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Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.

John Ciardi

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John Ciardi
Age: 69 †
Born: 1916
Born: June 24
Died: 1986
Died: March 30
Journalist
Linguist
Poet
Science Fiction Writer
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Boston
Massachusetts
John Anthony Ciardi
Hope
Father
House
Prodigal
Keep
Prodigals
Nothing
Hopeful
Every
Dad
Time
Parent
Open

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I'm smiled out, talked out, quipped out, socialized so far from any being, I need the weight of mortal silences to get realized back into myself.
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Fermentation equals civilization.
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Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.
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A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students.
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A savage is simply a human organism that has not received enough news from the human race.
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Patience is the art of caring slowly.
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The constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.
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A university is a reading and discussion club. If students knew how to use the library, they wouldn't need the rest of the buildings. The faculty's job, in great part, is to teach students how to use a library in a living way. All a student should really need is access to the library and a place to sleep.
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The thing about cats, as you may find, Is that no one knows what they have in mind.
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Within a single scene, it seems to be unwise to have access to the inner reflections of more than one character. The reader generally needs a single character as the means of perception, as the character to whom the events are happening, as the character with whom he is to empathize in order to have the events of the writing happen to him.
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At the next vacancy for God, if I am elected, I shall forgive last the delicately wounded who, having been slugged no harder than anyone else, never got up again, neither to fight back, nor to finger their jaws in painful admiration.
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Fermentation and civilization are inseparable.
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The day will happen whether or not you get up.
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I have one head that wants to be good, And one that wants to be bad. And always, as soon as I get up, One of my heads is sad.
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Who could believe an ant in theory? A giraffe in blueprint? Ten thousand doctors of what's possible Could reason half the jungle out of being.
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The public library is the most dangerous place in town
John Ciardi
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It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their conviction. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their convictions.
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You have to fall in love with hanging around words.
John Ciardi
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A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
John Ciardi
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The reader deserves an honest opinion. If he doesn't deserve it, give it to him anyhow.
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