Awful Quotes - Page 27

But the sages of Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral of physical government of the world.

Edward Gibbon

Government, Rome, History

Edward Gibbon, Francis Parkman, William H. Prescott, Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812”, p.429, Modern Library

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The awful mysteries of the Christian faith and worship were concealed from the eyes of strangers, and even of catechumens, with an affected secrecy, which served to excite their wonder and curiosity.

Edward Gibbon

Christian, Eye, History

Edward Gibbon (2016). “THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes): From the Height of the Roman Empire, the Age of Trajan and the Antonines - to the Fall of Byzantium; Including a Review of the Crusades, and the State of Rome during the Middle Ages”, p.881, e-artnow

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At night, I love to look in the houses. When I was little, I did that much more, when I was so bored. It might be awful in those houses, of course, but I still speculate about them in a romantic way. It's the same if you are famous: you are in the light, and most people have fantasies about you, but these fantasies have nothing to do with reality.

Carole Bouquet

Night, Reality, Light

"Face of Chanel, mind of her own". Interview with Harriet Lane, www.theguardian.com. April 23, 2000.

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To that movement, consecrated by religious principle, sustained by an awful sense of justice, and cheered by the brightest hopes of future good, all our powers, talents, and attainments are devoted.

George Ripley

Religious, Justice, Principles

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Do you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not feel right? Keep sitting there. Think of yourself as a monk walking the path to enlightenment. Think of yourself as a high school senior wanting to be a neurosurgeon. Is it possible? Yes. Is there some shortcut? Not one I've found. Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.

Ann Patchett

Senior, School, Writing

Ann Patchett (2013). “This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage”, p.60, A&C Black

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We have been trying to point out that this concept of an indefinitely favorable future is dangerous, even if it is true; because even if it is true you can easily overvalue the security, since you make it worth anything you want it to be worth. Beyond this, it is particularly dangerous too, because sometimes your ideas of the future turn out to be wrong. Then you have paid an awful lot for a future that isn't there. Your position then is pretty bad.

Benjamin Graham

Ideas, Trying, Want

Benjamin Graham, New York Institute of Finance (1947). “Current problems in security analysis”

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Most of us had never seen a sober redneck before, and we have the Reagan Landslide to testify that none of us ever wants to see one again. It was a horrifying apparition. And ever since Jimmy Carter, all of us rednecks have had to be very careful to be drunk rednecks lest we turn into some kind of awful creature with big buck teeth and a State Department full of human-rights yahoos.

P. J. O'Rourke

Redneck, Rights, Drunk

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It is an unfortunate fact that in many parts of the world women are considered property. An awful lot of injustice is obviously due to that; not just women's status in the home, but all kinds of laws that are even more discriminating.

Madeleine Albright

Home, Law, World

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With respect to phenomena like mass extinction, somebody might say why worry about it because in a geological perspective mass extinctions aren't so bad, they wipe out some things and then 10 million years down the road we get new and interesting objects.But I tell you mass extinctions are really awful for folks caught in the midst of them.

Richard Lewontin

Mass Extinction, Years, Interesting

Source: www.abc.net.au

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Even if people end up doing awful things, you can empathize with their motives when you know them. When you get to know the person, you can understand why they make those choices, even if they're bad. And oftentimes people do have good drives that are sympathetic and can even be seen as selfless and good-hearted.

Bob Odenkirk

People, Choices, Selfless

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As a journalist, I would talk to writers, directors, creative people, and discover that for an awful lot of them, the moment they became successful, that was all they were allowed to do. So you end up talking to the bestselling science-fiction author who wrote a historical-fiction novel that everybody loved, but no one would publish.

Neil Gaiman

Successful, Fiction Novels, Talking

Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. September 28, 2005.

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I suspected my homosexuality, but I'd never acted out on it because I was afraid of sex. It's awful to be afraid of sex.

