Quote

It's all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses.

Charles de Lint

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Charles de Lint
Age: 72
Born: 1951
Born: December 22
Musician
Novelist
Poet
Writer
Samuel M. Key
Matter
Huge
Whispers
Work
Present
Whispering
Life
Small
Expecting
World
Attention
Paying
Moment
Awake
Inspirational
Kindness
Moments
Awareness
Kindnesses
Seems
Magic
Payoff

More quotes by Charles de Lint

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... he had understood, better than anyone ... the beauty that grew out of the simple knowledge that everything, no matter how small or large it might be, was a perfect example of what it was.
Charles de Lint
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Even, she thought, even without the gift of witchsight, there was more beauty to be found in the world than could ever be snared in language or music. And with the sight.
Charles de Lint
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I was a misfit, but I think most teenagers feel that way. I don't care if you were a popular jock or the kid who spent his lunch hours in a stairwell reading a book, we all seem to have dealt with insecurities of one kind or another throughout our high school years.
Charles de Lint
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Most children are given far too much praise for their early drawings, so much so that they rarely learn the ability to refine their first crude efforts the way their early attempts at language are corrected.
Charles de Lint
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When one of my characters becomes aware of a magical element, it might be because the world is wider than we assume it to be, but it might also be a reminder to pay attention to what is here already, hidden only because it's been forgotten.
Charles de Lint
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I believe in a different kind of magic. The kind we make between each other.
Charles de Lint
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Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.
Charles de Lint
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I'm not Chinese. I thrive in interesting times.
Charles de Lint
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I'm not as trusting as people think I am. Sure, I see the best in people, but that doesn't mean it's really there.
Charles de Lint
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We end up stumbling our way through the forest, never seeing all the unexpected and wonderful possibilities and potentials because we're looking for the idea of a tree, instead of appreciating the actual trees in front of us.
Charles de Lint
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Magic lies in between things, between the day and the night, between yellow and blue, between any two things.
Charles de Lint
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It's not all about getting your own way. Sometimes there's a bigger picture.
Charles de Lint
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There's more to life than just surviving . . . but . . . sometimes just surviving is all you get
Charles de Lint
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The past scampers like an alley cat through the present, leaving the paw prints of memories scattered helter-skelter.
Charles de Lint
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Music’s the soundtrack of my life and has been since I was a teenager. There’s always music. If I’m not playing it, I’m listening to it. With my writing... sometimes it inspires a story, sometimes it highlights something I’m working on, sometimes it simply helps me stay in the narrative mood.
Charles de Lint
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As children, we come into the world with a natural desire to both speak and draw. Society makes sure that we learn language properly, right from the beginning, but art is treated as a gift of innate genius, something we either have or don't.
Charles de Lint
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Writing music uses a whole different process that involves a lot of noodling and just seeing what comes.
Charles de Lint
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Our lives are stories, and the stories we have to give to each other are the most important. No one has a story too small and all are of equal stature. We each tell them in different ways, through different mediums—and if we care about each other, we'll take the time to listen.
Charles de Lint
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I think you're all mad. But that's part and parcel of being an artistic genius, isn't it?
Charles de Lint
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A body of work may be reviled - mostly by those who have no knowledge of its workings - and yet still carry elements of what can only be considered eternal truths.
Charles de Lint