Elegant Quotes - Page 2

• The elegance is as physical, as moral quality that has nothing common with the clothing. You can see a countrywoman more elegant than one so called elegant woman.

  Karl Lagerfeld

  Quality, Moral, Common

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• I do assure you, Sir, that I have no pretension whatever of that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.

  Jane Austen

  Heart, Men, Honour You

  Jane Austen (1853). “Pride and Prejudice”, p.97

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• In Tereza’s eyes, books were the emblems of a secret brotherhood. For she had but a single weapon against the world of crudity surrounding her: the novels. She had read any number of them, from Fielding to Thomas Mann. They not only offered the possibility of an imaginary escape from a life she found unsatisfying; they also had a meaning for her as physical objects: she loved to walk down the street with a book under her arm. It had the same significance for her as an elegant cane from the dandy a century ago. It differentiated her from others.

  Milan Kundera

  Book, Eye, Numbers

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• Evolution is a fact, as securely established as any in science, and he who denies it betrays woeful ignorance and lack of education, which likely extends to other fields as well.

  Richard Dawkins

  Ignorance, Simple, Religion

  "Should Religion Impact Your Vote?" by Roy Speckhardt, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 7, 2011.

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• I am sentimental,’ she said. ‘I could dissect a koala but not its baby. I like the words damozel, eglantine, elegant. I love when you kiss my elongated white hand.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Baby, Kissing, Koalas

  Vladimir Nabokov (2012). “Ada or Ardor”, p.94, Penguin UK

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• I think Illium can take care of himself.” “Not if he keeps flirting with you.” A fine, almost elegant tendril of heat, champagne and sunshine, decadence in the light. “Raphael’s not the sharing kind.

  Nalini Singh

  Sunshine, Flirting, Thinking

  Nalini Singh (2010). “Archangel's Kiss”, p.23, Penguin

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• Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain Beauty. When you speak, or read, or write, you can tell if you've spoken or read or written a fine sentence. You can recognise a well-tuned phrase or an elegant style. But when you are applying the rules of grammar skilfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language. When you use grammar you peel back the layers, to see how it is all put together, to see it quite naked, in a way.

  Muriel Barbery

  Writing, Thinking, Style

  "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". Book by Muriel Barbery, www.e-reading.club. 2006.

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• I could not help staring back, for they made quite a contrast: Kate's pale skin and elegant purple suit, Nadira's dusky skin and exotic fiery sari. "Do we clash?" Nadira said dryly. "We certainly do," said Kate. "Would you like me to move?" "Don't trouble yourself.

  Kenneth Oppel

  Moving, Pale Skin, Purple

  Kenneth Oppel (2005). “Skybreaker”, HarperCollins

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• Hadrian drew two swords from his sides in a single elegant motion. He flipped one around letting it spin against his palm once. “Need to get a new grip on this one. It’s starting to fray again.” He looked at Will. “Shall we get on with this? I believe you were about to rob us.

  Michael J. Sullivan

  Believe, Two, Hadrian

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• What a marvelous cooperative arrangement - plants and animals each inhaling each other's exhalations, a kind of planet-wide mutual mouth-to-stoma resuscitation, the entire elegant cycle powered by a star 150 million kilometers away.

  Carl Sagan

  Stars, Animal, Mouths

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.54, Ballantine Books

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• I'm not short," Daisy muttered. "Short women are never mysterious, or elegant, or pursued by handsome men. And they're always treated like children. I refuse to be short.

  Lisa Kleypas

  Children, Men, Handsome

  Lisa Kleypas (2010). “Secrets Of A Summer Night: Number 1 in series”, p.90, Hachette UK

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• Human beings are drawn to cats because they are all we are not — self-contained, elegant in everything they do, relaxed, assured, glad of company, yet still possessing secret lives.

  Pam Brown

  Cat, Self, Secret

  24 Copy quote

• Halt," said the elegant diplomat, "when you asked me to marry you, did you think we could just sneak off to a glade in the woods with a few close friends and get it done?" Halt hesitated. "Well, no...of course not." As a matter of fact, that was exactly what he had thought. A simple ceremony, a few friends, some food and drink and then he and Pauline would be a couple. But he felt that it might not be wise to admit that right now.

