Excess Quotes - Page 2

• Ive always believed the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

  Woody Harrelson

  Palaces, X Files, Always Believe

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• Whereas money is a means to an end for a filmmaker, to the corporate mind money is the end. Right now, I think independent film is very confused, because there's excess pressure in the marketplace for entertainment to pay off.

  Robert Redford

  Confused, Mean, Independent

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• I sort of leave the character at the end of the day. I don't carry anything around with me - no excess baggage or unnecessary thoughts. I think it's too exhausting to do that. To put things into perspective - your work is your work, and your leisure time is something else.

  Sean Bean

  Character, Thinking, Excess Baggage

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• When you have energy companies like Shell and British Petroleum, both of which are perhaps represented in this room, saying there is a problem with excess carbon dioxide emission, I think we ought to listen.

  James Baker

  Thinking, Energy, Shells

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• We are living in the excesses of freedom. Just take a look at 42nd Street and Broadway.

  Will Durant

  Freedom, Looks, Broadway

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• People endure what they endure and they deal with it. It may corrupt them. It may lead them into all sorts of compensatory excesses.

  Dennis Potter

  People, May, Endure

  Dennis Potter (2015). “The Art of Invective: Selected Non-Fiction 1953–1994”, p.409, Oberon Books

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• Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one's beliefs, and the equal impossibility of becoming free of them, one can be driven to the most inhuman excesses.

  James A. Baldwin

  Inspirational, Faithful, Becoming

  "Stranger in the Village", Harper's, October 1953.

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• The new fashion is to talk about the most private parts of your life; other fashion is to repent of your excesses and to criticize the drugs that made you happy in the other times.

  Mick Jagger

  Fashion, Drug, Made

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• It is the fine excesses of life that make it worth living.

  Richard Le Gallienne

  Fine, Worth Living

  Richard Le Gallienne (1915). “Vanishing Roads, and Other Essays”

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• Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.

  Aristotle

  People, Democracy, Oligarchy

  'Politics' bk. 1, sect. 4, 1296a

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• Pleasures bring effeminacy, and effeminacy foreruns ruin; such conquests, without blood or sweat, sufficiently do revenge themselves upon their intemperate conquerors.

  Francis Quarles

  Revenge, Blood, Sweat

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.15

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• Everything in excess is opposed to nature.

  Hippocrates

  Consumerism, Overconsumption

  "Catholic Morality: Selected Sayings and Some Account of Various Religions". Book by E. Comyns Durnford, p. 90, 1915.

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• Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Positive, Philosophical, Moderation

  Marcus Tullius Cicero (1899). “M. Tullii Ciceronis”

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• The excess of the voluptuary, like the austerities of the recluse, triumphs in the suffrage of perverted reason.

  Samuel Parr

  Triumph, Austerity, Reason

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• The greatest miracle that the Almighty could perform would be to make a bad man happy, even in heaven; he must unparadise that blessed place to accomplish it. In its primary signification, all vice--that is, all excess--brings its own punishment even here.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Blessed, Men, Miracle

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.163

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• Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp, To guard a title that was rich before, To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

  William Shakespeare

  Eye, Light, Ice

  'King John' (1591-8) act 4, sc. 2, l. 9

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• As to the rout that is made about people who are ruined by extravagance, it is no matter to the nation that some individuals suffer. When so much general productive exertion is the consequence of luxury, the nation does not care though there are debtors; nay, they would not care though their creditors were there too.

  Samuel Johnson

  Luxury, People, Suffering

  Samuel Johnson (1807). “Dr. Johnson's Table-talk: Containing Aphorisms on Literature, Life, and Manners, with Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, Selected and Arranged from Mr. Boswell's Life of Johnson”, p.132

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• Excessive liberty and excessive servitude are equally dangerous, and produce nearly the same effect.

  Zoroaster

  Liberty, Produce, Dangerous

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• Invention is an Heroic thing, and plac'd above the reach of a low, and vulgar Genius. It requires an active, a bold, a nimble, a restless mind: a thousand difficulties must be contemn'd with which a mean heart would be broken: many attempts must be made to no purpose: much Treasure must sometimes be scatter'd without any return: much violence, and vigour of thoughts must attend it: some irregularities, and excesses must be granted it, that would hardly be pardon'd by the severe Rules of Prudence.

  Thomas Sprat

  Mean, Heart, Science

  Thomas Sprat (1722). “The History of the Royal Society of London: For the Improving of Natural Knowledge”, p.392

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• Nothing Succeeds like excess!

  Anna Dello Russo

  Inspirational, Succeed

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• Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.

  James Madison

  Men, Political, Liberty

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.478

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• To hide a passion totally (or even to hide, more simply, its excess) is inconceivable: not because the human subject is too weak, but because passion is in essence made to be seen: the hiding must be seen: I want you to know that I am hiding something from you, that is the active paradox I must resolve: at one and the same time it must be known and not known: I want you to know that I don't want to show my feelings: that is the message I address to the other.

  Roland Barthes

  Passion, Hiding Something, Essence

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• New!Loyalty is a fine quality, but in excess it fills political graveyards.

  Neil Kinnock

  Loyalty, Political, Quality

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• It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and prefer things in measure to things in excess.

  Seneca the Elder

  Greatness, Mind, Moderation

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• Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.

  Plutarch

  Life, Success, Courage

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