Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. – William Hazlitt, The English Comic Writers, 1819
Man talks about everything, and he talks about everything as though the understanding of everything were all inside him. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
The human mind cannot create anything. It produces nothing until after having been fertilized by experience and meditation; its acquisitions are the gems of its production. – Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldnt write anything without hope in it. – Oscar Hammerstein II
