Excuse Quotes - Page 9

• When a uniform exercise of kindness to prisoners on our part has been returned by as uniform severity on the part of our enemies,you must excuse me for saying it is high time, by other lessons, to teach respect to the dictates of humanity; in such a case, retaliation becomes an act of benevolence.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Kindness, Exercise, Humanity

  Thomas Jefferson, Brett F. Woods (2009). “Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution : Annotated Correspondence”, p.18, Algora Publishing

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• The Heart asks Pleasure--first--
  And then--Excuse from Pain

  Emily Dickinson

  Pain, Heart, Firsts

  Emily Dickinson (2016). “The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson”, p.11, First Avenue Editions

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• A married guy is responsible for everything, no matter what. Women, thanks to their having been oppressed all these years, are blameless, free as birds, and all the dirt they do is the result of premenstrual syndrome or postmenstrual stress or menopause or emotional disempowerment by their fathers or low expectations by their teachers or latent unspoken sexual harassment in the workplace, or some other airy excuse. The guy alone is responsible for every day of marriage that is less than marvelous and meaningful.

  Garrison Keillor

  Meaningful, Teacher, Stress

  Garrison Keillor (1994). “The Book of Guys: Stories”, Penguin Group USA

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• The mind scolds the heart, which makes excuses and goes its own way.

  Mason Cooley

  Heart, Mind, Way

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• I have often been asked to be fair and view a matter from all sides. I did so, hoping that something might improve if I viewed allsides of it. But the result was the same. So I went back to viewing things only from one side, which saves me a lot of work and disappointment. For it is comforting to regard something as bad and to be able to use one's prejudice as an excuse.

  Karl Kraus

  Disappointment, Views, Perspective

  "Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths". Book by Karl Kraus, translated by Harry Zohn, 1986.

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• I learned that if I ever claim sexual harassment, I will be confronted with every bozo I once dated, every women I once impressedas snotty and superior, and together they will provide a convenient excuse to disbelieve me.

  Anna Quindlen

  Together, Prejudice, Claims

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• The worries that are the burden of which the privileged person makes an excuse in dealing with the oppressed person are in fact the worries about preserving his privileged condition.

  Franz Kafka

  Worry, Facts, Privilege

  Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

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• Living in England has no such excuse:
  These are my customs and establishments.

  Philip Larkin

  Home, England, Establishment

  Philip Larkin (2012). “The Whitsun Weddings”, p.32, Faber & Faber

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• Roosevelt could always keep ahead with his work, but I cannot do it, and I know it is a grievous fault, but it is too late to remedy it. The country must take me as it found me. Wasn't it your mother who had a servant girl who said it was no use for her to try to hurry, that she was a "Sunday chil" and no "Sunday chil" could hurry? I don't think I am a Sunday child, but I ought to have been; then I would have had an excuse for always being late.

  William Howard Taft

  Funny, Girl, Mother

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• The Nature of Familiar Letters, written, as it were, to the Moment, while the Heart is agitated by Hopes and Fears, on Events undecided, must plead an Excuse for the Bulk of a Collection of this Kind. Mere Facts and Characters might be comprised in a much smaller Compass: But, would they be equally interesting?

  Samuel Richardson

  Character, Heart, Interesting

  Samuel Richardson (2014). “Delphi Complete Works of Samuel Richardson (Illustrated)”, p.3951, Delphi Classics

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• The truth is despite the hard work and juggling required to keep the different facets of the frantic life afloat, the "superwoman"has one marvelous compensation. Being busy and being seen to be busy lets you off the hook. Buys you a way out of all aspects of your many roles you secretly despiselike cleaning cupboardsor entertaining your husband's business friends. When you combine wife, mother, career and all, each role become the perfect excuse for avoiding the worst aspects of the other.

  Bettina Arndt

  Mother, Husband, Work

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• If I live by illusions, you live by excuses.

