Tricks Quotes - Page 20

• The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility, and among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.

  Edsger Dijkstra

  Clever, Humility, Skulls

  "The humble programmer" by Edsger Dijkstra in "Communications of the ACM", Volume 15, Issue 10 (pp. 859-866), dl.acm.org. October 1972.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• My mother-in-law had a pain beneath her left breast. Turned out to be a trick knee.

  Phyllis Diller

  Inspirational, Mother, Pain

  19 Copy quote

• There isn't a single human being who hasn't plenty to cry over, and the trick is to make the laughs outweigh the tears.

  Dorothy Dix

  Women, Laughing, Tears

  8 Copy quote

• Memory training is not just for the sake of performing party tricks; it's about nurturing something profoundly and essentially human.

  Joshua Foer

  Memories, Party, Training

  Joshua Foer (2011). “Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything”, p.188, Penguin

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• One trick, known as the journey method or 'memory palace,' is to conjure up a familiar space in the mind's eye, and then populate it with images of whatever it is you want to remember.

  Joshua Foer

  Memories, Eye, Journey

  4 Copy quote

• It's a deft trick to turn American exceptionalism into an exceptional political tactic.

  Ron Fournier

  Political, Tactics, American Exceptionalism

  12 Copy quote

• There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over - and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives.

  Ellen Goodman

  Sad Love, Letting Go, Jobs

  "Ellen Goodman writes of letting go in her final column" by Ellen Goodman, www.washingtonpost.com. January 1, 2010.

  29 Copy quote

  Show source

• My father who in this case was an obsessive life-long storyteller, and by a very peculiar trick of my father's. My father would tell a very, very long story, and the punch line would be in Yiddish.

  Stephen Greenblatt

  Father, Long, Would Be

  Interview with Michael Silverblatt, stephengreenblatt.com. March 16, 2013.

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• Every trick is an old one, but with a change of players, a change of dress, it comes out as new as before.

  Lady Gregory

  Player, Dresses

  Lady Gregory (2013). “The Essential Lady Gregory Collection”, p.1035, eBookIt.com

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• I thought Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything was remarkable. Managing to be entertaining while still delivering all that hard science was a pretty good trick to pull off.

  Mark Haddon

  Bills, Remarkable, Entertaining

  "Finding the vital spark". Interview with Nicholas Wroe, www.theguardian.com. September 23, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of my rules is never explain. A writer is a lot like a magician, if you explain how the trick works then a lot of the magic turns mundane.

  Laurell K. Hamilton

  Writing, Magic, Literature

  10 Copy quote

• I'm from Wisconsin so I always feel a little nauseous about begging and trying to trick people into liking me.

  Dan Harmon

  People, Trying, Littles

  6 Copy quote

• People teach their dogs to sit; it's a trick. I've been sitting my whole life, and a dog has never looked at me as though he thought I was tricky.

  Mitch Hedberg

  Funny, Dog, People

  14 Copy quote

• The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come.

  Lee Iacocca

  Wise, Money, Waiting

  14 Copy quote

• I did once shatter a chandelier. I was singing with my college choir in Wales. I was the soloist and I hit the high note and there was this massive bang and all this glass came down from the ceiling. I'd like that to be my party trick if I can perfect it.

  Katherine Jenkins

  Party, College, Glasses

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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of the things that Teller and I are obsessed with, one of the reasons that we're in magic, is the difference between fantasy and reality. That is the subject that, if you have a brain in your head, is always dealt with in magic. The smarter the tricks you're doing, the more that' s an important thing.

  Penn Jillette

  Reality, Differences, Brain

  "Voodoo and Violence". Interview with Steve Kurtz, reason.com. April 1994.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• One thing you learn doing magic tricks for a living is how close every performance of every magic trick is to disaster. There are no robust magic tricks. They're all hanging from a thread - sometimes literally.

  Penn Jillette

  Magic, Sometimes, Disaster

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The skills that we have are the actual magic skills - not the performing skills. We have to separate those. But the actual skills that make the tricks work, we don't get to use again.

  Penn Jillette

  Skills, Magic, Use

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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Obama hasn't lost his standing because of tricks played by the Republicans. He hasn't lost his standing because the media's not fair to him. He hasn't lost his standing or his approval number because the media spent four years attacking him like they did George W. Bush. This is all on him.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Media, Years, Numbers

  4 Copy quote

• We tend to think of politics as bad, full of dirty tricks, negative ads, big campaigns, but I am here to explore the original meaning of politics, which is positive and has to do with balancing competing interests and looking for solutions.

  Eric Liu

  Positive, Dirty, Naughty

  13 Copy quote

• The climate is doing its usual tricks. There's nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now.

  James Lovelock

  Climate, Usual, World

  7 Copy quote

• Iraq now says that it will, after all, destroy its missiles. President Bush said, 'Please, I used to pull the same trick. There'd be an intervention, I'd make a big show of pouring out the liquor and then there was a case under the floorboards.'

  Bill Maher

  Iraq, President, Pouring

  8 Copy quote

• Tricks you need to transform something which appears fantastic, unbelievable into something plausible, credible, those I learned from journalism. The key is to tell it straight. It is done by reporters and by country folk.

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez

  Country, Keys, Needs

  Interview with Marlise Simons, archive.nytimes.com. December 5, 1982.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There's no tricks. It's honesty with big melodies.

  Bruno Mars

  Song, Honesty, Believe

  33 Copy quote

• Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Sarcastic, Depressing

  83 Copy quote