Passive Quotes - Page 16

• Revolutionaries see history as a creation of their own spirit, as being made up of a continuous series of violent tugs at the other forces of society - both active and passive, and they prepare the maximum of favourable conditions for the definitive tug (revolution).

  Antonio Gramsci

  Revolution, Spirit, Creation

  "Selections from the Prison Notebooks". Book by Antonio Gramsci, 1971.

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• I'm often wary of using the word 'inspiration' to introduce my work -- it sounds too much like a sun shower from the heavens, absorbed by a passive individual enjoying an especially receptive moment. While that may be the case on rare occasions, the reality is usually far more prosaic. Staring at a blank piece of paper, I can't think of anything original. I feel utterly uninspired and unreceptive. It's the familiar malaise of 'artist's block' and in such circumstances there is only one thing to do: just start drawing.

  Shaun Tan

  Block, Inspiration, Thinking

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• In sha Allah, God willing, must be the expression of humility of the active actors and it must never be the justification of the passive observers

  Tariq Ramadan

  Inspirational, God, Faith

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• If all Church power vests in the clergy, then the people are practically bound to passive obedience in all matters of faith and practice; for all right of private judgment is then denied.

  Charles Hodge

  Practice, People, Church

  Charles Hodge (1855). “What is Presbyterianism?: An Address Delivered Before the Presbyterian Historical Society at Their Anniversary Meeting in Philadelphia, on Tuesday Evening, May 1, 1855”, p.9

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• Too rich to be relevant to the world's poor, [Europe] attracts immigration but cannot encourage imitation. Too passive regarding international security. Too self-satisfied, it acts as if its central political goal is to become the worlds most comfortable retirement home. Too set in its ways, it fears multicultural diversity

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Retirement, Home, Self

  Zbigniew Brzezinski (2012). “Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power”, p.39, Hachette UK

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• The facts which our senses present to us are socially performed in two ways: through the historical character of the object perceived and through the historical character of the perceiving organ. Both are not simply natural; they are shaped by human activity, and yet the individual perceives himself as receptive and passive in the act of perception.

  Max Horkheimer

  Character, Two, Historical

  Max Horkheimer (1972). “Critical Theory: Selected Essays”, p.200, A&C Black

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• Reading, therefore, is a co-production between writer and reader. The simplicity of this tool is astounding. So little, yet out of it whole worlds, eras, characters, continents, people never encountered before, people you wouldn’t care to sit next to in a train, people that don’t exist, places you’ve never visited, enigmatic fates, all come to life in the mind, painted into existence by the reader’s creative powers. In this way the creativity of the writer calls up the creativity of the reader. Reading is never passive.

  Ben Okri

  Reading, Creativity, Character

  Ben Okri (2014). “A Way of Being Free”, p.24, Head of Zeus

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• The question I'm always asking myself is: are we masters or victims? Do we make history, or does history make us? Do we shape the world, or are we just shaped by it? The question of do we have agency in our lives or whether we are just passive victims of events is, I think, a great question, and one that I have always tried to ask.

  Salman Rushdie

  Thinking, Agency, Events

  "Salman Rushdie says he's glad he wrote The Satanic Verses". www.mirror.co.uk. October 1, 2008.

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• Maverick is a word which appeals to me more than misfit. Maverick is active, misfit is passive.

  Alan Rickman

  Misfits, Appeals, Maverick

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• I lived in Chicago for a few years and got a sense of - kind of that broad-shouldered, windy, um, stern, Midwestern, warm-slash-passive aggressive, wonderful - every adjective I can think of, very cold.

  Amy Poehler

  Thinking, Years, Chicago

  "Amy Poehler: Playing Politics, But Only On Television". NPR Interview, www.npr.org. October 20, 2011.

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• In a tough situation, don't avoid acting just because it's easier or comfortable. Don't lapse into a passive state. People who give up, die.

  Gregory Benford

  Giving Up, People, Acting

  Gregory Benford, Larry Niven (2012). “Bowl of Heaven”, p.175, Macmillan

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• I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.

