But really, it was reading that led me to writing. And in particular, reading the American classics like Twain who taught me at an early age that ordinary lives of ordinary people can be made into high art.

quote by Russell BanksReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Related quotes

She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl

(Robert Jason)
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
She don't love carelessly that's what I've always heard
'Can't use the usual lines she measures every word
No empty promises proof is what it takes to win her heart
The truth and nothing less, simple things that set her far apart
Save your diamonds and your furs she's not your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary, no she's not
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary, oh no
She ain't your ordinary girl
No midnight alibis, no foolish games for her
And if you cross the line you'll get what you deserve
But when you see her smile nothing seems to matter anymore
And in a little while you'll feel like you've never felt before
Like no other in the world, she's not your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary, no she's not
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary, oh no
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
Save your diamonds and your furs, she ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl
She ain't your ordinary
She ain't your ordinary girl

song performed by by AlabamaReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Steeple

I see ordinary people
pouring in and out of steeples
living ordinary lives
learning ordinary lies
they learn; they earn - life passes by
they buy; they die - they never ask, 'WHY? ! '

poem by Ray QuesadaReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

And What About Us Who Write Poems Every Minute Of The Day?

what words can we take pride in
these poems like our daily breaths
ordinary words we utter in ordinary
conversations we have
come breakfast come snack time
come lunch come dinner

the talks we have on the park
in the marketplaces of our ordinary days
unplanned, unscreened, unedited
ordinary words to ordinary occasions

an embarrassment, can these words be?
unscheming and devoid of meaning
the lines of the common places?
the dialogues of the fool and the unwise?

you do not have to mind
this is my journal, a record of nothing
but ramblings of my mind and there you are
carefully reading putting meaning where there was
really none

this poem of day to day, unwavering
trying to be but nothing, a mode of nothing but just
plain thinking

do you too have this kind of breathing?
tell me why you breathe, then?

poem by Ric S. BastasaReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

An Ordinary Girl

From an ordinary house, in an ordinary road,
From an ordinary town there came an ordinary girl,
A face that looked surprised, a book of dog earred loans?
Never made a sound, never said a word,
Nothing was ever seen, nothing was ever heard,
In an ordinary town, and an ordinary girl.
She's feeling, outrageous, so daft and courageous,
She's laughing, flirtacious, we're falling, unconscious,
She's selfish, and needy, she's wanton and greedy,
She's mugging, her lovers, she's bleeding her brothers from the level?
In an ordinary house, in an ordinary town,
Upon an ordinary street, nothing was ever found,
By an ordinary girl who never made a sound.
She's up in, the attic, she's bristling, with static
???
She's wanton, and needy, she's selfish and greedy,
She's mugging, her lovers, she's bleeding her brothers from the level?
The ones she's, been kissing, are strangely, gone missing,
The day when you wed her, you saw me unteather,
This feeling, no never, they all went together
With an ordinary girl

song performed by by I Am KlootReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

My Self

My self is nothing
You are doing well n extra ordinary
That’s all are saying
Book in my hand
Eye at my book
Thinking I don’t know where
I am reading, they are saying
Six years has passed away
Four type of courses has been changed
There is not any qualification is looking
I am doing well n extra ordinary
That’s all are saying
Ten hours per day I spent at pc
Looking new sites and searching new thing
I say them I want to write
But I don’t know alternate of ‘not out’
What they are looking, not I am doing.

poem by Ainan AhmadReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Stifle not the reader

Reading is an art,
reading is a tool.
Those who think it dumb,
must be such a fool.

Reading is enjoyment,
reading is a blast.
Reading is a separate entity
from the future and the past.

Reading is done in present,
though written in a tense.
Reading is about life,
in surprise or suspense.

Reading is a place of joy,
full of hope and song,
Reading is a place I feel
that I truly do belong.

A trapdoor to a fantasy,
A world thought lost to us,
Reading is a place of wonder,
a place that we can trust.

Why read about reality,
when I can delve into magic.
Why stifle my own happiness,
with scenarios so tragic.

