Occasions Quotes - Page 29

• Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Morning, Book, Heart

  Arthur Conan Doyle (1989). “Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Stories”, p.449, Wordsworth Editions

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• Awkwardness is a more real disadvantage than it is generally thought to be; it often occasions ridicule, it always lessens dignity.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Real, Dignity, Disadvantages

  Lord Chesterfield (2008). “The Modern Chesterfield”, p.250, Wildside Press LLC

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• When I reflect upon what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle and pleasure of the world had any reality; and I look on what has passed as one of those wild dreams which opium occasions, and I by no means wish to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fugitive illusion.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Life, Dream, Mean

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• There is a certain jargon, which, in French, I should call un Persiflage d'Affaires, that a foreign Minister ought to be perfectlymaster of, and may be used very advantageously at great entertainments, in mixed companies, and in all occasions where he must speak, and should say nothing. Well turned and well spoken, it seems to mean something, though in truth it means nothing. It is a kind of political badinage, which prevents or removes a thousand difficulties, to which a foreign Minister is exposed in mixed conversations.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Mean, Political, Jargon

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• In the course of the world, a man must very often put on an easy, frank countenance, upon very disagreeable occasions; he must seem pleased, when he is very much otherwise; he must be able to accost and receive with smiles, those whom he would much rather meet with swords.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Patience, Men, Tolerance

  Lord Chesterfield (1998). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.298, OUP Oxford

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• In beginning the world, if you don't wish to get chafed at every turn, fold up your pride carefully, put it under lock and key, and only let it out to air upon grand occasions. Pride is a garment all stiff brocade outside, all grating sackcloth on the side next to the skin.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Pride, Keys, Air

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• There are occasions when I would rather feel like a fly than a spider.

  E. M. Forster

  Feelings, Spiders, Feels

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• The soul, like the body, acquires vigor by the exercise of all its faculties. In the midst of the world, in overcoming difficulties, in conquering selfishness, indolence, and fear--in all the occasions of duty, it employs, and reveals by employing, energies that render it efficient and robust--that broaden its scope, adjust its powers, and mature it with a rich experience.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Exercise, Soul, Selfishness

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• The keen spirit seizes the prompt occasion.

  Hannah More

  Spirit, Prompts

  Hannah More (1853). “Poems, sacred dramas, essays”, p.188

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• An unusual sensation possesses my breast - a sensation which I once thought could never pervade it on any occasion whatever. It is pleasure, pleasure, my dear Lucy, on leaving my paternal roof.

  Hannah Webster Foster

  Women, Home, Leaving

  William Wells Brown, Hannah Webster Foster (1996). “The Power of Sympathy and The Coquette”, p.107, Penguin

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• Like a community sing, a howl is a happy occasion. Wolves love to howl. When it is started, they instantly seek contact with one another, troop together, fur to fur. Some wolves will run from any distance, panting and bright-eyed, to join in, uttering, as they near, fervent little wows, jaws wide, hardly able to wait to sing.

  Lois Crisler

  Running, Distance, Waiting

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• Every present occasion will catch the senses of the vain man; and with that bridle and saddle you may ride him.

  Philip Sidney

  Men, Vanity, May

  Sir Philip Sidney, Jane Porter (1807). “Aphorisms of Sir Philip Sidney: With Remarks”, p.115

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• Lavater told Goethe that on a certain occasion when he held the velvet bag in the church as collector of the offerings, he tried to observe only the hands; and he satisfied himself that in every individual the shape of the hand and of the fingers, the action and sentiment in dropping the gift into the bag, were distinctly different and individually characteristic.

  Anna Brownell Jameson

  Offering, Hands, Church

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• Tea with us became more than an idealisation of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life. The beverage grew to be an excuse for the worship of purity and refinement, a sacred function at which the host and guest joined to produce for that occasion the utmost beatitude of the mundane.

  Okakura Kakuzo

  Art, Drinking, Tea

  Okakura Kakuzo (2012). “The Book of Tea: Classic Edition”, p.21, Tuttle Publishing

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• No one was ever the better for advice: in general, what we called giving advice was properly taking an occasion to show our own wisdom at another's expense; and to receive advice was little better than tamely to another the occasion of raising himself a character from our defects.

  Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

  Character, Giving, Advice

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• The instability of our tastes is the occasion of the irregularity of our lives.

  Stanisław I Leszczyński

  Taste, Irregularity, Our Lives

  François duc de La Rochefoucauld, Stanisław I Leszczyński (King of Poland) (1851). “Moral Reflections, Sentences and Maxims of Francis, Duc de la Rochefoucauld”, p.158

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• The more supple vagabond, too, is sure to appear on the least rumor of such a gathering, and the next day to disappear, and go into his hole like the seventeen-year locust, in an ever-shabby coat, though finer than the farmer's best, yet never dressed.... He especially is the creature of the occasion. He empties both his pockets and his character into the stream, and swims in such a day. He dearly loves the social slush. There is no reserve of soberness in him.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Character, Years, Next Day

  Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.241, Xist Publishing

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• For the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our distraction.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Change, Events, Causes

  Henry David Thoreau (2016). “Walden”, p.97, Xist Publishing

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• The secret of success in society is a certain heartiness and sympathy. A man who is not happy in company, cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion; all his information is a little impertinent. A man who is happy there, finds in every turn of the conversation occasions for the introduction of what he has to say. The favorites of society are able men, and of more spirit than wit, who have no uncomfortable egotism, but who exactly fill the hour and the company, contended and contenting.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Success, Memories, Men

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• I found the best ideas usually came, not when one was actively striving for them, but when one was in a more relaxed state… I used to take long solitary walks on Sundays, during which I tended to review the current situation in a leisurely way. Such occasions often proved fruitful, even though (or perhaps, because) the primary purpose of the walk was relaxation and not research.

  Paul Dirac

  Sunday, Ideas, Long

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• Invitations to speak upon public occasions are among my most grievous embarrassments. Why is it inferred that one is or can be a public speaker because she has written a book? Writing is a very private business. I do not know any other occupation which requires so much privacy unless it is a life of prayer or a life of crime.

  Corra May Harris

  Prayer, Book, Writing

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• Our fear of technology is really a fear of empowerment. We now have the ability to design the reality we live in, and we have to step up to the occasion.

  Douglas Rushkoff

  Technology, Reality, Design

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• The Church seems to totter to its fall, almost all life extinct. On this occasion, any complaisance would be criminal which told you, whose hope and commission it is to preach the faith of Christ, that the faith of Christ is preached.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Fall, Church, Criminals

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.82, Penguin

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• There are two reasons why I propose to make myself thoroughly and unashamedly happy by talking about myself. The first is that on several occasions, both in England and America, I have been told that I am a legendary character.

  Louis J. Mordell

  Character, England And America, Talking

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• Limousines used to be reserved for the ruling class, or, on special occasions, for the working class. Today, limousines are like taxicabs with the door handles still intact.

  Erma Bombeck

  Funny, Humor, Doors

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