Topics Quotes

• If there's only one answer, then this must not be a very interesting topic.

  Ron Jeffries

  Interesting, Answers, Favourite

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• It's not easy to find a topic. Talking of home is painful. Talking of the present unbearable.

  Suzanne Collins

  Home, Talking, Unbearable

  Suzanne Collins (2009). “The Hunger Games”, p.92, Scholastic Inc.

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• I've been asked to explain why I don't worry much about the topics of privacy threat...One reason is that these scenarios seem to assume that there will be large, monolithic bureaucracies...that are capable of harnessing computers for one-way surveillance of an unsuspecting populace. I've come to feel that computation just doesn't work that way. Being afraid of monolithic organizations especially when they have computers, is like being afraid of really big gorillas especially when they are on fire.

  Bruce Sterling

  Fire, Organization, Worry

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• The menopause is probably the least glamorous topic imaginable; and this is interesting, because it is one of the very few topics to which cling some shreds and remnants of taboo. A serious mention of menopause is usually met with uneasy silence; a sneering reference to it is usually met with relieved sniggers. Both the silence and the sniggering are pretty sure indications of taboo.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Interesting, Silence, Serious

  Ursula K. Le Guin (1997). “Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places”, p.3, Grove Press

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• 

  I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.

  Abigail Adams

  Views, Numbers, Intelligence

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• There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers. If you have not slept or if you have slept or if you have head ache or sciatica or leprosy or thunder-stroke, I beseech you, by all angels, to hold your peace and not pollute the morning.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Morning, Attitude, Angel

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1866). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Comprising His Essays, Lectures, Poems, and Orations”, p.392

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• Don't believe everything you read. It's very difficult to be accepting of our own bodies. This topic deserves it's own book, but since I'm not qualified to write it, I won't. Instead I'll just say this: The pictures staring out at you from the supermarket checkout stands, the images we are all supposed to aspire to? They lie

  Ally Carter

  Lying, Believe, Book

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• The topic of working moms is a tap-dance recital in a minefield.

  Tina Fey

  Mom, Tap Dance, Minefields

  Tina Fey (2011). “Bossypants”, p.139, Hachette UK

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• Yeah, but I don’t want to be in pain, and I definitely don’t want to suffer.” – Nick “Well…The only way to avoid them is to die.” – Death “Okay, let’s change the topic now. Oh, look! A chicken.” – Nick

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Pain, Suffering, Looks

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• You must be Pain in the Nick.” – Dev “Huh?” – Nick “Don’t wet your pets. Just a figure of speech. Your mom’s been talking about you all day, boy. You are her favorite topic.” – Dev “Well, I try hard not to be her favorite hemorrhoid.” – Nick

  Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Mom, Pain, Boys

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• Where are you from, Mr. Pendergast? Can't quite place the accent.” “New Orleans.” “What a coincidence! I went there for Mardi Gras once." “How nice for you. I myself have never attended.” Ludwig paused, the smile frozen on his face, wondering how to steer the conversation onto a more pertinent topic.

  Douglas Preston

  Nice, New Orleans, Frozen

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• People tend to assess the relative importance of issues by the ease with which they are retrieved from memory—and this is largely determined by the extent of coverage in the media. Frequently mentioned topics populate the mind even as others slip away from awareness. In turn, what the media choose to report corresponds to their view of what is currently on the public’s mind. It is no accident that authoritarian regimes exert substantial pressure on independent media. Because public interest is most easily aroused by dramatic events and by celebrities, media feeding frenzies are common

  Daniel Kahneman

  Memories, Independent, Views

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• She didn't even finish her last sentence; it just trailed off. I think the subject had changed in her head while her mouth had continued on the old topic, not realizing it was out of supplies.

  Steve Martin

  Thinking, Mouths, Lasts

  Steve Martin (2004). “The pleasure of my company”

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• After reading all that has been written, and after thinking all that can be thought, on the topics of God and the soul, the man who has a right to say that he thinks at all, will find himself face to face with the conclusion that, on these topics, the most profound thought is that which can be the least easily distinguished from the most superficial sentiment.

