We cannot guess the outcome of our actions... Which is why our actions must always be acceptable in themselves, and not as strategies. Carolyn Heilbrun More Quotes by Carolyn Heilbrun More Quotes From Carolyn Heilbrun People who are genuinely involved in life, not just living a routine they've contrived to protect them from disaster, always seem to have more demanded of them than they can easily take on. Carolyn Heilbrun disaster routine people Nostalgia is a dangerous emotion, both because it is powerless to act in the real world, and because it glides so easily into hatred and resentment against those who have taken our Eden from us. Carolyn Heilbrun eden taken real One cannot make up stories; one can only retell in new ways the stories one has already heard. Carolyn Heilbrun heard stories way Thinking about profound social change, conservatives always expect disaster, while revolutionaries confidently anticipate utopia. Both are wrong. Carolyn Heilbrun revolutionary profound thinking The compulsion to find a lover and husband in a single person has doomed more women to misery than any other illusion. Carolyn Heilbrun marriage husband lovers That is the point of quotations. One can use another's words to be insulting. Carolyn Heilbrun quotations use-it-or-lose-it insulting In former days, everyone found the assumption of innocence so easy; today we find fatally easy the assumption of guilt. Carolyn Heilbrun guilt justice today Cynic' is the sentimentalist's name for the realist. Carolyn Heilbrun realist cynicism names one sank into the ancient sin of anomie when challenges failed. Carolyn Heilbrun boredom sin challenges Quoting, like smoking, ... is a dirty habit to which I am devoted. But then ... I am a professor of English literature; it is an occupational hazard. Carolyn Heilbrun hazards smoking dirty It's hard to be happy, and safe, and applauded in a miserable world. Carolyn Heilbrun safe life world New York is not like London, a now-and-then place to many people. You can either not live in New York or not live anyplace else. One is either a lover or hater. Carolyn Heilbrun london new-york people as the years go on a sense of deep patience comes over one; one seems to know the virtue of ripeness, and the danger of rushing events. Carolyn Heilbrun rushing patience years Shifting problems is the first rule for a long and pleasant life. Carolyn Heilbrun shifting long firsts Quoting, like smoking, is a dirty habit to which I am devoted. Carolyn Heilbrun naughty marijuana dirty Is there any vanity greater than the vanity of those who believe themselves without it? Carolyn Heilbrun vanity greater believe Everyone likes to talk shop, which is the most interesting talk in the world, in the beginning. Carolyn Heilbrun work world interesting What marks a writer is this: until she - or he, of course - writes down whatever happened, turns it into a story, it hasn't really happened, it hasn't shape, form, reality. Carolyn Heilbrun stories writing reality ... success always worries academics, when it moves into the popular world. Carolyn Heilbrun worry world moving maturity ... is letting things happen. Carolyn Heilbrun letting-things-happen maturity acceptance