Constructive Quotes - Page 12

• Fear is a negative thought in your mind. Supplant it with a constructive thought. Fear has killed millions. Confidence is greater than fear. Nothing is more powerful than faith in God and the good.

  Joseph Murphy

  Powerful, Mind, Negative

  Joseph Murphy, Ph.D., D.D. (2011). “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind: Unlock the Secrets Within”, p.176, Penguin

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• Even the greatest idea can become meaningless in the rush to judgement. To gauge an idea as feasible we must cut our ties to the status quo and find the balance between constructive criticism and judgment. Within that balance we will uncover crucial input for making our ideas a reality.

  Shigeo Shingo

  Cutting, Reality, Ideas

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• We must learn to outgrow our egos in exchange for constructive dialogue rather than debate.  In addition, we must be capable of stating problems and proposing solutions clearly and succinctly, without distortion of meaning or misunderstanding, even when these solutions are radically opposed to accepted norms.

  Jacque Fresco

  Ego, Problem, Debate

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• The art and architecture of the past that we know is that which remains. The best is that which remains where it was painted, placed or built.  Most of the art of the past that could be moved was taken by conquerors. Almost all recent art is conquered as soon as it's made, since it's first shown for sale and once sold is exhibited as foreign in the alien museums. The public has no idea of art other than that it is something portable that can be bought. There is no constructive effort; there is no cooperative effort. This situation is primitive in relation to a few earlier and better times.

  Donald Judd

  Art, Taken, Past

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• Coming to appreciate your worth can, in some cases, dramatically improve your circumstances by changing the choices you make and the actions you take. And as you begin to treat yourself with more respect, other people begin to do the same, since we subconsciously "train" others how to treat us through messages we send through body language, tone of voice, and other subtle cues and behaviors. Discovering your innate worth and living from that place allows you to make more constructive choices-to choose the higher roads of life

  Dan Millman

  Self, Voice, People

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• Society today is so organised that every individual group has the power to disrupt it. How is their power to be channelled into constructive channels?

  James Callaghan

  Groups, Society Today, Individual

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• The constructive intellect [genius] produces thoughts, sentences, poems, plans, designs, systems. It is the generation of the mind, the marriage of thought with nature.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Marriage, Design, Mind

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.151

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• In the study of this membrane [the retina] I for the first time felt my faith in Darwinism (hypothesis of natural selection) weakened, being amazed and confounded by the supreme constructive ingenuity revealed not only in the retina and in the dioptric apparatus of the vertebrates but even in the meanest insect eye. ... I felt more profoundly than in any other subject of study the shuddering sensation of the unfathomable mystery of life.

  Santiago Ramon y Cajal

  Eye, Science, Research

  Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1989). “Recollections of My Life”, p.576, MIT Press

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• [I]nfectious disease is merely a disagreeable instance of a widely prevalent tendency of all living creatures to save themselves the bother of building, by their own efforts, the things they require. Whenever they find it possible to take advantage of the constructive labors of others, this is the path of least resistance. The plant does the work with its roots and its green leaves. The cow eats the plant. Man eats both of them; and bacteria (or investment bankers) eat the man.

  Hans Zinsser

  Men, Roots, Effort

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• Rosencrantz: Shouldn't we be doing something--constructive? Guildenstern: What did you have in mind? ... A short, blunt human pyramid...?

  Tom Stoppard

  Pyramids, Mind, Blunt

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• I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism.

  David Thorne

  Criticism, Suggestions, Welcome

  David Thorne (2011). “The Internet is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius”, p.135, Penguin

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• When we only name the problem, when we state complaint without a constructive focus or resolution, we take hope away. In this way critique can become merely an expression of profound cynicism, which then works to sustain dominator culture.

  Bell Hooks

  Expression, Names, Profound

  bell hooks (2013). “Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope”, p.14, Routledge

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• The true function of logic ... as applied to matters of experience ... is analytic rather than constructive; taken a priori, it shows the possibility of hitherto unsuspected alternatives more often than the impossibility of alternatives which seemed prima facie possible. Thus, while it liberates imagination as to what the world may be, it refuses to legislate as to what the world is

  Bertrand Russell

  Taken, Imagination, Alternatives

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “Our Knowledge of the External World”, p.6, Routledge

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• There is no virtue inherent in un-constructive suffering.

  M. Scott Peck

  Suffering, Virtue, Inherent

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• ...the number one reason knitters knit is because they are so smart that they need knitting to make boring things interesting. Knitters are so compellingly clever that they simply can't tolerate boredom. It takes more to engage and entertain this kind of human, and they need an outlet or they get into trouble. "...knitters just can't watch TV without doing something else. Knitters just can't wait in line, knitters just can't sit waiting at the doctor's office. Knitters need knitting to add a layer of interest in other, less constructive ways.

  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

  Clever, Smart, Knitting

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• In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.

  Rollo May

  Inspirational, Quiet People, Being Alone

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• I had hundreds of books under my skin already. Not selected reading, all of it. Some of it could be called trashy. I had been through Nick Carter, Horatio Alger, Bertha M. Clay and the whole slew of dime novelists in addition to some really constructive reading. I do not regret the trash. It has harmed me in no way. It was a help, because acquiring the reading habit early is the important thing. Taste and natural development will take care of the rest later on.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Regret, Book, Reading

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• For in spite of itself any movement that thinks and acts in terms of an ‘ism becomes so involved in reaction against other ‘isms that it is unwittingly controlled by them. For it then forms its principles by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.

  John Dewey

  Thinking, Principles, Needs

  John Dewey (2007). “Experience And Education”, p.6, Simon and Schuster

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• If you have only education and knowledge and a lack of the other side, then you may not be a happy person, but a person of mental unrest, of frustration. Not only that, but if you combine these two, your whole life will be a constructive and happy life. And certainly you can make immense benefit for society and the betterment of humanity. That is one of my fundamental beliefs: that a good heart, a warm heart, a compassionate heart, is still teachable.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Heart, Happy Life

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• Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term. One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism.

  Carl Sagan

  Suicidal, Science, Long

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium”, p.176, Ballantine Books

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• Constructive complaint requires only two things: that what you are complaining about should be different, and that it can be different. It sounds simple, but too often our protests fail this test.

  Julian Baggini

  Simple, Two, Sound

  "Don't complain less - do it better" by Julian Baggini, www.theguardian.com. July 14, 2010.

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• Let me start by saying that I do not enjoy nor relish the partisan role of attack dog. I never found any fun in that. I don't think it's constructive. I don't intend to become that here in the Senate.

  Marco Rubio

  Dog, Fun, Thinking

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• If people who cherish freedom, who know the importance of mutual respect and are aware of the imperative necessity to establish a constructive and critical debate, if these people are not ready to speak out, to be more committed and visible, then we can expect sad, painful tomorrows. The choice is ours.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Speaks Out, People, Choices

  "Cartoon conflicts" by Tariq Ramadan, www.theguardian.com. February 6, 2006.

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• I like quips. I like whiffs of cynicism and I think they can be witty. But I don't really know where wittiness is constructive.

  Matthew McConaughey

  Witty, Thinking, Cynicism

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• Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.

  Fred Rogers

  Relationship, Strong, Disappointment

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