Showy Quotes

• He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird.

  Thomas Paine

  Heart, Reality, Imagination

  The Rights of Man pt. 1 (1791)

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• A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.

  Rick Warren

  Simple, Empty Life, Life Is

  Rick Warren (2010). “Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life: Scriptures and Reflections from the 40 Days of Purpose”, p.14, Harper Collins

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• The men who are great live with that which is substantial, they do not stay with that which is superficial; they abide with realities, they do not remain with what is showy. The one they discard, the other they hold.

  Laozi

  Character, Reality, Men

  "The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion".

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• A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror

  Wilhelm Steinitz

  Winning, Chess, Artistic

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• Their elegant shape, showy colors, and slow, sailing mode of flight, make them very attractive objects, and their numbers are so great that they form quite a feature in the physiognomy of the forest, compensating for the scarcity of flowers.

  Henry Walter Bates

  Inspirational, Funny, Flower

  Henry Walter Bates (1873). “The Naturalist on the River Amazons: A Record of Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature Under the Equator, During Eleven Years of Travel”, p.131

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• The public want honesty from their politicians. Not showy gimmicks.

  Theresa May

  Honesty, Want, Gimmicks

  Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

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• You have a handkerchief, put it in your pocket.

  Jude Law

  Pockets, Handkerchiefs

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• Pedantry crams our heads with learned lumber and takes out our brains to make room for it.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Education, Teaching, Brain

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.300

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• Cooking is the showy side of domesticity.

  Adam Gopnik

  Cooking, Sides, Domesticity

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• Chandeliers are marvels of drop-dead showiness, the jewellery of architecture.

  Peter York

  Architecture, Chandeliers, Jewellery

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• Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.

  Samuel Johnson

  Squares, Cities, Together

  Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1818). “The table talk of Samuel Johnson”, p.72

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• When people grow gradually rich their requirements and standard of living expand in proportion, while their present-giving instincts often remain in the undeveloped condition of their earlier days. Something showy and not-too-expensive in a shop is their only conception of the ideal gift.

  Hector Hugh Munro

  People, Giving, Charity

  Hector Hugh Munro (Saki) (2015). “Beasts and Super-Beasts”, p.156, Read Books Ltd

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• Be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.

  Henry Watson Fowler

  Writing, Simple, Editing

  Henry Watson Fowler, Francis George Fowler (1931). “The King's English”, Oxford University Press

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• Other times you can get showy for three minutes, and that's OK with certain films. But that isn't right with an Ang Lee movie, you have to fit right in. You have to understand Ang, respect him and be part of the team and not be in charge of it - he is in charge of it.

  Dennis Muren

  Team, Three, Film

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• Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature?

  Donna Tartt

  Running, Dark, Doe

  Donna Tartt (2011). “The Secret History”, p.7, Vintage

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• Some ghosts tried to be showy. These were the kinds to avoid.

  Lesley Howarth

  Ghost, Kind

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• I get the impression from some people that unless they get direct access to characters' thoughts and realizations, either through thought balloons or narrations or some sort of showy action, then those thoughts and realizations never existed.

  Adrian Tomine

  Character, People, Realization

  Interview with Nicole Rudick, believermag.com. October 1, 2007.

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• I find no quality so easy for a man to counterfeit as devotion, though his life and manner are not conformable to it; the essence of it is abstruse and occult, but the appearances easy and showy.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Men, Essence, Quality

  Michel de Montaigne (1849). “Works: Comprising His Essays, Letters, and Journey Through Germany and Italy; with Notes, Notices, Etc”, p.401

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• We are told truly that meekness and modesty are the rich and charming garments of the soul. The less showy our outward attire is, the more distinctly and brilliantly does the beauty of these inner garments shine.

  William Penn

  Shining, Soul, Doe

  William Penn (2003). “Some Fruits of Solitude: Wise Sayings on the Conduct of Human Life”, Herald Press (VA)

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• I want the services to look and sound like the Grammys. It's not showy, but we represent God, and it should be first class.

  Joel Osteen

  Class, Want, Firsts

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• I wanted to be heard myself, which is hard in a household of people who were very showy. It forced me to find myself and define a personality and a way of being different, and that's a thing that's going to help me to survive in a world of many people playing the guitar.

  Martha Wainwright

  Guitar, People, Personality

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• I sometimes shy away because I don't want to be too 'showy-offy' but the older I get I think, 'You have a handkerchief, put it in your pocket.'

  Jude Law

  Thinking, Pockets, Shy

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• I know I'm not a showy politician... I don't go drinking in parliament's bars. I don't wear my heart on my sleeve, I just get on with the job in front of me and you can judge me by my record.

  Theresa May

  Jobs, Drinking, Heart

  Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

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• Swinburne was an absurd character. He was a bird of showy strut and plumage. One could not but admire his glorious feathers; but, as soon as he began to moult ... one saw how very little body there was underneath.

  Robert Wilson Lynd

  Character, Bird, Body

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• Still, I also know that most people, including me, tend to applaud the wrong things: the showy, dramatic record-setting sprint rather than the years of dogged preparation or the unwavering grace displayed during a string of losses. Applause, then, never bore much relation to the reality of my life as an astronaut, which was not all about, or even mostly about, flying around in space.

  Chris Hadfield

  Loss, Reality, Years

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