Would Be Quotes - Page 25

• A Stalin functionary admitted, Innocent people were arrested: naturally - otherwise no one would be frightened. If people were arrested only for specific misdemeanours, all the others would feel safe and so become ripe for treason.

  Paul Johnson

  Fear, People, Safe

  "Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s". Book by Paul Johnson, 1983.

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• A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him. They must even upon most occasions be somewhat more; otherwise it would be impossible for him to bring up a family, and the race of such workmen could not last beyond the first generation.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Race, Generations

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.28

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• The passions are the winds which fill the sails of the vessel; they sink it at times, but without them it would be impossible to make way.

  Voltaire

  Passion, Wind, Way

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• It would be a colorless world if each individual did not secretly believe himself superior to almost everyone else.

  Don Marquis

  Believe, Ego, World

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• The flat tax would be so simple, you could fill it out on a post card. A post card that would say, in effect, having a wonderful time; glad most of my money is here.

  Steve Forbes

  Money, Simple, Cards

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• Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals, that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking.

  Steve Allen

  Swimming, Thinking, Animal

  Steve Allen (1998). “Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking : with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind”

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• But I had not quite fixed whether to make him [Don Juan] end in Hell-or in an unhappy marriage,-not knowing which would be the severest.

  Lord Byron

  Marriage, Knowing, Unhappy

  Lord Byron, Donald A. Low (2013). “Byron: Selected Poetry and Prose”, p.333, Routledge

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• The world would be better and brighter if people were taught the duty of being happy as well as the happiness of doing their duty.

  John Lubbock

  Happiness, People, World

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• I'm still a farm boy at heart. If I hadn't suffered from asthma as a child, I would be a farmer today.

  Jim Davis

  Children, Heart, Boys

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• If you don't put 99 percent of yourself into the writing, there will be no publishing career. There's the writer and there's the author. The author - you don't ever think about the author. Just think about the writer. So my advice would be, find a way to not care - easier said than done.

  Andre Dubus

  Writing, Thinking, Careers

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• The best way to stop the problem of agents would be for the NCAA to come down hard and suspend a school for two years if it finds players with agents on campus.

  Dean Smith

  School, Player, Two

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• It would be a great thing if people could be brought to realize that they can never add to the sum of their happiness by doing wrong.

  John Lubbock

  Happiness, People, Add

  John Lubbock (1913). “The Pleasures of the Life”

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• The ultimate [travel destination] for me would be one perfect day in San Francisco. There's no city like it anywhere. And, if I could be there with the girl of my dreams, that would be the ultimate!

  Larry King

  Girl, Dream, San Francisco

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• It would be especially tragic if the people who most cherish ideals of peace, who are most anxious for political cooperation on a wider than national scale, made the mistake of underestimating the pace of economic change in our modern world.

  Lester B. Pearson

  Mistake, People, Political

  Lester B. Pearson (1964). “The Four Faces of Peace and the International Outlook: Statements”, McClelland and Stewart

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• I don't really know who I am as an actor: the best thing would be to experiment with it for the next 30 years and never really find out.

  Ben Barnes

  Who I Am, Years, Actors

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• When I wrote 'Marley & Me,' I had a clear audience in mind. And it did not include children. I wrote my book for adults and assumed only adults, and possibly teenagers, would be drawn to it.

  John Grogan

  Children, Teenager, Book

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• I'm a lapsed Quaker. I don't go to meetings any more. But I'm very drawn to Catholicism - all that glitter. I'd love to be a Catholic. I think it would be fantastic - faith, forgiveness, absolution, extreme unction - all these wonderful words. I don't think anyone who was ever born a Catholic hasn't died a Catholic, no matter how lapsed they are.

  Kate Atkinson

  Thinking, Catholic, Glitter

  "Emotionally weird? Moi?". Interview with Kim Bunce, www.theguardian.com. March 12, 2000.

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• I did feel when my mother died if anyone was going to haunt me it would be her. And she hasn't, so I think it is possibly the end.

  Kate Atkinson

  Mother, Thinking, Ends

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• Not being published would be great. When I say that to other writers they look at me as if I'm totally insane.

  Kate Atkinson

  Insane, Looks, Look At Me

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• I can't imagine what it would be like to write in a relaxed state. I'm going to be writing some stories for my own interest. I want to experiment with different things and see if I can approach writing with much less control and in a better psychological state. It will be like breaking out of a straitjacket.

  Kate Atkinson

  Writing, Different, Stories

  "Emotionally weird? Moi?". Interview with Kim Bunce, www.theguardian.com. March 12, 2000.

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• Everyone would be healthier if they didn't eat junk food.

  Robert Atkins

  Junk, Junk Food, Ifs

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• You take the healthiest diet in the world, if you gave those people vitamins, they would be twice as healthy. So vitamins are valuable.

  Robert Atkins

  Vitamins And Minerals, People, Healthy

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• I was recently looking at what they can actually do to reduce consumption of petrol. It would be quite possible to build automobiles out of carbon fibre that would be just as strong, weigh 10 times less and consume 10 times less petrol.

  Susan George

  Strong, Carbon, Automobile

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• When I came into politics I always thought there was a possibility I would be killed.

  Imran Khan

  Possibility

  "The path of Khan" by Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. July 1, 2006.

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• The nearest figure to myself would be Shakespeare.

  Michael Tippett

  Figures

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