BIRTHDAYS. JULY 4.
NEIL SIMON 1927-2018 “The Odd Couple” “Barefoot in the Park.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE STIMULATION OF ECCENTRICITY.
I LOVE LIVING. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they’ve come up with so far.
TALENT is the gift plus the passion — a desire to succeed so intense that no force on earth can stop it.
ONCE YOU’VE OPENED YOURSELF UP, IT’S BEST TO GO ALL THE WAY.
ALL HUMOR IS BASED ON HOSTILITY — THAT’S WHY WORLD WAR TWO WAS FUNNY.
THE BODY OF A YOUNG WOMAN is God’s greatest achievement.
TAKE CARE OF HIM. AND MAKE HIM FEEL IMPORTANT. And if you can do that you’ll have a happy and wonderful marriage. Like two out of every ten couples.
MONEY BRINGS SOME HAPPINESS. But after a certain point, it just brings more money.
EVERYONE THINKS THEY CAN WRITE A PLAY; you just write down what happened to you. But the art of it is drawing from all the moments of your life.
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A SURE THING. That’s why they call it gambling.
GIVE YOU MIND A CHANCE TO TRAVEL THROUGH FOREIGN LANGUAGES.
I was constantly being dragged out of movies for laughing too loud.
WRITERS FEEL LIKE A MIDDLEMAN, standing with pen in hand over the page. A force greater than me stands above telling me what to write. That may sound romantic, but that’s how it feels.
I don’t like writing for comedians. I like writing for actors. The best comedians are the best actors.
NEW YORK IS NOT MECCA. IT JUST SMELLS LIKE IT.
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 1804-1864 “The Scarlet Letter”
THE THING YOU SET YOUR MIND ON is the thing you ultimately become.
HAPPINESS IS A BUTTERFLY, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
HAPPINESS is not found in things you possess, but in what you have the courage to release.
WORDS — so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
EVERY INDIVIDUAL has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be or not.
THERE IS EVIL IN EVERY HUMAN HEART, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole of life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity.
TIME FLIES OVER US, BUT LEAVES ITS SHADOW BEHIND.
SOME ILLUSIONS . . . ARE THE SHADOWS OF GREAT TRUTHS.
THERE IS SOMETHING TRUER and more real, than what we can see with the eyes, and touch with the finger.
WE DREAM IN OUR WAKING MOMENTS, AND WALK IN OUR SLEEP.
DREAM STRANGE THINGS AND MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE TRUTH.
WHAT is the voice of song when the world lacks the ear of truth.
THE INWARD PLEASURE of imparting pleasure — that is the choicest of all.
A MAN’S BEWILDERMENT IS THE MEASURE OF HIS WISDOM.
THERE IS SO MUCH WRETCHEDNESS in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.
CALVIN COOLIDGE 1872-1933 30th President of the United States
SILENCE CAN NEVER BE MISQUOTED.
YOU can’t know too much, but you can say too much.
LIBERTY is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty.
YOUR ABILITY to face setbacks and disappointments without giving up will be the measure of your ability to succeed.
IN LIFE there is nothing more common than talent and intelligence. What is missing is passion, persistence, commitment and dedication.
FREEDOM is not only bought with a great price; it is maintained by unremitting effort.
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY