Absolutes Quotes - Page 11

• The functionaries of public power rarely strengthen in their dispositions to abridge it, and an unorganized call for timely amendment is not likely to prevail against an organized opposition to it. We are always told that things are going on well; Why change them? 'Chi sta bene, no si mueve,' said the Italian, 'let him who stands well, stand still.' This is true; and I verily believe they would go on well with us under an absolute monarch, while our present character remains, of order, industry and love of peace, and restrained as he would be, by the proper spirit of the people.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Character, Italian

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.209, Cambridge University Press

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• The surest way to lose democracy is to take it for granted. Every citizen must contribute to its advancement in some way. No nation or culture can long survive the absence of transcendent values and absolutes.

  Carl F. H. Henry

  Long, Democracy, Advancement

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• Truth is now simply a matter of etiquette: it has no authority, no sense of rightness, because it is no longer anchored in anything absolute. If it persuades, it does so only because our experience has given it its persuasive power, but tomorrow our experience might be different.

  David F. Wells

  Doe, Different, Might

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• And one of my absolute favorite quotes of all-time, one that I've adopted as one of my greatest life mottos: Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I'm with you kid. Let's go."

  Maya Angelou

  Taken, Love Life, Kids

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• The right is absolute ... government has no authority to forbid me from owning a firearm ... the debate is not about guns. It is about freedom.

  Tom McClintock

  Gun, Government, Debate

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• Americans have become conditioned to believe the world is a gray place without absolutes; this is because we're simultaneously both cowardly and arrogant. We don't know the answers, so we assume they must not exist.

  Chuck Klosterman

  Believe, Arrogant, Answers

  Chuck Klosterman (2004). “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto”, p.98, Simon and Schuster

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• When it comes to meat, change is almost always cast as an absolute. You are a vegetarian or you are not.

  Jonathan Safran Foer

  Meat, Vegetarian, Casts

  "Quitting Meat: A Process Of Change" by Jonathan Safran Foer, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 18, 2010.

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• Truman Capote famously claimed to have nearly absolute recall of dialogue and used his prodigious memory as an excuse never to take notes or use a tape recorder, but I suspect his memory claims were just a useful cover to invent dialogue whole cloth.

  Joshua Foer

  Memories, Tape, Use

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• Comedy to the Senate? Well, there certainly hasn't been a satirist or a political satirist who's done that. So, that really was uncharted territory during the campaign. But I think it's a good thing. Some people thought that it was an odd career arc, but to me it made absolute sense.

  Al Franken

  Thinking, Careers, People

  "7 Days: Franken on Franken, Air America, “Senator Maddow” & More". Interview with Mark Green, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 23, 2009.

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• When I wrote 'Dear Fatty,' I realised that sitting and writing alone is an absolute joy.

  Dawn French

  Writing, Joy, Sitting

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• First get an absolute conquest over thyself, and then thou wilt easily govern thy wife.

  Thomas Fuller

  Wife, Firsts, Conquest

  Thomas Fuller (1815). “An introduction to prudence”, p.30

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• There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Inspirational, Life, Beauty

  The New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1960.

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• Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.

  James A. Garfield

  Country, Money, Democracy

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• A wise parent humors the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and advisor when his absolute rule shall cease.

  Elizabeth Gaskell

  Love, Wise, Independent

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• Absolute certainty is not something I strive for anymore. I've learned the hard way that destiny usually looks upon our most strident convictions with amusement, or perhaps even pity.

  Elizabeth Gilbert

  Destiny, Looks, Amusement

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• There's an absolute prejudice that good movies are dramas and comedies are more dismissable. But I couldn't disagree more.

  Joseph Gordon-Levitt

  Drama, Good Movie, Prejudice

  "Joseph Gordon-Levitt: the new Heath Ledger?" by Catherine Shoard, www.theguardian.com. August 27, 2009.

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• I instinctively dress a bit tougher because I've spent a lot of time in the U.S. and I realised there was a certain image projected of me here. I've always been an absolute rebel. When I was in my teen years I had piercings and wore all black.

  Ellie Goulding

  Years, Black, Rebel

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• The absolute worst thing that you ever can do, in my opinion, in bringing science to the general public, is be condescending or judgmental. It is so opposite to the way science needs to be brought forth.

  Brian Greene

  Opposites, Needs, Way

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• Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil - or else an absolute ignorance.

  Graham Greene

  Happiness, Ignorance, Men

  Graham Greene (1960). “The Heart of The Matter”

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• Before I met Ayn Rand, I was a logical positivist, and accordingly, I didn't believe in absolutes, moral or otherwise. If I couldn't prove a proposition with facts and figures, it was without merit.

  Alan Greenspan

  Believe, Facts, Merit

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• People expect me to be dark and gloomy, then write that I'm a jolly chap, and after all, that is what I am. I think it's a case of an absolute romantic naivety that there should be a parallel between the work and the artist.

  Michael Haneke

  Writing, Dark, Artist

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• Indiscriminate firing by police on people is absolute barbarism. Instead of solving their problems, the government is trying to suppress the people by force.

  Sheikh Hasina

  Government, People, Police

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• To be a successful father... there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Funny, Fathers Day, Dad

  Ernest Hemingway (2008). “The Good Life According to Hemingway”, Ecco

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• Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.

  Eric Hoffer

  Lying, Power, Government

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• Kind 'Guardian' readers have been forwarding me round robin Christmas newsletters for years now: lengthy missives full of perfect children, exotic holidays, talented pets and endless, tedious detail. The notes that accompanied them revealed they had inspired in the original recipients everything from mild irritation to absolute rage.

  Simon Hoggart

  Children, Holiday, Years

  "Glad tidings we bring ..." by Simon Hoggart, www.theguardian.com. December 10, 2004.

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