Elton John

Sex, Homosexuality

"A More Reflective Leap On Elton John's 'Diving Board'". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. January 1, 2014.

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Nothing feels as awful as pouring your heart out to some talk therapist, then realizing this so-called professional is actually vastly stupid and you've just professed your most secret secrets to some goon who's wearing one brown sock and one blue sock.

Chuck Palahniuk

Stupid, Heart, Blue

Chuck Palahniuk (2011). “Damned”, p.135, Random House

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That's how vile i am! I live Ireland, I breathe Ireland, and Christ how I loathe it, I wish I were a bloody Scot, that's how bloody awful it is being Irish!

Iris Murdoch

Wish, Breathe, Christ

Iris Murdoch (2001). “The Sea, The Sea”, p.151, Penguin

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In general, people are afraid to acknowledge hallucinations because they immediately see them as a sign of something awful happening to the brain, whereas in most cases theyre not.

Oliver Sacks

People, Brain, Hallucinations

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How long a book tends to illustrate depends on the book. The Awful Aunty took me 10 days.

Tony Ross

Book, Long, Depends

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Gail Anderson-Dargatz has a noticing eye, a voice as unique as the countryside she writes about, and a heart large enough to love her entire cast of distinct and memorable characters. In The Cure for Death by Lightning she fashions an irresistible song out of the joys and dangers of growing up, the mysteries and wonders of life on a farm, the thrilling terror of trying to outrun the awful unseen force that pursues a growing girl. This novel opens a door to a shining, surprising world.

Jack Hodgins

Girl, Fashion, Song

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Like an explorer returned from a distant planet or another dimension, Suki Kim has many extraordinary tales to tell, among them how different--and how awful--life is for those who live in North Korea. The devil is in the details here, for her gritty narrative focuses on everyday events to reveal how repression shapes daily life, even for the most privileged. Yet Kim also bears witness to that part of the human soul that no oppressor can ever claim.

Carlos Eire

Korea, Soul, Everyday

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It's pretty awful being told you're a racist.

Chris Lilley

Racist

Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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States are like people. They do not question the awful status quo until some dramatic event overturns the conventional and lax way of thinking.

Victor Davis Hanson

Thinking, People, Events

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The Beatles are not merely awful. I would consider it sacrilegious to say anything less than that they are godawful.

William F. Buckley, Jr.

Say Anything, Modern Life, Sacrilegious

William F. Buckley, Jr. (2016). “A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century”, p.129, Crown Forum

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Under none of the accredited ghostly circumstances, and environed by none of the conventional ghostly surroundings, did I first make acquaintance with the house which is the subject of this Christmas piece. I saw it in the daylight, with the sun upon it. There was no wind, no rain, no lightning, no thunder, no awful or unwonted circumstance, of any kind, to heighten its effect.

Charles Dickens

Rain, Wind, House

Charles Dickens (2016). “Ghost Stories”, p.139, Pan Macmillan

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As the gloom and shadow thickened behind him, in that place where it had been gathering so darkly, it took, by slow degrees, - or out of it there came, by some unreal, unsubstantial process - not to be traced by any human sense, - an awful likeness of himself!

Charles Dickens

Shadow, Degrees, Gathering

Charles Dickens (2016). “Charles Dickens: The Complete Christmas Books and Stories [A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, A Christmas Tree, The Cricket on the Hearth, etc] (Book House)”, p.207, Book House

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I'm awful dull, but I hope I've beat out something nigh the rights of this at last. And so GOD bless you, dear old Pip, old chap, GOD bless you!

Charles Dickens

Rights, Words Of Wisdom, Dull

Charles Dickens (1860). “All the Year Round”

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The most innocent man, pressed by the awful solemnities of public accusation and trial, many be incapable of supporting his own cause. He may be utterly unfit to cross-examine the witnesses against him, to point out the contradictions or defects of their testimony. And to counteract it by properly introducing it and applying his own.

William Rawle

Men, Innocent Man, Trials

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