Chosen Quotes - Page 30

• Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for the others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish for ever.

  Bertrand Russell

  Struggle, Quality, Needs

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “In Praise of Idleness”, p.1, Lulu Press, Inc

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• The Hebrews took for their idol, not something made of metal or wood, but a race, a nation, something just as earthly. Their religion is essentially inseparable from such idolatry, because of the notion of the 'chosen people'.

  Simone Weil

  Race, Idols, People

  Simone Weil (2014). “Letter to a Priest”, p.6, Routledge

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• By insisting on having your bottle pointing to the north when the cork is being drawn, and calling the waiter Max, you may induce an impression on your guests which hours of laboured boasting might be powerless to achieve. For this purpose, however, the guests must be chosen as carefully as the wine.

  Hector Hugh Munro

  Wine, Max, Purpose

  Hector Hugh Munro (Saki) (2015). “The Chronicles of Clovis”, p.57, Read Books Ltd

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• Who God doth late and early pray,
  More of his grace than gifts to send,
  And entertains the harmless day
  With a well-chosen book or friend.

  Henry Wotton

  Book, Grace, Praying

  "The Character of a Happy Life". Poem by Henry Wotton, 1614.

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• I’ve chosen not to challenge the rule of law, because in our system there really is no intermediate step between a Supreme Court decision and violent revolution. When the Supreme Court makes a decision, no matter how strongly one disagrees with it, one faces a choice –are we, in John Adams’ phrase, a nation of laws, or is it a contest made on raw power?

  Al Gore

  Law, Choices, Decision

  "Gore Sees No Reason to Run" by Patrick Healy, thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com. May 25, 2007.

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• There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at this alibi. The latter hide their malevolence under the virtue of obedience: they acted dishonorably because they had to obey orders. The strong, too, claim absolution by proclaiming themselves the chosen instrument of a higher power -- God, history, fate, nation, or humanity.

  Bruce Lee

  Strong, Powerful, Responsibility

  Bruce Lee (2015). “Bruce Lee: Artist of Life”, p.240, Tuttle Publishing

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• In the world of dreams, I have chosen my part. To sleep for a season and hear no word Of true love's truth or of light love's art, Only the song of a secret bird.

  Algernon Charles Swinburne

  Dream, Song, Art

  Algernon Charles Swinburne (2015). “Selected Verse”, p.291, Carcanet

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• As the chosen people bore in their features the sign manual of Jehovah , so the division of labour brands the manufacturing workman as the property of capital .

  Karl Marx

  People, Division, Jehovah

  Karl Marx (2007). “Capital: A Critique of Political Economy - The Process of Capitalist Production”, p.396, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Once the record was mine, I had to use it like a Louisville Slugger. I believed, and still do, that there was a reason why I was chosen to break the record. I feel it's my task to carry on where Jackie Robinson left off, and I only know of one way to go about it. It's the only way I've ever had of dealing with things like fastballs and bigotry -- keep swinging at them.

  Hank Aaron

  Louisville, Use, Records

  Hank Aaron (2009). “I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story”, p.18, Harper Collins

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• Porgy is...an interesting example of what can be done by talent in spite of a bad setup. With a libretto that should never have been accepted on a subject that should never have been chosen, a man who should never have attempted it has written a work that has a considerable power.

  George Gershwin

  Men, Interesting, Example

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• I always seem to be chosen to do very flattering things like the beard comb over or go to the bathroom with the door open on Sex and the City or be the guy people meow at in Super Troopers. It's great for self esteem.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Sex, Self Esteem, Doors

  "Ask Jim Gaffigan". Live chat, www.washingtonpost.com. November 28, 2007.

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• I've come out of seeing death and chosen to focus on the life that's sprouting everywhere, like flowers. And I want to help feed the flowers.

  Gary Holland

  Flower, Focus, Want

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• It was a tradition to represent a dancer frozen in a chosen position, like a snapshot. I broke away from this tradition by superimposing postures, blending light and motion and scrambling the planes.

  Sonia Delaunay

  Light, Dancer, Snapshots

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• Some critics claim to know what art has to be and do, and consider it their task to steer art along the path they have chosen. Others receive art gladly, and try to distinguish degrees of excellence.

  Norbert Lynton

  Art, Excellence, Trying

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• Hat head is a sad affliction wherein the chosen hat and the selected hairstyle are grossly incompatible. The unfortunate combination results in a condition that can be hidden only with the application of another hat.

  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

  Affliction, Hats, Results

  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (2006). “Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks”, p.103, Storey Publishing

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• I've chosen a life that's so different from everybody else's that it cuts me off from them. Practically everybody I know treats me like a guest celebrity. Of course it's my own fault. I feel so damn alone sometimes, I feel like I could just float away into the stratosphere and everybody would stand there looking up at me and not one would haul me back down to earth. No ropes.

  Jordan Mechner

  Cutting, Different, Rope

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• If you immerse yourself too single-mindedly in your chosen art form whether it's video games, movies, comics or whatever, your work can easily become just a reflection of what others are doing in that field rather than breaking new ground.

  Jordan Mechner

  Art, Reflection, Games

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• Wisdom doesn’t come only from the experience you have had, but from the experience you have chosen not to have.

  Anthony Marais

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• I have met a great many people on their way towards God and I wonder why they have chosen to look for him rather than themselves.

  Jeanette Winterson

  God, People, Way

  1989 Sexing the Cherry.

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• Every library is a library of preferences, and every chosen category implies an exclusion.

  Alberto Manguel

  Library, Exclusion, Preference

  "A History of Reading". Book by Alberto Manguel, 1996.

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• In midmost of the stream, embraced in the weir's shimmering arm-spread, a small island lay anchored, fringed close with willow and silver birch and alder. Reserved, shy, but full of significance, it hid whatever it might hold behind a veil, keeping it till the hour should come, and, with the hour, those who were called and chosen.

  Kenneth Grahame

  Islands, Shy, Veils

  Kenneth Grahame, Seth Lerer (2009). “The Wind in the Willows: An Annotated Edition”, p.155, Harvard University Press

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• Any government that chooses to be an ally of terror has also chosen to be an enemy of civilization.

  George W. Bush

  Government, Civilization, Enemy

  President Bush Delivers Remarks on the War on Terror, www.washingtonpost.com. September 5, 2006.

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• The reputation of a Don Juan gives to a man the most dangerous power. Wise virgins resist it, but foolish virgins frequently yield to the desire to take a celebrated lover from a rival - even from a friend. This emotion is a complex one, mad up of vanity, respect for another woman's taste, and the need to establish self-assurance by winning a difficult victory. Don Juan chose his first mistresses; later he was chosen.

  Andre Maurois

  Wise, Winning, Men

  "The Art of Living". Book by Andre Maurois, 1939.

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• To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights.

  Andre Maurois

  Weight, Pairs, Reason

  "The Art of Living". Book by Andre Maurois, 1939.

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• A society which is clamouring for choice, which is filled with many articulate groups, each urging its own brand of salvation, its own variety of economic philosophy, will give each new generation no peace until all have chosen or gone under, unable to bear the conditions of choice.

  Margaret Mead

  Philosophy, Giving, Choices

  Margaret Mead (1973). “Coming of Age in Samoa”

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