Ifs Quotes - Page 32

• It came to me more as a whisper of suggestion than the fundamental adage that it is - if this is not biblical, I shall always believe it should be - that all of us need someone who loves us enough to forgive us despite the history.

  Ivan Doig

  Believe, Biblical, Forgiving

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• A nation, therefore, has no right to say to a province: You belong to me, I want to take you. A province consists of its inhabitants. If anybody has a right to be heard in this case it is these inhabitants. Boundary disputes should be settled by plebiscite.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Want, Boundaries, Disputes

  Ludwig Von Mises (1985). “Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War”, Libertarian Press

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• If the demand for home commodities should be diminished, because of the fall of rent on the part of the landlords, it will be increased in a far greater degree by the increased opulence of the commercial classes.

  David Ricardo

  Fall, Home, Class

  David Ricardo, John Ramsay McCulloch (1852). “The Works of David Ricardo. With a notice of the life and writings of the author: by J. R. McCulloch”, p.387

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• What if what has been said one time not only does not cease to be said but always recommences, and not only recommences but also imposes upon us the idea that nothing has ever truly begun, having from the beginning begun by beginning again.

  Maurice Blanchot

  Ideas, What If, Doe

  Maurice Blanchot (1993). “The Infinite Conversation”, p.343, U of Minnesota Press

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• I will tell you, in the case of education, you have to make the investment if youre going to get the return. Theres no doubt about that. Its a proven fact the return is there if you make the investment. It really is about priorities.

  Jon Tester

  Priorities, Doubt, Return

  "Sen.-Elect Jon Tester, 'Regular Montanan'". "All Things Considered" with Michele Norris, www.npr.org. November 13, 2006.

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• If you look at most womens writing, women writers will describe women differently from the way male writers describe women. The details that go into a woman writers description of a female character are, perhaps, a little more judgmental. Theyre looking for certain things, because they know what women do to look a certain way.

  Lorrie Moore

  Writing, Character, Males

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• If poetry and the arts do anything, they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness.

  Seamus Heaney

  Art, Inner Life

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• One thing I've very quickly learned is that if you wake up every morning worrying about what's in the press, you would go completely and utterly potty.

  Nick Clegg

  Morning, Worry, Wake Up

  "Nick Clegg at home: 'Why are the students angry, Papa?" by Allegra Stratton, www.theguardian.com. April 6, 2001.

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• If I am not above the law, nobody in this country can then claim to be above the law.

  Olusegun Obasanjo

  Country, Law, Claims

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• War has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end.

  George F. Kennan

  War, Thoughtful, Iraq

  "George Kennan Speaks Out About Iraq". historynewsnetwork.org. August 08, 2005.

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• If imperialism is not banished from the country, China will perish as a nation. If China does not perish, then imperialism cannot remain.

  Chiang Kai-shek

  Country, Doe, Imperialism

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• All artists, they say, are a little mad. This madness is, to a certain extent, a self-created myth designed to keep the generality away from the phenomenally close-knit creative community. Yet, in the world of the artists, the consciously eccentric are always respectful and admiring if those who have the courage to be genuinely a little mad.

  Angela Carter

  Artist, Self, Mad

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• I do sometimes watch 'Dr. Who' and while the stories barely make sense, if at all, the doctor is such great company I don't care.

  John Shirley

  Doctors, Drs, Watches

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• It used to be said, not so long ago, that every suicide gave Satan special pleasure. I don't think that's true-unless it isn't true either that the Devil is a gentleman. If the Devil has no class at all, then okay, I agree: He gets a bang out of suicide. Because suicide is a mess. As a subject for study, suicide is perhaps uniquely incoherent. And the act itself is without shape and without form. The human project implodes, contorts inward-shameful, infantile, writhing, gesturing. It's a mess in there.

  Martin Amis

  Suicide, Thinking, Long Ago

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• I dont know if there is a personal identity. We all imagine that we are absolute individuals. But when we begin to look for where this individuality resides, its very difficult to find.

  John Banville

  Individuality, Identity, Looks

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• We live in time, it bounds us and defines us, and time is supposed to measure history, isn't it? But if we can't understand time, can't grasp its mysteries of pace and progress, what chance do we have with history--even our own small, personal, largely undocumented piece of it?

  Julian Barnes

  Progress, Pace, Pieces

  Julian Barnes (2011). “The Sense of an Ending”, p.60, Random House

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• Where would we be without inhibitions? Theyre quite useful things when you look at some of the things humans do if they lose them.

  A. S. Byatt

  Looks, Useful Things, Humans

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• Well, I would hardly say I do write as yet. But I write because I like words. I suppose if I liked stone I might carve. I like words. I like reading. I notice particular words. That sets me off.

  A. S. Byatt

  Reading, Writing, Stones

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• If the Wise be the happy man... he must be virtuous too; for, without virtue, happiness cannot be. This then is the true scope of all academical emulation.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wise, Men, Emulation

  Thomas Jefferson (1855). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”, p.532

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• We are now trusting to those who are against us in position and principle, to fashion to their own form the minds and affections of our youth... This canker is eating on the vitals of our existence, and if not arrested at once, will be beyond remedy.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Fashion, Mind, Principles

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”

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• By... [selecting] the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Class, Genius, Use

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private : Published by the Order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original Manuscripts, Deposited in the Department of State”, p.390

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• If we read the Western Canon in order to form our social, political, or personal moral values, I firmly believe we will become monsters of selfishness and exploitation.

  Harold Bloom

  Believe, Order, Political

  Harold Bloom (2014). “The Western Canon”, p.44, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• If there was absolute freedom, people would run over babies and charge admission.

  Lenny Bruce

  Running, Baby, People

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• I guess if you keep making the same mistake long enough, it becomes your style.

  John Prine

  Mistake, Long, Style

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• If there's one thing I'm not going to apologise for as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in government after 60 or 70 years of being out of government, it's that you just cannot avoid but deal with the world the way it is.

  Nick Clegg

  Government, Years, Leader

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