Justify Quotes - Page 31

• Most people, when directly confronted by evidence that they are wrong, do not change their point of view or course of action but justify it even more tenaciously. Even irrefutable evidence is rarely enough to pierce the mental armor of self-justification.

  Carol Tavris

  Self, Views, People

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• Terrorism must be outlawed by all civilized nations — not explained or rationalized, but fought and eradicated. Nothing can, nothing will justify the murder of innocent people and helpless children.

  Elie Wiesel

  Children, People, Civilized Nations

  Elie Wiesel (2011). “From the Kingdom of Memory: Reminiscences”, p.180, Schocken

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• The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.

  Eric Hoffer

  Effort, Individuality, Literature

  Eric Hoffer (1963). “The Ordeal of Change”

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• I grew up completely overwhelmed by TV, and part of the reason why I have gone into television is as a way to justify to myself all those wasted hours of watching TV as a kid. I can now look back and say, 'Oh, that was research.'

  Matt Groening

  Kids, Watching Tv, Looks

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• The compelled mother loves her child as the caged bird sings. The song does not justify the cage nor the love the enforcement.

  Germaine Greer

  Mother, Song, Children

  Germaine Greer (1990). “The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings”, p.115, Atlantic Monthly Press

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• Everything must justify its existence before the judgment seat of Reason, or give up existence.

  Friedrich Engels

  Art, Giving Up, Philosophy

  Friedrich Engels (2008). “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific”, p.31, Cosimo, Inc.

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• I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A. I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.

  Jimmy Carter

  Country, Thinking, Confusion

  "Carter: Iraq War is 'Unjust'". www.foxnews.com. July 30, 2005.

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• It's a chicken-and-egg thing. You could send cards to everyone in San Francisco, but if the merchants don't have the terminals, what's the point? What you need is a cooperative effort with merchants in a metropolitan area to create a tipping point where you can justify advertising and merchants are willing to attempt this new payment system.

  David Robertson

  Eggs, San Francisco, Effort

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• Racists are irrational and illogical in their attempts to justify their prejudices.

  Sargent Shriver

  Prejudice, Racist, Irrational

  Sargent Shriver (1964). “Point of the lance”

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• Banks and donors and charities claimed to have had successes in Mozambique. I suspected they invented these successes to justify their existence.

  Paul Theroux

  Charity, Mozambique, Donors

  Paul Theroux (2004). “Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown”, p.421, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Every single American can exclaim, 'Nothing justifies what they did in New York and Washington,' not even the bombs that our government has dropped on them for ten years or the embargo that has caused the deaths of so many children. That's of course true...The issue is simply an acceptance of reality and a fundamental fact of life: When governments do bad things to people, people sometimes retaliate.

  Jacob G. Hornberger

  New York, Children, Acceptance

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• Her existence alone was excuse enough to justify the creation of the entire world.

  Stephenie Meyer

  World, Excuse, Creation

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• I should say, the one thing you run into is, if you're trying to raise a round you have to decide, well, how much money are you trying to raise? And then you have to justify that to your investors, because they want to know why you [are] raising that much? Why aren't you raising either twice as much or half as much?

  David Plotz

  Running, Trying, Half

  "How Does a Host of Working Work?". "Working" with Adam Davidson, www.slate.com. May 18, 2015.

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• I'm tired of my life, my clothes, the things I say. I'm hacking away at the surface, as at some kind of gray ice, trying to break through to what is underneath or I am dead. I can feel the surface trembling—it seems ready to give but it never does. I am uninterested in current events. How can I justify this? How can I explain it? I don't want to have the same vocabulary I've always had. I want something richer, broader, more penetrating and powerful.

  James Salter

  Powerful, Tired, Ice

  James Salter, Robert Phelps (2010). “Memorable Days: The Selected Letters of James Salter and Robert Phelps”, p.25, Counterpoint Press

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• Do ask yourself why you, the individual, exist, and if you can get no other answer try for once to justify the meaning of your existence as it were a posteriori by setting before yourself an aim, a goal, a 'to this end', an exalted and noble 'to this end'.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Goal, Trying, Noble

  "Nietzsche: Untimely Meditations".

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• There are no ambitions noble enough to justify breaking someone's heart.

  Colleen McCullough

  Love, Heart, Ambition

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• I'm glad mushrooms are against the law, because I took them one time, and you know what happened to me? I laid in a field of green grass for four hours going, "My God! I love everything." Yeah, now if that isn't a hazard to our country... How are we gonna justify arms dealing when we realize that we're all one?

  Bill Hicks

  Country, Law, Mushrooms

  "Shock and Awe". Live album by Bill Hicks, recorded in November 11, 1992 at The Oxford Playhouse, 2003.

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• The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of the pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise.

  Brennan Manning

  Reality, Decision, Promise

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• Intelligence reports say Castro is very worried about me. I'm very worried that we can't come up with something to justify his worrying.

  Ronald Reagan

  War, Worry, Cold

  Ronald Reagan (2009). “The Reagan Diaries”, p.4, Harper Collins

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• When the laws are written and administered by the most powerful leaders in a society, it is human nature for them to understand, justify, and protect the interests of themselves and people like them. Many injustices arise from this natural human failing.

  Jimmy Carter

  Powerful, Law, Justice

  Jimmy Carter (2011). “Living Faith”, p.113, Three Rivers Press

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• So often I wonder whether it is my right to capitalize, as I feel, so often, on the grief of others. But then I justify, in my own particular thoughts, by feeling that I can contribute a little to the understanding of what others are going through; then there is reason for doing it.

  Mark Z. Danielewski

  Grief, Understanding, Feelings

  Mark Z. Danielewski (2000). “Mark Z. Danielewski's House of leaves”

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• Only he deserves power who every day justifies it.

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Power, Deserve

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• there is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. N my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.

  Stephen Hawking

  Ideas, Differences, Giving

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• Art must be unaesthetic in the extreme, useless and impossible to justify.

  Francis Picabia

  Art, Useless, Impossible

  "Francis Picabia, Trouble Maker" by Peter Schjeldahl, www.newyorker.com. November 28, 2016.

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• There's no way I can justify my salary level, but I'm learning to live with it.

  Drew Carey

  Salary, Levels, Way

  "Stand-Up Guy". Interview with Nick Gillespie & Steve Kurtz, reason.com. November 1, 1997.

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