--- widely attributed to Miles Davis, but I haven't been able to find an authoritative attribution. Typical samples
Goodreads: “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.”
WealthyGorilla: “Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.”
--- Julian Barnes quoted by Edmund de Waal on "By Design" podcast of the the Sir John Soane's Museum in conversation with Will Gompertz, at
The best writing is an essential truth wrapped in a beautiful lie
There seem to be many variations of this expression, including
“We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth,” Picasso, quoted in BooksAtWork
“The best lie is wrapped around a core of truth,” Michael Scott, The Magician, quoted in Goodreads“fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth,” Albert Camus quoted by Paul Marks
--- J.R.R. Tolkein, The Fellowship of the Ring
Excerpt from goodreads:
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
(This kind of sentiment makes me rebellious. Sure, not all those who wander are lost -- but many of us are lost. Most of the crownless die crownless.)
--- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding (No. 4 of the "Four Quartets")
V
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. . . .
. . .
With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this
Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
. . .
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
--- @SpacemanSR, in the YouTube essay Andor Is A Star Wars Masterpiece From 1978, time code 3:09
Cassian may seem one note to the song of others, but his job was never to be the leader. It was to inspire others to lead. And that complexity and that choice enhanced his own character's shell as an osmosis of story. One that again is an anchor for the development of others. And through their progressions the common denominator is still Cassian Andor.
--- Richard Feynman, quoted on the internet passim, but I haven't been able to find a source. There are also some alternative wordings to "it may give some practical results," like "it has consequences" and "sometimes something useful comes out"