All Quotes

"Sola enim Geometria inter liberales disciplinar acriter exacuit ingenium, idoncumque reddit ad civitates exornandas in pace et in bello defendendas: caeteris enim paribus, ingenium quod exercitatum sit in Geometrica palestra, peculiare quoddam, et virile robur habere solet: praestabitque semper, et antecellet, circa studia architecturae, rei bellicae, nauticaeque, etc."

"Is it a surprise that into the vessel, in which the mercury has no inclination and no repugnance, not even the slightest, to being there, it should enter and should rise in a column high enough to make equilibrium with the weight of the external air which forces it up?"

"Many have argued that a vacuum does not exist, others claim it exists only with difficulty in spite of the repugnance of nature; I know of no one who claims it easily exists without any resistance from nature."

"If this same balance, even though corporeal, were considered to be not on the earth's surface but in the highest regions beyond the sun's sphere, then the threads, while still drawn to the centre of the earth, would be very much less convergent to each other, would be quasi-parallel. Let us imagine a mechanical balance transported beyond the starry balance [i.e., the constellation of that name] in the firmament, to an infinite distance. It will be understood by everybody that the suspension threads would no longer be convergent, but would be exactly parallel. ... The Geometer has the special privilege to carry out, by abstraction, all constructions [operationes] by means of the intellect. Who, then, would wish to prevent me from freely considering figures hanging on a balance imagined to be at an infinite distance beyond the confines of the world?"

"Anyone who is passionate about what they do will have a better chance of connecting with future generations than those who simply follow transient trends. At least their work will have a distinctive character, and this is what people respond to, I believe."

"Fashion is often about trends, whereas style is about more eternal qualities."

"Cretins are never elegant. Intelligent people, on the other hand, even with two rags on, dress with logic, so they are always elegant."

"I'd love for us all to slow down the cycle of collections, and produce less, but of better quality. It seems that designers are locked into a system of renewal that, for me, often seems arbitrary."

"The difference between style and fashion is quality."

"Elegance is not about being noticed, but about being remembered."

"Fashion is what is suggested and often better avoided, [while] style is what each person has and must preserve throughout their life."

"s throve at the s of kings, and sometimes their advice was taken even by him whose very act was held to be under special divine direction. It would be a great mistake to think that the astrologer was maintained for the amusement of king and court, like the . His utterances were taken most seriously, and the principles of his art were so generally accepted as to become the commonplaces of the thought and the conversation of daily life. In 1305, for instance, who certain s urged to return to Rome, they reminded him that every planet was most powerful in its own house."

"Instead of describing the personal appearance of the general and statesman, , in his biography of that worthy, Plutarch referred his readers to a bronze statue of him at Rome opposite the . But to-day the statue has disappeared, and the same is true of most of the manners and customs of the distant past, which were once too familiar for historians to think it worth while to mention them to their readers."

"There is no more familiar, and possibly no more important, figure in the history of Latin learning during the twelfth century that Peter Abelard who flourished at its beginning. His career, as set forth in his own words, illustrated educational conditions in at that time. His brilliant success as a lecturer on logic and theology at Paris reveals the in embryo. His pioneer work, ', set the fashion for the standard method of presentation employed in ."

"Many accept the date, July 19, 4241, for the origin of the . The s had a day of twenty-four hours, a month of thirty days, and a year of three hundred and sixty-five days made up of twelve months and five extra days which were regarded as unlucky. The division of the month into three ten-day periods seems traceable to the . Their year began on what for us would be July 19, when the star or first appeared on the eastern horizon simultaneously with the rising sun. This was furthermore about the time of the which meant so much to the prosperity of the land."

"Abnormalities must never be normal, we want what is right, not what is wrong and we need our indifferences to become our strength."

"Marriage is another school where you can never graduate but with patience, prayer, endurance and cooperation of my husband, I am where I am today."

"A teacher that does not eat, there is nothing he wants to teach. Even if you force him to go to class, there is nothing he can teach the students. You can’t work on an empty stomach."

"When I was a child I saw the sea burn. How often I have thought that sentence but with no page to set it on, no place to make it mine. As I sit and write, my words fly off the page. I think of geese lumbering into the wind. Or paper kites men have held in their hands, stretched taut over wind, over water, lit by the half darkness. But the darkness turns into barbed wire. In reaching for the past I am forced to crawl through it."