Stifle not the reader,
for it is their choice alone.
Reading is an outlet,
for hearts that turned to stone.

poem by Mandy LeeReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

A little extra, from an extra ordinary woman

She goes out of her way and travels that extra mile
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She consoles you, smiles with you, cries with you and for you
A little extra than anyone else
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She spends on you a little extra than she does on her own self
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She uses her extra strength and wisdom to pick you up when you fall
She blinds her sight to your imperfections
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She loves you a little extra just to stand out different
From all those who love you
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She starves herself so that you may eat a little extra
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She forgives you all the time
Even when you guilty mind knows you don’t deserve such kindness
Because she is an extra ordinary woman

She may not be the most perfect woman but
She is indeed an extra ordinary woman

She is your mother, your wife, your fiancee, your girlfriend
Your sister, your grandmother and your daughter

You best appreciate her

poem by Grace MdemuReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

The Ordinary Boys

Ordinary boys, happy knowing nothing
Happy being no-one but themselves
Ordinary girls, supermarket clothes
Who think its very clever to be cruel to you
For you were so different
You stood all alone
And you knew
That it had to be so
Avoiding ordinary boys
Happy going nowhere, just around here
In their rattling cars
Ordinary girls
Never seeing further
Than the cold, small streets
That trap them
But you were so different
You had to say no
When those empty fools
Tried to change you, and claim you
For the lair of their ordinary world
Where they feel so lucky
So lucky, so lucky
With their lives laid out before them
They are lucky
So lucky, so lucky
So lucky, so ...

song performed by by MorrisseyReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

My Daily Bread

you do not believe when i tell you that i write everyday
it is routine to me
so my poems
are like
breathings
inhale
exhale
a poem
here a poem there

writing has become like a beating of my heart
so every beat
every pulse
is a poem made

like one kind of a factory
mass production
of breathing and beating
i have developed sort of too much familiarity with this kind of poetic activity and it has become so
so ordinary
and so much familiarity comes my contempt for my daily poetry

it is nothing extraordinary
it is like washing my face
brushing my teeth
cutting my nails
going to the office
teaching my class
reading books
walking the dog
taking a morning walk
lunch with my wife
listening to
lawyers argue
their cases
in court

all these are so ordinary
routinely clockwork
and they are nothing
they are
my poems

my daily bread.

poem by Ric S. BastasaReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Ordinary Girl

I see her there in her plain print dress and her fading youth
Something about her opens up my soul
Something about her speaks the truth
When the sky is falling
She makes the world go away baby and I tell the truth
Theres a plainness and a sameness to her touch
Oh yeah and its beautiful
I love an ordinary girl
Oh shes just an ordinary girl
I say I love you I know its just an ordinary sound
We make love in our ordinary house
Yeah its built on common ground and we know it baby
We go out walking on an friday night in ordinary town
Theres a sameness and a plainness to it all
Oh yeah and its beautiful
I love an ordinary girl
Yeah shes just an ordinary girl
Another day, another battle
We shake the cage, our sabers rattle
Nothing that matters comes easy
Nothing that comes easy ever really matters
Oh (everything I am) shes an ordinary girl (anything I plan)
I love her (for everything that I stand)
Shes an ordinary girl (Im just an ordinary man)
Yeah shes (in everything I do) just an ordinary girl
(in everything thats true) I love her (in everything I plan)
Just an ordinary girl (Im an ordinary man)...

song performed by by Rick SpringfieldReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Ordinary Dream

I couldnt really understand at all
The writing on the wall
From you to me
A jigsaw puzzle of a twisted tale
That set its lonely sail
From you to me
cause I tried to get the message
But its not understood
Wide apart and so far away
It mattered at the start until I realized instead ....
Im floating in a troubled sky
Watching you as you go by
In an ordinary dream
Im sailing on a troubled sea
Watching you as you watch me
In an ordinary dream
I couldnt understand a word it said
The letter that I read
From you to me
I couldnt fathom out the stuff you wrote
So I guess its just a joke
From you to me
Though reality keeps calling me away from my dream
And the wreakage isnt all it might have been
Didnt matter at the start until I realized it did
Im floating in a troubled sky
Watching you as you go by
In an ordinary dream
Im sailing on a troubled sea
Watching you as you watch me
In an ordinary dream
Im floating in a troubled sky
Watching you as you go by
In an ordinary dream
Im sailing on a troubled sea
Watching you as you watch me
In an ordinary dream
Ordinary dream
Ordinary dream

song performed by by Electric Light OrchestraReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

I usually write about ordinary people and ordinary things, but Paul Farmer is the least ordinary person I've ever met... He's the leader of a small group of people who hope to cure a sick world, and I hope my book can help in some small way.

quote by Tracy KidderReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

I think that is where poetry reading becomes such an individual thing. I mean I have friend who like poets who just don't say anything to me at all, I mean they seem to me rather ordinary and pedestrian.

quote by James LaughlinReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

The king is extraordinary.

Honour is made for human functions.

