Instruments Quotes - Page 40

• Nature is God's. Art is man's instrument.

  Thomas Overbury

  Art, Men, Art Is

  Thomas Sackville Dorset (Earl of), Sir Thomas Overbury (1760). “Prolusions; or, Select pieces of antient poetry,--compil'd with great care from their several originals: and offer'd to the publick as specimens of the integrity that should be found in the editions of worthy authors, in three parts ... with a preface ...”, p.64

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• Firmness of purpose is one of the best instruments of success.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Success, Mazes, Purpose

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• It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.

  Ansel Adams

  Photography, Cameras, Photographer

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• Through logic and inference we can prove anything. Therefore, logic and inference, in contrast to ordinary daily living experience, are secondary instruments of knowledge. Probably tertiary.

  Edward Abbey

  Ordinary, Logic, Inference

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.10, RosettaBooks

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• And if a minister shall usurp the supreme and absolute govern ment of America, and set up his instructions as laws in the colonies, and their Governors shall be so weak or so wicked, as for the sake of keeping their places, to be made the instruments in putting them in execu tion, who will presume to say that the people have not a right, or that it is not their indispensible duty to God and their Country, by all rational means in their power to RESIST THEM.

  Samuel Adams

  Country, Mean, Law

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• By an ambitious chieftain, aiming only to aggrandize himself and establish his power, the subject might have been regarded in a different light; but the designs and actions of Washington centred in nobler objects, the freedom, tranquillity, and happiness of his country, in which he was to participate equally with every other citizen, neither seeking nor expecting any other preeminence than that of having been an instrument in the hand of Providence.

  George Washington

  Hands, Providence

  "The Writings of George Washington: Life of Washington".

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• The particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.

  John Marshall

  Law, Void, Principles

  John Marshall (2005). “The Political and Economic Doctrines of John Marshall”, p.340, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

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• Greg Trooper writes great songs, including one of my very favorite songs in the world, Little Sister. On top of all that, there's his voice - an instrument I have coveted for 15 years.

  Steve Earle

  Song, Writing, Years

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• Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.

  John Quincy Adams

  War, Character, Hands

  Alexander Francis Chamberlain, Archer Butler Hulbert, James Ford Rhodes, Noah Jones, John Quincy Adams (1913). “The Most Successful American Privateer: An Episode of the War of 1812”

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• When a school introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him with the spirit of service, and providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious

  John Dewey

  Children, School, Self

  John Dewey (2013). “The School and Society and The Child and the Curriculum”, p.29, University of Chicago Press

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• But the finest music in the room is that which streams out to the ear of the spirit in many an exquisite strain from the hanging shelf of books on the opposite wall. Every volume there is an instrument which some melodist of the mind created and set vibrating with music, as a flower shakes out its perfume or a star shakes out its light. Only listen, and they soothe all care, as though the silken-soft leaves of poppies had been made vocal and poured into the ear.

  James Lane Allen

  Stars, Wall, Flower

  "A Kentucky Cardinal, Aftermath, and Other Selected Works".

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• The existing liberties and the existing gratifications are tied to the requirements of repression: they themselves become instruments of repression.

  Herbert Marcuse

  Liberty, Requirements, Gratification

  Herbert Marcuse (2015). “Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud”, p.92, Beacon Press

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• The Federal Budget can and should be made an instrument of prosperity and stability, not a deterrent to recovery.

  John F. Kennedy

  Recovery, Presidential, Prosperity

  Kennedy, John F. (1962). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961”, p.43, Best Books on

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• Would food be considered an instrument of national power? ... Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can't/won't control their population growth?

  Henry A. Kissinger

  People, Growth, Population

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• Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling a potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple.

  Charles Babbage

  Eye, Effort, Mind

  Charles Babbage (1989). “Scientific and Miscellaneous Papers”

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• A parallel between color and music can only be relative – just as a violin can give warm shades of tone, so yellow has shades, which can be expressed by various instruments.

  Wassily Kandinsky

  Color, Yellow, Giving

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• It's so much in me to want to keep experimenting all the time. It's just inherent. Therefore I keep reaching for instruments I don't particularly know how to play, and then I become excited. That gives me energy to want to make new things, and it forces me to hear things in new ways, which then can only help to say things in a new way.

  PJ Harvey

  Play, Giving, Energy

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• I don't consider myself a musician who has achieved perfection and can't develop any further. But I compose my pieces with a formula that I created myself. Take a musician like John Coltrane. He is a perfect musician, who can give expression to all the possibilities of his instrument. But he seems to have difficulty expressing original ideas on it. That is why he keeps looking for ideas in exotic places. At least I don't have that problem, because, like I say, I find my inspiration in myself.

  Thelonious Monk

  Inspiration, Expression, Ideas

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• Switch to piano! No. Really, if you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice. Of course, it would be best if you could actually sing with your own voice. The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. Therefore, the challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument or 'voice' that is outside of your body. I love that challenge and have for over forty-five years. As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction.

  Stan Getz

  Art, Piano, Years

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• The philosophy of praxis does not aim at the peaceful resolution of existing contradictions in history and society, but is the very theory of these contradictions. It is not the instrument of government of the dominant groups in order to gain the consent and exercise hegemony over the subaltern classes. It is the expression of subaltern classes who want to educate themselves in the art of government and who have an interest in knowing all truths, even the unpleasant ones, and in avoiding the impossible deceptions of the upper class, and even more their own.

  Antonio Gramsci

  Art, Philosophy, Exercise

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• Fiction is nothing less than the subtlest instrument for self-examination and self-display that Mankind has invented yet.

  John Updike

  Self, Fiction, Examination

  John Updike (2012). “Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism”, p.92, Random House

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• My identity has everything to do with me and my instrument. It doesn't have to do with what production style I use, or how many people played on it, whether it's sparse or grandiose or whatever. And I'm social, frankly.

  Liz Phair

  People, Style, Identity

  Yahoo! Music Interview with Dave DiMartino, April 25, 2004.

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• I believe the use of noise to make music will increase until we reach a
  music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make
  available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard.

  John Cage

  Believe, Musical, Sound

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• Italy advocates the adoption of a legal instrument on cultural diversity, guaranteeing every country the protection of its own historical identity and the uniqueness of its physical and intangible cultural heritage.

  Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

  Country, Diversity, Adoption

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• Government is not a substitute for people, but simply the instrument through which they act. And if the individual fails to do his duty as a citizen, government becomes a very deadly instrument indeed.

  Bernard Baruch

  Government, People, Individuality

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