Quote

A slavish concern for the composition of words is the sign of a bankrupt intellect. Be gone, odious wasp! You smell of decayed syllables.

Norton Juster

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Norton Juster
Age: 91 †
Born: 1929
Born: June 2
Died: 2021
Died: March 8
Architect
Author
Novelist
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Composition
Sign
Wasp
Intellect
Decayed
Smell
Slavish
Concern
Wasps
Gone
Odious
Words
Bankrupt
Syllables

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We never choose which words to use, for as long as they mean what they mean to mean, we don’t care if they make sense or nonsense.
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Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you're going. Of course, some people never go beyond Expectations, but my job is to hurry them along whether they like it or not.
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Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life.
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And remember, also, added the Princess of Sweet Rhyme, that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.
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Everybody is so terribly sensitive about the things they know best.
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If you want sense, you'll have to make it yourself.
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There are good books and there are bad books, period, that's the distinction.
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Have you ever heard a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub?
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You must never feel badly about making mistakes.
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AHA! interrupted Officer Shrift, making another note in his little book. Just as I thought: boys are the cause of everything.
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You can't improve sound by having only silence. The problem is to use each at the proper time.
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And some looked even more like each other than they did like themselves.
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Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet.
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I think really good books can be read by anybody.
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What you can do is often simply a matter of what you will do.
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You may not see it now, said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way.
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...it's not just learning that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matters.
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Why not? That's a good reason for almost anything - a bit used perhaps, but still quite serviceable.
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There are no wrong roads to anywhere.
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But I suppose there's a lot to see everywhere, if only you keep your eyes open.
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