Temper Quotes - Page 23

• The nation blest above all nations is she in whom the civic genius of the people does the saving day by day, by acts without external picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans and empty quacks.

  William James

  War, Party, Writing

  "Essays in Religion and Morality".

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• There was a piece of ornamental water immediately below the parapet, on the other side, into which Mr. James Harthouse had a very strong inclination to pitch Mr. Thomas Gradgrind Junior.

  Charles Dickens

  Strong, Water, Pieces

  Charles Dickens “Hard Times”, W. W. Norton & Company

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• To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts — when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the character that bends but does not break — at once supple and stable, tractable and consistent — I am ever tender and true. (Mr Rochester to Jane)

  Charlotte Bronte

  Eye, Heart, Character

  Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte (2009). “The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.213, Penguin

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• I don’t think I pity her. She doesn’t strike me as a girl that suggests compassion. I think I envy her... I don’t know whether she is a gifted being, but she is a clever girl, with a strong will and a high temper. She has no idea of being bored...Very pretty indeed; but I don’t insist upon that. It’s her general air of being someone in particular that strikes me.

  Henry James

  Girl, Strong, Clever

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• For, after all, every one who wishes to gain true knowledge must climb the Hill Difficulty alone, and since there is no royal road to the summit, I must zigzag it in my own way. I slip back many times, I fall, I stand still, I run against the edge of hidden obstacles, I lose my temper and find it again and keep it better, I trudge on, I gain a little, I feel encouraged, I get more eager and climb higher and begin to see the widening horizon. Every struggle is a victory. One more effort and I reach the luminous cloud, the blue depths of the sky, the uplands of my desire.

  Helen Keller

  Running, Fall, Struggle

  Helen Keller (2016). “The Story of My Life”, p.62, Om Books International

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• Photography suits the temper of this age - of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately.

  Edward Weston

  Photography, Ideas, Perfect

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• You know, for years I used to read about myself. They'd say, 'He has a temper' or 'He's a bully' or something like that, and it always bothered me.

  Harvey Weinstein

  Years, Bully, Used

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• But times and tempers are changed. Rebels are everywhere to be found who no longer wish to obey the law without knowing whence it comes, what are its uses, and whither arises the obligation to submit to it, and the reverence with which it is encompassed. The rebels of our day are criticizing the very foundations of society which have hitherto been held sacred, and first and foremost amongst them that fetish, law.

  Peter Kropotkin

  Law, Knowing, Wish

  "Law and Authority". "Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets". Book edited by Roger N. Baldwin, 1927.

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• Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for [Augustus] to discover that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much less to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the possession more precarious and less beneficial.

  Edward Gibbon

  War, Rome, Events

  Edward Gibbon, Francis Parkman, William H. Prescott, Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812”, p.59, Modern Library

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• Since we cannot promise our selves constant health, let us endeavour at such temper as may be our best support in the decay of it.

  Richard Steele

  Health, Self, Support

  Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele (1826). “The Spectator: With Notes, and a General Index”, p.186

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• Fretfulness of temper will generally characterize those who are negligent of order.

  Hugh Blair

  Order

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• Nothing leads more directly to the breach of charity, and to the injury and molestation of our fellow-creatures, than the indulgence of an ill temper.

  Hugh Blair

  Charity, Molestation, Injury

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• People are essentially losing their temper for things that have nothing to do with the act of driving.

  Marc Edwards

  People, Losing, Driving

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• Slavery is so vile and miserable an Estate of Man, and so directly opposite to the generous Temper and Courage of our Nation; that 'tis hardly to be conceived, that an Englishman, much less a Gentleman, should plead for't.

  John Locke

  Men, Opposites, Gentleman

  John Locke (1988). “Locke: Two Treatises of Government”, p.92, Cambridge University Press

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• If contempt of the world and heavenly affection is a necessary temper of christians, it is necessary that this temper appear in the whole course of their lives, in their manner of using the world, because it can have no place anywhere else.

  William Law

  Christian, World, Affection

  William Law (1739). “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life: Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians. By William Law, A.M.”, p.7

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• Religion, in its purity, is not so much a pursuit as a temper; or rather it is a temper, leading to the pursuit of all that is high and holy. Its foundation is faith; its action, works; its temper, holiness; its aim, obedience to God in improvement of self, and benevolence to men.

  Jonathan Edwards

  Men, Self, Religion

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 494, 1895.

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• There's something very intoxicating about playing someone so volatile and someone who can lose his temper at any second.

  Tom Felton

  Playing Someone, Loses

  "Tom Felton’s Television Villain". Interview with Niki Cruz, www.interviewmagazine.com. June 9, 2014.

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• Perhaps I have not really a good temper at all, but if you have everything you want and everyone is kind to you, how can you help but be good-tempered? Perhaps I'm a HIDEOUS child, and no one will ever know, just because I never have any trials.

  Frances Hodgson Burnett

  Children, Princess, Trials

  "A Little Princess".

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• A slowness to applaud betrays a cold temper or an envious spirit.

  Hannah More

  Envy, Spirit, Cold

  Hannah More (1862). “The Life of Hannah More: With Selections from Her Correspondence”, p.38

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• Our torments also may in length of time Become our elements, these piercing fires As soft as now severe, our temper changed Into their temper.

  John Milton

  Time, Fire, Elements

  1665 Mammon. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.2, l.274-7.

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• No people require maxims so much as the American. The reason is obvious: the country is so vast, the people always going somewhere, from Oregon apple valley to boreal New England, that we do not know whether to be temperate orchards or sterile climate.

  Edward Dahlberg

  Country, Oregon, Apples

  Edward Dahlberg (1964). “Alms for oblivion, essays: With a foreword by Sir Herbert Read”

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• The Russian leaders are keen judges of human psychology, and as such they are highly conscious that loss of temper and of self-control is never a source of strength in political affairs.

  George F. Kennan

  Loss, Self, Judging

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• Sophistication demands honesty; it does not require ill temper.

  Irwin Edman

  Honesty, Doe, Demand

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• I still have a temper, I suppose.

  John Malkovich

  Stills

  "A multitude of Malkovich". www.theguardian.com. September 29, 2001.

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• Now this spirit is admirably mortified by the exercise of patience. It involves also a continual practice of the presence of God; for we may be come upon at any moment for an almost heroic display of good temper. It is a short road to unselfishness; for nothing is left to self. All that seems to belong most intimately to self, to be self's private property, such as time, home, and rest, are invaded by these continual trials of patience.

  Frederick William Faber

  Home, Exercise, Self

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