Please Quotes - Page 19

• Man little knows what calamities are beyond his patience to bear till he tries them; as in ascending the heights of ambition, which look bright from below, every step we rise shows us some new and gloomy prospect of hidden disappointment; so in our descent from the summits of pleasure, though the vale of misery below may appear, at first, dark and gloomy, yet the busy mind, still attentive to its own amusement, finds, as we descend, something to flatter and to please. Still as we approach, the darkest objects appear to brighten, and the mortal eye becomes adapted to its gloomy situation.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Disappointment, Ambition, Eye

  Oliver Goldsmith (1854). “The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Poetical works. Dramas. The vicar of Wakefield”, p.376

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• There are but few talents requisite to become a popular preacher; for the people are easily pleased if they perceive any endeavors in the orator to please them. The meanest qualifications will work this effect if the preacher sincerely sets about it.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  People, Talent, Endeavor

  Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Percy, Thomas Campbell (1812). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.”, p.326

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• Happiness, happiness ... the flavor is with you-with you alone, and you can make it as intoxicating as you please.

  Joseph Conrad

  Happiness, Flavor

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• We credit most our sight; one eye doth please
  Our trust farre more than ten eare-witnesses.

  Robert Herrick

  Eye, Sight, Credit

  Robert Herrick, Lord Thomas Maitland Dundrennan (1823). “Hesperides (continued) His noble numbers: or, his pious pieces”, p.127

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• Who fears t' offend takes the first step to please.

  Colley Cibber

  Firsts, Steps, Offense

  Colley Cibber, Charles Bathurst (1777). “The refusal; The provoked husband; Love in a riddle; Perolla and Izadora; Rival queans”, p.238

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• Dare to look up to God and say, Deal with me in the future as Thou wilt; I am of the same mind as Thou art; I am Thine; I refuse nothing that pleases Thee; lead me where Thou wilt; clothe me in any dress Thou choosest.

  Epictetus

  Art, Mind, Dresses

  Epictetus (1900). “Discourses ...”

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• Quite the ugliest face I ever saw was that of a woman whom the world called beautiful. Through its silver veil the evil and ungentle passions looked out, hideous and hateful. On the other hand, there are faces which the multitude, at first glance, pronounce homely, unattractive and such as "Nature fashions by the gross," which I always recognize with a warm heart-thrill. Not for the world would I have one feature changed; they please me as they are; they are hallowed by kind memories, and are beautiful through their associations.

  John Greenleaf Whittier

  Beautiful, Fashion, Memories

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• Our wedding plans please everybody as if we were fertilizing the earth and creating social luck.

  Marge Piercy

  Creating, Luck, Earth

  Marge Piercy (2013). “Braided Lives: A Novel”, p.412, PM Press

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• When table utensils were invented in the 1100s, the Catholic Church condemned them as obscene and heretical, claiming, 'God gave us fingers with which to eat.' And we're supposed to get politically discouraged? Oh please. We're being opposed by people who denounced the fork.

  Robin Morgan

  People, Catholic, Religion

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• I own that there is a haughtiness and fierceness in human nature which will cause innumerable broils, place men in what situation you please.

  Edmund Burke

  Men, Humanity, Haughtiness

  Edmund Burke (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Edmund Burke (Illustrated)”, p.32, Delphi Classics

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• God loves to see his creatures happy; our lawful delight is His; they know not God that think to please Him with making themselves miserable. The idolaters thought it a fit service for Baal to cut and lance themselves; never any holy man looked for thanks from the true God by wronging himself.

  Joseph Hall

  Happiness, Cutting, Men

  Joseph Hall, Josiah Pratt (1808). “The Works: Now First Collected : with Some Account of His Life and Sufferings. Contemplations”, p.12

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• One of the things people always say to you if you get upset is, don't take it personally, but listen hard to what's going on and, please, I beg you, take it personally. Understand: every attack on Hillary Clinton for not knowing her place is an attack on you. Underneath almost all those attacks are the words: get back, get back to where you once belonged.

  Nora Ephron

  Knowing, People, Upset

  "Take This Advice: The Most Nakedly Honest Graduation Speeches Ever Given". Book by Sandra Bark, 2005.

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• If you know someone who's depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn't a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather.

  Stephen Fry

  Depression, Weather, Being Depressed

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• To please the many is to displease the wise.

  Plutarch

  Wise, Popularity

  Plutarch (1871). “Plutarch's Morals”, p.14

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• The flatterer's object is to please in everything he does; whereas the true friend always does what is right, and so often gives pleasure, often pain, not wishing the latter, but not shunning it either, if he deems it best.

  Plutarch

  Friends, Pain, True Friend

  Plutarch (1898). “Plutarch's Morals: Ethical Essays”

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• While art may instruct as well as please, it can nevertheless be true art without instructing, but not without pleasing.

  Agnes Repplier

  Art, May, Pleasure

  Agnes Repplier (1891). “Points of View”, Boston Houghton, Mifflin 1893.

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• a good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who eats it live for ever though a bad one can make him dead for ever.

  Rebecca West

  Oysters, Palate, Revolt

  Rebecca West (2010). “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia”, p.484, Open Road Media

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• A story should, to please, at least seem true,
  Be apropos, well told, concise, and new:
  And whenso'er it deviates from these rules,
  The wise will sleep, and leave applause to fools.

  Benjamin Stillingfleet

  Wise, Sleep, Fool

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• Fear is concealed in smiles and flashing teeth. 'Please say you still love me,' the kings and queens are really saying. And, when they fare badly, they return to their palaces and sleep fitfully.

  Shirley MacLaine

  Kings, Queens, Fear

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• I highly recommend getting older! There's less tendency to people-please.

  Alanis Morissette

  People, Getting Older, Tendencies

  "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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• Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me. When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything "great," I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward.

  L. Frank Baum

  Sweet, Children, Book

  Introduction to "The Lost Princess of Oz", 1917.

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• Couldn't we end this interview with what I really want to say? That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship -- everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers. If we could end this article saying just that, we'd get down to what we should all be talking about. Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe.

  Marilyn Monroe

  Brother, Stars, Real

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• You spend a good part of your adult life acquiring things: building a home, filling it with objects that please your eye and make you feel comfortable. Then you spend the last part of your life trying to figure out how to get rid of it all.

  Lauren Bacall

  Home, Eye, Trying

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• Gaiety pleases more when we are assured that it does not cover carelessness.

  Madame de Stael

  Doe, Assured, Gaiety

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• Venice astonishes more than it pleases at first sight.

  Madame de Stael

  Sight, Venice, Firsts

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