Observation Quotes - Page 26

• Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there.

  Donald Rumsfeld

  Missing, President, Looks

  Donald Rumsfeld (2001). “Public Statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001”

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• And this thesis is somewhat connected with general social and political observations, because it establishes the fact that the number of consumers is considerably larger than the number of producers, a fact which exercises a not inconsiderable social and political pressure.

  Hjalmar Schacht

  Exercise, Numbers, Political

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• A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Preparation, Analysis, Measurement

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• One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honor or observation.

  Walter Scott

  Mean, Men, Years

  Sir Walter Scott (189?). “the bride of Lammermoor”

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• To become an academic expert takes years of studying. Academic experts are experts in how and what others have done. They use case studies and observation to understand a subject.

  Simon Sinek

  Years, Experts, Use

  "Two Types of Experts" by Simon Sinek, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 18, 2010.

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• Wisdom and understanding can only become the possession of individual men by travelling the old road of observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.

  Samuel Smiles

  Wisdom, Perseverance, Journey

  Samuel Smiles (2009). “Self-Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.462, The Floating Press

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• The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts, and persist in doing so, generation after generation, through all changes of opinion and detail, is the one that must rule all observation.

  Adam Smith

  Change, Numbers, Facts

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• It is a great pity but tis certain from every day's observation of man, that he may be set on fire like a candle, at either end provided there is a sufficient wick standing out.

  Laurence Sterne

  Men, Fire, Great Day

  Laurence Sterne (1817). “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman”, p.515

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• The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Art, Nature, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.246, Delphi Classics

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• It is now possible to quantify people's levels of happiness pretty accurately by asking them, by observation, and by measuring electrical activity in the brain, in degrees from terrible pain to sublime joy.

  Polly Toynbee

  Happiness, Pain, People

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

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• If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

  Bill Vaughan

  Funny, Hater, Witty

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• For one who has an interest in the body as text, airports are treasure troves of information. It seems almost un-American to enjoy delays, and perhaps enjoy is not the best word, but certainly a delayed flight, if it does nothing else, allows one the opportunity to make prolonged observations about one's fellow travelers.

  Abraham Verghese

  Opportunity, Airports, Doe

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• A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with.

  Tennessee Williams

  Nature, Vacuums, Stuff

  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) act 2. Cf. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 403:27

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• Hollywood is a place where they place you under contract instead of under observation.

  Walter Winchell

  Movie, Hollywood, Definitions

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• No matter what a woman's appearance may be, it will be used to undermine what she is saying and taken to individualize - as her personal problem - observations she makes about the beauty myth in society.

  Naomi Wolf

  Taken, Independent Women, May

  Naomi Wolf (2013). “The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women”, p.274, Random House

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• Less is only more where more is no good.

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Sweet, Artist, Interesting

  Frank Lloyd Wright, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer (1995). “1949-1959”, Rizzoli International Publications

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• Until relatively recently, law enforcement's ability to determine an individual's location and track their movements was largely limited to natural human powers of observation.

  Ron Wyden

  Law, Track, Enforcement

  "Congress Should Resolve Location Tracking Questions" by Sen. Ron Wyden, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 8, 2011.

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• Science works because the phenomenon being described can be relied on to remain the same. Even in quantum physics, where phenomena are changed by observation, the way in which observation interferes is regular and falls within a limited range of possibilities. Human culture, however, has the nasty habit of never staying the same for very long.

  Julian Baggini

  Fall, Long, Culture

  "The science of ignorance" by Julian Baggini, www.theguardian.com. November 25, 2008.

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• There has to be the popcorn genre element, or I don't engage the same way. I like action and vehicle design and guns and computer graphics as much as I like allegory. It's a constant balancing game. I want audiences to be on this rollercoaster that fits the Hollywood mould, but I also want them to absorb my observations.

  Neill Blomkamp

  Gun, Games, Design

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• As with many other folk beliefs, 'feng-shui' undoubtedly incorporates some scientifically correct observation or received wisdom based on direct experience of natural phenomena; but it needs to be dealt with skeptically as a credible system of thought. Some feng-shui prescriptions can certainly lead to desirable results.

  Martin Filler

  Needs, Feng Shui, Belief

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• I don't bill myself as an atheist but as a naturalist. Naturalism is a belief system. A lot of scientists bristle at that. We all have to believe we can find the truth. Evidence is my guide. I rely on observation, experimentation and verification.

  Greg Graffin

  Atheist, Believe, Bills

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• I have great hope and faith, but it's a humanistic faith based in facts; you have to believe that facts exist. We can all arrive at the same facts if we engage in the process of experimentation, observation, and verification, which can solve more of the world's major problems than a debate over whether God does or doesn't exist.

  Greg Graffin

  Believe, Doe, World

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• My science teachers always encouraged their classes to 'go out and discover something' because all scientific endeavors depend on observation and experimentation. Through such pursuits, anyone can find something new to science, and if it's truly novel, the entire edifice of science might have to be restructured.

  Greg Graffin

  Teacher, Class, Might

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• My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace.

  Tullian Tchividjian

  Grace, Our Relationship, Relationship With God

  Tullian Tchividjian, Nick Lannon (2015). “It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News”, David C Cook

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• You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Method, Holmes, Trifles

  1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,'The Boscombe Valley Mystery'.

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