Advice to children crossing the street: Damn the lights. Watch the cars. The lights ain't never killed nobody.
—Jackie "Moms" Mabley
Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
—Robert Fulghum
Examine what is said, not him who speaks.
—Arab Proverb
I am an artist… I am here to live out loud.
—Emile Zola
Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness had before concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty.
—Samuel Johnson in The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.
—Gertrude Stein
One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature, for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us, and even the smallest ant may wish to communicate with man.
—Black Elk
Fate. She'd never been a big believer in things like that, had always believed that solid decisions and hard work were what paid off. And they had. But, really, it was getting to the point where it felt like the universe was screaming at her to pay attention.
—Bella Andre in Can't Help Falling in Love
That's the motivation of an artist—to seek attention of some kind.
—James Taylor
This is health: to have a body functioning so perfectly that when its few simple needs are met it never calls attention to its own existence.
—Bertha Stuart Dyment
The true art of memory is the art of attention.
—Samuel Johnson
Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.
—Soren Kierkegaard
Everyone is a bore to someone. That is unimportant. The thing to avoid is being a bore to oneself.
—Gerald Brenan