You can't allus have things like they are in poetry. Poetry ain't what you'd call truth. There ain't enough room in the verses.
Singer's commentary, The Ballad of Sam Bass
the halt, the lame, half-made creatures that we are
Robert K. Greanleaf, Servant Leadership
Prophet, Aeneid
...an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a pile of stones is a house
Henri Poincaré, Ch. IX: Hypotheses in Physics
As Estha stirred the thick jam he thought Two Thoughts and the Two Thoughts he thought were these:
a) Anything can happen to anyone.
and
b) It is best to be prepared.
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
Nam eloquentiam quae admirationem non habet nullam iudico
Cicero, Letter to Brutus
Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our rafts are checked… the human individual lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use... only very exceptional individuals push to their extremes.
William James, The Energies of Men
Let me tell you something, brother. The notes are right underneath your fingers, baby. You just gotta take the time out to play the right notes.
Ray Charles