Rare Occasion Quotes

On rare occasions one does hear of a miraculous case of a married couple falling in love after marriage, but on close examination it will be found that it is a mere adjustment to the inevitable.

Emma Goldman

Inspirational, Funny, Marriage

Emma Goldman (2015). “Anarchism and Other Essays”, p.172, Library of Alexandria

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As resolute as I feel about my convictions, if I'm wrong, I'm man enough to say I'm wrong, because I find it a rare occasion anyway.

Stephen A. Smith

Men, Enough, Conviction

Source: www.theroot.com

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There was no hope for any kind of big opportunity. I'm not saying it was hopeless. The big pay-off was to work as an artist and gain some shred of respect from your friends, who were also artists. But there was never any notion that you could make a living out of art. On the rare occasions you had a gallery show, and sold a little work, well, that was just gravy.

Edward Ruscha

Art, Opportunity, Littles

"Ed Ruscha: 'There's room for saying things in bright shiny colours'". Interview with Rachel Cooke, www.theguardian.com. Seotember 11, 2010.

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On one of those rare occasions when Bach appraised his own life's work, he remarked: I worked hard.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Life, Work, Occasions

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I am not greedy. I do not seek to possess the major portion of your days. I am content if, on those rare occasions whose truth can be stated only by poetry, you will, perhaps, recall an image, even only the aura of my films.

Maya Deren

Auras, Film, Greedy

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In the homes of many Western Christians, hours are sometimes spent listening to worldly music. In our homes loud music can also be heard, but it is only to cover the talk about the gospel and the underground work so that neighbors may not overhear it and inform the secret police. How underground Christians rejoice on those rare occasions when they meet a serious Christian from the West!

Richard Wurmbrand

Christian, Home, Police

Richard Wurmbrand (2017). “Tortured for Christ: 50th Anniversary Edition”, p.96, David C Cook

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Optimal experience is that rare occasion when we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Memories, Long, Exhilaration

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In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes, it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized, or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians. Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation's history.

Walter Lippmann

Hard Times, Games, Evil

Walter Lippmann, Clinton Rossiter, James Lare (1982). “The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy”, p.122, Harvard University Press

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On the rare occasions I go to the gym, I prefer silence.

Bebe Neuwirth

Silence, Gym, Occasions

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As soon as I suspect a fine effect is being achieved by accident I lose interest. I am not interested...in unskilled labor. ...The scientific actor is an even worker. Any one may achieve on some rare occasion an outburst of genuine feeling, a gesture of imperishable beauty, a ringing accent of truth; but your scientific actor knows how he did it. He can repeat it again and again and again. He can be depended on.

Minnie Maddern Fiske

Feelings, May, Gestures

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We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Fate, Destiny, Our Actions

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

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The whole gamut of good and evil is in every human being, certain notes, from stronger original quality or most frequent use, appearing to form the whole character; but they are only the tones most often heard. The whole scale is in every soul, and the notes most seldom heard will on rare occasions make themselves audible.

Fanny Kemble

Character, Evil, Soul

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I have a feeling I'm falling on rare occasions but most of the time I have my feet on the ground I can't help it if the ground itself is falling.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Fall, Feet, Feelings

1973 'Mock Confessional'.

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I don't get drunk, I get a little happy on rare occasion, and I'm probably dancing if I'm that happy.

Susan Rice

Drunk, Dancing, Littles

Source: www.buzzfeed.com

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Meanness is the one thing I do get upset about on those rare occasions when I see it.

Maya Soetoro-Ng

Upset, Meanness, Occasions

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The Pivot Questionnaire that I ask other people, when I have on rare occasion answered it, the answer to the question, "What turns you on?" Is words. Not mine, other people's. Words, words, words, that's what turns me on.

James Lipton

People, Answers, Turn Me

Interview with Austin Allen, bigthink.com. February 9, 2010.

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If you're willing to answer yes to a God outside of nature, then there's nothing inconsistent with God on rare occasions choosing to invade the natural world in a way that appears miraculous.

Richard Dawkins

Answers, World, Way

Source: inters.org

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On the rare occasions when our dreams succeed and achieve perfection - most dreams are bungled - the are symbolic chains of scene and images in place of a narrative poetic language; they circumscribe our experiences or expectations or situations with such poetic boldness and decisiveness that in the morning we are always amazed when we remember our dreams.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Dream, Morning, Expectations

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All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations. But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air. What is evoked in him, then, is of another order, more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for that same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours.

James A. Baldwin

Music, Men, Air

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We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like.. moments like these are not the passive, receptive, relaxing timesthe best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Memories, Fate, Long

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I'm not much of a correspondent. My letters are not only uninteresting but sparse. I'm glad I don?t have to write for a living. It?s arduous work and the money is very uncertain. On those rare occasions when I wander into a bookstore it amazes me to see the avalanche of literature and semi-literature that is turned out weekly in this country. The people who write these things are either desperate for money or love starved. Why should anyone on a nice balmy day lock oneself in an office and hit a typewriter for hours on end. I think one of the greatest pleasures in the world is not writing.

Groucho Marx

Country, Nice, Writing

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Amy adored both the new look and the new person it allowed her to be. Following the photo shoot, she wore her bruises to the dry cleaner and the grocery store. Most people nervously looked away, but on the rare occasions someone would ask what happened, my sister would smile as brightly as possible, saying, 'I'm in love. Can you believe it? I'm finally, totally in love, and I feel great.

David Sedaris

Believe, People, Looks

David Sedaris (2009). “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, p.91, Hachette UK

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I don't remember ever feeling lonely; in fact, on the rare occasions when I met other children I found their games and their talk far less interesting than the adventures and dialogues I read in my books.

Alberto Manguel

Lonely, Children, Book

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Christmas is a rare occasion when we are reminded that we have obligations to people we did not choose to be related to, and that love is not just a spontaneous feeling but something we sometimes really have to work at, with people we may not even much like.

Julian Baggini

Love Is, People, Feelings

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On the rare occasions when I spend a night in Oxford, the keeping of the hours by the clock towers in New College, and Merton, and the great booming of Tom tolling 101 times at 9 pm at Christ Church are inextricably interwoven with memories and regrets and lost joys. The sound almost sends me mad, so intense are the feelings it evokes.

A. N. Wilson

Memories, Regret, Night

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