Excuse Quotes - Page 29

• As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that offers for the middle-aged or elderly writer whose thoughts should more properly be turned to graver matters, occupying himself with the trivial concerns of imaginary people.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Real, Men, Occupy Yourself

  "Cakes And Ale".

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• This was solidarity. The debutante having her toenails pedicured - the housewife buying carrots from a pushcart - the bookkeeper who had wanted to be a pianist, but has the excuse of a sister to support - the businessman who hated his business - the worker who hated his work - the intellectual who hated everybody - all were united as brothers in the luxury of common anger that cured boredom and took them out of themselves, and they knew well enough what a blessing it was to be taken out of themselves.

  Ayn Rand

  Brother, Taken, Blessing

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• Yes, Eden was beautiful- and if I had to squeeze through corporeal keyholes to crash it- so be it. (Hasn’t it bothered you, this part of the story, my being there, I mean? What was I doing there? ‘Presume not the ways of God to scan,’ you’ve been told in umpteen variations, ‘the proper study of Mankind is Man.’ Maybe so, but what, excuse me, was the Devil doing in Eden?) I took the forms of animals. I found I could. (That’s generally my reason for doing something, by the way, because I find I can.)

  Glen Duncan

  Beautiful, Mean, Animal

  Glen Duncan (2007). “I, Lucifer: Finally, the Other Side of the Story”, p.22, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Perhaps the sexual life is the great test. If we can survive it with charity to those we love and with affection to those we have betrayed, we needn't worry so much about the good and the bad in us. But jealousy, distrust, cruelty, revenge, recrimination ... then we fail. The wrong is in that failure even if we are the victims and not the executioners. Virtue is no excuse.

  Graham Greene

  Revenge, Worry, Tests

  GRAHAM GREENE (1966). “THE COMEDIANS”

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• Of all our faults, the one that we excuse most easily is idleness.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Faults, Idleness

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• I laughed. It was just like Owen to make excuses for someone else’s shortcomings. Even fictional characters. Owen found my tendency to speak my mind “refreshingly honest,” and hailed Marc’s temper as “a deep protective instinct.” He said Ethan “thoroughly enjoyed life,” and that Parker “really knew how to have a good time.” According to Owen, we were all doing just fine, and all was right with the world.

  Rachel Vincent

  Character, Mind, World

  Rachel Vincent (2016). “Rogue”, p.230, MIRA

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• He had seen me several times, and had intended to call on me long before, but a peculiar combination of circumstances had prevented it.

  F. Scott Fitzgerald

  Long, Peculiar, Combination

  F. Scott Fitzgerald (2015). “The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Articles, Letters, Plays & Screenplays: From the author of The Great Gatsby, The Side of Paradise, Tender Is the Night, The Beautiful and Damned, The Love of the Last Tycoon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and many other notable works”, p.31, e-artnow

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• What's up, Hachi?" "Someone......Just slipped through my force-field." "!!!" "A soul reaper?" "No. The Hachigyo Sogai (Twin Cliffs) I set is an original technique I developed after I became a visored. It can't be broken by a soul reaper's kido." "Then who is it? Another visored?" "I don't know. The strange thing is that they didn't break through the force-field. They Slipped through. Not even a visored should be able to do that." "Then, who or what is it?" "...It's coming." "It's a Human?" "Uh...Um...E-excuse me...where's the Bathroom?

  Tite Kubo

  Force Fields, Break Through, Broken

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• The halls were empty. Charlotte had missed the first bell and would be late, again. Her homeroom teacher would ask her for an excuse and she would say, 'Overwhelming feeling of dread.' That was going to go over nicely.

  Anne Ursu

  Teacher, Feelings, Would Be

  Anne Ursu (2008). “The Siren Song”, p.27, Simon and Schuster

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• There is a place within each of us where we cannot hide from the truth, where virtue sits as judge. To admit the truth of our actions is to go before that court, where process is irrelevant. Good and evil are intents, and intent is without excuse.

