Might Quotes - Page 7

• The genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.

  William J. Brennan

  Principles, Needs, Gone

  "The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification" (speech),Washington, D.C., 12 Oct. 1985

  33 Copy quote

  Show source

• I always try to write a song, I never just want to write a record. Originally I was not writing songs for myself. ....And I can say this, most of the people who have recorded my songs are songwriters themselves. ... Even if I don't release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential. When you write a song, a song has longevity. ... So I wanted to sing inspirational music, and that's exactly how I approached it-only the words have been changed to declare my relationship with God. Songwriting is my gift from God.

  Smokey Robinson

  Song, Writing, People

  4 Copy quote

• But might not his [the president's] nomination be overruled? I grant it might, yet this could only be to make place for another nomination by himself. The person ultimately appointed must be object of his preference, though perhaps not in the first degree. It is also not very probable that his nomination would often be overruled.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Often Is, President, Degrees

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, Henry Barton Dawson (1864). “The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes”, p.529, New York : C. Scribner ; London : Sampson Low

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I often thought that if there had been a good rap group around in those days, I might have chosen a career in music instead of politics.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Rap, Careers, Groups

  4 Copy quote

• Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation's leaders wouldn't know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.

  Lewis H. Lapham

  Leader, Gentleman, Luck

  7 Copy quote

• That this liberty [of the press] is often carried to excess; that it has sometimes degenerated into licentiousness, is seen and lamented, but the remedy has not yet been discovered. Perhaps it is an evil inseparable from the good with which it is allied; perhaps it is a shoot which cannot be stripped from the stalk without wounding vitally the plant from which it is torn. However desirable those measures might be which might correct without enslaving the press, they have never yet been devised in America.

  James Madison

  America, Evil, Liberty

  James Madison (1906). “The Writings of James Madison: 1790-1802”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• If it were not somewhat fanciful to suppose that every human excellence is presented, as it were, in one kind of being, we might believe that the whole treasure of morality and order is enshrined in the female character.

  Wilhelm von Humboldt

  Women, Believe, Character

  4 Copy quote

• Distinguish open-minded people from closed-minded people. Open-minded people seek to learn by asking questions; they realize that what they know is little in relation to what there is to know and recognize that they might be wrong. Closed-minded people always tell you what they know, even if they know hardly anything about the subject being discussed. They are typically made uncomfortable by being around those who know a lot more about a subject, unlike open-minded people who are thrilled by such company.

  Ray Dalio

  Asking Questions, People, Littles

  26 Copy quote

• The truth is if I had a gay son, I would love him just as much as if he was straight… I might have to try to love even more because I know of the difficulty that he would have in society.

  Tracy Morgan

  Son, Gay, Trying

  "Tracy Morgan Wants To Go To The Gay Marriage Rally!". Interview with Russell Simmons, globalgrind.cassiuslife.com. June 13, 2011.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you have easy self-contentment, you might have a very, very cheap source of happiness.

  Leon Kass

  Happiness, Happy, Self

  7 Copy quote

• There is no expert on what happiness is but many on what it might have been.

  Robert Breault

  Happiness, Experts, Has Beens

  7 Copy quote

• If frugality were established in the state, and if our expenses were laid out to meet needs rather than superfluities of life, there might be fewer wants, and even fewer pleasures, but infinitely more happiness.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Life, Happiness, Inner Peace

  6 Copy quote

• [O]ne might ask why, in a galaxy of a few hundred billion stars, the aliens are so intent on coming to Earth at all. It would be as if every vertebrate in North America somehow felt drawn to a particular house in Peoria, Illinois. Are we really that interesting?

  Seth Shostak

  Stars, Science, America

  7 Copy quote

• A woman might claim to retain some of the child's faculties, although very limited and defused, simply because she has not been encouraged to learn methods of thought and develop a disciplined mind. As long as education remains largely induction ignorance will retain these advantages over learning and it is time that women impudently put them to work.

  Germaine Greer

  Time, Children, Ignorance

  Germaine Greer (1972). “The female eunuch”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Since my first discussions of ecological problems with Professor John Day around 1950 and since reading Konrad Lorenz's "King Solomon's Ring," I have become increasingly interested in the study of animals for what they might teach us about man, and the study of man as an animal. I have become increasingly disenchanted with what the thinkers of the so-called Age of Enlightenment tell us about the nature of man, and with what the formal religions and doctrinaire political theorists tell us about the same subject.

  Allan McLeod Cormack

  Kings, Reading, Science

  52 Copy quote

• I must admit that when I chose the name, "vitamine," I was well aware that these substances might later prove not to be of an amine nature. However, it was necessary for me to choose a name that would sound well and serve as a catchword, since I had already at that time no doubt about the importance and the future popularity of the new field.

  Casimir Funk

  Science, Names, Doubt

  Casimir Funk (1922). “The Vitamines”

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Mark the babe not long accustomed to this breathing world; One that hath barely learned to shape a smile, though yet irrational of soul, to grasp with tiny finger - to let fall a tear; And, as the heavy cloud of sleep dissolves, To stretch his limbs, becoming, as might seem. The outward functions of intelligent man.

  William Wordsworth

  Baby, Fall, Sleep

  William Wordsworth (1847). “The Poems of William Wordsworth”, p.491

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• You might 'write from the heart,' but you'd better polish with your brain.

  Margaret Atwood

  Writing, Heart, Brain

  9 Copy quote

• Some things need to be a song. Some things need to be a play. Some things need to be a painting. Some things need to be-though I'd never be a choreographer-some things might ought to be a dance [laughs]. I've found that exploring an idea in different ways, it gives you different opportunities.

  Andy Wilkinson

  Song, Writing, Opportunity

  4 Copy quote

• Teasing out the way the world might look through another's eyes is what makes the creative process so fascinating and enjoyable.

  Stephen L. Carter

  Writing, Eye, Creative

  7 Copy quote

• I don't really know why an idea comes to me. But all of a sudden, an idea comes and from experience I can intuit what something means when an interesting line pops up. Or I can intuit what an interesting choice might be. And I can try a couple of different choices, and see which one feels right, and then continue the song to see where it goes.

  Paul Simon

  Song, Couple, Writing

  4 Copy quote

• I really don't know what exactly all the songs mean. Sometimes other people have meanings and when I hear them I think, 'That's really a better meaning than I thought, and perfectly valid, given the words that exist.' So part of what makes a song really good is that people take in different meanings, and they apply them, and they might be more powerful than the ones I'm thinking.

  Paul Simon

  Song, Powerful, Writing

  4 Copy quote

• The healing power of music is vast. Music therapy is in its infancy in Western psychology. If we knew more, we'd be able to do amazing things, and maybe even make permanent changes in the brain's mysterious workings. With a simple song and four chords, you might be able to do something useful, even life-changing. With all the songs you know, you might be a virtual, veritable medicine chest for the right person.

  Gary Talley

  Song, Life Changing, Healing

  11 Copy quote

• With the bass it's another thing. I don't need to use alternate thumb-picking as much. Even though Jack says he loves it. My thought is that it might irritate him somewhat.

  Jorma Kaukonen

  Music, Needs, Use

  4 Copy quote

• No matter what you do, it can't be perfect. I told Jack White, 'If I'd 'a sung that song more'n twice, it might of sounded better.' He said, 'Well, it might not of. You might have took the spark out of it.' I don't know if he has a point or not. We'll find out.

  Loretta Lynn

  Song, White, Perfect

  4 Copy quote