Sharpening Quotes

• He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

  Edmund Burke

  Inspirational, Life, Education

  Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

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• The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.

  Dorothy Parker

  Morning, Tongue, Firsts

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Inspirational, Motivational, Leadership

  155 Copy quote

• The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.

  Confucius

  Life, Business, Philosophical

  79 Copy quote

• As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

  Solomon

  Friendship, Iron

  45 Copy quote

• For everybody in their busy lives, you need to invest in sharpening your tools, and you need to invest in longevity.

  Ryan Holmes

  Needs, Tools, Busy

  9 Copy quote

• As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.

  Helen Keller

  Night Vision, True Joy, Selfish People

  Helen Keller (2007). “My Religion”, p.170, Book Tree

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• There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.

  Roger Ascham

  Teaching, Praise, Wit

  'The Schoolmaster' (1570) bk. 1

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• We encounter the grinding wheels that sharpen our mental blades many places in life. Adversity, school, parents, spiritual guides, books, experience are all sharpening teachers. As we grow older, to stay sharp we must find new grindstones to whet and sharpen our potential and keep us at our brightest, most penetrating best.

  Rob Kall

  Spiritual, Teacher, Book

  4 Copy quote

• Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

  Laozi

  Inspirational, Knives, Simplicity

  52 Copy quote

• This is bravery: using the challenge of daily life to sharpen our mind and open our heart.

  Sakyong Mipham

  Inspirational, Spiritual, Courage

  Sakyong Mipham (2013). “The Shambhala Principle: Discovering Humanity's Hidden Treasure”, p.62, Harmony

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• I teach: when pain is there, use it as awareness, as meditation, as a sharpening of the soul. And when pleasure is there, then use it as a drowning, as a forgetfulness. Both are ways to reach God. One is to remember yourself totally, and one is to forget yourself, totally.

  Rajneesh

  Pain, Meditation, Soul

  "The Discipline of Transcendence: Discourses on the Forty-two Sutras of Buddha".

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• Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

  Laozi

  Money, Heart, Knives

  38 Copy quote

• Fear's useless. Either something bad happens or it doesn't: If it doesn't, you've wasted time being afraid, and if it does, you've wasted time that you could have spent sharpening your weapons.

  Sarah Rees Brennan

  Fear, Doe, Useless

  Sarah Rees Brennan (2010). “The Demon's Lexicon”, p.137, Simon and Schuster

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• Training is such a vital part of preparation for a game, you really do train to play. It tops up your ability, like sharpening a carving knife. You can get away with not doing it for a while, as long as you have reached a certain standard of fitness.

  Graeme Le Saux

  Sports, Fitness, Knives

  10 Copy quote

• A wild boar was sharpening his tusks upon the trunk of a tree in the forest when a fox came by and asked, Why are you doing that, pray? The huntsmen are not out today and there are no other dangers at hand that I can see. True, my friend, replied the Boar, but the instant my life is in danger, I shall need to use my tusks. There will be no time to sharpen them then.

  Aesop

  Hands, Tree, Needs

  Aesop (2015). “Aesop's Fables”, p.180, Aesop

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• I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Strong, Hurt, Dirty

  World Tomorrow "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (1928)

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• I do not weep at the world I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Oysters, Knives, Black History

  World Tomorrow "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (1928)

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• I believe it doesn't really matter where you work as long as you work. Keep sharpening your teeth.

  Morgan Freeman

  Believe, Long, Teeth

  "Morgan Freeman on playing God, 'Shawshank' and receiving AFI's Life Achievement Award". Interview with Jen Chaney, www.washingtonpost.com. June 10, 2011.

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• Night wasn't so much falling as sharpening its claws.

  Jim Butcher

  Fall, Night, Claws

  5 Copy quote

• Great literature should do some good to the reader: must quicken his perception though dull, and sharpen his discrimination though blunt, and mellow the rawness of his personal opinions.

  A. E. Housman

  Stupid, Personal Opinions, Perception

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.151, Delphi Classics

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• I've been really surprised about a lot of the negative comments about artisanal pencil sharpening. Like, it really rubs some people the wrong way.

  David Rees

  People, Negative, Way

  Source: therumpus.net

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• The hard part of writing at all is sitting your ass down in a chair and writing it. There's always something better to do, like I've got an interview, sharpening the pencils, trimming the roses. There's always something better to do. Going to a writer's club?

  Jerry Pournelle

  Writing, Rose, Sitting

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• Giant agencies are wobbling like drunkards... the rest of you should be sharpening your knives.

  Dan Wieden

  Agency, Knives, Giants

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• To me, if you're lucky enough to make stuff that people will pay money for, do a good job. Really do a good job. Especially if you're talking about real stuff, like terror atrocities and human rights abuses and pencil-sharpening techniques.

  David Rees

  Jobs, Real, Rights

  Source: therumpus.net

  4 Copy quote

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