When you're writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.
Tom WaitsRead
The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Appearances can be deceiving; what seems beneficial may have hidden drawbacks.
This quote emphasizes the dual nature of information presented to us, suggesting that while large and appealing terms may attract attention and promise benefits, the finer details often reveal limitations or downsides. It serves as a caution to examine not just what is prominently displayed but also to dig deeper into the smaller intricacies that might affect our understanding.
Themes
WisdomInformationDetailsDeceptionCaution
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about contract agreements to highlight the importance of reading the fine print.
More from Tom Waits
All quotes βIf you're in the middle of the ocean with no flippers and no life preserver and you hear a helicopter, this is music. You have to adjust to your needs at the moment.
Tom WaitsRead
I knelt at the altar of Ray Charles for years. I worked at a restaurant, and that's all there was on the jukebox.
Tom WaitsRead
Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing.
Tom WaitsRead
My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
Tom WaitsRead
Now its raining its pouring the old man is snoring now I lay me down to sleep I hear the sirens in the street all my dreams are made of chrome I have no way to get back home Iβd rather die before I wake like Marilyn Monroe and throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make βem grow
Tom WaitsRead
Similar quotes
This silence, this moment, every moment, If it's genuinely inside you, brings what you need.
RumiRead
Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.
PlatoRead
Never underestimate the joy people derive from hearing something they already know.
Enrico FermiRead
You are something new in this world. Never before, since the beginning of time, has there ever been anybody exactly like you; and never again throughout all the ages to come will there ever be anybody exactly like you again.
Dale CarnegieRead
One of the worst features about worrying is that it destroys our ability to concentrate. When we worry, our minds jump here and there and everywhere, and we lose all power of decision. However, when we force ourselves to face the worst and accept it mentally, we then eliminate all those vague imaginings and put ourselves in a position in which we are able to concentrate on our problem.
Dale CarnegieRead
Those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy.
E. M. ForsterRead