A monarch is not extraordinary;
The ordinary people make him so.
Unless he is made extraordinary
He could not rule the ordinary ones.

The extraordinary must respect
The demand of the honour bestowed
On him by the ordinary people,
And must act to be extraordinary.

Masters must honour the headmaster,
Who must respect the demand of honour
Expected of him by other masters,
Failing which he will lose his status.
26.10.2012

poem by Rm. Shanmugam ChettiarReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share
Bill Murray

I think that the online world has actually brought books back. People are reading because they're reading the damn screen. That's more reading than people used to do.

quote by Bill MurrayReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

The Genius In Each Of Us

the genius in each of us
lies in the ordinariness of the clothes we wear
and the ordinary walk that we take on ordinary lanes

the genius of air, and sunlight, and wind
the one that gets inside us without notice
yet makes everyone live

the one that caresses us without feeling
so important and yet makes us survive

the one that refreshes us in the shores
along ships that we are in
taking us to our destinations

tell me if they have special names and special
functions

the ordinary air, the ordinary sunlight, the ordinary wind
is that not the genius of the earth

the fire, the land, the sky
are they not so ordinary for us to take and use and love?

they are the strokes of the genius of the Lord
and yet they never have names of their own

they are everywhere, they are anywhere.

poem by Ric S. BastasaReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Ordinary Day

Aaaaaah
Ahahahahahaaaaa

I wanna kiss you
Just not ordinary miss you
It's an ordinary day
I would like to do the same tomorrow
I wanna kiss you
Just not ordinary miss you
But you're sleeping on my arm
I'm longing to wake you up

I want it simple
I have travelled around the world
I can never see myself in the rain
Walking out
Now it's you and me
And we take it from here and now
Twosome wild and free

I wanna kiss you
Just not ordinary miss you
It's an ordinary day
I would like to do the same tomorrow

Would I lie

song performed by by Ace Of Base from Da CapoReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Sophistication

sophistication amidst the
hunger of the masses
becomes a curse to your
further progress,

soon no native likes the company
of your strictures
no river is willing to carry you to
the other end of the sea
no moon shines upon you
no sun rises on your brow

how many times shall the black bird tell you
in the plainest notes of her ordinary song
simplicity is beauty
there is no other effective tool
to be loved by your
own people

be with them in the most ordinary even of their lives
breakfast consisting of fish and rice and water
and then a very nice conversation about the recent
adventure in fishing
there is no other effective tool than being loved by ordinary people
as they are themselves, so shall you be yourself
no pretensions
no sophistication
just simplicity.

poem by Ric S. BastasaReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

What I Like To Do

The computer is an addictive thing
I go on it everyday
Checking my messages and facebook account
This is my way to stay

Even though the computer is fun
And i go on it quite a bit
Reading and writing storys and poems
I would never quit

As well as reading and writing
I love my nature too
Camping and fishing and other things
But this is nothing new

As you can tell with my poetry
I'm a creative and artistic person
I like to create and make things
Which with people tend to stun

This is a little about me
and what I like to do
I hope your all creative people
....... Well most of you

poem by Samantha RidleyReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Share

Ordinary Girl

How will I know if someone loves me
How will I know if there is no one else
Dying to have someone who loves me
But I want them to love me for myself
Looked for love in all the wrong places
I searched the moon and stars
Found myself lost in a world full of faces
The place I didn't look was my heart
I've been all around the world try to find something new,
Lord knows that something was you
'Cause I found in myself the one thing that is true
All I want is an ordinary girl
All I need is an ordinary girl
Ordinary
All I want is someone I can talk to
Someone I can lean on now and then
And I don't wanna lie, pretend I am someone else
I am just looking for a friend
My heart was going through so many changes,
I didn't know which way to turn
Just when I thought I had all of the answers
I found I still had so much to learn
I've been all around the world try to find something new,
Lord knows that something was you
'Cause I found in myself the one thing that is true
All I want is an ordinary girl
All I need is an ordinary girl
Ordinary
Someone to love me
Ordinary
I just wanna feel lost in love forever
wanna see that look in your eyes
I hope that you understand what I am saying, baby
Cause girl I need you right by my side
I've been all around the world trying to find something new,
Lord knows that something was you
'Cause I found in myself
the one thing that is true
All I want is an ordinary girl
All I need is an ordinary girl
Ordinary
Someone to love me
Ordinary
[Talking:]
You know I've been all around the world
trying to find someone new
he, you know what e

song performed by by Lionel RichieReport problemRelated quotes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Share