Catastrophe Quotes - Page 7

• History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe.

  Frank Herbert

  Race, History, Invention

  Frank Herbert (2008). “God Emperor of Dune”, p.352, Penguin

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• There are few treasures of more lasting worth than the experiences of a way of life that is in itself wholly satisfying. Such, after all, are the only possessions of which no fate, no cosmic catastrophe can deprive us; nothing can alter the fact if for one moment in eternity we have really lived.

  Eric Shipton

  Fate, Treasure, Way

  Eric Shipton (2014). “Nanda Devi”, p.8, Vertebrate Publishing

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• In real life turning points are sneaky. They pass by unlabeled and unheeded. Opportunities are missed, catastrophes unwittingly celebrated. Turning points are only uncovered later, by historians who seek to bring order to a lifetime of tangled moments.

  Kate Morton

  Real, Opportunity, Order

  Kate Morton (2010). “The Kate Morton Collection: The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden”, p.274, Simon and Schuster

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• Poetry operates by raising our curiosity, engaging the mind by degrees to take an interest in the event, keeping that event suspended, and surprising at last with an unexpected catastrophe. The painter's art is more confined, and has nothing that corresponds with, or perhaps is equivalent to, this power and advantage of leading the mind on, till attention is totally engaged. What is done by Painting, must be done at one blow; curiosity has received at once all the satisfaction it can ever have.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Blow, Curiosity

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1842). “The Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.142

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• Political ideas that have dominated the public mind for decades cannot be refuted through rational arguments. They must run their course in life and cannot collapse otherwise than in great catastrophe.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Running, Ideas, Political

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• For similar folly, our own country, in the transition from the colonial period, also paid a fearful price; and from a like catastrophe the United States has been twice saved in our time by the arguments formulated by Turgot.

  Andrew Dickson White

  Country, United States, Transition

  ANDREW DICKSON WHITE (1910). “SEVEN GREAT STATESMEN IN THE WARFARE OF HUMANITY WITH UNREASON”

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• Let the rabbit of free enterprise out of its velveteen bag and too many people would have to be fired, too much idiocy exposed to the light of judgment or ridicule, too much vanity sacrificed to the fires of efficiency. Such a catastrophe obviously would threaten the American way of life, to say nothing of the belief in free markets.

  Lewis H. Lapham

  Light, Fire, Vanity

  Lewis H. Lapham (1989). “Money and Class in America: Notes and Observations on the Civil Religion”

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• Knowing a great deal about what is in the world art, catastrophe, the beauties of nature through photographic images, people are frequently disappointed, surprised, unmoved when the see the real thing. For photographic images tend to subtract feeling from something we experience at first hand and the feelings they do arouse are, largely, not those we have in real life. Often something disturbs us more in photographed form than it does when we actually experience it.

  Susan Sontag

  Art, Real, Knowing

  Susan Sontag (2011). “On Photography”, p.146, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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• To fail to properly contextualize content has historically been the basis for the slaughter of millions of people in every century throughout human history. To ignore context is the greatest source of catastrophe for every generation of man, and it continutes on in the present time with the same catastrophic consequences. There is no greater lesson that needs to be learned to reduce human suffering and bring ignorance to an end.

  David Hawkins

  Truth, Ignorance, Men

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• Dynamic ecstasy is absolute romanticism , absolute heroism . And here I return to my point. From my point of view, after the catastrophe which we feel and think is universal, a catastrophe resulting from an excess of useless dynamism of useless progress, of useless realism, of useless technology, after this an unattainable democracy is to be reached through the conception and realization of a new romanticism.

  Juan Ramon Jimenez

  Technology, Thinking, Views

  "Heroic Reason" by Juan Ramon Jimenez (p. 231), 1957.

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• The terrible part of this looming catastrophe is that people have been working on solutions for years and have developed concrete steps to massively reduce our energy use, while stimulating whole new industries and technologies that are more efficient and affordable.

  David Suzuki

  Technology, Years, People

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• Washington's adventuristic policy, whipping up international tension to the utmost, is pushing mankind towards nuclear catastrophe.

  Konstantin Chernenko

  War, Nuclear, Pushing

  Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (1984). “Speeches and Writings”, Pergamon

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• I once heard a man say he knew there was a God, he just didn't think he needed Him. It is nice to take care of yourself and be independent, but it is also nice to know that you have a resource to rely on in times of need. If you are used to fending entirely for yourself, then when a catastrophe occurs you will expend a lot of energy looking for help at a time when you need your energy looking for help at a time when you need your energy for creative work.

