#ellen

Besides," she says, eyes twinkling mischievously, "it'd never work out between us. I'm still holding a candle for Professor Haven." "How could I compete with a middle-aged English professor?" "Well," she says, "you could do, but it'd be useless. Something about his receding hairline just drives me mad. ↗

— seventhswan

#kellen #age

I think the definition of an artist is not necessarily tied into excellence or talent; an artist is somebody who, if you took away their freedom to make art, would lose their mind. ↗

— Richard Price

#artist #away #definition #excellence #freedom

What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman's excellence? ↗

— Sophocles

#bloated #ever #excellence #house #luxury

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#difficult #excellent #rare #things

How would it be possible if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#almost #could #difficult #excellent #found

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected. ↗

— Steve Jobs

#environment #excellence #expected #people #quality

... but Charlie had seen love and prise flare in the brown eyes, burning away every trace of sadness and timidity. Rose Petch, she knew, would never abandon her child the way Charlie's mother had abandoned her. ... Charlie stood, trembling, torn nearly in two by jealousy and longing ... ↗

— Ellen Renner

#ellen-renner #jealousy

Does no one want to know the truth here, Mr. Archer? The real loneliness is living among all these kind of people who only ask one to pretend! ↗

— Edith Wharton

#hypocrisy #new-york #pulitzer-prize #social-criticism #age

[All the ancient wisdom] tells us that work is necessary to us, as much a part of our condition as mortality; that good work is our salvation and our joy; that shoddy or dishonest or self-serving work is our curse and our doom. We have tried to escape the sweat and sorrow promised in Genesis - only to find that, in order to do so, we must forswear love and excellence, health and joy. (pg. 44, "The Unsettling of America") ↗

— Wendell Berry

#excellence #genesis #joy #love #salvation

Only the mediocre artist is always at his best. ↗

— Victor J. Banis

#artist #excellence #mediocrity #writer #writing