Obstruction Quotes - Page 3

• When words & manners leave you no space for yourself
  make
  very personal
  very clear
  & your obstructions will join you or disappear.

  Ntozake Shange

  Space, Manners, Disappear

  26 Copy quote

• A star is beautiful; it affords pleasure, not from what it is to do, or to give, but simply by being what it is. It befits the heavens; it has congruity with the mighty space in which it dwells. It has repose; no force disturbs its eternal peace. It has freedom; no obstruction lies between it and infinity.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Beautiful, Stars, Lying

  5 Copy quote

• Every poet, be his outward lot what it may, finds himself born in the midst of prose; h e has to struggle from the littleness and obstruction of an actual world into the freedom and infinitude of an ideal.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Struggle, World, May

  Thomas Carlyle (1857). “Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: Complete in One Volume”, p.228

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• A transition from an author's book to his conversation is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur, and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.

  Samuel Johnson

  Fear, Book, Writing

  Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.13

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• I know with certainty, that [an honest man] is not to put his hand into the fire, and hold it there, till it be consumed: And thisevent, I think I can foretell with the same assurance, as that, if he throw himself out at the window, and meet with no obstruction, he will not remain a moment suspended in the air.

  David Hume

  Men, Thinking, Fire

  David Hume (1894). “An Enquiry Concerning the Human Understanding: And An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Throughout the greater part of his life George III was a kind of 'consecrated obstruction'.

  Walter Bagehot

  Kind, Greater

  'The English Constitution' (1867) 'The Monarchy'

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Whether I'm trying to figure out what the U.S. military is doing in Latin America or Africa, Afghanistan or Qatar, the response is remarkably uniform - obstruction and obfuscation, hurdles and hindrances. In short, the good old-fashioned military runaround.

  Nick Turse

  Military, Latin, Qatar

  "The Classic Military Runaround" by Nick Turse, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 8, 2013.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The time has come to end this charade. The debts are unaffordable. If they won't cancel the debts I would suggest obstruction; you do it yourselves. Africa should say: 'thank you very much but we need this money to meet the needs of children who are dying right now so we will put the debt servicing payments into urgent social investment in health, education, drinking water, control of AIDS and other needs.'

  Jeffrey Sachs

  Time, Children, Drinking

  7 Copy quote

• I'm not threatening you. I'm just informing you of police procedure. If you continue to obstruct me, I remove the obstruction, in this case you, and proceed to the next command.

  Eoin Colfer

  Police, Next, Threatening

  Eoin Colfer (2002). “Artemis fowl: the Arctic incident”

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Buddhahood is a state free of all obstructions to knowledge and disturbing emotions. It is the state in which the mind is fully evolved.

  Dalai Lama

  Mind, Emotion, States

  4 Copy quote

• By the plain form of my delirium I will blast the obstruction of every form around me into something barely called shadow. I sail. I swim to you. I know the water.

  Steve Erickson

  Water, Swim, Shadow

  Steve Erickson (2013). “Rubicon Beach: A Novel”, p.77, Open Road Media

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Put bluntly, the ego is not an obstruction to Spirit, but a radiant manifestation of Spirit. All Forms are not other than Emptiness, including the form of the ego. It is not necessary to get rid of the ego, but simply to live with it a certain exuberance.

  Ken Wilber

  Ego, Emptiness, Spirit

  Ken Wilber (1998). “The Essential Ken Wilber”, p.33, Shambhala Publications

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Once again, President Clinton is using American troops to deflect attention from his record of lies, distortions, obstructions of justice and abuse of power.

  Ron Paul

  Lying, Justice, Abuse

  4 Copy quote

• I think that providing obstructions in the live setting is when you get something that actually means something, as opposed to just aping your way through your greatest hits.

  J Tillman

  Mean, Thinking, Way

  Source: www.avclub.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Obstruction of mobility, where it occurs, is one of the most serious and intractable problems of industrial society.

  Ernest Gellner

  Mobility, Serious, Problem

  Ernest Gellner, John Breuilly (2008). “Nations and Nationalism”, p.110, Cornell University Press

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• When the people of God abandoned the covenant of love and fidelity, drawn as we are by the appeal of shallow, empty pleasures, God removed every possible obstruction to the covenant by being faithful for us, by becoming like us and subjecting Himself to the very worst within us, loving us all the way to the cross and all the way out of the grave.

  Rachel Held Evans

  People, Faithful, Covenant

  5 Copy quote

• Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk, innocent. Thousands of words, myriad interpretations, are only to free you from obstructions. If you want to know the undying person in the hut, don't separate from this skin bag here and now.

  Shitou Xiqian

  Letting Go, Spiritual, Hands

  9 Copy quote

• You cannot teach a child any more than you can grow a plant. All you can do is on the negative side - you can only help. It is a manifestation from within; it develops its own nature - you can only take away obstructions.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Life, Children, Negative

  Swami Vivekananda (2015). “The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”, p.2375, Manonmani Publishers

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Just as a mother would protect with her life her own son, her only son, so one should cultivate an unbounded mind towards all beings, and loving-kindness towards all the world. One should cultivate an unbounded mind, above and below and across, without obstruction, without enmity, without rivalry. Standing, or going, or seated, or lying down, as long as one is free from drowsiness, one should practice this mindfulness. This, they say, is the holy state here.

  Gautama Buddha

  Mother, Buddhist, Kindness

  30 Copy quote

• It is terrible to see how a single unclear idea, a single formula without meaning, lurking in a young man's head, will sometimes act like an obstruction of inert matter in an artery, hindering the nutrition of the brain and condemning its victim to pine away in the fullness of his intellectual vigor and in the midst of intellectual plenty.

  Charles Sanders Peirce

  Men, Ideas, Brain

  Charles Sanders Peirce, Nathan Houser, Christian J.W. J. W. Kloesel (1992). “The Essential Peirce, Volume 1: Selected Philosophical Writings? (1867–1893)”, p.127, Indiana University Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The teaching of politics is that the Government, which was set for protection and comfort of all good citizens, becomes the principal obstruction and nuisance with which we have to contend... The cheat and bully and malefactor we meet everywhere is the Government.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Teaching, Government, Bully

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Waldo Emerson, Waldo Emerson Forbes (1913). “Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1820-1872 [1876] Ed”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Obstructions on the way to enlightenment, are you kidding? Hey, they crucify people here. You think this is an easy place?

  Frederick Lenz

  Buddhism, Thinking, People

  4 Copy quote

• When you start witnessing something without thought, there is no obstruction for absorbing the knowledge about that thing because there is no thought. It's complete absorption which takes place. And then it manifests. This is how the Divine Power works within us. So with our gravity, what we do is to touch that depth within us, which can carry the Divine Power and manifest.

  Nirmala Srivastava

  Love, Wisdom, Yoga

  4 Copy quote

• That is nice, Mr. Morgan. Because in response to your tough-guy speech, I, in turn, would’ve had to give you my tough-girl speech, about where, exactly, federal prosecutors who come to my office looking for assistance can stick their obstruction of justice threats

  Julie James

  Girl, Nice, Giving

  Julie James (2013). “Love Irresistibly”, p.21, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Literature is a defense against the attacks of life. It says to life: You can't deceive me. I know your habits, foresee and enjoy watching all your reactions, and steal your secret by involving you in cunning obstructions that halt your normal flow.

  Cesare Pavese

  Secret, Normal, Defense

  Cesare Pavese, Alma Elizabeth Murch (1961). “This Business of Living”, p.117, Transaction Publishers

  8 Copy quote

  Show source