Maria Jeritza Quotes
Italian - Musician October 6, 1887 - July 10, 1982

It is hard to describe the thrill of creative joy which the artist feels when the conviction seizes her that at last she has caught the very soul of the character she wishes to portray, in the music and action which reveal it.
Maria Jeritza

The real exertion in the case of an opera singer lies not so much in her singing as in her acting of a role, for nearly every modern opera makes great dramatic and physical demands.
Maria Jeritza


Caroline Gordon Quotes
American - Writer October 6, 1895 - April 11, 1981


A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.
Caroline Gordon

We do not judge great art. It judges us.
Caroline Gordon


Thor Heyerdahl Quotes
Norwegian - Explorer October 6, 1914 - April 18, 2002


Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity.
Thor Heyerdahl

It is also rarer to find happiness in a man surrounded by the miracles of technology than among people living in the desert of the jungle and who by the standards set by our society would be considered destitute and out of touch.
Thor Heyerdahl

Circumstances cause us to act the way we do. We should always bear this in mind before judging the actions of others. I realized this from the start during World War II.
Thor Heyerdahl

For every minute, the future is becoming the past.
Thor Heyerdahl

I have never been able to grasp the meaning of time. I don't believe it exists. I've felt this again and again, when alone and out in nature. On such occasions, time does not exist. Nor does the future exist.
Thor Heyerdahl

One learns more from listening than speaking. And both the wind and the people who continue to live close to nature still have much to tell us which we cannot hear within university walls.
Thor Heyerdahl

We must wake up to the insane reality of our time. We are all irresponsible, unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to people whose former battle axes and swords our ancestors condemned.
Thor Heyerdahl

In fighting nature, man can win every battle except the last. If he should win that too, he will perish, like an embryo cutting its own umbilical cord.
Thor Heyerdahl

In my experience, it is rarer to find a really happy person in a circle of millionaires than among vagabonds.
Thor Heyerdahl

I was in uniform for four years, and I know that heroism doesn't occur from taking orders, but rather from people who through their own willpower and strength are willing to sacrifice their lives for an idea.
Thor Heyerdahl

Those who have experienced the most, have suffered so much that they have ceased to hate. Hate is more for those with a slightly guilty conscience, and who by chewing on old hate in times of peace wish to demonstrate how great they were during the war.
Thor Heyerdahl

I don't believe in war as a solution to any kind of conflict, nor do I believe in heroism on the battlefield because I have never seen any.
Thor Heyerdahl

A civilized nation can have no enemies, and one cannot draw a line across a map, a line that doesn't even exist in nature and say that the ugly enemy lives on the one side, and good friends live on the other.
Thor Heyerdahl

But if we begin thinking about the world being over 100 million years old, then it's absolutely by chance that you and I are sitting here alive today, while all the others are dead or have never been born.
Thor Heyerdahl

Civilization grew in the beginning from the minute that we had communication - particularly communication by sea that enabled people to get inspiration and ideas from each other and to exchange basic raw materials.
Thor Heyerdahl

I also believe that when one dies, one may wake up to the reality that proves that time does not exist.
Thor Heyerdahl

Surrounded by military airplanes and warships from the world's most civilized and developed nations, we have been denied permission by friendly governments, for reasons of security, to land anywhere, but in the tiny, and still neutral, Republic of Djibouti.
Thor Heyerdahl

Therefore, I feel convinced that any political picture can be changed to suit the needs of the powers that be.
Thor Heyerdahl

We have always been taught that navigation is the result of civilization, but modern archeology has demonstrated very clearly that this is not so.
Thor Heyerdahl


David Brin Quotes
American - Author Born: October 6, 1950

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.
David Brin

The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.
David Brin

Predicting has a spotty record in science fiction. I've had some failures. On the other hand, I also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of fundamentalist Islam... and I'm not happy to be right in all of those cases.
David Brin

When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.
David Brin

Self-righteous people can talk themselves into forgetting they are part of a civilization. They can then feed on that culture, bringing it down. It's happened many times in the past. It could happen to us.
David Brin

There's no doubt that scientific training helps many authors to write better science fiction. And yet, several of the very best were English majors who could not parse a differential equation to save their lives.
David Brin

One of the rules I try to follow is that normal people are going to be involved even in heroic events.
David Brin

In the book, America had already been weakened by bio terror plagues before waves of selfish violence took down the rest. But the real enemy was the kind of male human being who nurses fantasies of violent glory at the expense of his fellow citizens.
David Brin

Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses?
David Brin

When I begin a book, I inevitably discover many things along the way, about the characters, their past histories and the political intrigues that surround them. This discovery process is vital, and I would not prejudice it by deciding too much in advance.
David Brin

We already live a very long time for mammals, getting three times as many heartbeats as a mouse or elephant. It never seems enough though, does it?
David Brin

She had called in the debt that parents owe a child for bringing her, unasked, into a strange world. One should never make an offer without knowing full well what will happen if it is accepted.
David Brin

My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.
David Brin

My education and background thoroughly inform my writing.
David Brin

I would normally never set out to write a trilogy.
David Brin

I like to be surprised. Fresh implications and plot twists erupt as a story unfolds. Characters develop backgrounds, adding depth and feeling. Writing feels like exploring.
David Brin

I find humans tremendously interesting.
David Brin

Fortunately, human beings are remarkably diverse models to work from.
David Brin

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.
David Brin

But it is a delightful challenge to try to depict interesting aliens.
David Brin

But honestly, if you do a rigorous survey of my work, I'll bet you'll find that biology is a theme far more often than physical science.
David Brin

Anyone who wants simple, pat stories should buy another author's product. The real universe ain't that way, and neither are my fictive ones.
David Brin

Above all, TRIBES is fun, and even kind of sexy... in that every round features an Opportunity for Reproduction, which is the main aim of the game, as it is in most of Nature.
David Brin

Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.
David Brin