Explanation Quotes - Page 6

• Greenspan's eventual explanation for the growing gap between stock prices and actual productivity was that, fortuitously, the laws of nature had changed -- humanity had reached a happy stage of history where bullshit could be used as rocket fuel.

  Matt Taibbi

  Law, Bullshit, Humanity

  Matt Taibbi (2010). “Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America”, p.60, Spiegel & Grau

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• Break the glass, please, and free us from all these damned rules, from needing to find an explanation for everything, from doing only what others approve of.

  Paulo Coelho

  Glasses, Break, Please

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• In the abstract, it might be tempting to imagine that irreducible complexity simply requires multiple simultaneous mutations - that evolution might be far chancier than we thought, but still possible. Such an appeal to brute luck can never be refuted... Luck is metaphysical speculation; scientific explanations invoke causes.

  Michael Behe

  Serendipity, Luck, Mutation

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• But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record.

  Charles Darwin

  Lying, Believe, Theory Of Evolution

  Charles Darwin (2012). “On the Origin of the Species and The Voyage of the Beagle”, p.162, Graphic Arts Books

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• Hey, Ms. P," Tad called, "what's going on?" She let out a slow breath before she answered. "You won't believe this... Brian Murrey tried to eat Scott Morgan." Nick's eyes widened at the unexpected explanation. Had he heard that right?

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Believe, Eye, Hey

  Sherrilyn Kenyon (2016). “Chronicles of Nick”, p.66, St. Martin's Griffin

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• Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world. I cannot conceive of any other explanation. I am convinced that there is no other, and that if the world has indeed, as I have said, been built of sorrow, it has been built by the hands of love, because in no other way could the soul of man, for whom the world was made, reach the full stature of its perfection. Pleasure for the beautiful body, but pain for the beautiful soul.

  Oscar Wilde

  Beautiful, Pain, Men

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.1079, Wordsworth Editions

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• And it was about then, about that time, that I began to find life unsatisfactory as an explanation of itself and was forced to adopt the method of the artist of not explaining but putting the blocks together in some other way that seems more significant to him. Which is a rather fancy way of saying I started writing.

  Tennessee Williams

  Block, Writing, Artist

  Tennessee Williams (1994). “Collected Stories”, p.274, New Directions Publishing

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• But some part of him realized, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before. . . . Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help him. . . . If Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come back. . . . That he really was . . .

  J. K. Rowling

  Yelling, Waiting, Helping

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• The majority of people don't want to plan. They want to be free of the responsibility of planning. What they ask for is merely some assurance that they will be decently provided for. The rest is a day-to-day enjoyment of life. That's the explanation for your Father Divines; people naturally flock to anyone they can trust for the necessities of life... They are the backbone of a community--solid, trust-worthy, essential.

  B. F. Skinner

  Father, Responsibility, People

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• One of the servants had reported that Daisy had been sneaking around the house at night, deliberately tripping all the traps to keep the mice from being killed. “Is this true, daughter?” Thomas Bowman had rumbled, his gaze filled with ire as he stared at Daisy. “It could be,” she had allowed. “But there is another explanation.” “And what is that?” Bowman had asked sourly. Her tone turned congratulatory. “I think we are hosting the most intelligent mice in New York!

  Lisa Kleypas

  Daughter, New York, Intelligent

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• I wondered if kicking him in the head would make the whole explanation pop out of his mouth in one chunk.

  Ilona Andrews

  Kicking, Mouths, Pops

  Ilona Andrews (2011). “Magic Slays”, p.92, Penguin

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• The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.

  John Berger

  Sight, Evening, Earth

  "Ways of Seeing". Book by John Berger, 1972.

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• That is the explanation of war, an outrage by humanity upon humanity in despite of humanity.

  Victor Hugo

  War, Humanity, Outrage

  Victor Hugo (1980). “Les misérables”, Viking Pr

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• Poor people never, or hardly ever, ask for an explanation of all they have to put up with. They hate one another, and content themselves with that.

  Louis-Ferdinand Celine

  Hate, People, Poor

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• A garter. You’re supposed to take it off and keep it as a memento. K-k-kinda like a trophy for going far sexually with a girl. It’s stupid, really. And kind of d-d-degrading if I think about it too m-m-much.” “I know what it is,” he says, amusement evident in his voice. “I just wanted to hear your explanation.

  Simone Elkeles

  Girl, Stupid, Thinking

  Simone Elkeles (2011). “Rules of Attraction”, p.103, Simon and Schuster

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• I had no words to give him. No explanation. I didn’t understand it, myself. It scared me, but then so do roller coasters, and I ride them anyway, too.

  Megan Hart

  Giving, Scared, Roller Coaster

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• Some who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be those accustomed to being controlled— those who are not trusted, given explanations, encouraged to think for themselves, helped to develop and internalize good values, and so on. Control breeds the need for more control, which is used to justify the use of control.

  Alfie Kohn

  Running, Children, Thinking

  Alfie Kohn (1999). “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes”, p.49, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The present moment, though, is outside of time, it’s Eternity. In India they use the word “karma” for lack of any better term. But it’s a concept that’s rarely given a proper explanation. It isn’t what you did in the past that will affect the present. It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.

  Paulo Coelho

  Karma, Past, India

  "Aleph". Book by Paulo Coelho, 2011.

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• It is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization. There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.

  Stephen Hawking

  Motivational, Atheist, Believe

  YouTube Chanel "stepore"/ "Stephen Hawking There is no God. There is no Fate.", www.youtube.com. August 15, 2011.

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• There is a simple, logical explanation,' I said to myself. And because you never know who else is listening, I added, 'And there is nothing under the bed.'" --Dexter

  Jeff Lindsay

  Simple, Listening, Bed

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• No stories or explanations,' Finnikin had once told him. 'When it comes to women, straight into an apology and you will find the rest of your life bearable.

  Melina Marchetta

  Apology, Stories, Rest Of Your Life

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• "Catherine." she paused. I waited, tapping my finger on my desk. Then she spoke words that had me almost falling out of my chair. "I've decided to come to your wedding." I actually glanced at my phone again to see if I'd been mistaken and it was someone else who'd called me. "Are you drunk?" I got out when I could speak. She signed. "I wish you wouldn't marry that vampire, but I'm tired of him coming between us." Aliens replaced her with a pod person, I found myself thinking. That's the only explanation

  Jeaniene Frost

  Fall, Tired, Thinking

  "At Grave's End". Book by Jeaniene Frost, December 30, 2008.

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• Money is like a child—rarely unaccompanied. When it disappears, look to those who were supposed to be keeping an eye on it while you were at the grocery store. You might also look for someone who has a lot of extra children sitting around, with long, suspicious explanations for how they got there.

  Daniel Handler

  Money, Children, Eye

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• Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.

  Paulo Coelho

  Life, Attitude, Positivity

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Jan 17, 2017

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• Explanations are such cheap poetry.

  Stephen King

  Stephen King (2016). “11/22/63: A Novel”, p.367, Simon and Schuster

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