Adapted Quotes

• 'The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock.

  Chris Cornell

  Song, Writing, Rocks

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• Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.

  John Marshall

  Mean, Letters, Spirit

  McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

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• We are all but recent leaves on the same old tree of life and if this life has adapted itself to new functions and conditions, it uses the same old basic principles over and over again. There is no real difference between the grass and the man who mows it.

  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

  Philosophy, Real, Philosophical

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• One ought not to hoard culture. It should be adapted and infused into society as a leaven. Liberality of culture does not mean illiberality of its benefits.

  Wallace Stevens

  Mean, Doe, Culture

  "Souvenirs and Prophecies: the Young Wallace Stevens" edited by Holly Stevens, (Ch. 3), 1977.

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• Constitutions are not designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for niceties of expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades of meaning, or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness or judicial research. They are instruments of a practical nature, founded on the common business of human life, adapted to common wants, designed for common use, and fitted for common understandings.

  Joseph Story

  Philosophical, Exercise, Expression

  Joseph Story (1851). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.322

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• Innovations that are guided by smallholder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and environment will be necessary to ensure food security in the future.

  Bill Gates

  Food, Innovation, Environment

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• ENVY, n. Emulation adapted to the meanest capacity.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Envy, Emulation, Capacity

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Best Of Ambrose Bierce: The Damned Thing + An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge + The Devil's Dictionary + Chickamauga (4 Classics in 1 Book)”, p.75, e-artnow

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• We ought to esteem it of the greatest importance that the fictions which children first hear should be adapted in the most perfect manner to the promotion of virtue.

  Plato

  Children, Plato, Parenting

  Plato (2005). “The Republic”, p.82, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

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• Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.'

  Ai Weiwei

  Philosophy, Stronger, Landscape

  "Gold Is Not the Real Measure of a Nation". www.theguardian.com. August 25, 2008.

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• Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for contemplation in the practice of the active life, while those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Contemplative Life, Practice, Contemplation

  St Thomas Aquinas (2013). “Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section)”, p.1940, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Adversity is just change that we haven't adapted ourselves to yet.

  Aimee Mullins

  Inspirational, Change, Adversity

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• My conviction of the necessity of further legislative provisions for the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public moneys and my opinion in regard to the measures best adapted to the accomplishment of those objects have been already submitted to you.

  Martin Van Buren

  Safe Keeping, Accomplishment, Opinion

  United States. President (1837-1841 : Van Buren), Martin Van Buren (1838). “Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress: At the Commencement of the Third Session of the Twenty-fifth Congress”, p.10

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• The high food value of field beans and the shortage of supply due to the light yields of 1915 and 1916 render them of great importance in the regions to which they are adapted.

  David F. Houston

  Yield, Light, Fields

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• In fact, words are well adapted for description and the arousing of emotion, but for many kinds of precise thought other symbols are much better.

  John B. S. Haldane

  Atheism, Facts, Emotion

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• A 'modern' man has nothing to add to modernism, if only because he has nothing to oppose it with. The well-adapted drop off the dead limb of time like lice.

  Elias Canetti

  Men, Lice, Add

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• Legislation passed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 enhanced our intelligence capabilities and strengthened our national defense, but until now our nation's immigration policies have not adapted to the needs of a post-September 11th world.

  Chris Chocola

  September 11, World, Immigration

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• Mail armor continued in general use till about the year 1300, when it was gradually supplanted by plate armor, or suits consisting of pieces or plates of solid iron, adapted to the different parts of the body.

  Thomas Bulfinch

  Years, Iron, Suits Of Armor

  Thomas Bulfinch (1858). “The Age of Chivalry: Or Legends of King Arthur, "King Arthur and His Knights", "The Mabinogeon", "The Crusades", "Robin Hood", Etc”, p.19

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• Sometimes when you play a character, you can feel it in your body. And I felt like I had characteristics of my dog: the way Webster moves, the way he holds his head. I kind of adapted it into this part unconsciously

  Calista Flockhart

  Dog, Moving, Character

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• It has been generally the custom of writers on natural history to take the habits and instincts of animals as the fixed point, and to consider their structure and organization as specially adapted to be in accordance with them.

  Alfred Russel Wallace

  Animal, Organization, Habit

  Alfred Russel Wallace (1869). “The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise”, p.267, London, Macmillan

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• There is much modern music that is better adapted to a wind combination than to a string, although for obvious reasons originally scored for an orchestra. If in such cases the interpretation is equal to the composition the balance of a wind combination is more satisfying.

  John Philip Sousa

  Wind, Balance, Orchestra

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• The institution of a public library, containing books on education, would be well adapted for the information of teachers, many of whom are not able to purchase expensive publications on those subjects.

  Joseph Lancaster

  Teacher, Book, Library

  Joseph Lancaster (1803). “Improvements in education, as it respects the industrious classes of the community”, p.38

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• But I would like to think that it's the actor that makes the difference in these cases. Not the director, not the guy that wrote the book, not the guy that adapted it for the screen, but the actor.

  Ray Walston

  Book, Thinking, Differences

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• I adapted an antiquated style and modernized it to something that was efficient. I didn't know anyone else in the world would be able to use it and I never imagined it would revolutionize the event.

  Dick Fosbury

  Style, Events, Would Be

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• The sum of the whole is plainly this: The nature of man considered in his single capacity, and with respect only to the present world, is adapted and leads him to attain the greatest happiness he can for himself in the present world.

  Joseph Butler

  Happiness, Men, World

  Joseph Butler (1867). “The Analogy of Religion, to the Constitution & Course of Nature...”, p.215

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• Great literature must spring from an upheaval in the author's soul. If that upheaval is not present then it must come from the works of any other author which happens to be handy and easily adapted.

  Robert Benchley

  Spring, Writing, Soul

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