889

"Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one."

— Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian philosopher, born 1874