"It seems to me that in its rhythms the poem, the artwork, can incorporate scansion of the actual, the broken steps, the pauses, the blunt silences, the brutal explosions. So that what is pieced together is a work that exists as an object in the world but also, in its fearful consonance, its shimmering stretch, allows the world entry. I think of it as a recasting that permits our lives to be given back to us, fragile, precarious."

"Migrancy, a central theme for many of us in this shifting world, forces a recasting of how the body is grasped, how language works. Then, too, at the heart of what happens in these sometimes jagged reflections of mine, is the question of postcolonial memory. ("Overture: Another Voice")"

"How can I make a durable past in art, a past that is not merely nostalgic, but stands in vibrant relation to the present? This is the question that haunts me. (beginning of "A Durable Past")"

"Through speech, the entanglement of thoughts and feelings might be unwound, the truth permitted to shine, however fitfully. (beginning of "Erupting Words")"

"The act of writing, it seems to me, makes up a shelter, allows space to what would otherwise be hidden, crossed out, mutilated. Sometimes writing can work toward a reparation, making a sheltering space for the mind. Yet it feeds off ruptures, tears in what might otherwise seem a seamless, oppressive fabric. more?? (from "Piecemeal Shelters")"

"As the condition of migration and cultural displacement comes to be seen as a metaphor of our times, Meena Alexander's poignant and perceptive book is a welcome addition. Here, the postcolonial condition is addressed in its variety and its particularity: as fiction, criticism, personal reflection. This is a compelling, subtly crafted performance."

"At once violent, erotic, and somber, Manhattan Music is infused with the power of myth and poetry and the inner life, the electric intersection of characters who illuminate for the reader both the Old World and the New."

"Meena Alexander sings of countries, foreign and familiar places where the heart and spirit live, and places for which one needs a passport and visas. Her voice guides us far away and back home. The reader sees her visions and remembers and is uplifted."

"Meena Alexander has written a fierce new complexity into questions of identity, diaspora, tradition, language, and community. This is a powerful fusion of poetic vision and critical thinking."

"Meena Alexander's acute poetic sensibility makes this memoir a joy to read. At the same time, the writing is grounded enough to evoke the earthier loam of violence and reality."

"In concrete imagery and intellectual passion, Alexander is full of surprises. These are haunting texts of hybrid America."

"[Whatever it is, it presents Dodger's attention. He sniffs the air, but runs across to the boy]"

"[Dodger has chosen. There is nothing Eva can do]"

"[Fighting back tears, Eva slowly gets up and walks back to Amy and Peter. She takes their hands]"

"Amy: What's going on?"

"Eva: That's Dodger's real dad. I let Dodger choose, and he decided to go live with him. Can we go home now?"

"[Amy nods sympathetically and gives her a hug. They begin walking out of the park]"

"Peter: Perhaps you can work something out. A joint-custody agreement..."

"[Eva walks slowly between them, head down, feeling her heart break. She tries to put on a brave front where she won't weep]"

"Eva: Now I know why he liked my hat. I mean, I understand. It's only fair, Dodger was his first. If I lost him, I assure you want somebody to give him back to me."

"[The brave front collapses. Eva sobs openly, feeling the pain]"

"Eva: I just want Dodger to be happy. I'm going to think of him and love him for the rest of my life."

"[But Dodger isn't happy at all]"

"[He has eaten the dead tree lizard out of Mark's hand, but now he wants to return to Eva. Only something is stopping him––the leash Mark has snapped on him. Straining with the collar, Dodger finds and then unhooks the clasp. He turns and waves a farewell to Mark before he scampers off]"

"[Can he catch up to Eva in time?]"

"[He races across the grass, screeching louder]"

"[Eva and her parents are up ahead. As soon as she hears Dodger's lament, she whips around and catches him in midair. He lands on her neck and hugs her tight. Shrieking for joy, Eva hugs him back even harder. Dodger has chosen her, and they'll never be parted again]"

"[Eva is emotional and proud]"

"[Hesitant as well, but mostly proud]"

"[Today is a red-letter day for her, and she wants it to go perfectly]"

"[She is in her classroom at school, standing among the open door. All eyes in the room are focused on her. Soon they'll see something that will really make them sit up and take notice]"