A Quote by John Barth
You don't reach Serendib by plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose your bearings... serendipitously.
Related Quotes
Sometimes good countries are so traumatized by events that they lose their bearings and embrace bad leaders.
Even the sober desire for progress is sustained by faith—faith in the intrinsic goodness of human nature and in the omnipotence of science. It is a defiant and blasphemous faith, not unlike that held by the men who set out to build a "city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven" and who believed that "nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
...we need to stop plotting the course and instead just land the plane on our plans to make a difference by getting to the "do" part of faith.
A nominal Christian often discovers in suffering that his faith has been in his church, denomination, or family tradition, but not Christ. As he faces evil and suffering, he may lose his faith. But that’s actually a good thing. I have sympathy for people who lose their faith, but any faith lost in suffering wasn’t a faith worth keeping.
Plotting is like sex. Plotting is about desire and satisfaction, anticipation and release. You have to arouse your reader's desire to know what happens, to unravel the mystery, to see good triumph. You have to sustain it, keep it warm, feed it, just a little bit, not too much at a time, as your story goes on. That's called suspense. It can bring desire to a frenzy, in which case you are in a good position to bring off a wonderful climax.
Instead of believing the world is plotting to do you harm, choose to believe the world is plotting to do you good. Instead of seeing every difficult challenging event as a negative, see it for what it could be - something that is meant to enrich you, empower you, or advance your causes.
You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential.
I hate to lose time on the set. On the set, you have to go at a good pace, because the clock is your master. For that reason, I have to know exactly what I'm trying to get beforehand.
A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - never likely to reach home port. To us comes the signal: chart your course, set your sail, position your rudder, and proceed.
When you set goals and you reach those goals in mid-August and early September, there's nothing to look forward to. You sort of lose your drive.
Objectivism is basically the same thing as faith-based science or for that matter faith-based foreign policy, where you start out with the assumption "We are good, they are evil," or "We know what is good and right and we know what is wrong," so all questions are settled in advance by a set of ideological prejudices.
Don't aim too high, but set yourself a goal which is a little bit out of your reach. You might achieve it and then you can set a new goal.
All you need to know about plotting is twofold. 1. Give your characters goals. 2. Don't let them reach those goals.
I try to work out as much as I can and, of course, eat healthily. Drinking a lot of water, sweating during your work out is good for you, and of course, chasing after your kids!
The danger is not to set your goal too high and fail to reach it. It’s to set your goal too low and reach it
And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job.
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