Convince Quotes - Page 24

• Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Spring, Believe, Cutting

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1236, Delphi Classics

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• 

  ...and the funny thing was that people who weren't entirely certain they were right always argued much louder than other people, as if the main person they were trying to convince were themselves.

  Terry Pratchett

  Funny, Humorous, People

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• I didn't have to scramble up and down the ladder from despair to euphoria anymore, trying to convince myself that life was either painful and terrible or joyous and wonderful. The simple truth was that life was both. p 214

  Melody Beattie

  Simple, Despair, Trying

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• And one more thing: you still believe that man can be good. If that weren't the case, you wouldn't have invented all this nonsense to convince yourself otherwise.

  Paulo Coelho

  Believe, Men, Nonsense

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• When you're lost in those woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises anymore.

  Elizabeth Gilbert

  Life, Depression, Fall

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• We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.

  Pablo Picasso

  Art, Lying, Realizing

  In Dore Ashton Picasso on Art (1972) "Two statements by Picasso"

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• Over the millennia the seed of stories planted in the fertile soil of bits and scraps of facts was watered by wishes and began to take root and grow. Eventually, a bountiful fruit of rumors burst forth, to be spread on the wind of whispers that said we hid a fabled hoard of gold. Nothing could convince the believers that it was not true. The truth does not glitter for these people like gold does.

  Terry Goodkind

  Wind, Roots, People

  Terry Goodkind (2011). “Phantom”, p.365, Macmillan

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• I am not sad, he would repeat to himself over and over, I am not sad. As if he might one day convince himself. Or fool himself. Or convince others -- The only thing worse than being sad is for others to know that you are sad.

  Jonathan Safran Foer

  Being Sad, One Day, Might

  Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.47, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wishes to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.

  E. M. Forster

  Book, Long, Criticism

  and Related Writings (1974) p. 129

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• Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter.

  Thomas Paine

  Atheist, Heart, Mean

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• People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.

  D. A. Carson

  Prayer, Thinking, Self

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• To demand that a person pee in a cup whenever you wish him to, without a documented reason to suspect that he has been using an illegal drug, is intolerable in our republic. You are saying to him, "I wonder if you are not behaving in a way that I approve of. Convince me that you indeed are. Outrageous. Intolerable.

  Alexander Shulgin

  Drug, Wish, Demand

  Alexander Shulgin, Ann Shulgin (1995). “Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story”

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• Convinced myself, I seek not to convince.

  Edgar Allan Poe

  Convinced

  Edgar Allan Poe (2004). “The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe”, p.165, Wordsworth Editions

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• At times to be silent is to lie. You will win because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince. For to convince you need to persuade. And in order to persuade you would need what you lack: Reason and Right

  Miguel de Unamuno

  Lying, Winning, Order

  Miguel de Unamuno, “At Times To Be Silent Is To Lie”

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• The feeling of awed wonder that science can give us is one of the highest experiences of which the human psyche is capable. It is a deep aesthetic passion to rank with the finest that music and poetry can deliver. It is truly one of the things that make life worth living and it does so, if anything, more effectively if it convinces us that the time we have for living is quite finite.

  Richard Dawkins

  Passion, Convince Us, Awe And Wonder

  Richard Dawkins (2000). “Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder”, p.10, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• If God had not permitted the people of Jerusalem to be torn asunder and driven them from the land, but had let them keep it after before, no one could convince them that they are not God`s chosen people.

  Martin Luther

  Land, People, Jerusalem

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• No, it was honest," said Harry. "One of the only honest things you've said to me. You don't care whether I live or die, but you do care that I help you convince everyone you're winning the war against Voldemort.

  J. K. Rowling

  War, Winning, Care

  "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". Book by J. K. Rowling, July 16, 2005.

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• Sometimes I get so tired of trying to convince him that I love him and shall love him for ever. He pounces on my words like a barrister and twists them. I know he is afraid of that desert which would be around him if our love were to end, but he can't realise that I feel exactly the same. What he says aloud, I say to myself silently and write it here.

  Graham Greene

  Writing, Tired, I Love Him

  "The end of the affair".

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• The boy didn't know what a Personal Legend was. 'It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.

  Paulo Coelho

  Dream, Boys, Alchemist

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• Is it possible, in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another? We can invest enormous time and energy in serious efforts to know another person, but in the end, how close can we come to that person's essence? We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone?

  Haruki Murakami

  Love, Friendship, Philosophy

  FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Nov 10, 2015

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• I want to convince you that these kinds of personal explanations of success don't work. People don't rise from nothing....It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.

  Malcolm Gladwell

  Success, People, Asking

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• And there are people that will stand in your corner and convince you to stand up for another round no matter what.

  Pete Wentz

  Inspirational, Moving On, Loyalty

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• One of the most difficult things in the world is to convince a woman that even a bargain costs money.

  E. W. Howe

  Cost, World, Difficult

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• I've always done whatever I felt like doing in life. People may try to stop me, and convince me I'm wrong, but I won't change.

  Haruki Murakami

  Running, People, Trying

  "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". Book by Haruki Murakam, October 15, 2007.

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• There are some things we do because we convince ourselves it would be better for everyone involved. We tell ourselves that it's the right thing to do, the altruistic thing to do. It's far easier than telling ourselves the truth.

  Jodi Picoult

  Would Be, My Sisters Keeper, Easier

  Jodi Picoult (2009). “My Sister's Keeper - Movie Tie-In: A Novel”, p.216, Simon and Schuster

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