Unable

Famous quotes containing the word unable:

    Habit! that skillful but slow arranger, which starts out by letting our spirit suffer for weeks in a temporary state, but that the spirit is after all happy to discover, for without habit and reduced to its own resources, the spirit would be unable to make any lodgings seem habitable.
    Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    Stories of law violations are weighed on a different set of scales in the Black mind than in the white. Petty crimes embarrass the community and many people wistfully wonder why Negroes don’t rob more banks, embezzle more funds and employ graft in the unions.... This ... appeals particularly to one who is unable to compete legally with his fellow citizens.
    Maya Angelou (b. 1928)

    compassion
    turns in on itself
    biting its tongue, unable to cry out
    or give it a name.
    Denise Levertov (b. 1923)