Baffled Quotes - Page 2

• It may be that when we no longer know... which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.

  Wendell Berry

  Real, Journey, Mind

  "Standing by Words: Essays". Book by Wendell Berry, 2011.

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• Like all mystics (and many novelists, not least the present one) he is baffled, a child, before the real now; far happier out of it, in a narrative past or a prophetic future, locked inside that weird tence grammar does not allow, the imaginary present.

  John Fowles

  Children, Real, Writing

  John Fowles (1985). “A Maggot”, Jonathan Cape

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• It is sometimes of God's mercy that men in the eager pursuit of worldly aggrandizement are baffled; for they are very like a train going down an inclined plane - putting on the brake is not pleasant, but it keeps the car on the track.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Disappointment, Track, Car

  "Life Thoughts, Gathered from the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, by One of His Congregation". Book edited by Edna Dean Proctor, 1859.

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• Many investigators feel uneasy stating in public that the origin of life is a mystery, even though behind closed doors they admit they are baffled.

  Paul Davies

  Origin Of Life, Doors, Mystery

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• [The original development of the Spinning Mule was a] continual endeavour to realise a more perfect principle of spinning; and though often baffled, I as often renewed the attempt, and at length succeeded to my utmost desire, at the expense of every shilling I had in the world.

  Samuel Crompton

  Science, Perfect, Desire

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• We don't always know what makes us happy. We know, instead, what we think SHOULD. We are baffled and confused when our attempts at happiness fail.

  Julia Cameron

  Happiness, Confused, Thinking

  Julia Cameron (2013). “The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart”, p.24, Souvenir Press

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• The mealy look of men today is the result of momism and so is the pinched and baffled fury in the eyes of womankind.

  Philip Wylie

  Eye, Men, Parent

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• Actually, most mathematics courses do not teach reasoning of any kind. Students are so baffled by the material that they are obliged to memorize in order to pass examinations.

  Morris Kline

  Order, Examination, Students

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• Each time I undertake to reread Virginia Woolf, I am somewhat baffled by the signature breathlessness and relentlessly "poetic" tone, the shimmering impressionism, so very different from the vivid, precise, magisterial (and often very funny) prose of her contemporary James Joyce.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Virginia, Signatures, Different

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• Every time [Chris Bryant] asks a question I become more and more baffled why anyone would want to hack his phone and listen to his messages

  Nick Clegg

  Phones, Want, Messages

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• The thing that has always baffled me about people's perception of my writing is the sense that I'm a very controversial, opinionated, polarizing person. I feel like I write about things that I'm interested in, and I describe why they're interesting to me. I could be negative, I guess. It's far easier to write why something is terrible than why it's good.

  Chuck Klosterman

  Writing, People, Interesting

  Interview with Noel Murray, www.avclub.com. November 15, 2006.

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• I was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household and I wouldn't say so much it's informed my views, but it's informed my interest, so I think as a child I was often very baffled by knowledge claims.

  Rebecca Goldstein

  Children, Thinking, Views

  Interview with Austin Allen, bigthink.com. January 20, 2010.

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• I'm especially baffled by the idea of taking insurance against a U.S. default. If America defaults, we're talking about a chaotic world - Mad Max, more or less - in which case, who imagines that insurance claims will be honored?

  Paul Krugman

  Talking, Ideas, America

  "Ask the Author Live: Larissa MacFarquhar with Paul Krugman". Live chat, www.newyorker.com. February 19, 2010.

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• I've always been baffled by how much we over-rate the statistically insignificant differences that separate competitors at the top end of the distribution.

  Malcolm Gladwell

  Differences, Ends, Rate

  "Usain Bolt, a Collapse, and an Epic Beer Mile". Interview with Nicholas Thompson, www.newyorker.com. August 27, 2015.

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• youth, balancing itself upon hope, is forever in extremes: its expectations are continually aroused only to be baffled, and disappointment, like a summer shower, is violent in proportion to its brevity.

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon

  Summer, Disappointment, Expectations

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1852). “Romance and reality”, p.2

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• Life is a phenomenon sui generis, a primal fact in its own right, like energy. Cut flesh or wood how you like, hack at them in a baffled fury—you cannot find life itself, you can only see what it built out of the lifeless dust.

  Donald C. Peattie

  Cutting, Dust, Flesh

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• Spooky things happen in houses densely occupied by adolescent boys. When I checked out a four-inch dent in the living room ceilingone afternoon, even the kid still holding the baseball bat looked genuinely baffled about how he possibly could have done it.

  Mary Blakely

  Baseball, Kids, Boys

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• Talk not of genius baffled. Genius is master of man. Genius does what it must, and Talent does what it can.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Men, Doe, Genius

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• I'm sort of laughing and so Zach [ Galifianakis] started laughing [on the set of The Hangover]. And Todd [Phillips] was baffled because what we were saying wasn't that funny, you know what I mean? And it was like all the baby's face. So Todd was like, 'What is going on? Get it together guys.'

  Ed Helms

  Baby, Hangover, Mean

  Source: movies.about.com

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• The phosphorous smell which is developed when electricity (to speak the profane language) is passing from the points of a conductor into air, or when lightning happens to fall upon some terrestrial object, or when water is electrolysed, has been engaging my attention the last couple of years, and induced me to make many attempts at clearing up that mysterious phenomenon. Though baffled for a long time, at last, I think, I have succeeded so far as to have got the clue which will lead to the discovery of the true cause of the smell in question.

  Christian Friedrich Schonbein

  Success, Couple, Fall

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• So what's your team called?" asked Kate, twisting her legs into a pretzel-like configuration, "We're called the Winmates because we're inmates who win." Kate looked back and forth at Reynie and Constance, searching their expression for signs of delight. "You gave yourselves a name?" asked Constance. Now it was Kate's turn to be baffled. "You didn't? How can you have a team without a name?

  Trenton Lee Stewart

  Team, Winning, Names

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• Introverts almost never cause me trouble and are usually much better at what they do than extroverts. Extroverts are too busy slapping one another on the back, team building, and making fun of introverts to get much done. Extroverts are amazed and baffled by how much some introverts get done and assume that they, the extroverts, are somehow responsible.

  Mark Vonnegut

  Fun, Team, Causes

  Mark Vonnegut, M.D. (2010). “Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So: A Memoir”, p.28, Delacorte Press

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• Unbelievable," I heard Christian mutter behind me. "She toops them both?" I head Drustan ask. "And they permit it?" Dageus sounded baffled. I looked between V'lane and Barrons. "This isn't even about me." "You're wrong about that." Barrons reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "You know how to find me if you want me." He was walking away. "More nifty acronyms?" He was gone.

  Karen Marie Moning

  Christian, Cells, Walking Away

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• They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate.

  William Golding

  Hate, Literature, Lord

  William Golding (1954). “Lord of the Flies”, p.71, Penguin

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• Most Shadowhunters get their first Marks at twelve. It must have been in your blood.” “Maybe. Although I doubt most Shadowhunters get a tattoo of Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on their left shoulder.” Jace looked baffled. “You wanted a turtle on your shoulder?” -Jace & Clary, pg. 314-

  Cassandra Clare

  Tattoo, Teenage, Turtles

  Cassandra Clare (2012). “Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instruments Series (5 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls”, p.301, Simon and Schuster

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