Faults Quotes - Page 12

• Only a cheap politician, greedy for political gain, would try to single out one individual for blame. The fault lies not with the individual but with the system, and that system is Richard Nixon.

  Pat Paulsen

  Lying, Political, Trying

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• The best way to prove the clearness of our mind, is by showing its faults; as when a stream discovers the dirt at the bottom, it convinces us of the transparency and purity of the water.

  Alexander Pope

  Convince Us, Water, Mind

  Alexander Pope, William Roscoe (1847). “The works of Alexander Pope, esq., with notes and illustrations, by himself and others. To which are added, a new life of the author, an Estimate of his poetical character and writings, and occasional remarks by William Roscoe, esq”, p.378

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• I think a good deal may be said to extenuate the fault of bad Poets. What we call a Genius, is hard to be distinguish'd by a man himself, from a strong inclination: and if his genius be ever so great, he can not at first discover it any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken.

  Alexander Pope

  Strong, Men, Thinking

  Alexander Pope (1961). “Poems: Pastoral poetry, and An essay on criticism”

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• Our faults are apt to assume giant and exaggerated forms to our eyes in youth.

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

  Eye, Giants, Youth

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1835). “Lodore”, p.62

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• Prophecy and prescience - How can they be put to the test in the face of unanswered questions? Consider: How much is actual prediction and how much is the prophet shaping the future to fit the prophecy? What are the harmonics inherent in the act of prophecy? Does the prophet see the future or does he see a line of weakness, a fault or cleavage that he may shatter with words or decisions as a diamond-cutter shatters his gem with a blow of the knife?

  Frank Herbert

  Blow, Knives, Decision

  "Dune: The Gateway Collection". Book by Frank Herbert, 2012.

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• The crime of a bad example is the same whether men follow it or not, because he that gives bad example to others, does what in him lies to draw them into sin; and if they do not follow it, that is no mitigation of his fault.

  John Tillotson

  Lying, Men, Giving

  John Tillotson (1748). “The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...”, p.186

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• If the members of a class do not understand -- if those directly addressed fail to listen, or listening, fail to recognize a power in the voice -- surely the fault lies with the speaker, who, having attempted to secure their attention and enlighten their understandings, has failed in the attempt.

  George Henry Lewes

  Lying, Class, Voice

  George Henry Lewes (1891). “The Principles of Success in Literature”

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• Just then, with a wink and a sly normal lurch, The owl very gravely got down from his perch, Walked round, and regarded his fault-finding critic (Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic.

  James Thomas Fields

  Owl, Fault Finding, Normal

  James Thomas Fields, “The Owl-Critic”

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• The material memories are not usually part of what is said about a picture, and that is a fault in interpretation because every painting captures a certain resistance of paint, a prodding gesture of the brush, a speed and insistence in the face of mindless matter.

  James Elkins

  Memories, Gestures, Matter

  James Elkins (2004). “What Painting Is”, p.2, Routledge

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• Loneliness is not a fault but a condition of existence.

  Ivan Albright

  Lonely, Loneliness, Existence

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• I've chosen a life that's so different from everybody else's that it cuts me off from them. Practically everybody I know treats me like a guest celebrity. Of course it's my own fault. I feel so damn alone sometimes, I feel like I could just float away into the stratosphere and everybody would stand there looking up at me and not one would haul me back down to earth. No ropes.

  Jordan Mechner

  Cutting, Different, Rope

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• If my faults deserve punishment, my youth at least, and my imprudence were worthy of excuse

  Leanda de Lisle

  Punishment, Youth, Excuse

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• Now, justification in this life is given to us according to these three things: first by the laver of regeneration by which all sins are forgiven; then, by a struggle with the faults from whose guilt we have been absolved; the third, when our prayer is heard, in which we say: 'Forgive us our debts,' because however bravely we fight against our faults, we are men; but the grace of God so aids as we fight in this corruptible body that there is reason for His hearing us as we ask forgiveness.

  Saint Augustine

  Prayer, Struggle, Fighting

  "'Contra Julianum' ('Against Julian')". Book by Augustine. Book II, Chapter 8, 22,

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• We should not be much concerned about faults we have the courage to own.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Should, Concerned

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• Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Leader, Democracy, Virtue

  "Stranger in a Strange Land". Book by Robert A. Heinlein, p. 232, 1991.

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• Certain faults are necessary to the individual if he is to exist.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Individual, Certain, Ifs

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2015). “Maxims and Reflections”, p.115, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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• The man whom philosophy leaves cold, and the man whom real faith does not illuminate, may be assured that the fault lies in them, not in knowledge and faith. The former is still an alien to philosophy, the latter an alien to faith.

  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

  Philosophy, Real, Lying

  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1904). “The Logic of Hegel”

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• Rhetoric is useful because truth and justice are in their nature stronger than their opposites; so that if decisions be made, not in conformity to the rule of propriety, it must have been that they have been got the better of through fault of the advocates themselves: and this is deserving reprehension.

  Aristotle

  Opposites, Justice, Decision

  Aristotle (1890). “Aristotle's Treatise on Rhetoric, Literally Tr. with Hobbes' Analysis, Examination Questions and an Appendix Containing the Greek Definitions: Also, The Poetic of Aristotle, Literally Tr., with a Selection of Notes, an Analysis, and Questions”

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• For disappointments, that come not by our own folly, they are the trials or corrections of Heaven: and it is our own fault, if they prove not our advantage.

  William Penn

  Disappointment, Heaven, Trials

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.24, Courier Corporation

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• Nothing shows our weakness more than to be so sharp-sighted at spying other men's faults, and so purblind about our own.

  William Penn

  Men, Weakness, Shows

  Benjamin Franklin, William Penn (2012). “Franklin's Way to Wealth and Penn's Maxims”, p.25, Courier Corporation

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• Nor must we always be neutral where our neighbors are concerned: for tho' meddling is a fault, helping is a duty.

  William Penn

  Neutrality, Helping, Neighbor

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• Originality is a thing we constantly clamour for, and constantly quarrel with; as if, observes our author himself, any originality but our own could be expected to content us! In fact all strange thing are apt, without fault of theirs, to estrange us at first view, and unhappily scarcely anything is perfectly plain, but what is also perfectly common.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Views, Firsts, Facts

  Thomas Carlyle, Henry Duff Traill (2010). “The Works of Thomas Carlyle”, p.11, Cambridge University Press

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• It is not society's fault that most men seem to miss their vocation. Most men have no vocation.

  George Santayana

  Men, Missing, Vocation

  George Santayana, Marianne S. Wokeck, Martin A. Coleman, James Gouinlock (2013). “The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Society, Volume VII, Book Two”, p.64, MIT Press

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• Criticism is now become mere hangman's work, and meddles only with the faults of authors ; nay, the critic is disgusted less with their absurdities than excellence ; and you cannot displease him more than in leaving him little room for his malice.

  John Dryden

  Leaving, Excellence, Criticism

  John Dryden, John Mitford (1836). “The Works of John Dryden: In Verse and Prose, with a Life”, p.424

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• Given Loughner's obsession with meaninglessness and language, maybe Foucault & Derrida deserve some fault here, too.

  Walter Kirn

  Language, Obsession, Derrida

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