Quotations by:
    Richardson, James


Desire’s most seductive promise is not pleasure but change, not that you might possess your object but that you might become the one who belongs with it.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 2 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 21-Sep-21 | Last updated 21-Sep-21
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Our lives get complicated because complexity is so much simpler than simplicity.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 7 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 14-Sep-21 | Last updated 14-Sep-21
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Everyone loves the Revolution. We only disagree on whether it has occurred.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 8 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 28-Sep-21 | Last updated 28-Sep-21
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The wound hurts less than your desire to wound me.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 18 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 5-Oct-21 | Last updated 5-Oct-21
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Writing a book is like doing a huge jigsaw puzzle, unendurably slow at first, almost self-propelled at the end. Actually, it’s more like doing a puzzle from a box in which several puzzles have been mixed. Starting out, you can’t tell whether a piece belongs to the puzzle at hand, or one you’ve already done, or will do in ten years, or will never do.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 25 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 12-Oct-21 | Last updated 12-Oct-21
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You would think we would envy only what we love, for being loveable. But no, we envy those the world loves, because we care less for being loveable than being loved.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 37 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 19-Oct-21 | Last updated 19-Oct-21
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A faith is dead when no one can think of a heresy.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 40 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 26-Oct-21 | Last updated 26-Oct-21
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Despair says It’s all the same. Happiness knows there are even a thousand Despairs.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 50 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 2-Nov-21 | Last updated 2-Nov-21
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The world is not what anyone wished for, but it’s what everyone wished for.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #11 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 16-Nov-21 | Last updated 16-Nov-21
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So many times I’ve made myself stupid with the fear of being outsmarted.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #17 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 23-Nov-21 | Last updated 23-Nov-21
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Think of all the smart people who are made stupid by flaws of character. The finest watch isn’t fine long when used as a hammer.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #19 (Spring 1999)
 
Added on 30-Nov-21 | Last updated 30-Nov-21
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The mistakes I made from weakness do not embarrass me nearly so much as those I made insisting on my strength.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #27 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 7-Dec-21 | Last updated 7-Dec-21
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Truth is like the flu. I fight it off, but it changes in other bodies and returns in a form to which I am not immune.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #49 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 9-Nov-21 | Last updated 9-Nov-21
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There are silences harder to take back than words.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, # 3 (Spring 1999)
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Added on 3-Aug-21 | Last updated 3-Aug-21
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The man who sticks to his plan will become what he used to want to be.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten Second Essays, #349 (2001)
 
Added on 11-Jun-15 | Last updated 11-Jun-15
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Harder to laugh at the comedy if it’s about you, harder to cry at the tragedy if it isn’t.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)
 
Added on 18-Sep-15 | Last updated 18-Sep-15
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Even at the movies, we laugh together, we weep alone.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)
 
Added on 25-Sep-15 | Last updated 25-Sep-15
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Every life is allocated one hundred seconds of genius. They might be enough, if we could just be sure which ones they are.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)
 
Added on 16-Oct-15 | Last updated 16-Oct-15
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Laziness is the sin most willingly confessed to, since it implies talents greater than have yet appeared.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)
 
Added on 23-Oct-15 | Last updated 23-Oct-15
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When my friend does something stupid, he is just my friend doing something stupid. When I do something stupid, I have deeply betrayed myself.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)
 
Added on 13-Nov-15 | Last updated 13-Nov-15
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Back then I wanted to be right about my estimate of my abilities. Now I want to be wrong.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)
 
Added on 20-Nov-15 | Last updated 20-Nov-15
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The cynic suffers the form of faith without love. Incredulity is his piety.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001) # 16
 
Added on 11-Dec-15 | Last updated 11-Dec-15
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I sell my time to get enough money to buy it back.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001) #151
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Added on 20-Jul-21 | Last updated 20-Jul-21
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There are crimes I don’t commit mainly because I don’t want to find out I could.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays #124 (2001)
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Added on 13-Jul-21 | Last updated 13-Jul-21
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You’ve never said anything as stupid as what people thought you said.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 5 (2001)
 
Added on 4-Sep-15 | Last updated 4-Sep-15
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The road reaches every place, the short cut only one.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 1 (2001)
 
Added on 14-Aug-15 | Last updated 14-Aug-15
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Those who demand consideration for their sacrifices were making investments, not sacrifices.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 2 (2001)
 
Added on 21-Aug-15 | Last updated 21-Aug-15
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Despair says, I cannot lift that weight. Happiness says, I do not have to.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 4 (2001)
 
Added on 28-Aug-15 | Last updated 28-Aug-15
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If a couple could see themselves twenty years later they might not recognize their love, but they would recognize their argument.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 20 (2001)
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Added on 11-Sep-15 | Last updated 14-Sep-21
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All stones are broken stones.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 23 (2001)
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Added on 7-Sep-21 | Last updated 7-Sep-21
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Of all the ways to avoid living, perfect discipline is the most admired.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 24 (2001)
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Added on 24-Aug-21 | Last updated 24-Aug-21
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Value yourself according to the burdens you carry, and you will find everything a burden.

Richardson - burdens - wist_info quote

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 52 (2001)
 
Added on 4-Dec-15 | Last updated 4-Dec-15
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Patience is not very different from courage. It just takes longer.

James Richardson - courage patience

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 54 (2001)
 
Added on 9-Oct-15 | Last updated 3-Jun-16
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God help my neighbors if I loved them as I love myself.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 64 (2001)
 
Added on 18-Dec-15 | Last updated 18-Dec-15
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The great consolation of righteousness is never having to worry whether you’re a bore.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 85 (2001)
 
Added on 15-Jan-16 | Last updated 15-Jan-16
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A belief is a question we have put aside so we can get on with what we believe we have to do.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #100 (2001)
 
Added on 8-Jan-16 | Last updated 8-Jan-16
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The worst part of fear is not knowing what to do. And often you have only to ask What would I do if I were not afraid? to know what to do, and do it, and not be afraid.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #121 (2001)
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Added on 22-Jun-21 | Last updated 22-Jun-21
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To think yourself incapable of crime is one failure of the imagination. To think yourself capable of all crimes is another.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #122 (2001)
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Added on 29-Jun-21 | Last updated 29-Jun-21
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The best way to know our faults is to notice which ones you accuse others of.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #195 (2001)
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Added on 17-Aug-21 | Last updated 17-Aug-21
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What you fear to believe, your children will believe.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #340 (2001)
 
Added on 2-Oct-15 | Last updated 2-Oct-15
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Why would we worry what others think of us if their opinions did not change us?

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #387 (2001)
 
Added on 10-Aug-21 | Last updated 10-Aug-21
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The mind is like a well-endowed museum, only a small fraction of its holdings on view at any one time.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #407 (2001)
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Added on 27-Jul-21 | Last updated 27-Jul-21
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If you do everything for one reason, then all you have done will become meaningless when the reason does.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, #41 (2001)
 
Added on 6-Nov-15 | Last updated 6-Nov-15
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