  Jimi Hendrix

  Fear, Illusion, Live By

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• It takes a real man to make a true confession-a Chocolate Soldier will excuse or cloak his sin.

  Charles Studd

  Real, Men, Soldier

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• Never give nor take an excuse.

  Florence Nightingale

  Motivational, Giving

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• The biggest barrier to starting a company isn't ideas, funding or experiences. It's excuses.

  Sarah Lacy

  Ideas, Starting, Funding

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• Speak out, educate, do not be intimidated by the apologists, and do not let extreme racism be mainstreamed. Hopefully there will come a time when we don't need to tell our kids that Halloween is no excuse for hate, and that blackface has no place in a civilized society.

  Christine Pelosi

  Leadership, Halloween, Hate

  "Halloween Is No Excuse for Hate: Blackface Has No Place" by Christine Pelosi, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 27, 2013.

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• ... no young colored person in the United States today can truthfully offer as an excuse for lack of ambition or aspiration that members of his race have accomplished so little, he is discouraged from attempting anything himself. For there is scarcely a field of human endeavor which colored people have been allowed to enter in which there is not at least one worthy representative.

  Mary Church Terrell

  Ambition, Race, Role Models

  Mary Church Terrell (1986). “A Colored Woman in a White World”

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• [My stories were] an excuse for making pictures.

  Kate Seredy

  Stories

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• Drama is hate. Drama is pushing your pain onto others. Drama is destruction. Some take pleasure in creating drama while others make excuses to stay stuck in drama. I choose not to step into a web of drama that I can't get out of.

  Bindu

  Pain, Hate, Drama

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• As children, women are encouraged to be "little ladies." Little ladies don't scream as vociferously as little boys, and they are chastised more severely for throwing tantrums or showing temper: "high spirits" are expected and therefore tolerated in little boys; docility and resignation are the corresponding traits expected of little girls. Now, we tend to excuse a show of temper by a man where we would not excuse an identical tirade from a woman: women are allowed to fuss and complain, but only a man can bellow in rage.

  Robin Lakoff

  Girl, Children, Women

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• ...Jews must learn to say without excuse, without equivocation: despite our history and our powerlessness in the past, despite allthe injustices that we have endured--today, now, the Palestinians are the victims of oppression, and their oppressors are the Israelis.

  Irena Klepfisz

  Past, Today, Injustice

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• I was doing that [a collaboration with Kurt Cobain] to try to save his life. The collaboration was me calling up as an excuse to reach out to this guy. He was in a really bad place.

  Michael Stipe

  Guy, Trying, Collaboration

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• Doing action, the thing is it's cool to watch it, and as a guy I like seeing it. With the romance thing it's something everyone can relate to. Once you have love as a motivator in a story, I think everyone can do anything. Once someone's in love they can do the craziest thing that no one's ever thought of. You have that excuse to do whatever you want.

  Josh Hutcherson

  Thinking, Guy, Romance

  "Liam Hemsworth & Josh Hutcherson Talk Gale & Peeta in ‘The Hunger Games’". Roundtable Interview, screenrant.com. March 21, 2012.

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• I'm keen to do as little or as much reading and watching as the director may advise, and often off that you kind of stem into other things that you find of influence, perhaps the things that you're watching. It's a good excuse to get to know a new profession, or a new approach, or a new era. It's about authenticity. It's about having the confidence to really feel that you're saturated and know the world you're about to step into and understand the person you're about to be.

  Jude Law

  Reading, Directors, World

  "Jude Law Talks SIDE EFFECTS, GATTACA, EXISTENZ, A.I., SHERLOCK HOLMES 3, His Favorite Comic Books, Future Projects, and More". Interview with Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub, collider.com. February 7, 2013.

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• Poverty can't be an excuse for bad teaching, but teaching can't be the only thing we do to combat poverty.

  Tony Danza

  Teaching, Poverty, Combat

  The Tavis Smiley Show, www.pbs.org. September 19, 2012.

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