  Stephen King

  Writing, Roots, Magic

  Stephen King (2002). “On Writing”, p.121, Simon and Schuster

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• It is a sobering fact that the prominence of central banks in this century has coincided with a general tendency towards more inflation, not less. [I]f the overriding objective is price stability, we did better with the nineteenth-century gold standard and passive central banks, with currency boards, or even with 'free banking.' The truly unique power of a central bank, after all, is the power to create money, and ultimately the power to create is the power to destroy.

  Paul Volcker

  Unique, Gold, Boards

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• Man is constituted as a speculative being; he contemplates the world, and the objects around him, not with a passive indifferent eye, but as a system disposed with order and design.

  John Herschel

  Eye, Men, Order

  "A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy". Book by John Herschel, 1830.

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• Canada has a passive-aggressive culture, with a lot of sarcasm and righteousness. That went with my weird messianic complex. The ego is a fascinating monster. I was taught from a young age that I had to serve, so that turned into me thinking I had to save the planet.

  Alanis Morissette

  Birthday, Sarcasm, Thinking

  "I've been a thorn in people's sides just by existing" by Lucy O'Brien, www.theguardian.com. May 21, 2008.

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• I think, on a surface level, people are surprised to see me playing such a passive role in 'Good.'

  Viggo Mortensen

  Thinking, People, Levels

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• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out always cut it out. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

  George Orwell

  Cutting, Thinking, Passive Voice

  George Orwell (1953). “Shooting an Elephant: And Other Essays”

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• Holmes had cultivated the ability to still the noise of the mind, by smoking his pipe and playing nontunes on the violin. He once compared this mental state with the sort of passive seeing that enables the eye, in a dim light or at a great distance, to grasp details with greater clarity by focusing slightly to one side of the object of interest. When active, strained vision only obscures and frustrates, looking away often permits the eyes to see and interpret the shapes of what it sees. Thus does inattention allow the mind to register the still, small whisper of the daughter of the voice.

  Laurie R. King

  Daughter, Distance, Eye

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• This is passive-aggression in action.

  Chuck Palahniuk

  Action, Aggression

  "Survivor". Book by Chuck Palahniuk, 1999.

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• I entered the classroom with the conviction that it was crucial for me and every other student to be an active participant, not a passive consumer...education as the practice of freedom.... education that connects the will to know with the will to become. Learning is a place where paradise can be created.

  Bell Hooks

  Practice, Paradise, Students

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• In order to do a good job a person must like what he or she is doing....'Love thy work', and you will be successful..... If you do things just because you have to, then you will never enjoy work. Nor will you do a good job if you do it simply out of a sense of duty. stress is often a by-product of such passive or negative attitudes toward work. Paradoxically as it may sound, love of work can be the best medicine for workaholism.

  Konosuke Matsushita

  Success, Jobs, Attitude

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• In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female…In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness

  Laura Mulvey

  Strong, Impact, Erotic

  Laura Mulvey (1989). “Visual and Other Pleasures”, p.19, Springer

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• His response was to fight it with the only weapons at hand—passive resistance and open displays of contempt.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Fighting, Hands, Passive Resistance

  Kurt Vonnegut (2007). “The Sirens of Titan”, p.203, Dial Press

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• Lena knew she had spent too much of her life in a state of passive dread, just waiting for something bad to happen. In a life like that, relief was as close as you got to happiness.

  Ann Brashares

  Waiting, Relief, Too Much

  Ann Brashares (2012). “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Complete Collection”, p.287, Delacorte Press

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• There's nothing to be gained from passive observance, the simple documenting of conditions, because, at its core, it sets a bad example. Every time something is observed and not fixed, or when one has a chance to give in some way and does not, there is a lie being told, the same lie we all know by heart but which needn't be reiterated.

  Dave Eggers

  Lying, Heart, Simple

  Dave Eggers (2009). “You Shall Know Our Velocity”, p.297, Vintage

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