Difficult Quotes - Page 9

• Every intellectual effort sets us apart from the commonplace, and leads us by hidden and difficult paths to secluded spots where we find ourselves amid unaccustomed thoughts.

  Jose Ortega y Gasset

  Effort, Intellectual, Path

  "What is Philosophy?". Book by José Ortega y Gasset, p. 15, 1964.

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• It excites world wonder in the Parliamentary countries that we should build a Chamber, starting afresh, which can only seat two-thirds of its Members. It is difficult to explain this to those who do not know our ways. They cannot easily be made to understand why we consider that the intensity, passion, intimacy, informality and spontaneity of our Debates constitute the personality of the House of Commons and endow it at once with its focus and its strength.

  Winston Churchill

  Country, Passion, Two

  "Motion for Address in Reply". Speech in the House of Commons, api.parliament.uk. October 24, 1950.

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• It is difficult for a proud man ever to forgive a person who has found him at fault, and who has good grounds for complaining of him; his pride is not assuaged till he has regained the advantages he lost and put the other person in the wrong.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Pride, Men, Forgiving

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• No disease of the imagination is so difficult to cure, as that which is complicated with the dread of guilt : fancy and conscience then act interchangeably upon us, and so often shift their places, that the illusions of one are not distinguished from the dictates of the other.

  E. M. Forster

  Imagination, Guilt, Disease

  E. M. Forster (1987). “Commonplace Book”, p.76, Stanford University Press

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• This image of herself as a not ordinary women, an image which was trembling now in his eyes, might suddenly disappear. Nothing more difficult to live up to than men's dreams.

  Anais Nin

  Dream, Eye, Men

  "Children of the Albatross". Book by Anais Nin, 1947.

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• Power. like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it gives authority; to what is low, exaltation. To acquire it, appears not more difficult than to be dispossessed of it when acquired, since it enables the holder to shift his own errors on dependents, and to take their merits to himself. But the miracle of losing it vanishes, when we reflect that we are as liable to fall as to rise, by the treachery of others; and that to say "I am" is language that has been appropriated exclusively to God!

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Fall, Errors, Giving

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.23

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• There is again a living prophet on the earth speaking in the name of the Lord. And how we need such guidance! Our times are turbulent and difficult. We see wars internationally and distress domestically. Neighbors all around us face personal heartaches and family sorrows. Legions know fear and troubles of a hundred kinds.

  Jeffrey R. Holland

  War, Names, Heartache

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• The easiest books are generally the best; for, whatever author is obscure and difficult in his own language, certainly does not think clearly.

  Bill Vaughan

  Book, Thinking, Doe

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• What is my proudest accomplishment? I went through some pretty difficult times, and I kept my sanity.

  Bill Vaughan

  Accomplishment, Difficult Times, Sanity

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• Furthermore, when citizens are all almost equal, it becomes difficult for them to defend their independence against the aggressions of power.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Independence, Citizens, Equal

  "Democracy in America". Book by Alexis de Tocqueville. Chapter III, 1835.

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• Men may be very learned, and yet very miserable; it is easy to be a deep geometrician, or a sublime astronomer, but very difficult to be a good man. I esteem, therefore, the traveller who instructs the heart, but despise him who only indulges the imagination. A man who leaves home to mend himself and others, is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Country, Home, Heart

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The works of Oliver Goldsmith. 2: Enquiry into the present state of polite learning; The citizen of the world”, p.106

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• Love is something difficult and it is more difficult than other things because in other conflicts nature herself enjoins men to collect themselves, to take themselves firmly in the hand with all their strength, while in the heightening of love the impulse is to give oneself wholly away.

  Rainer Maria Rilke

  Love Is, Men, Hands

  Rainer Maria Rilke, John J. L. Mood (1994). “Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties: Translations and Considerations”, p.35, W. W. Norton & Company

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• It is difficult to be funny and great at the same time. Aristophanes and Moliere and Mark Twain must sit below Aristotle and Bossuet and Emerson.

  Stephen Leacock

  Mark

  Stephen Leacock, Gerald Lynch (2002). “Leacock on Life”, p.84, University of Toronto Press

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• To a degree which is difficult to determine, the esoteric impulse in twentieth-century music, literature and the arts reflects calculation. It looks to the flattery of academic and hermeneutic notice. Reciprocally, the academy turns towards that which appears to require its exegetic, cryptographic skills.

  George Steiner

  Art, Skills, Degrees

  George Steiner (2010). “Real Presences: Is There Anything in What We Say?”, p.43, Faber & Faber

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• It was very difficult to write about my own country, because I have always been the outsider looking in.

  Asne Seierstad

  Country, Writing, Outsiders

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• It's very difficult to pin down the President of the United States without subpoena powers.

  Bill O'Reilly

  President, United States, Subpoenas

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• The difficulty in working with someone on a show like Idol or X Factor is they have an idea of what they think is cool in their heads, and it's important as a producer to maintain control of the session and not let it get side-tracked or chase too many rabbits. But it's also important to let the artist feel like their opinion matters, so that balance is difficult.

  Ryan Tedder

  Artist, Thinking, Idols

  Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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• I feel sorry for people in power. I feel sorry for the Queen, in a way, that she hasn't had a normal life. It'd difficult for me to hate anyone. Immediately someone's unpopular, I feel sorry for them.

  Ricky Gervais

  Queens, Sorry, Hate

  Interview with Scott Gordon, www.avclub.com. January 10, 2007.

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• It was probably very difficult to go from Chinese and then suddenly go to kindergarten and start speaking English; it's very hard to transition back and forth when you are in that pivotal age. It's also hard to transition back, but if I was immersed in the country for a given amount of time, you are surrounded by it, everyone is speaking, you are learning new things, you are practicing all the time.

  Lucy Liu

  Country, Chinese, Age

  "Lucy Liu Talks 3 Needles". MovieWeb interview, www.movieweb.com. November 27, 2006.

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• I'd been to a lot of shows and I was just tired of people being jaded about music in general. Just a lot of pretensions, a lot of the attitude that goes along with it was a little difficult for me to deal with.

  Girl Talk

  Attitude, Tired, People

  Interview with Ryan Dombal, pitchfork.com. August 30, 2006.

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• The thing about Stephen Schwartz is that, while it may be difficult to learn - it's a little bit like[Stephen] Sondheim; Sondheim is quite difficult to learn - but, once you have it in you: it never leaves you. It becomes some of your favorite music; it really does.

  Kerry Ellis

  Doe, May, Littles

  Source: www.broadwayworld.com

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• She [Monica Vitti] was a great actress, but a very difficult person. I am not in contact with her at the moment because she is very sick. Not a generous woman, I have to say. I don't see her much.

  Giovanna Cau

  Sick, Actresses, Moments

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• When people lose their jobs, they can either get another job or be entrepreneurs. In the music industry, a lot of people have attempted the latter by starting their own labels, but in the age of digital downloads, it's very difficult to succeed.

  Judd Apatow

  Jobs, People, Entrepreneur

  Interview with Larry Fitzmaurice, pitchfork.com. December 11, 2012.

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• Sleeping is the most difficult part of what I do, relaxing afterwards. Letting things go.

  Madonna Ciccone

  Sleep, Letting Things Go

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• I like sets that feel small. Sets that feel really big are difficult. When you're on a big set it feels like there's constant mis-communication.

  Anna Kendrick

  Communication, Bigs, Feels

  "50/50 - Anna Kendrick interview". Interview with Rob Carnevale, www.indielondon.co.uk.

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