John Walcott Quotes

Impossibility is a dictionary word.

Why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?

But they are useless. They can only give you answers

There's no getting blood out of a turnip.

It is, we believe, Idle to hope that the simple stirrup-pump Can extinguish hell.

There's no possible way you can get what you want.

It was as helpful as throwing a drowning man both ends of the rope.

Nothing I can say or devise, and nothing anybody else can say or devise, is going to be perfect.

It is futile to talk too much about the past... like trying to make birth control retroactive.

A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections.

We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.

To govern Italy is not only impossible, it is useless.

Worst case scenario, nothing I do has any value or purpose, but if I can make someone laugh, I'm at least as useful as a piece of quiche would be.

As failures go, attempting to recall the past is like claiming to grasp the meaning of existence. Both make one feel like a baby clutching at a basketball: one's palms keep sliding off.

I can't conquer all the world at the same time.

It's impossible to have zero defects.

Life is a continued struggle to be what we are not, and to do what we cannot.

In the perfect world every source could be identified, but like the man said, "It's not a perfect world."

Perfection is an impossible destination

And were your back as broad as heaven, and your purse full of gold, and did your compassion reach from here to hell itself, there is nothing you can do.

It is impossible to do anything for anyone.

The crows maintain that a single crow could destroy the heavens. There is no doubt of that, but it proves nothing against the heavens, for heaven simply means: the impossibility of crows.

Why do you beat the air and run in vain? Every occupation has a purpose, obviously. Tell me then, what is the purpose of all the activity of the world? Answer, I challenge you! It is vanity of vanity: all is vanity.

The worst part a man can suffer is to have insight into much and power over nothing.

The Earth turns to Gold, in the hands of the wise.