The function of the novelist... is to comment upon life as he sees it.
quote by Frank Norris

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn't know he was a novelist. All those damn psychiatrists after him, they didn't know he was a novelist either.
quote by John Irving

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One Little Comment
One little comment can really change your life;
It can make you feel good or cut you like a knife.
As a result, you may now want to try something new,
Or with an aspect of life, you may now be through.
You mull the comment over and take it to heart;
The speaker of the comment, unaware they’ve played a part.
The chances are that, of the comment, the speaker has forgotten,
But you are now left feeling really encouraged or really rotten.
Some comments are just throw-a-ways,
But they can easily make or break your day.
Some comments stick forever in your mind,
Whether they’re really hurtful or really kind.
Many years later, a comment you may still be able to quote;
It could be one which made you sink or one which made you float.
You will probably still be able to recall it word for word,
And even imitate the tone in which the comment was first heard.
As the result of a comment, you may feel better or worse,
And the speaker of the comment, you’ll either love or curse.
A comment can make you give up or give you the will to succeed;
Off one little comment, our further thoughts will often feed.
They can change the way that you see yourself,
And even have a good or bad effect on your health.
A bad comment can leave us feeling rather unsure,
Whereas a good comment, can leave us wanting more.
Just one comment, which may last only a few fleeting seconds,
May result in a whole new life, which suddenly now beckons.
You may leave your old life far behind,
Or a whole new life, you may now find.
So just take a moment and think before you speak;
Of the joy you may bring or the havoc you may wreak.
poem by Angela Wybrow

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If you are a novelist of a certain type of temperament, then what you really want to do is re-invent the world. God wasn't too bad a novelist, except he was a Realist.
quote by John Barth

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The novelist and the poet
the difference between
the poet and the novelist
the former invites you
straight into his world
a canvas that takes
words for paint
humour for techniques
realism for images
the novelist
on the other hand
flatters you with
his intelligence
but takes the liberty
to hide behind
each of his creation/character
hard it would be to
find the man in
the maze of his words
you would gain more
hunting for him in town
the novelist is a
calculative trader
seizing any idea that could
help him sell his words
the humble poet though has
to sniff out his real self, his own god-instilled rhythm,
to let us share his adventures, colours, dreams
the novelist craft words for money
the poet craft words - to find himself and shares it with those -
who wish to find their own selves
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo

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Do You Have That Third Eye? ....
perhaps i have a third eye.
perhaps, because i cannot see this eye
perhaps, because this eye sees for me and it sees my
two other eyes, it swears,
perhaps, i must be gifted having this third eye,
seeing what happens next, and giving me the
details, and literally, giving me the shivers,
someone dies in an accident, someone's
decapitating someone,
another one hangs himself, the other one weeps
someone jumps ship and leaves no note on the
board,
on the other side of the view, at the left portion of
this eyesight, someone delivers a baby and
sleeps, someone watches and cries, tears of joy,
i must know, someone dives in the pool at noon,
and refreshes oneself, looking at the trees beside,
sometimes, time stands still, and the white butterfly
freezes,
for one thing, this third eye does not have a mouth
and does not warn me if i get crazy over nothing.
yes, i fall, and sometimes, i do not rise, i wallow in mud
and sometimes, i just lay hopeless in there, as they see it
i am the most lousy buffalo in town, and the third eye
sees this, but it has no comment, neither does it smile or
frown.
the muted truth, that is.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.
quote by Tony Robbins

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In any architecture, there is an equity between the pragmatic function and the symbolic function.
quote by Michael Graves

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I don't think it's the function of Congress to function well. It should drag its heels on the way to decision.
quote by Barber B. Conable Jr.

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Autre guitare
Comment, disaient-ils,
Avec nos nacelles,
Fuir les alguazils ?
- Ramez, disaient-elles.
Comment, disaient-ils,
Oublier querelles.
Misère et périls ?
- Dormez, disaient-elles.
Comment, disaient-ils,
Enchanter les belles
Sans philtres subtils ?
- Aimez, disaient-elles.
poem by Victor Hugo

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Well, I don't know if I can comment on Kant or Hegel because I'm no real philosopher in the sense of knowing what these people have said in any detail so let me not comment on that too much.
quote by Roger Penrose

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School Boy Heart
[transcribed by chris w]
School boy heart
By: jimmy buffett & matt betton
1996
I got a school boy heart, a novelist eye
Stout sailors legs and a license to fly
I came with nomad feet and some wandering toes
That walk up my longboard and hang off the nose
I suppose
The need to focus never arose
So something like a swiss army knife
Thats my life
Frankenstein had nothing on this body of mine
The villagers still flockin to see, to see me
Breaking free, breaking free
Cause I got a school boy heart, a novelist eye
Stout sailors legs and a license to fly
I got a bartenders ear and beachcombers style
Piratical nerve and a vaudevillian style
I suspect I died in some cosmic shipwreck
With all hands spread all over the deck
What the heck
Then some kind of obscene and unscrupulous mind
Began to pick up what he could find
Added ice, shook me twice, rolled the dice
Now I got a school boy heart, a novelist eye
A sailors legs and a license to fly
I got a native tongue from way down south
It sits in the cheek of my gulf coastal mouth
I got a school boy heart, a novelist eye
Stout sailors legs and a license to fly
I came with nomad feet and some wandering toes
That glide up my longboard and hang off the nose
[in case theres any interest, right before banana wind, jimmy sez
Meetcha at the end meetcha at the end.]
song performed by by Jimmy Buffett

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Deliberation is the function of many, action is the function of one.
quote by Charles de Gaulle

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hand For Life
I read
Re read and observed
Whether I really deserved
'Her hand for life time' comment reserved
She has sent me a letter
For life time partner
Precisely a deep matter
I am glad and feel better
I read contents
Not much to comment
Yet a serious proposal
I must have quick disposal
What do I reply?
She has made honest try
Now I feel little shy
She may ask any time, why?
I come to the term
With all the details in turn
'Yes, we unite on His name'
Solemnly assure and claim
We shall stay blessed
Even if life may be chased
Never part in any situation
Run the life smooth with strong bond and relation
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal

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I never met anybody in my life who says, I want to be a critic. People want to be a fireman, poet, novelist.
quote by Leslie Fiedler

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A novelist has a specific poetic license which also applies to his own life.
quote by Jerzy Kosinski

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These groups within a society can he distinguished according as to whether, like an army or an orchestra, they function as a single body; or whether they are united merely to defend their common interests and otherwise function as separate individuals.
quote by Herbert Read

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Institutions - government, churches, industries, and the like - have properly no other function than to contribute to human freedom; and in so far as they fail, on the whole, to perform this function, they are wrong and need reconstruction.
quote by Charles Horton Cooley

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That is, we believed, the supreme duty of the parent, who only was permitted to claim in some degree the priestly office and function, since it is his creative and protecting power which alone approaches the solemn function of Deity.
quote by Charles Eastman

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Machines built by human beings they will function correctly if we provide them with a very specific environment. But if that environment is changed, they won't function at all.
quote by Ralph Merkle

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Form and function are a unity, two sides of one coin. In order to enhance function, appropriate form must exist or be created.
quote by Ida P. Rolf

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