Eclectic quotations accumulating in Hell's Kitchen, NY, USA.

20060831

"There are no more hours in a bad day than in a good one!"
-- Unknown, as quoted on Higher Powered.

20060830

"You love Chinese food."
-- Fortune Cookie

20060829

"We now have to work under the assumption that every American has a tattoo. Whether we are at a formal dinner, at a professional luncheon, at a sales conference or arguing before the Supreme Court, we have to assume that everyone in the room is fully tatted up — that under each suit, dress or blouse, there is at least a set of angel wings, a barbed wire armband, a Chinese character or maybe even a fully inked body suit. We have to assume that any casual antitattoo remark will cause offense, even to those we least suspect of self-marking...

"...A study in The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed that about 24 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 50 have at least one tattoo, up from about 15 percent in 2003. Thirty-six percent of those between 18 and 29 have a tattoo...

"... What you get is a culture of trompe l’oeil degeneracy. People adopt socially acceptable transgressions — like tattoos — to show they are edgy, but inside they are still middle class. You run into these candy-cane grunge types: people with piercings and inkings all over their bodies who look like Sid Vicious but talk like Barry Manilow. They’ve got the alienated look — just not the anger.

"And that’s the most delightful thing about the whole tattoo fad. A cadre of fashion-forward types thought they were doing something to separate themselves from the vanilla middle classes but are now discovering that the signs etched into their skins are absolutely mainstream. They are at the beach looking across the acres of similar markings and learning there is nothing more conformist than displays of individuality, nothing more risk-free than rebellion, nothing more conservative than youth culture.

"Another generation of hipsters, laid low by the ironies of consumerism."


-- David Brooks, Non-Conformity is Skin Deep, The New York Times, August 27, 2006.

20060828

"I'm not somebody who really believes in curses, but curse this, baby!"
-- Julia Louis-Dreyfus, on breaking the Seinfeld curse and winning an
Emmy Award last night for The New Adventures of Old Christine.

20060827

"Maybe all that one can do is hope to end with the right regrets."
-- Arthur Miller

20060826

"I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

"I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

"The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

"I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah"

-- George Weiss and Bob Thiele, Lyricists. Recorded by Louie Armstrong.

20060825

"I see the addict as a seeker, albeit a misguided one. The addict is a person in quest of pleasure, perhaps even of a kind of trancendent experience - and I want to emphasize that this kind of seeking is extremely positive. The addict is looking in the wrong places, but he is going after something very important, and we can not afford to ignore the meaning of his search. At least initially, the addict hopes to experience something wonderful, something that transcends an unsatisfactory or even an intolerable everyday reality. There's nothing to be ashamed of in this impulse. On the contrary, it provides a foundation for true hope and real transformation."
-- Deepak Chopra, Overcoming Addictions: The Spiritual Solution.


(Image from Organic Authority)

20060824

"Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them."
-- HL Mencken

20060823

"Men live in a fantasy world. I know this because I am one, and I actually receive my mail there".
-- Scott Adams

20060822

"An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer".
-- Sarah Ban Breathnach

20060821

"The trouble with facts is that there are so many of them."
-- Samuel McChord Crothers

20060820

"You've got to take the bitter with the sour."
-- Samuel Goldwyn

20060819

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
-- Mark Twain

20060818

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done."
-- Andy Rooney

20060817

"I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe, and someone said I was a snake, I'd think, no, actually I'm a giraffe".
-- Richard Gere


Image from Film Erlebnis.

20060816

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit".
-- Harry S. Truman

20060815

"The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity."
-- Harlan Ellison

20060814

"For those who understand, no explanation needed. For those who don't, none will do."
-- Jerry Lewis

20060813

"Your heart is a place to draw true happiness."
-- Fortune Cookie

20060812

"I'm square and I am happy that I am."
-- Mike Douglas, (aka Michael Dowd), 1925-2006.


(Image from MSNBC).

20060811

"Ninety percent of everything is crud."
-- Theodore Sturgeon, Sturgeon's Revelation

20060810

"You can't live in New York City and be the most important person in town, you just can't. There are too many other important people here."
-- Sarah Jessica Parker, in Good Housekeeping.



Image from Goddess.com.au.

20060809

"Idleness is the holiday of fools."
--Fortune Cookie

20060808

"Maybe it's just in America, but it seems that if you're passionate about something, it freaks people out. You're considered bizarre or eccentric. To me, it just means you know who you are."
-- Timothy Burton

20060807

"About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends."
-- Herbert Hoover

20060806

"Living hell is the best revenge".
-- Adrienne E. Gusoff

20060805

"No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself."
-- Thomas Mann

20060804

"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
-- Sam Levenson

20060803

"The thing is, I'm not ashamed - that's the one thing I want to say. I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devestated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole life. I'm just happy."
-- Lance Bass, band member of 'N Sync on coming out as a gay man.


Image from ASCAP.

20060802

"In the end, everything is a gag."
-- Charlie Chaplin



Image from UNT.

20060801

"And screw 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.' I keep waiting for one of those guys to look at the camera and say, 'So like, this new season is going to be us prepping straight people for their weddings, but we still can't married in this country!"... Don't count on it, honey, they're rich, famous, and fabulous! Listen to your publicist!"
-- J.D. Cerna, Good Riddance to Will and Grace, The New York Blade, July
24, 2006, p. 27.