Reluctance Quotes

• The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late.

  Ogden Nash

  Morning, Regret, Sleep

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• There is a strange reluctance on the part of most people to admit that they enjoy life.

  William Lyon Phelps

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  William Lyon Phelps (2016). “A Collection of Classic Essays by William Lyon Phelps - Including 'Happiness', 'Superstition', 'The Great American Game', and Many More”, p.106, Read Books Ltd

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• There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.

  Joseph Addison

  Advice, Literature, Good Advice

  Sir Richard Steele, Alexander Chalmers, Joseph Addison (1806). “The Spectator”, p.208

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• There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.

  Terence

  Life, Attitude, Positive Thinking

  "Heauton Timorumenos". Play by Terence, Act IV, scene 6, line 1 (805),

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• Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.

  Martin Luther

  Faith, Christian, Prayer

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• And above all, you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and panelling…the question should never be: ‘Do I like that kind of service?’ but ‘Are these doctrines true: Is holiness there? Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to move to this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike for this particular door-keeper?

  C. S. Lewis

  Moving, Pride, Doors

  C. S. Lewis (2009). “Mere Christianity”, p.16, Harper Collins

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• All reluctance is a lack of confidence.

  Todd Duncan

  Lack Of Confidence

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• Our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying has increased the harm we inflict on people and denied them the basic comforts they most need.

  Atul Gawande

  People, Dying, Comfort

  Atul Gawande (2014). “Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End”, p.13, Profile Books

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• Bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Regret, Sleep, Insomnia

  Charles Caleb Colton (1823). “Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan”

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• Cruelty must be whitewashed by a moral excuse, and pretense of reluctance.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Peace, War, Animal Rights

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• My reluctance to use alien invasion is due to the feeling that we are not likely to be invaded and taken over.

  Clifford D. Simak

  Taken, Feelings, Use

  "Skirmish: The Great Short Fiction of Clifford D.Simak". Book by Clifford D. Simak. Introduction, p. 9, 1977.

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• Without individuals feeling safe and having an environment of safety, they then have reluctance of taking part in the city of being active. They wind up wanting to leave the city. Thats more detrimental.

  Dick Powell

  Cities, Wind, Safety

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• I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.

  David Ogilvy

  Illumination, Support, Marketing

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

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• There are so many things I'd like to change in the industry. Everything from the reliance of style over substance to their reluctance to hire me for big budget blockbusters, but the thing I would love most would be if they understood people don't have to be Hollywood beautiful to be sexy or interesting.

  Colin Mochrie

  Beautiful, Sexy, People

  "10 Questions: Colin Mochrie" by Ken P., www.ign.com. May 9, 2003.

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• I'm not sure why writing for others became harder. Probably a reluctance to give away anything you might conceivably use yourself caused a block. I did it, but it remained hard when it had once been easy.

  Dick Cavett

  Block, Writing, Giving

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• J.K. Rowling said Bellatrix's role was going to be significant in the last one, when I showed some reluctance in playing a tiny bit part. Up front, they said, 'You're very significant in the last one.' But significant could mean a lot of things. That could just mean a significant plot point. Doesn't necessarily equal big part.

  Helena Bonham Carter

  Mean, Plot, Roles

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• One would always want to think of oneself as being on the side of love, ready to recognize it and wish it well -but, when confronted with it in others, one so often resented it, questioned its true nature, secretly dismissed the particular instance as folly or promiscuity. Was it merely jealousy, or a reluctance to admit so noble and enviable a sentiment in anyone but oneself?

  Shirley Hazzard

  Love, Thinking, Wish

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• When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one.

  Gustav Mahler

  Summit, Higher

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• I'm particularly proud of my reluctance to share my dreams with anyone.

  Todd Barry

  Dream, Proud, Share

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• It's not the failure that holds us back but the reluctance to begin over again that causes us to stagnate.

  Clarissa Pinkola Estes

  Failure, Causes

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  Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

  Douglas Adams

  Funny, Education, Wisdom

  Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine (2011). “Last Chance to See”, p.132, Ballantine Books

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• Reluctance to begin is quick to befriend procrastination. . . .

  Kate Morton

  Procrastination

  Kate Morton (2010). “The Kate Morton Collection: The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden”, p.101, Simon and Schuster

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• Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance, but taking hold of God's willingness.

  Phillips Brooks

  Prayer, Men, Stronger

  "Going up to Jerusalem", Twenty Sermons (p. 330), 1886.

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• Love, not anger, brought Jesus to the cross. Golgotha came as a result of God's great desire to forgive, not his reluctance. Jesus knew that by his vicarious suffering he could actually absorb all the evil of humanity and so heal it, forgive it, redeem it.

  Richard J. Foster

  Jesus, Evil, Humanity

  Richard J. Foster (1995*). “Richard Foster's treasury of Christian discipline”, Jossey-Bass

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• One of the best signs of being fitted for power is reluctance to hold it.

  Kate Constable

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