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if something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.

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
Life
Eyes
Eye
Often
Wells
Imaginary
Well
Closed
Real
Ones
Something
Easier
Things
Open

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Have you ever heard a blindfolded octopus unwrap a cellophane-covered bathtub?
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When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd even bothered.
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He paused again as a tear of longing rolled from cheek to lip with the sweet-salty taste of an old memory.
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It's bad enough wasting time without killing it.
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The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.
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What you can do is often simply a matter of what you will do.
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You see, to tall men I'm a midget, and to short men I'm a giant to the skinny ones I'm a fat man, and to the fat ones I'm a thin man.
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The Mathemagician nodded knowingly and stroked his chin several times. “You’ll find,” he remarked gently, “that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that’s hardly worth the effort.
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That's the way most everyone gets here. It's really quite simple: every time you decide something without having a good reason, you jump to Conclusions whether you like it or not. It's such an easy trip to make that I've been here hundreds of times.
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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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Infinity is a dreadfully poor place. They can never manage to make ends meet.
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You see, it's really quite simple. A simile is just a mode of comparison employing 'as' and 'like' to reveal the hidden character or essence of whatever we want to describe, and through the use of fancy, association, contrast, extension, or imagination, to enlarge our understanding or perception of human experience and observation.
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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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You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and not get wet.
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There are no wrong roads to anywhere.
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You see, years ago I was just an ordinary bee minding my own business, smelling flowers all day, and occasionally picking up part-time work in people's bonnets. Then one day I realized that I'd never amount to anything without an education and, being naturally adept at spelling, I decided that—
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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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What you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.
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Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens.
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