  R. A. Salvatore

  Evil, Judging, Our Actions

  R.A. Salvatore (2009). “Passage to Dawn: The Legend of Drizzt”, p.168, Wizards of the Coast

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• excuse me' he added, taking the opera glasses out of her hands and looking over her bare shoulder at the row of boxes opposite, 'i'm afraid i'm becoming ridiculous

  Leo Tolstoy

  Hands, Opposites, Glasses

  LEO TOLSTOY (1961). “ANNA KARENINA”

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• A werewolf tossed me against a giant packing crate while I was trying to rescue a frightened young girl who'd been kidnapped by an evil witch and a drug lord.

  Patricia Briggs

  Girl, Evil, Drug

  Patricia Briggs (2006). “Moon Called”, p.288, Penguin

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• Take off your coat." "Excuse me?" "Take it off." "No." "I want it off." "Then I suggest you hold your breath. Won't affect me in the slightest, but at least the suffocation will help pass the time for you. [Vishous to Jane]

  J.R. Ward

  Coats, Want, Helping

  J.R. Ward (2007). “Lover Unbound: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood”, p.165, Penguin

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• And there was that letter from the Bramleys—that really made me feel good. You don’t find people like the Bramleys now; radio, television and the motorcar have carried the outside world into the most isolated places so that the simple people you used to meet on the lonely farms are rapidly becoming like people anywhere else. There are still a few left, of course—old folk who cling to the ways of their fathers and when I come across any of them I like to make some excuse to sit down and talk with them and listen to the old Yorkshire words and expressions which have almost disappeared.

  James Herriot

  Lonely, Father, Simple

  James Herriot (2012). “All Creatures Great and Small: The classic memoirs of a Yorkshire country vet”, p.313, Pan Macmillan

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• The sadness which reigned everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness.

  Victor Hugo

  Kindness, Sadness

  Victor Hugo (2015). “Les Misérables”, p.77, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• [M]an is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, in other respect is free; because, once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. The Existentialist does not believe in the power of passion. He will never agree that a sweeping passion is a ravaging torrent which fatally leads a man to certain acts and is therefore an excuse. He thinks that man is responsible for his passion.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  Believe, Passion, Men

  Jean-Paul Sartre (2012). “The Philosophy of Existentialism: Selected Essays”, p.31, Open Road Media

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• It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies; unvaccinated by suspicion, she overlooks lateness, accepts absurd excuses, permits the flimsiest patching to repair great rents in the quotidian.

  John Updike

  Lying, Deceit, Lateness

  "Couples". Book by John Updike, 1968.

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• Idiot. Which road do you take when you're running from something weaker than yourself? Or maybe you're the one looking for an excuse to back out.

  Nobuhiro Watsuki

  Running, Idiot

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• I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just-" Lily: "Slipped out? It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends ... You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.

  J. K. Rowling

  Death Eaters, Years, Too Late

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• Life is not easy. We all have problems-even tragedies-to deal with, and luck has nothing to do with it. Bad luck is only the superstitious excuse for those who don't have the wit to deal with the problems of life.

  Joan Lowery Nixon

  Good Luck, Tragedy, Problem

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• Lux’s frequent forged excuses from phys. Ed. She always used the same method, faking the rigid t’s and b’s of her mother’s signature and then, to distinguish her own handwriting, penning her signature, Lux Lisbon, below, the two beseeching L’s reaching out for each other over the ditch of the u and barbed-wire x.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Mother, Two, Wire

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• Speaking psycho-analytically, it may be laid down that any "great ideal" which people mention with awe is really an excuse for inflicting pain on their enemies. Good wine needs no bush, and good morals need no bated breath.

  Bertrand Russell

  Pain, Wine, People

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.240, Routledge

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• Excuse me, there's no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow.

  Stephen Schwartz

  Self, Wicked, Shallow

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• Lesbian?” Payton turned around and saw J.D. standing there. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe she was basking in the glow of their successful pitch to Gibson’s. Maybe it was her promise to Laney to be the “New Payton,” or maybe it was a combination of all those things. But Payton actually found herself smiling at J.D. It’s just an excuse, the lesbian thing,” she said.

  Julie James

  Wine, Successful, Promise

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• For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Men, Justice, Condemnation

  Thomas Hobbes (1750). “The Moral and Political Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury: Never Before Collected Together : To which is Prefixed, the Author's Life, Extracted from that Said to be Written by Himself, ...”, p.179

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