Extremes Quotes - Page 18

• Economists often talk about the 80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the “work” will be done by 20 percent of the participants. In most societies, 20 percent of criminals commit 80 percent of crimes. Twenty percent of motorists cause 80 percent of all accidents. Twenty percent of beer drinkers drink 80 percent of all beer. When it comes to epidemics, though, this disproportionality becomes even more extreme: a tiny percentage of people do the majority of the work.

  Malcolm Gladwell

  Beer, Epidemics, Ideas

  "How to start an epidemic" by Malcolm Gladwell, www.theguardian.com. April 22, 2000.

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• Oh child, your language is so utterly simple and limited that it has the affect of extreme complication. -Aunt Beast

  Madeleine L'Engle

  Children, Aunt, Simple

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• The most attractive are not those who allow us to kiss them at once [we soon feel ungrateful] or those who never allow us to kiss them [we soon forget them], but those who coyly lead us between the two extremes.

  Alain de Botton

  Kissing, Two, Ungrateful

  Alain De Botton (1993). “Essays in Love”

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• The art of avoiding extremes is an art that is drawn on the canvas of maturity and painted with the abstract strokes of many experiences.

  T. D. Jakes

  Inspirational, Art, Maturity

  T. D. Jakes (2000). “The Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord”, Berkley

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• She looked around. They had drifted far away from the bank of the canal. "Are we stealing this boat?" "Stealing' is such an ugly word," he mused. "What do you want to call it?" He picked her up and swung her around before putting her down. "An extreme case of window-shopping.

  Cassandra Clare

  Window Shopping, Ugly, Want

  Cassandra Clare (2014). “City of Lost Souls”, p.228, Simon and Schuster

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• i have to cross the river of extreme awkwardness in order to get to the paradise on the other side.

  David Levithan

  Order, Rivers, Paradise

  John Green, David Levithan (2010). “Will Grayson, Will Grayson”, p.68, Penguin

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• I was pushing myself to extremes in order to discover my many selves.

  Jerzy Kosinski

  Self, Order, Pushing

  Jerzy Kosinski, Tom Teicholz (1993). “Conversations with Jerzy Kosinski”, p.73, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• I had kissed my share of men, particularly during the war years, when flirtation and instant romance were the light-minded companions of death and uncertainty. Jamie, thought, was something different. His extreme gentleness was in no way tentative; rather it was a promise of power known and held in leash; a challenge and a provocation the more remarkable for its lack of demand. I am yours, it said. And if you will have me, then.

  Diana Gabaldon

  War, Men, Light

  Diana Gabaldon (2011). “Outlander: (Outlander 1)”, p.315, Random House

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• An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.

  Carl Sagan

  Atheist, Inspire, Doubt

  "Conversations with Carl Sagan". Book edited by Tom Head, p. 70, 2006.

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• Moods are such an essential part of the substance of life, of one's notion of oneself, that even psychotic extremes in mood and behavior somehow can be seen as temporary, even understandable, reactions to what life has dealt.

  Kay Redfield Jamison

  Essentials, Substance, Behavior

  FaceBook post by Kay Redfield Jamison from Jul 26, 2012

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• In times of extreme stress, one can often find energy hidden in even the most exhausted areas of the body.

  Daniel Handler

  Stress, Energy, Body

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• In his extreme youth Stoner had thought of love as an absolute state of being to which, if one were lucky, one might find access; in his maturity he had decided it was the heaven of a false religion, toward which one ought to gaze with an amused disbelief, a gently familiar contempt, and an embarrassed nostalgia. Now in his middle age he began to know that it was neither a state of grace nor an illusion; he saw it as a human act of becoming, a condition that was invented and modified moment by moment and day by day, by the will and the intelligence and the heart.

  John Edward Williams

  Heart, Maturity, Heaven

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• Being a seasoned Londoner, Martin gave the body the "London once-over" - a quick glance to determine whether this was a drunk, a crazy or a human being in distress. The fact that it was entirely possible for someone to be all three simultaneously is why good-Samaritanism in London is considered an extreme sport - like BASE jumping or crocodile wrestling.

  Ben Aaronovitch

  Sports, Crazy, Wrestling

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• Israeli occupation exposes us very young to the extremes of our emotions, until we cannot feel except in the extreme.

  Susan Abulhawa

  Israeli Occupation, Emotion, Young

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• You can't possibly judge your ability to control something until you've experienced the extremes of its capabilities. Do you understand?

  Richard Russo

  Judging, Ability, Capability

  Richard Russo (2017). “Empire Falls”, p.296, Atlantic Books

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• Both men and women today see marriage not as a way of creating character and community but as a way to reach personal life goals. They are looking for a marriage partner who will 'fulfill their emotional, sexual, and spiritual desires.' And that creates an extreme idealism that in turn leads to a deep pessimism that you will ever find the right person to marry.

  Timothy Keller

  Spiritual, Character, Men

  Timothy Keller (2011). “The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God”, p.23, Penguin

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• Respect begins with this attitude: "I acknowledge that you are a creature of extreme worth. God has endowed you with certain abilities and emotions. Therefore I respect you as a person. I will not desecrate your worth by making critical remarks about your intellect, your judgment or your logic. I will seek to understand you and grant you the freedom to think differently from the way I think and to experience emotions that I may not experience." Respect means that you give the other person the freedom to be an individual.

  Gary Chapman

  Attitude, Mean, Thinking

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• Cameron threw her hands up in frustration. “What is this so-called ‘look’?” Whatever it was, she was going to have to start taking extreme measures to guard against it. Amy grinned. “You know the Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom hasn’t eaten for days and he imagines Jerry looking like a ham? Kind of like that.

  Julie James

  Frustration, Hands, Cartoon

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• You must be as thrilled as I am to meet again.Call it an act of extreme kindness that I requested your leg be bandaged up," she snaps. "I want to see you stand for your execution,and I won't have you dying from infection before I'm through with you." "Thanks.You're very kind.

  Marie Lu

  Thank You, Kindness, Dying

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• Just because a person chooses to express themselves in an extreme way doesn't mean they have an extreme personality.

  Susane Colasanti

  Mean, Personality, Way

  Susane Colasanti (2009). “Take Me There”, p.50, Penguin

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• For someone grieving, moving forward is the challenge. Because after extreme loss, you want to go back.

  Holly Goldberg Sloan

  Moving, Loss, Grieving

  Holly Goldberg Sloan (2013). “Counting by 7s”, p.115, Penguin

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• It was no coincidence, that fear could move a person to extremes, just as seamlessly as love. They were the conjoined twins of emotion: If you didn't know what was at stake to lose, you had nothing to fight for.

  Jodi Picoult

  Moving, Fighting, Emotion

  Jodi Picoult (2006). “The Tenth Circle: A Novel”, p.383, Simon and Schuster

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• The extreme parts of time extremely forms all causes to the purpose of his speed.

  William Shakespeare

  Time, Purpose, Causes

  William Shakespeare, Isaac Reed (1813). “The Plays of William Shakespeare”, p.130

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• As for old age, embrace and love it. It abounds with pleasure if you know how to use it. The gradually declining years are among the sweetest in a man's life, and I maintain that, even when they have reached the extreme limit, they have their pleasure still.

  Seneca the Younger

  Love, Life, Time

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• All extremes are bad. All that is good and useful, if carried to extremes, may become-and beyond a certain limit is bound to become-bad and injurious.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Freedom, Democracy, May

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