Quote of the Day/Week-Dorothy Parker

Today's quote of the day is from Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), who was born in Long Branch, NJ. We had wrongfully assumed that there was a characterization of her in the Woody Allen film "Midnight in Paris," but as it turns out, that is not the case!

But, she was portrayed by actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (pictured here) in the Alan Rudolph film "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."

Parker was the subject of the notorious Hollywood blacklist, that took place in the late 1940s and the early 1950s. In addition to being an author, critic and a poet, Parker was a screenwriter who wrote the original version of "A Star is Born" (1937).

Here is her quote:

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

http://www.dorothyparker.com

Quote of the Day/Week- James Joyce

Although Ireland has had what can be objectively qualified as a dismal Euro 2012 Cup with big losses to Croatia (3-1) and Spain (4-0), they are still among the 16 countries in the tournament so hence we are quoting a famous Irishman.

That person is the legendary novelist and poet James Joyce (1882-1941) whose novel "Ulysses" has been considered to be among the best ever written in the English novel.

There is also a statue of Joyce in Dublin.

Here is his quote:

"Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art; it is the part that schools cannot recognize."

http://visitireland.com

www.jamesjoyce.ie

Quotes of the Day/Week-Gwendolyn Brooks

Today, we continue quoting famous poets from around the world with a quip from the great African-American poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) whose poem "We Real Cool" (1963) is one of my personal favorites.

Brooks was born in Topeka, Kan. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950.

The poet was known for ballads, sonnets and free verse poets.

Here is her quote:

"Art hurts. Art urges voyages_ and it is easier to stay at home."

As a lark, we are telling Blogger that we are blogging from the Wild Zone Saloon in Nashville, Tenn., we are not even in that time zone!http://www.poemhunter.org
www.wildhorsesaloon.com

Quote of the Day.Week- Gil Scott-Heron

We are featuring jazz singer and poet Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) today as we continue to quote famous people who died in 2011. Scott-Heron died on May 27 at age 62.

The Chicago-native was best-known for his song/poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (1970) which features many pop culture references, including ones to Richard Nixon, Johnny Cash, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood and even the famed American cartoon character Bullwinkle, which was popular in the 1960s.

Here is his quote:

"All the dreams you show up in are not your own."

Quote of the Week- Fyodor Dostovesky

Today's quote of the day comes from another Russian (well, the Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut whom we quoted last week is actually from Belarus) as we continue to quote famous Russians this month as the famous October revolution happened in that country 'a few years back.'

And, today, we go with a quip from Fyodor Dostovesky (1821-1881) who penned "Crime and Punishment," "The Idiot" and "The Brothers Karamazov."

Here is his quote:

"Beauty is mysterious and as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man."

Quotes of the Week- Langston Hughes

We are always looking for new people to quote from all the time. But, ultimately, there are always some people we come back to time and time again which means risking the possibility that we have posted the same quote at some juncture before (this particular blog has been around for almost four years now).

One of those people is the great poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967). Today, we found out that he was born just two weeks after another one of my favorite poets Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963) of Turkey who lived much of his later life in exile for political reasons. Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, and he died in New York. February 1st is his birthday.

We learned this week that he originally went to Columbia University to study engineering, but outraged his family by pursuing writing poetry instead.

Hughes was a political figure himself as he often wrote about the many injustices that African-Americans dealt with during his lifetime. His work also inspired other literary figures, and he deservedly had his image on a postage stamp several years ago.

Here is our quote from this poetic genius:

"Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."