Death is the black backing on the mirror that allows us to see anything at all. Saul Bellow More Quotes by Saul Bellow More Quotes From Saul Bellow A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. Saul Bellow freedomfearinspirational You can spend the entire second half of your life recovering from the mistakes of the first half. Saul Bellow halfmistakeinspirational Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door. Saul Bellow doorsmemoriesneeds A man is only as good as what he loves. Saul Bellow funny-valentines-dayinspirationallove In every community there is a class of people profoundly dangerous to the rest. I don't mean the criminals. For them we have punitive sanctions. I mean the leaders. Invariably the most dangerous people seek the power. While in the parlors of indignation the right-thinking citizen brings his heart to a boil. (p. 51) Saul Bellow heartmeanthinking When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. Saul Bellow humoradvicefunny I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. Saul Bellow eyeprayerart Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone. Saul Bellow happinessbookpeople In Los Angeles all the loose objects in the country were collected, as if America had been tilted and everything that wasn't tightly screwed down had slid into Southern California. Saul Bellow californiacountryamerica In an age of madness, to expect to be untouched by madness is a form of madness. But the pursuit of sanity can be a form of madness, too Saul Bellow madcrazyage Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is. Saul Bellow unexpectedbeautylife Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps. Saul Bellow uprisingmotivationalinspirational A fool can throw a stone in a pond that 100 wise men can not get out. Saul Bellow pondswisemen Readiness to answer all questions is the infallible sign of stupidity. Saul Bellow readinessstupidityanswers Everyone tries to create a world he can live in, and what he can't use he often can't see. But the real world is already created, and if your fabrication doesn't correspond, then even if you feel noble and insist on there being something better than what people call reality, that better something needn't try to exceed what, in its actuality, since we know it so little, may be very surprising. If a happy state of things, surprising; if miserable or tragic, no worse than what we invent. Saul Bellow often-canrealpeople Towards the end of your life you have something like a pain schedule to fill out - a long schedule like a federal document, only it's your pain schedule. Endless categories. First, physical causes - like arthritis, gallstones, menstrual cramps. New category, injured vanity, betrayal, swindle, injustice. But the hardest items of all have to do with love. The question then is: So why does everybody persist? If love cuts them up so much. Saul Bellow betrayalcuttingpain You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write. Saul Bellow changeinspiringinspirational Boredom is an instrument of social control. Power is the power to impose boredom, to command stasis, to combine this stasis with anguish. The real tedium, deep tedium, is seasoned with terror and with death. Saul Bellow boredomrealsocial All human accomplishment has this same origin, identically. Imagination is a force of nature. Is this not enough to make a person full of ecstasy? Imagination, imagination, imagination! It converts to actual. It sustains, it alters, it redeems! Saul Bellow accomplishmentimaginationenough People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned. Saul Bellow readingbookpeople
