A good name, like good will, is attained by many actions and may be lost by one.

A good name, like good will, is attained by many actions and may be lost by one.

Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.

Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.

I came to live in a country I love; some people label me a defector. I have loved men and read more

I came to live in a country I love; some people label me a defector. I have loved men and women in my life; I've been labeled "the bisexual defector." Want to know another secret? I'm even ambidextrous. I don't like labels. Just call me Martina.

I was learning the importance of names -- having them, making them -- but at the same time I sensed read more

I was learning the importance of names -- having them, making them -- but at the same time I sensed the dangers. Recognition was followed by oblivion, a yawning maw whose victims disappeared without a trace.

Who hath not own'd, with rapture-smitten frame,
The power of grace, the magic of a name.

Who hath not own'd, with rapture-smitten frame,
The power of grace, the magic of a name.

I cannot say the crow is white,
But needs must call a spade a spade.

I cannot say the crow is white,
But needs must call a spade a spade.

The Eskimos had 52 names for snow because it was important to them; there ought to be as many for read more

The Eskimos had 52 names for snow because it was important to them; there ought to be as many for love.

Above any Greek or Roman name.

Above any Greek or Roman name.

I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name. How could I be anything else but what read more

I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name. How could I be anything else but what I am having been named Madonna? I would either have ended up a nun or this.