Niceties Quotes - Page 2

• I sent my ex-husband a bully card: You held hate in one heart and spoke niceties with the other, you laid warm hands upon me in public and wounded me in private, your noble face hid your filthy ways, and your sorrow was but laughter.

  Jenny Jay

  Bullying, Laughter, Husband

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• Such pretensions to nicety in experiments of this nature, are truly laughable! They will be telling us some day of the WEIGHT of the MOON, even to drams, scruples and grains-nay, to the very fraction of a grain!-I wish there were infallible experiments to ascertain the quantum of brains each man possesses, and every man's integrity and candour:-This is a desideratum in science which is most of all wanted.

  Robert Sutton Harrington

  Integrity, Science, Moon

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• Constitutions are not designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for niceties of expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades of meaning, or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness or judicial research. They are instruments of a practical nature, founded on the common business of human life, adapted to common wants, designed for common use, and fitted for common understandings.

  Joseph Story

  Philosophical, Exercise, Expression

  Joseph Story (1851). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.322

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• I believe it is no wrong Observation, that Persons of Genius, and those who are most capable of Art, are always fond of Nature, as such are chiefly sensible, that all Art consists in the Imitation and Study of Nature. On the contrary, People of the common Level of Understanding are principally delighted with the Little Niceties and Fantastical Operations of Art, and constantly think that finest which is least Natural.

  Alexander Pope

  Art, Believe, Thinking

  Alexander Pope, William Roscoe (1824). “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,”, p.397

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• A damnably readable, streamlined, yet deeply researched work. Skipping the ancestors and aftermath of conventional biography, Max gives us the man, his work, and his times-the niceties of which (so complicated, so exquisitely intertwined) Max articulates with, well, Wallace-like lucidity and wit. Above all this is the story of a touching young man who insisted on being something better than simply the smartest person in the room.

  Blake Bailey

  Men, Giving, Touching

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• There is a quickness of perception in some, a nicety in the discernment of character, a natural penetration, in short, which no experience in others can equal.

  Jane Austen

  Character, Perception, Natural

  Jesse Zuba, Jane Austen (2009). “Persuasion - Jane Austen”, p.100, Infobase Publishing

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• The novelist, unlike many of his colleagues, makes up a number of word-masses roughly describing himself (roughly: niceties shallcome later), gives them names and sex, assigns them plausible gestures, and causes them to speak by the use of inverted commas, and perhaps to behave consistently.

  E. M. Forster

  Sex, Character, Names

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• Intellectual tasting of life will not supersede muscular activity. If a man should consider the nicety of the passage of a piece of bread down his throat, he would starve.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Intellectual, Bread

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.478, Library of America

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• The competent leader of men cares little for the niceties of other peoples' characters: he cares much--everything--for the exterior uses to which they may be put.... These are men to be moved. How should he move them? He supplies the power; others simply the materials on which that power operates.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Moving, Character, Men

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• Good taste rejects excessive nicety.

  Francois Fenelon

  Taste, Rejects, Good Taste

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• The niceties of existence were not a matter of concern, yet everything around was closed down most of the time. If you lived in a middle-class community in Chicago, children and adults came daily to the door saying, 'We are starving, how about a potato?' I speak from poignant memory.

  Paul Samuelson

  Children, Memories, Doors

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• Racial segregation must be seen for what it is, and that is an evil system, a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Covered Up, Evil, Slavery

  Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood, delivered 26 February 1965

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• A Heart So White is simply one of the best novels I know. I'm also thrilled by Javier Marías sentences, by how elegant they are while also being so permissive in relation to the niceties of grammar and so open to the prospect of surprise. He's a genius.

  Garth Greenwell

  Heart, White, Genius

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• You'd much rather act with a pal, someone you know really well. That way, you can cut all the niceties and go right to insulting each other.

  William H. Macy

  Cutting, Insulting, Pals

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Cities should function more like ecosystems, or even metabolisms. When we build, we should be thinking about how we can integrate into the ecosystems around us, but without sacrificing all the niceties of civilization like good restaurants, concert halls, and high-speed Internet access. I'm saying that partly tongue-in-cheek, but I'm also deadly serious. The future of technology is sustainable ecology.

  Annalee Newitz

  Sacrifice, Thinking, Technology

  Source: therumpus.net

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• The rule for hospitality and Irish "help," is, to have the same dinner every day throughout the year. At last, Mrs. O'Shaughnessylearns to cook it to a nicety, the host learns to carve it, and the guests are well served.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Years, Guests, Dinner

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• There is no vice or folly that requires so much nicety and skill to manage as vanity; nor any which by ill management makes so contemptible a figure.

  Jonathan Swift

  Vanity, Skills, Vices

  Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth (1755). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin: Accurately Revised in Six Volumes, Adorned with Copper-plates : with Some Account of the Author's Life and Notes Historical and Explanatory”

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• Conscience is harder than our enemies,
  Knows more, accuses with more nicety.

  George Eliot

  Enemy, Harder, Knows

  GEORGE ELIOT (1868). “THE SPANISH GYPSY”, p.61

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• Too much nicety of detail disgusts the greatest part of readers, and to throw a multitude of particulars under general heads, and lay down rules of extensive comprehension, is to common understandings of little use.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Understanding, Littles

  Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.206

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• In times of violence, personal predilections for niceties of colour and form seem irrelevant. All primitive expression (like the myths) reveals the constant awareness of powerful forces, the immediate presence of terror and fear.

  Adolph Gottlieb

  Powerful, Expression, Violence

  "bstract Expressionism Creators and Critics". Book edited by Clifford Ross, Abrams Publishers New York, 1990.

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• If we serve Jesus then every act & thought has meaning. Acts of kindness aren't just niceties, they become acts of worship.

  John Wimber

  Jesus, Kindness, Worship

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• Freedom of expression is no longer a political nicety, but a precondition for economic competitiveness.

  Alvin Toffler

  Expression, Political, Economic

  John Perry Barlow @JPBarlow, twitter.com. August 19, 2011.

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• Law always chooses sides on the basis of enforcement power. Morality and legal niceties have little to do with it when the real question is: Who has the clout?

  Frank Herbert

  Real, Law, Enforcement

  Frank Herbert (1987). “Heretics of Dune”, p.137, Penguin

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• Twenty years ago, when you bumped into someone and asked how they were, they would say, 'Mustn't grumble' or 'Getting by': now they feel obliged to say 'Just great!'. In both cases, the reply is just a social nicety, but the framework has changed, it's as if it's become a social duty to express happiness.

  Mark Ravenhill

  Years, Twenties, Social

  Source: voltairefoundation.wordpress.com

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