Difficult Quotes - Page 11

• The recognition of human wretchedness is difficult for whoever is rich and powerful because he is almost invincibly led to believe that he is something. It is equally difficult for the man in miserable circumstances because he is almost invincibly led to believe that the rich and powerful man is something.

  Simone Weil

  Powerful, Believe, Men

  Simone Weil (2002). “Gravity and Grace”, p.122, Psychology Press

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• Sri Yukteswar used to poke gentle fun at the commonly inadequate conceptions of renunciation."A beggar cannot renounce wealth," Master would say. "If a man laments: 'My business has failed; my wife has left me; I will renounce all and enter a monastery,' to what worldly sacrifice is he referring? He did not renounce wealth and love; they renounced him!"Saints like Gandhi, on the other hand, have made not only tangible material sacrifices, but also the more difficult renunciation of selfish motive and private goal, merging their inmost being in the stream of humanity as a whole.

  Paramahansa Yogananda

  Fun, Selfish, Sacrifice

  Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (2008). “Autobiography of a Yogi”, p.425, Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.

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• When seen in retrospect, fashions seem to express their era. Although it is more difficult to draw conclusions from contemporary clothes, the same principles which hold for the clothes of the past must hold for clothes of the present and the future.

  James Laver

  Fashion, Past, Clothes

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• Although I am still in favour of a National Government in these difficult times, and shall probably be found in the great majority of cases in the Government Lobby, there are some issues that have arisen, or are likely to arise, upon which I am unable to give the Government the support which it has, perhaps, the right to expect from those receiving the Government Whip. It occurs to me, therefore, that it would perhaps be more satisfactory if I was no longer regarded as being among the supporters of the present Administration.

  Harold MacMillan

  Government, Issues, Giving

  "Mr H. Macmillan M.P". Harold MacMillan's letter written on June 29, 1936 resigning the Government whip, "The Times" (p. 8), July 8, 1936.

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• After a person dies, there is always something like a feeling of stupefaction, so difficult is it to comprehend this unexpected advent of nothingness and to resign oneself to believing it.

  Gustave Flaubert

  Death, Believe, Feelings

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• Unity is the only way in which the people of this country can overthrow the fascists, communists, capitalists, and all the other assholes who claim running a representative government is so difficult. The emphasis has been taken from the Bill of Rights and placed on the type of interpretation of the Constitution that best suits the people in power.

  William Powell

  Running, Country, Taken

  "The Anarchist Cookbook". Book by William Powell, Chapter Three: "Natural, Nonlethal, and Lethal Weapons", p. 78, 1971.

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• It is far more difficult, I assure you, to live for the truth than to die for it.

  Horace Mann

  Dies

  Horace Mann (1861). “Twelve Sermons: Delivered at Antioch College”, p.313

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• Crossing out is an art that is, perhaps, even more difficult than writing. It requires the sharpest eye to decide what is superfluous and must be removed. And it requires ruthlessness toward yourself -- the greatest ruthlessness and self-sacrifice. You must know how to sacrifice parts in the name of the whole.

  Yevgeny Zamyatin

  Inspirational, Art, Writing

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• Fools, art is a heavy task, more heavy than gold crowns; it's far more difficult to match firm words than armies, they're disciplined troops, unconquered, to be placed in rhythm, the mind's most mighty foe, and not disperse in air. I'd give, believe me, a whole land for one good song, for I know well that only words, that words alone, like the high mountains, have no fear of age or death.

  Nikos Kazantzakis

  Song, Art, Believe

  Nikos Kazantzakis (1958). “the Odyssey a Modern Sequel”

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• What has happened by chance is often difficult to repeat when it is sought deliberately. Chance is a genius.

  Katsuki Sekida

  Genius, Chance, Repeats

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• With a poetry book I can send 100 copies out to reviewers and other people, and even do it in advance and get their response. It's difficult with iPad: how do you send it out for free, and how do you even disseminate it before it goes into their store?

  Felix Dennis

  Book, Ipads, People

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• Boys in bands are more difficult to deal with than one-year-old babies. I've been one of them, and I am one of them, but it is the truth.

