"Only a fool would refuse to enter a fool's paradise — when that's the only paradise he'll ever have a chance to enter."

Jessamyn West (writer)Literature See all quotes by Jessamyn West (writer) →

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“Jessamyn West at Encyclopaedia Britannica”

“I never meet anyone nowadays who admits to having had a happy childhood. Everyone appears to think happiness betokens a lack of sensitivity.”

“In my time and neighborhood there was only one standard by which a woman measured success: did some man want her?”

“In their sympathies, children feel nearer animals than adults. They frolic with animals, caress them, share with them feelings neither has words for. Have they ever stroked any adult with the love they bestow on a cat? Hugged any grownup with the ecstasy they feel when clasping a puppy?”

“We can love an honest rogue, but what is more offensive than a false saint?”

Resonant Thoughts

"He waited for the roll-call to end, reflecting on the likely booty attached to a dead American pilot. Soon enough, one of the Americans would be shot down into Lunghua Camp. Jim tried to decide which …"

— J. G. Ballard

Literature1930–2009

#life

"Young Ireland, the Catholic Party and its newspaper organs in Dublin are trying to do all the mischief they can. They are praising the mutineers, and calling upon the Irish to follow their example. I …"

— Henry Temple

Politics1739–1802

#art

"This is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war at all. This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies, Satan, would have his …"

— Rick Santorum

Politics1958

#power

"“Would our aristocracy like that a man of low caste or insignificant origin, though he be a B.A. or M.A., and have the requisite ability, should be in a position of authority above them and have power…"

— Syed Ahmed Khan

Philosophy1817–1898

#power