Descending Quotes

• And where is the Prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief, before a force could be brought together to repel them?

  Benjamin Franklin

  Country, Men, Clouds

  Benjamin Franklin (2014). “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: Volume 41: September 16, 1783, through February 29, 1784”, p.478, Yale University Press

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• Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending.

  Saint Augustine

  Humility, Clouds, Wish

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• Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

  Saint Augustine

  Inspirational Life, Philosophical, Humility

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• Man is a stream whose source is hidden. Our being is descending into us from we know not whence.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Self Reliance, Source

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2009). “The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.237, Modern Library

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• Life seems to be an experience in ascending and descending. You think you're beginning to live for a single aim - for self-development, or the discovery of cosmic truths - when all you're really doing is to move from place to place as if devoted primarily to real estate.

  Margaret Caroline Anderson

  Life, Real, Moving

  "The Fiery Fountains" by Margaret Caroline Anderson, (part 1), 1951.

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• Think that day lost whose descending sun, views from thy hand no noble action done.

  Joseph Joubert

  Thinking, Views, Hands

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• Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Xenophobia, Patriotic, Usa

  Remarks before Daughters of the American Revolution Convention, Washington, D.C., 21 Apr. 1938. Often paraphrased as Roosevelt's addressing the DAR as "my fellow immigrants."

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• The mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Beast

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.299, Library of America

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• The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy... In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Stars, Kings, Hate

  "Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?". Book by Martin Luther King Jr., 1967.

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• Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, Revenge, Hate

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• Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, Stars, Hate

  "Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?". Book by Martin Luther King, 1967.

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• Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, Hate, Light

  "A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings".

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  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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• The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Kings, Hatred

  "Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?". Book by Martin Luther King Jr., 1967.

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• The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate... Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Kings, Fear

  "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?". Book by Martin Luther King Jr., 1967.

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• The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Kings, Evil

  "Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?". Book by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967.

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• Hate is ravening vulture beaks descending on a place of skulls.

  Amy Lowell

  Hate, Skulls, Beaks

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• Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

  Fanny Crosby

  Death, Angel, Grieving

  Fanny Crosby (2008). “Fanny J. Crosby: An Autobiography”, p.36, Hendrickson Publishers

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• Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hate, Violence, Destruction

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.67, Beacon Press

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• Let peace, descending from her native heaven, bid her olives spring amidst the joyful nations; and plenty, in league with commerce, scatter blessings from her copious hand!

  Daniel Boone

  Spring, Blessing, Hands

  Daniel Boone, Francis Lister Hawks (1996). “Daniel Boone: His Own Story”, p.25, Applewood Books

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• Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.

  John Updike

  Life, Rain, Sky

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• For war is never some cosmic accident descending upon a people with all the chance and inevitability of asteroids falling like fire out of the heavens, but only the will and work of man.

  David Zindell

  War, Fall, Men

  "The Wild". Book by David Zindell, 1995.

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• NOTORIETY, n. The fame of one's competitor for public honors. The kind of renown most accessible and acceptable to mediocrity. A Jacob's-ladder leading to the vaudeville stage, with angels ascending and descending.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Leadership, Kindness, Angel

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.85, Courier Corporation

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• For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who, descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs-as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.

  Charles Darwin

  Dog, Sacrifice, Order

  The Descent of Man ch. 21 (1871)

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• Most of these Mountains and Inland places whereon these kind of Petrify'd Bodies and Shells are found at present, or have been heretofore, were formerly under the Water, and that either by the descending of the Waters to another part of the Earth by the alteration of the Centre of Gravity of the whole bulk, or rather by the Eruption of some kind of Subterraneous Fires or Earthquakes, great quantities of Earth have been deserted by the Water and laid bare and dry.

  Robert Hooke

  Fire, Earthquakes, Water

  "The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke". Book by Robert Hooke, 1705.

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