  Pete Wentz

  Baby, Boys, Years

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• Deciding to get back together with someone is a complicated and difficult decision. Just remember that the person you are getting back together with is the same person who, not long before, looked you in your beautiful face, took full stock of you and all your qualities, and told you that he was no longer in need of your company.

  Greg Behrendt

  Beautiful, Long, Decision

  Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo (2009). “He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys”, p.99, Simon and Schuster

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• Every beginning is difficult, holds in all sciences.

  Karl Marx

  Karl Marx (2007). “Capital: A Critique of Political Economy - The Process of Capitalist Production”, p.11, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Instead of respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to conquer them.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Use, Want, Conquer

  "Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen". Book by Shunryū Suzuki. Chapter: "Respect For Things", p. 81, 2002.

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• There is a mental fear, which provokes others of us to see the images of witches in a neighbor's yard and stampedes us to burn down this house. And there is a creeping fear of doubt, doubt of what we have been taught, of the validity of so many things we had long since taken for granted to be durable and unchanging. It has become more difficult than ever to distinguish black from white, good from evil, right from wrong.

  Edward R. Murrow

  Fear, Taken, White

  "This I Believe" radio program, thisibelieve.org. 1951.

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• Probably nature itself gave man the ability to lie so that in difficult and tense moments he could protect his nest, just as do the vixen and wild duck.

  Anton Chekhov

  Lying, Men, Ducks

  "Difficult People". Short story by Anton Chekhov, 1886.

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• God pity us indeed, for we are human, And do not always see, The vision when it comes, the shining change, Or, if we see it, do not follow it, Because it is too hard, too strange, too new, Too unbelievable, too difficult, Warring too much with common, easy ways, And now I know this, standing in this light, Who have been half alive these many years, Brooding on my own sorrow, my own pain, Saying "I am a barren bough. Expect, Nor fruit nor blossom from a barren bough."

  Stephen Vincent Benet

  Pain, Light, Years

  "A Child Is Born". Poetic Christmas drama in one act by Stephen Vincent Benet (first presented on radio as part of the anthology program "Cavalcade of America"), December 21, 1942.

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• It is difficult to speak adequately or justly of London. It is not a pleasant place; it is not agreeable, or cheerful, or easy, or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent.

  Henry James

  Cheerful, London, Speak

  Henry James, F. O. Matthiessen, Kenneth B. Murdock (1981). “The Notebooks of Henry James”, p.27, University of Chicago Press

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• There are many counterfeits of character, but the genuine article is difficult to be mistaken.

  Samuel Smiles

  Character, Genuine, Articles

  Samuel Smiles (1873). “Self-help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance”, p.400

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• The old knowledge had been difficult but not distressing. It had been all paradox and myth, and it had made sense. The new knowledge was all fact and reason, and it made no sense.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Facts, Paradox, Reason

  Ursula K. Le Guin (2016). “The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin”, p.287, Simon and Schuster

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• You know, once you give birth, once you have kids, you realize what's important in life, and you realize it's really not difficult to be a good person. And so when people aren't good around me, I tend to move away from that. There are so many good people in the world, and you want to surround your children with that.

  Pamela Anderson

  Children, Moving, Kids

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• Happiness may be difficult to obtain. The obstacles are not primarily financial.

  Alain de Botton

  May, Obstacles, Financial

  "The Consolations of Philosophy". Book by Alain de Botton, Chapter II, Consolation For Not having Enough Money, 2000.

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• I thought about societies where exceptional fortunes are built up in industries with very little connection to out sincere and significant needs, industries where it is difficult to escape from the disparity between a seriousness of means and a triviality of ends.

  Alain de Botton

  Mean, Connections, Needs

  Alain de Botton (2009). “The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work”, p.73, Penguin UK

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• It is difficult to express the reality of Ibo society in classical English.

  Chinua Achebe

  Reality

  Chinua Achebe, Bernth Lindfors (1997). “Conversations with Chinua Achebe”, p.9, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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