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  fortune index  all fortunes 
  
 |  |  | #791 |  | There are three rules for writing a novel.  Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
 -- Somerset Maugham
 
 |  |  |  | #792 |  | There are two jazz musicians who are great buddies.  They hang out and play together for years, virtually inseparable.  Unfortunately, one of them is
 struck by a truck and killed.  About a week later his friend wakes up in
 the middle of the night with a start because he can feel a presence in the
 room.  He calls out, "Who's there?  Who's there?  What's going on?"
 "It's me -- Bob," replies a faraway voice.
 Excitedly he sits up in bed.  "Bob!  Bob!  Is that you?  Where are
 you?"
 "Well," says the voice, "I'm in heaven now."
 "Heaven!  You're in heaven!  That's wonderful!  What's it like?"
 "It's great, man.  I gotta tell you, I'm jamming up here every day.
 I'm playing with Bird, and 'Trane, and Count Basie drops in all the time!
 Man it is smokin'!"
 "Oh, wow!" says his friend. "That sounds fantastic, tell me more,
 tell me more!"
 "Let me put it this way," continues the voice.  "There's good news
 and bad news.  The good news is that these guys are in top form.  I mean
 I have *never* heard them sound better.  They are *wailing* up here."
 "The bad news is that God has this girlfriend that sings..."
 
 |  |  |  | #793 |  | There are two ways of disliking art.   One is to dislike it.  The other is to like it rationally.
 -- Oscar Wilde
 
 |  |  |  | #794 |  | There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the other is to read Pope.
 -- Oscar Wilde
 
 |  |  |  | #795 |  | There is much Obi-Wan did not tell you. -- Darth Vader
 
 |  |  |  | #796 |  | There is nothing wrong with writing ... as long as it is done in private and you wash your hands afterward.
 
 |  |  |  | #797 |  | There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
 -- Oscar Wilde
 
 |  |  |  | #798 |  | There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.  It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over -- and to let
 go.  It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its
 past importance in our lives.  It involves a sense of future, a belief
 that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving on, rather than out.
 The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well.  It's hard to
 recognize that life isn't a holding action, but a process.  It's hard to
 learn that we don't leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the
 dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there.  The experiences
 and the growth are grafted onto our lives.  And when we exit, we can take
 ourselves along -- quite gracefully.
 -- Ellen Goodman
 
 |  |  |  | #799 |  | There's nothing remarkable about it.  All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
 -- J.S. Bach
 
 |  |  |  | #800 |  | There's nothing to writing.  All you do is sit at a typewriter and open a vein. -- Red Smith
 
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