#qualities

I invited Intuition to stay in my house when my roommates went North. I warned her that I am territorial and I keep the herb jars in alphabetical order. Intuition confessed that she has a ‘spotty employment record.’ She was fired from her last job for daydreaming. When Intuition moved in, she washed all the windows, cleaned out the fireplace, planted fruit trees, and lit purple candles. She doesn’t cook much. She eats beautiful foods, artichokes, avocadoes, persimmons and pomegranates, wild rice with wild mushrooms, chrysanthemum tea. She doesn’t have many possessions. Each thing is special. I wish you could see the way she arranged her treasures on the fireplace mantle. She has a splendid collection of cups, bowls, and baskets. Well, the herbs are still in alphabetical order, and I can’t complain about how the house looks. Since Intuition moved in, my life has been turned inside out. ↗

— J. Ruth Gendler

#j-ruth-gendler #the-book-of-qualities #beauty

In these downbeat times, we need as much hope and courage as we do vision and analysis; we must accent the best of each other even as we point out the vicious effects of our racial divide and pernicious consequences of our maldistribution of wealth and power. We simply cannot enter the twenty-first century at each other's throats, even as we acknowledge the weighty forces of racism, patriarchy, economic inequality, homophobia, and ecological abuse on our necks. We are at a crucial crossroad in the history of this nation--and we either hang together by combating these forces that divide and degrade us or we hang separately. Do we have the intelligence, humor, imagination, courage, tolerance, love, respect, and will to meet the challenge? Time will tell. None of us alone can save the nation or world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so. ↗

— Cornel West

#change #courage #future #hope #inequalities

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion. ↗

— Lord Acton

#bear #cannot #contrary #development #discussion

Even though I love my mother, I didn't want to make an idealized portrait of her. I'm fascinated more by her defects - they are funnier than her other qualities. ↗

— Pedro Almodovar

#even #fascinated #funnier #her #i

You can be revered for all sorts of qualities, but to be truly charismatic is rare. Elizabeth Taylor was, for me, one of those rarities. ↗

— Francesca Annis

#elizabeth #elizabeth taylor #me #qualities #rare

But it's always really difficult to find someone that has the qualities to be a great accompanist. ↗

— Victoria de los Angeles

#difficult #find #great #qualities #really

I don't much enjoy Back and Forth. I mean, I think it has its own particular qualities, but I think it's inferior to any of the half-hour ones we did. ↗

— Rowan Atkinson

#back #did #enjoy #forth #half-hour

Catholic school graduates exhibit a wide variety of qualities that will not only help them in their careers but also in their family and community lives. ↗

— Joe Baca

#also #careers #catholic #catholic school #community

By a great man, however, we mean a man who, because of his spiritual gifts, his character, and other qualities, deserves to be called great and who as a result earns the power to influence others. ↗

— Fredrik Bajer

#called #character #deserves #earns #gifts

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding. ↗

— Joseph Addison

#chief #composition #esteem #gain #good