  Bernie Siegel

  God, Nice, Independent

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• Everyone who owns a home recognizes the need for fire insurance. We hope and pray that there will never be a fire. Nevertheless, we pay for insurance to cover such a catastrophe, should it occur. We ought to do the same with reference to family welfare.

  Gordon B. Hinckley

  Religious, Home, Fire

  "To Men of the Priesthood". General Conference, www.lds.org. October 2002.

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• As it turns out, the ecological catastrophe Kirk feared that would be the consequence of our impiety appears not to be one of radically diminished resources, but of potentially catastrophic climate change. It comes from an arrogant refusal by a modern consumerist society to accept limits on its desires. Kirk's idea of the "eternal society" evaporates before the insatiable demands of the Everlasting Now.

  Rod Dreher

  Ideas, Desire, Limits

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• Straight up from this road
  Away from the fitted particles of frost
  Coating the hull of each chick pea,
  And the stiff archer bug making its way
  In the morning dark, toe hair by toe hair,
  Up the stem of the trillim,
  Straight up through the sky above this road right now,
  The galaxies of the Cygnus A cluster
  Are colliding with each other in a massive swarm
  Of interpenetrating and exploding catastrophes.
  I try to remember that.

  Pattiann Rogers

  Morning, Archer, Dark

  Pattiann Rogers (2014). “The Expectations of Light”, p.35, Princeton University Press

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• Catastrophe is numerical. Loss is singular, one beloved at a time.

  Anna Quindlen

  Loss, Beloved

  Anna Quindlen (2012). “Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake”, p.162, Random House

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• There's a difference between just gaining access to a commodity as opposed to a spirit that allows us to live a life of love and justice, that when crisis and catastrophe hits you, that the biggest mansion in the world is not going to help you. If you don't have anybody who loves you, if you don't have any God who cares for you, that you're not going to have what it takes to move to the next stage in your life.

  Cornel West

  Love You, Moving, Differences

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

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• Mistakes, scandals, and failures no longer signal catastrophe. The crucial thing is that they be made credible, and that the public be made aware of the efforts being expended in that direction. The marketing immunity of governments is similar to that of the major brands of washing powder.

  Jean Baudrillard

  Mistake, Government, Effort

  Jean Baudrillard (1989). “America”, p.109, Verso

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• You want to be an alchemist so badly? Don't wait to react to the immediate problem. Plan ahead. Look at the big picture and you won't ever have to deal with that problem. Better to save yourself from a major catastrophe than drag your feet over a bunch of little inconveniences.

  Richelle Mead

  Feet, Waiting, Alchemist

  Richelle Mead (2013). “The Fiery Heart: A Bloodlines Novel”, p.74, Penguin

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• Diversity is a survival factor for the community itself. A community of a hundred million species can survive anything short of total global catastrophe. Within that hundred million will be thousands that could survive a global temperature drop of twenty degrees—which would be a lot more devastating than it sounds. Within that hundred million will be thousands that could survive a global temperature rise of twenty degrees. But a community of a hundred species or a thousand species has almost no survival value at all.

  Daniel Quinn

  Diversity, Community, Survival

  "Ishmael". Book by Daniel Quinn, 1992.

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• But sometimes the world disrobes, slips its dress off a shoulder, stops time for a beat. If we look up at that moment, it's not due to any ability of ours to pierce the darkness, it's the world's brief bestowal. The catastrophe of grace.

  Anne Michaels

  Darkness, Grace, World

  Anne Michaels (2010). “Fugitive Pieces”, p.175, Emblem Editions

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• It's like we're a catastrophe waiting to happen.

  J. Lynn

  Waiting, Happens

  J. Lynn (2014). “Wait For You, Trust in Me: 2-Book Collection (Wait For You)”, p.16, HarperCollins UK

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• Today we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world.. the frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old.

  Barack Obama

  Summer, Winter, Years

  Barack Obama (2009). “Barack Obama: Speeches on the Road to the White House”

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• Bad artists ignore the darkness of human existence. Good artists often get stuck there. Great artists embrace the full catastrophe of our condition and find beyond it an even deeper truth of peace, healing, and redemption.

  Martha Beck

  Healing, Artist, Darkness

  Martha Beck (2012). “Finding Your Way In A Wild New World: Four steps to fulfilling your true calling”, p.150, Hachette UK

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