Paragon Quotes

• An angel; or, if not,
  An earthly paragon.

  William Shakespeare

  Angel, Ifs

  1610 Belarius, of Innogen in disguise. Cymbeline, act 3, sc.6, l.42-3.

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• This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

  William Shakespeare

  Moving, Angel, Men

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [316]

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• I'm not on a mission. I'm not a paragon of health for anybody. I'm not going to run a marathon or model for 'Men's Health' or go on bike rides with Lance Armstrong. I'm not. Trust me.

  Duff Goldman

  Running, Men, Goes On

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• Me, myself, personally, I like to keep myself private. I have never said I am a paragon of virtue, a model of morality. I simply do what I do.

  Steve Coogan

  Morality, Virtue, Said

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• What a paragon of virtue you are, gunslinger!" the man in black laughed.

  Stephen King

  Men, Black, Virtue

  Stephen King (2016). “The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three”, p.111, Simon and Schuster

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• He who considers himself a paragon of wisdom is sure to commit some superlatively stupid act.

  Johann Ludwig Tieck

  Wisdom, Stupid, Commit

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• It's a horrible idea that God, this paragon of wisdom and knowledge, power, couldn't think of a better way to forgive us our sins than to come down to Earth in his alter ego as his son and have himself hideously tortured and executed so that he could forgive himself.

  Richard Dawkins

  Son, Thinking, Ideas

  "Religion and Atheism". "Q&A" with Tony Jones, www.abc.net.au. April 9, 2012.

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• What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god.

  William Shakespeare

  Beauty, Moving, Angel

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [316]

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• Conservatives say the government can't end poverty by force, but they believe it can use force to make people moral. Liberals say government can't make people be moral, but they believe it can end poverty. Neither group attempts to explain why government is so clumsy and destructive in one area but a paragon of efficiency and benevolence in the other.

  Harry Browne

  Believe, Government, People

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• Where is truth, forsooth, and who knoweth it? Is Beauty beautiful, or is it only our eyes that make it so? Does Venus squint? Has she got a splay-foot, red hair, and a crooked back? Anoint my eyes, good Fairy Puck, so that I may ever consider the Beloved Object a paragon! Above all, keep on anointing my mistress's dainty peepers with the very strongest ointment, so that my noddle may ever appear lovely to her, and that she may continue to crown my honest ears with fresh roses!

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Beautiful, Eye, Hair

  William Makepeace Thackeray (2015). “The Virginians: Christie's Collections”, p.126, 谷月社

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• He stares at me, and then leans back in his chair. "He's ill, Jacob." I say nothing. "He's a paragon schnitzophonic." "He's what?!" "Paragon schnitzophonic," repeats Uncle Al. "You mean paranoid schizophrenic?" "Sure. Whatever. But the bottom line is he's mad as a hatter.

  Sara Gruen

  Uncles, Mean, Mad

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• He who, conscious of being strong, is content to be weak, he shall be the paragon of mankind. Being the paragon of mankind, Virtue will never desert him. He returns to the state of a little child.

  Laozi

  Strong, Children, Humility

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• He was my equal in beauty, a paragon of grace and charm, sparkling with wit, and burning with love. I adored him to distraction, to the point of idolatry: I loved him as one can never love twice.

  Voltaire

  Grace, Burning, Distraction

  Voltaire (1956). “Candide: or, Optimism”

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• He is intangible and invisible. But His work is more powerful than the most ferocious wind. The Spirit brings order out of chaos and beauty out of ugliness. He can transform a sin-blistered man into a paragon of virtue. The Spirit changes people. The Author of life is also the Transformer of life.

  R. C. Sproul

  Powerful, Men, Order

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• Mike Stanton is our preeminent aficionado and raconteur of Rhode Island’s flamboyantly criminal political follies, and The Prince of Providence is the chronicle of a great American rogue, Mayor Buddy Cianci—a paragon of charisma and corruption.

  Philip Gourevitch

  Rhode Island, Islands, Political

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• We can paint unrealistic pictures of the juggler--displaying her now as a problem-free paragon of glamour and now as a modern hag.Or we can see in the juggler a real person who strives to overcome the obstacles that nature and society put in her path and who does so with vigor and determination.

  Faye J Crosby

  Determination, Real, Path

  Faye J. Crosby (1991). “Juggling: The Unexpected Advantages of Balancing Career and Home for Women and Their Families”, Free Pr

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• But Thee, but Thee, O sovereign Seer of time,
  But Thee, O poets' Poet, Wisdom's Tongue,
  But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love,
  O perfect life in perfect labor writ,
  O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest, --
  What IF or YET, what mole, what flaw, what lapse,
  What least defect or shadow of defect,
  What rumor, tattled by an enemy,
  Of inference loose, what lack of grace
  Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's --
  Oh, what amiss may I forgive in Thee,
  Jesus, good Paragon, Thou Crystal Christ?

  Sidney Lanier

  Best Love, Jesus, Kings

  Sidney Lanier (1999). “Poems of Sidney Lanier”, p.32, University of Georgia Press

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• I've always been influenced by the human form. I'm a big fan of that Shakespeare quote. I tend to leave out the bad part of the paragon of animals quote, because I have this sort of Ayn Rand aesthetic. It was always one of those quotes that inspired me.

  Zack Snyder

  Animal, Fans, Inspired

  Source: therumpus.net

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• The Bush administration is a paragon of wisdom.

  George Saunders

  Administration

  Source: www.identitytheory.com

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• I'm an entertainer. I don't go round saying I'm a paragon of virtue, so that is clearly not in the public interest.

  Steve Coogan

  Virtue, Interest, Entertainers

  "Steve Coogan: Why I won't let News Corp off the hook" by James Robinson, www.theguardian.com. September 5, 2011.

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• We love being in love, that's the truth on't. If we had not met Joan, we should have met Kate, and adored her. We know our mistresses are no better than many other women, nor no prettier, nor no wiser, nor no wittier. 'Tis not for these reasons we love a woman, or for any special quality or charm I know of; we might as well demand that a lady should be the tallest woman in the world, like the Shropshire giantess, as that she should be a paragon in any other character, before we began to love her.

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Love, Character, Should Have

  William Makepeace Thackeray (1852). “The history of Henry Esmond, esq”, p.128

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• Compared to the typical Zim/Chomsky-spouting grad school clown, a trucker with a screaming eagle hat is a paragon of political nuance.

  David Burge

  School, Eagles, Political

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• ...Emma Morley wasn't such a paragon either: pretentious, petulant, lazy, speechifying, judgmental. Self-pitying, self righteous, self-important, all the selfs except self-confident, the quality that she had always needed the most.

  David Nicholls

  Self, Lazy, Important

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• To be a social success, do not act pathetic, arrogant, or bored. Do not discuss your unhappy childhood, your visit to the dentist,the shortcomings of your cleaning woman, the state of your bowels, or your spouse's bad habits. You will be thought a paragon (or perhaps a monster) of good behavior.

  Mason Cooley

  Success, Unhappy Childhood, Bored

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• I think, for one, the LGBTQ community is just a paragon of leadership, of standing up and saying "these are our rights, and we deserve them." As a model of activism, it's so wonderful what the community has been able to achieve towards goals like marriage equality.

  Jill Stein

  Thinking, Rights, Goal

  Source: www.pqmonthly.com

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