A Quote by Thornton Wilder

But such occasions of excellence became less and less frequent. As her technique became sounder, [her] sincerity became less necessary.

Thornton Wilder

Quote Topics

Became Excellence Frequent Her Less Necessary Occasions Sincerity Sounder Technique

Quote Author

Thornton Wilder
American - Novelist
April 17, 1897 - December 7, 1975

In my youth, I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

Benjamin Franklin

As my prayer became more attentive and inward, I had less and less to say. I finally became completely silent... This is how it is. To pray does not mean to listen to oneself speaking. Prayer involves becoming silent, and being silent, and waiting until God is heard.

Soren Kierkegaard

Where people work longest and with least leisure, they buy the fewest goods. No towns were so poor as those of England where the people, from children up, worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day. They were poor because these overworked people soon wore out -- they became less and less valuable as workers. Therefore, they earned less and less and could buy less and less.

Henry Ford

I slowly became less famous and less successful. That was very difficult.

Jimmy Somerville

I found I had less and less to say, until finally, I became silent, and began to listen. I discovered in the silence, the voice of God

Soren Kierkegaard

I was a choir boy at school, then when the choir became less cool, I became a kind of rock star in my own world.

Harry Hadden-Paton

But the more successful I became as an actor, the less control I had. I became more of a puppet, really. It certainly felt like that, at least.

Kathy Burke

I wondered a little why God was such a useless thing. It seemed a waste of time to have him. After that he became less and less, until he was... nothingness.

Frances Farmer

Though the Jazz Age continued it became less and less an affair of youth. The sequel was like a children's party taken over by the elders.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The very effect of the education they were given... was to make men think; and, thinking, they became less and less satisfied with the miserable pays they received.

John Grierson

I understand the human instinct to want to create a nest and possess things, to show them off, but for me personally, it became less and less interesting.

Nicolas Berggruen

Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for [Augustus] to discover that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much less to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the possession more precarious and less beneficial.

Edward Gibbon

This rose became a bandanna, which became a house, which became infused with all passion, which became a hideaway, which became yes I would like to have dinner, which became hands, which became lands, shores, beaches, natives on the stones, staring and wild beasts in the trees, chasing the hats of lost hunters, and all this deserves a tone.

Kenneth Koch

I was raised in a deeply Catholic family. There was a sense that everything we were doing was to prepare ourselves for an afterlife in heaven. In my teenage years, that became less important to me. Eventually, that turned into agnosticism, which became atheism.

David Lowery

I had always been scrupulously careful to avoid the smallest suggestion of infant indoctrination, which I think is ultimately responsible for much of the evil in the world. Others, less close to her, showed no such scruples, which upset me, as I very much wanted her, as I want all children, to make up her own mind freely when she became old enough to do so. I would encourage her to think, without telling her what to think.