Terrible Things Quotes

• We all like to think that the line between good and evil is impermeable--that people who do terrible things, such as commit murder, treason, or kidnapping, are on the evil side of this line, and the rest of us could never cross it. But the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram studies revealed the permeability of that line. Some people are on the good side only because situations have never coerced or seduced them to cross over.

  Philip Zimbardo

  Thinking, Evil, People

  "The Banality of Heroism" by Zeno Franco, Philip Zimbardo, greatergood.berkeley.edu. September 1, 2006.

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• Sometimes good people have to do terrible things.

  Orson Scott Card

  People, Sometimes, Terrible

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• Wouldn't it be much worse if life really were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us happen because we really deserve them?

  J. Michael Straczynski

  Terrible, Happens, Fairs

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• You cannot like the word, but what is happening is an occupation - to hold 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation. I believe that is a terrible thing for Israel and for the Palestinians.

  Ariel Sharon

  Believe, Israel, Occupation

  "Sharon: 'Occupation' terrible for Israel, Palestinians" by Kelly Wallace, edition.cnn.com. May 27, 2003.

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• The world's a hard place, Danny. It don't care. It don't hate you and me, but it don't love us, either. Terrible things happen in the world, and they're things no one can explain. Good people die in bad, painful ways and leave the folks that love them all alone. Sometimes it seems like it's only the bad people who stay healthy and prosper. The world don't love you, but your momma does and so do I.

  Stephen King

  Life, Hate, Love You

  STEPHEN KING (1977). “THE SHINING”

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• Mastery is not measured by the number of terrible things you eliminate from your life, but by the number of times you eliminate calling them terrible.

  Neale Donald Walsch

  Numbers, Mastery, Calling

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• I live alone with my one dog and they say it like it's a sad, it's a terrible thing. This woman lives alone with her two cats.

  Julie Bowen

  Dog, Cat, Two

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• What a terrible thing it is to botch a farewell.

  Yann Martel

  Farewell, Life Of Pi Book, Terrible

  Yann Martel (2007). “Life of Pi (Illustrated): Deluxe Illustrated Edition”, p.294, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• It is easier to look the other way. But if you do, terrible things can happen.

  Eve Bunting

  Motivational, Overcoming, Looks

  "Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust". Book by Eve Bunting, www.theguardian.com. 1980.

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• I have had a lot of good things happen, but I've also had a lot of terrible things happen.

  Ralph Lauren

  Good Things, Terrible, Happens

  "Ralph Lauren's Reign". Interview with Mark Seliger, www.harpersbazaar.com. August 12, 2010.

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• For the truth is a terrible thing.

  Robert Penn Warren

  Truth Is, Terrible

  Robert Penn Warren (2006). “All the King's Men”, p.516, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The world is filled with terrible things that can influence children, and movies have depicted them since time immemorial. Should every terrible thing warrant an R-rating?

  Marshall Herskovitz

  Children, World, Influence

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

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• People who will not turn a shovel full of dirt on the project (Muscle Shoals Dam) nor contribute a pound of material, will collect more money from the United States than will the People who supply all the material and do all the work. This is the terrible thing about interest.

  Thomas A. Edison

  People, United States, Dams

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• I've put an umbrella in my mouth and opened it. I sat in a lemon-meringue pie. I've done terrible things to my dog with a fork.

  Steve Martin

  Dog, Pie, Done

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• She was quiet for a moment or two. Then she said: Cruel words are a terrible thing, Quash. Sometimes you regret them. But what's been said cannot be unsaid.

  Edward Rutherfurd

  Life, Regret, Two

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• After all, it was only a story,' I said, determined to prove her wrong. 'All manner of terrible things may happen in a story. They may be startling at the time, but it passes. One gets caught up in the narrative, but the dangers aren't real, are they? Things happen in any way the storyteller chooses. It is all just made up.

  Chris Priestley

  Real, Stories, May

  Chris Priestley (2010). “Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth”, p.35, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• It's not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is a part of being alive, something we all share. We react against the possibility of loneliness, of death, of not having anything to hold on to. Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

  Pema Chodron

  Loneliness, Moving, Alive

  Pema Chodron (2000). “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times”, p.2, Shambhala Publications

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• When you've been afraid of something for long enough and it comes to pass, the terrible thing is a release. For in the belly of the badness there is no more fear.

  Lionel Shriver

  Long, Enough, Release

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• Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired.

  Pete Townshend

  Loss, Hearing, Terrible

  "Listen (If You Can) to Pete". www.wired.com. January 04, 2006.

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• In tough times, a librarian is a terrible thing to waste.

  Marilyn Johnson

  Tough Times, Waste, Librarian

  Marilyn Johnson (2010). “This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All”, p.12, Harper Collins

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• To outlive one's child is a terrible thing, but to do so because your child has taken his or her life is horrible.

  Pierre Salinger

  Children, Taken, Life Is

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• In tight economic times, with libraries sliding farther and farther down the list of priorities, we risk the loss of their ideals, intelligence, and knowledge, not to mention their commitment to access for all—librarians consider free access to information the foundation of democracy, and they’re right. Librarians are essential players in the information revolution because they level that field. They enable those without money or education to read and learn the same things as the billionaire and the Ph.D…In tough times, a librarian is a terrible thing to waste.

  Marilyn Johnson

  Commitment, Loss, Player

  Marilyn Johnson (2010). “This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All”, p.12, Harper Collins

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• It is not a terrible thing to a wretched soul, when it shall lie roaring perpetually in the flames of hell, and the God of mercy himself shall laugh at them; when...God shall mock them instead of relieving them; when none in heaven or earth can help them but God, and he shall rejoice over them in their calamity

  Richard Baxter

  Lying, Flames, Laughing

  Richard Baxter (1847). “The Practical Works of Richard Baxter; with a Preface, Giving Some Account of the Author, and of this Edition of His Practical Works; an Essay on His Genius, Works, and Times ...”

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• There is a power in names. Olakunde told us of ashe-the power which runs through all things, subtle and flexible, which find its most potent expression in human utterance; so that it is a terrible thing to call down imprecations on an enemy, or to wish for anything but good, for what is said out loud is forged into truth.

  Matthew Tobin Anderson

  Running, Expression, Names

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