Gently Quotes

My job as an editor is to gently prod the attention of the audience to look at various parts of the frame. And that – I do that by manipulating how and where I cut and what succession of images I work with.

The process of repeating a rhythm while it gently evolves has an incredible effect on the brain, or on mine anyway.

A habit leads a man so gently in the beginning that he does not perceive he is led – with what silken threads and down what pleasant avenues it leads him! By and by, the soft silk threads become iron chains, and the pleasant avenues Avernus!

God works powerfully, but for the most part gently and gradually.

Touch us gently, Time! Let us glide adown thy stream, Gently, – as we sometimes glide Through a quiet dream!

The biggest mistake you can make is assuming that creativity will hit you all at once and the muse will carry you to the end of the book on feather wings while ‘Foster the People’ plays gently in the background. Storytelling is work. Pleasurable work, usually, but it is work.

I don’t know how to put this gently, but I’m trying to tackle the biggest question of all, which is the God question.

Ultimately, I’m a fan of music. I describe writing music sometimes as hieroglyphics, like, you know, excavating, gently brushing off these artifacts and discovering the song underneath it all. It seems as if it is already written in it.

Old age treats freelance writers pretty gently.

You have to lead people gently toward what they already know is right.

The ‘National Suit Drive’ collects gently used professional attire, but what it’s really collecting is inspiration and a chance for men to feel empowered as they head into their next job interview.

Trotsky rises to give me his hand, then sits at his desk, gently allowing his regard to light on my person.

How gently rock yon poplars high Against the reach of primrose sky With heaven’s pale candles stored.

I make it a rule always to believe compliments implicitly for five minutes, and to simmer gently for twenty more.

I think life’s a bit of what you make it and a little smidgen of you being the jellyfish, and the tide’s just gently helping you along.

Whenever I’m teaching teenagers, I always try to treat them, like, a little bit more gently but the same that I treat adults.

I was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish household. I don’t think I ever had a single discussion with my parents about faith. It was just something gently imposed.

Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife – Agnes – and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore.

I believe that we should, on biblical grounds, tell all parents of mentally disabled children that God loves their children, regrets terribly that they are disabled, and will, when they die, carry them gently into a heavenly life where every person is forever whole.

Polo drifts gently in and out of fashion.

I live very gently.

A man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams.

One of the surest evidences of friendship that one individual can display to another is telling him gently of a fault. If any other can excel it, it is listening to such a disclosure with gratitude, and amending the error.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

Somehow I seem to have been gently bypassed as a serious actor.

My first draft is always way too long; my books start out with delusions of ‘War and Peace’ – and must be gently disabused. My editor is brilliant at taking me to the point where I do all the necessary cutting on my own. I like to say she’s a midwife rather than a surgeon.

Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.

I remember the day of my baptism very vividly. I was baptized in the baptismal font in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Those who were being baptized put on white coveralls, and one by one were gently taken down the steps into the water.

I had auditioned for ‘Lagaan.’ That’s where I met Aamir for the first time. He was a superstar; I was a nobody. Yet, he treated me gently and affectionately. He put me at ease completely.

You know how Bed Bath & Beyond sells those white noise machines that help you sleep? And they usually make ocean noises? I want one that’s just David Gergen gently muttering about the economy.

Part of the beauty of Judaism, and surely this is so for other faiths also, is that it gently restores control over time. Three times a day we stop what we are doing and turn to God in prayer. We recover perspective. We inhale a deep breath of eternity.

You have to treat people gently because we’re all in a process. What might seem like a good idea to somebody at 21 is probably not going to seem like a good idea at 50, but you don’t know that until you get there.

When young writers approach me for advice, I remind them, as gently as I can, that they are on their own, with no help available anywhere. Which is how it should be.

It is right that he too should have his little chronicle, his memories, his reason, and be able to recognize the good in the bad, the bad in the worst, and so grow gently old down all the unchanging days, and die one day like any other day, only shorter.

For months before he passed, my dad would have terrible night sweats, and soak through his sheets, often several times a night. Each time, mom would gently roll him over, replace the sheets, and roll him back – then spend the whole next day washing several sets of sheets, only to repeat the routine each night.

When I was asked to compose a score for… ‘Palo Alto,’ I first thought to myself, ‘What is the house that these characters would want to live in?’ I wanted to paint a picture and color scheme that I could work around. I gently apply different daubs to see what fits to match the color I have in mind with these characters.

I think it’s really hard for teenage girls in London to just gently… have a life. Everything has to be organised for kids in London – you can’t just walk three roads to see a friend.

Wherever you interact with people, you have the opportunity to influence people. This isn’t something you necessarily jam down somebody’s throat, but it is something you can – gently and over time – begin to cultivate wherever you are.

My parents tended to cook big batch food because there was always the possibility that other children would turn up with their carrier bag and shoes and we had to gently bring them out of their shells.

My Democratic friends just can’t accept the fact that the American people chose Donald Trump to be president – it’s called democracy. My advice to them, and I say this gently: Fill out a ‘Hurt Feelings Report’ and let’s move on.