Refuse Quotes - Page 3

• Despair has been called the unforgivable sin-not presumably because God refuses to forgive it, but because it despairs of the possibility of being forgiven.

  Frederick Buechner

  Sadness, Sins Not, Unforgivable Sin

  FaceBook post by Frederick Buechner from Jun 30, 2016

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• Nature refuses to sympathize with our sorrow. She seems not to have provided for, but by a thousand contrivances against it.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Nature, Sorrow, Environment

  Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.17, Courier Corporation

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• If we refuse our homage to statues and frigid images, the very counterpart of their dead originals, with which hawks, and mice, and spiders are so well acquainted, does it not merit praise instead of penalty [Christians were punished for not worshiping Roman gods] that we have rejected what we have come to see is error? We cannot surely be made out to injure those whom we are certain are nonentities. What does not exist is in its nonexistence secure from suffering.

  Tertullian

  Christian, Religious, Errors

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• Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief. We have seen our beaches, our parks, our forests littered with ugly refuse by those who evidently have no appreciation for their beauty. I have driven through thousands of acres of blackened land scourged by a fire evidently set by a careless smoker whose only concern had been the selfish pleasure gained from a cigarette.

  Gordon B. Hinckley

  Beach, Gratitude, Appreciation

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• I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

  Martin Luther

  Change, War, Reality

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• The world in which we live would benefit greatly if men and women everywhere would exercise the pure love of Christ, which is kind, meek, and lowly. It is without envy or pride. It is selfless because it seeks nothing in return. It does not countenance evil or ill will, nor rejoice in iniquity; it has no place for bigotry, hatred, or violence. It refuses to condone ridicule, vulgarity, abuse, or ostracism. It encourages diverse people to live together in Christian love regardless of religious belief, race, nationality, financial standing, education, or culture.

  Howard W. Hunter

  Christian, Religious, Pride

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• The soul refuses limits and always affirms an optimism, never a pessimism.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Optimism, Soul, Limits

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.147, Penguin

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• Men are perfectly willing to abandon a woman but they refuse to be abandoned by her.

  Honore de Balzac

  Men, Abandoned, Willing

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• We all move on the fringes of eternity and are sometimes granted vistas through fabric of illusion. Many refuse to admit it: I feel a mystery exists. There are certain times, when, as on the whisper of the wind, there comes a clear and quiet realization that there is indeed a presence in the world, a nonhuman entity that is not necessarily inhuman.

  Ansel Adams

  Moving, Wind, Serendipity

  Ansel Adams, Mary Street Alinder (2017). “Ansel Adams: An Autobiography”, p.333, Hachette UK

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• The new generation has to hear what the older generation refuses to tell it.

  Simon Wiesenthal

  Generations, Youth, New Generation

  Simon Wiesenthal (1976). “The sunflower”, Schocken

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• A favor is half granted, when graciously refused.

  Jonathan Swift

  Favors, Half, Granted

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• Money refused loose its brightness.

  George Herbert

  Brightness

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• Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written.

  Amos Bronson Alcott

  Lines, Written, Read Between The Lines

  Amos Bronson Alcott (1872). “Concord Days”, p.157

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• The right of an individual to refuse to kill, to torture, or to participate in the preparation for the nuclear destruction of humanity seems to me to be fundamental.

  Sean MacBride

  Humanity, Preparation, Nuclear

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• Men professing godliness offer their bodies upon Satan's altar, and burn the incense of tobacco to his satanic majesty. Does this statement seem severe? The offering must be presented to some deity. Since God is pure and holy, and will accept nothing defiling in its character, He refuses this expensive, filthy, and unholy sacrifice; therefore we conclude that Satan is the one who claims the honor.

  Ellen G. White

  Character, Sacrifice, Men

  Ellen G. White (2000). “Steps to Christ for a Joy-Filled Life”

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• The individual who refuses to defend his rights when called by his government deserves to be a slave, and must be punished as an enemy of his country and a friend to her foe

  Andrew Jackson

  Country, Rights, Government

  Andrew Jackson, David Maydole Matteson (1937). “Correspondence of Andrew Jackson: to April 30, 1814”

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• Have the daring to stop doing the things you really don't want to do. Can you see them? Look closely. Can you observe the many things you do because you reluctantly feel you should or must? Watch closely. Examine every action and reaction. Do you act naturally or do you act because you feel compelled? If you feel compelled, stop. Compulsion is slavery. Example: Refuse to go along with the crowd.

  Vernon Howard

  Mind, Example, Watches

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• Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action.

  Vince Lombardi

  Leadership, Character, Sacrifice

  Vince Lombardi (2003). “What It Takes to Be #1 : Vince Lombardi on Leaders: Vince Lombardi on Leadership”, p.120, McGraw Hill Professional

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• The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world

  Ayn Rand

  Believe, Responsibility, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.319, Penguin

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• One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.

  Thomas Sowell

  President, Liberty, Complaining

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.328, Hoover Press

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• Refuse to let the thought of death bother you: nothing is grim when we have escaped that fear.

  Seneca the Younger

  Fear, Bother, Thoughts Of Death

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• No aphorism is more frequently repeated in connection with field trials, than that we must ask Nature few questions, or, ideally, one question, at a time. The writer is convinced that this view is wholly mistaken. Nature, he suggests, will best respond to a logical and carefully thought out questionnaire; indeed, if we ask her a single question, she will often refuse to answer until some other topic has been discussed.

  Ronald Fisher

  Nature, Science, Views

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• If you want riches, you must refuse to accept any circumstance that leads toward poverty.

  Napoleon Hill

  Want, Poverty, Prosperity

  "The Prosperity Bible: The Greatest Writings of All Time on the Secrets to Wealth and Prosperity".

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• Grant graciously what you cannot refuse safely and conciliate those you cannot conquer.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Conquer, Negotiation, Grants

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.187

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• He who refuses to learn deserves extinction.

  Hillel the Elder

  Learning, Extinction, Deserve

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