  John Flanagan

  Wise, Couple, Simple

  John Flanagan (2011). “Erak's Ransom (Ranger's Apprentice Book 7)”, p.13, Random House

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• He (Intellectuals) claims that label to compensate for his own inadequacies. It's as old as that saying: tell me what you boast of and I'll tell you what you lack. Our daily bread. The incompetent always present themselves as experts, the cruel as pious, sinners as excessively devout, usurers as benefactors, the small-minded as patriots, the arrogant as humble, the vulgar as elegant and the feeble-minded as intellectual.

  Carlos Ruiz Zafon

  Humble, Intellectual, Experts

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• You know, Qhuinn's an interesting character." Saxton reached out with an elegant hand and picked up his port. "He's one of my favorite cousins, actually. His nonconformity is admirable and he's survived things that would crush a lesser male. Don't know that being in love with him would be easy, however." Blay didn't go near that one. "So do you come here often?" Saxton laughed, his pale eyes glinting, "Not for discussion, huh.

  J.R. Ward

  Crush, Cousin, Eye

  J.R. Ward (2010). “Lover Mine: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood”, p.263, Penguin

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• Meg's high-heeled slippers were dreadfully tight, and hurt her, though she would not own it; and Jo's nineteen hair-pins all seemed stuck straight into her head, which was not exactly comfortable; but, dear me, let us be elegant or die.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Hurt, Hair, Nineteen

  Louisa May Alcott (2005). “Little Women ; Little Men ; Jo's Boys”, p.33, Library of America

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• Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation.

  Barack Obama

  Islamic, Peaceful, Culture

  A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University, delivered 4 June 2009, Cairo, Egypt

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• I feel strangely free at such times. To behave properly is to be always courteous, always clever, and subtle and elegant. But now, when I am so alone, I do not have to be any of these things. For this moment, I am wholly myself, unshaped by the needs of others, by their dreams or expectations or sensibilities. But I am also lonely. With no one to shape me, who stands here, watching the moon, or the stars, or the clouds?

  Kij Johnson

  Dream, Lonely, Stars

  Kij Johnson (2001). “The Fox Woman”, p.57, Macmillan

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• I had decided early on that if I couldn’t dress elegant, I’d dress memorable.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Memorable, Dresses, Decided

  Barbara Kingsolver (2009). “The Bean Trees: A Novel”, p.5, Harper Collins

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• Ralston looked down his long, elegant nose at the vile creature at his feet, and said, “You just impugned the honor of my future marchioness. Choose your seconds. I will see you at dawn.” Leaving Oxford sputtering on the ground, Ralston spun on one elegant heel to face Benedick. “When I am done with him, I am coming for your sister. And, if you intend to keep me from her, you had better have an army at your side.

  Sarah MacLean

  Army, Your Side, Oxford

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• God decided to create a species with whom he could have fellowship. Who are we to say that evolution was a dumb way to do it? It was an incredibly elegant way to do it.

  Francis Collins

  Dumb, Fellowship, Way

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• Who do you love? It's a question anyone should be able to answer. A question that defines a life, creates a future, guides most minutes of one's days. Simple, elegant encompassing. Who do you love?

  Lisa Gardner

  Simple, Answers, Able

  Lisa Gardner (2012). “The Detective D. D. Warren Series 5-Book Bundle: Alone, Hide, The Neighbor, Live to Tell, Love You More”, p.1258, Bantam

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• Everything outside was elegant and savage and fleshy. Everything inside was slow and cool and vacant. It seemed a shame to stay inside.

  John Cheever

  Savages, Shame, Vacant

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• I have heard about the civilized,
  the marriages run on
  talk, elegant and
  honest, rational.
  But and I are savages.

  Sharon Olds

  I Love You, Running, Savages

  Sharon Olds, “Primitive”

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• My colleagues in elementary particle theory in many lands [and I] are driven by the usual insatiable curiosity of the scientist, and our work is a delightful game. I am frequently astonished that it so often results in correct predictions of experimental results. How can it be that writing down a few simple and elegant formulae, like short poems governed by strict rules such as those of the sonnet or the waka, can predict universal regularities of Nature?

  Murray Gell-Mann

  Nature, Hard Work, Writing

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