  Edgar Allan Poe

  God, Reading, Men

  Edgar Allan Poe (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated)”, p.2090, Delphi Classics

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• I never really got around to discussing that specific topic which I think it crucially important to understand. If you were a monk in Buddhist time and you had sex, there was a good chance a child would be conceived.

  Brad Warner

  Buddhist, Sex, Children

  Source: theindiespiritualist.com

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• Whatever my current beliefs are, on any topic, they're all open to being changed by the right facts and the right evidence.

  Ramez Naam

  Facts, Belief, Currents

  "Q&A with Ramez Naam: Dialogues on the Environment". Interview with Mark Tercek, bigthink.com.

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• Business schools tend to focus on topics that are suitable to blackboards, so they overemphasize organization and finance. Until very recently, they virtually ignored manufacturing. I think of lot of the troubles of the 1970s and 1980s, and now more recently the 2000s can be traced pretty directly to the biases of the business schools.

  Charles R. Morris

  School, Thinking, Organization

  Interview with Bob Morris, bobmorris.biz. December 17, 2012.

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• Everyone laughed, and just like that, the conversation shifted, jumping to another topic. It was fast and furious, the talking, the emotions, the back-and-forth and forth-and-back. I realized that if I tried to focus on it too much, I got overwhelmed. So I just decided to relax into it, bumpy and crazy as it might be, and try for once to just go along for the ride.

  Sarah Dessen

  Crazy, Jumping, Talking

  Sarah Dessen (2009). “Along for the Ride”, p.227, Penguin

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• Isabelle and Jace had left the topic of dead Shadowhunters behind and had moved on to something Jace apparently found even more horrifying__Isabelle's date with Simon. "I can't believe he took you to an actual restaurant." Jace was on his feet now, putting away the floor mats and training gear while Isabelle leaned against the wall and played with her new gloves. "I assumed his idea of a date would be making you watch him play World of Warcraft with his nerd friends." "I," Clary pointed out, "am one of his nerd friends, thank you.

  Cassandra Clare

  Wall, Believe, Play

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• She knew that she belonged to this man, body and soul. Every trace of shame departed; it was burnt out by the fire that consumed her. She gave him a thousand opportunities; she fought to turn his words to serious things. He baffled her with his shallow smile and ready tongue, that twisted all topics to triviality. By six o'clock she was morally on her knees before him; she was imploring him to stay to dinner with her. He refused.

  Aleister Crowley

  Opportunity, Men, Fire

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• And therefore, Reader, I myself am the subject of my book: it is not reasonable that you should employ your leisure on a topic so frivolous and so vain. Therefore, Farewell.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Book, Farewell, Leisure

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• We all dream dreams of unity, of purity; we all dream that there's an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves. If it wasn't for our longing for these things, I doubt the novel or the short story would exist in its current form. I'm not going to say much more on the topic. Just remember: In dictatorships, only one person is really allowed to speak. And when I write a book or a story, I too am the only one speaking, no matter how I hide behind my characters.

  Junot Diaz

  Dream, Book, Writing

  "Questions for Junot Díaz". Interview with Meghan O'Rourke, www.slate.com. April 8, 2008.

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• I admit that I myself am far from having a complete command of every topic I touch on, but my knowledge of my subject is always greater than the interest or the understanding of my auditors. You see, there is one very good thing about mankind; the mediocre masses make very few demands of the mediocrities of a higher order, submitting stupidly and cheerfully to their guidance

  Alfred de Vigny

  Stupid, Order, Understanding

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• The most elementary of good manners . . . at a social gathering one does not bring up the subject of personalities, sad topics or unfortunate facts, religion, or politics.

  Laura Esquivel

  Personality, Gathering, Doe

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• This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

  Albert Einstein

  Hate, Military, Civilization

  Albert Einstein (2010). “Ideas And Opinions”, p.10, Broadway Books

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