Notion Quotes - Page 2

• The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes.

  Salman Rushdie

  Atheist, Ideas, Religion

  Salman Rushdie (1990). “Is nothing sacred?”, Penguin (Non-Classics)

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• Life is too short to have anything but delusional notions about yourself.

  Gene Simmons

  Life, Too Short, Delusional

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• At university I had a big coloured scarf and people would often say, 'All right, Doctor Who?' And, I thought, I rather liked that notion.

  Matt Smith

  Doctors, People, Scarves

  "New Doctor Who Matt Smith was destined for the part because of his dress sense he tells Esquire" by Jody Thompson, www.mirror.co.uk. March 1, 2010.

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• The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Mind, Liberty, Impossible

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• Human life is driven forward by its dim apprehension of notions too general for its existing language.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Progress, Evolution, Language

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Adventures of Ideas”, p.24, Simon and Schuster

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• There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages.

  Mark Twain

  Humorous, Inspiration, Men

  Mark Twain, Peter Kaminsky (2009). “The Chicago of Europe, and Other Tales of Foreign Travel”, p.170, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

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• To judge from the notions expounded by theologians, one must conclude that God created most men simply with a view to crowding hell.

  Marquis de Sade

  Atheist, Men, Views

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• I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.

  Charles Darwin

  Dog, Believe, Science

  The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II C. Darwin to Asa Gray May 22nd [1860] (p. 105)

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• When you're young, the silliest notions seem the greatest achievements.

  Pearl Bailey

  Achievement, Youth, Young

  Pearl Bailey (1969). “The raw Pearl”, Pocket

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• Not wishing to be disturbed over moral issues of the political economy, Americans cling to the notion that the government is a sort of automatic machine, regulated by the balancing of competing interests.

  C. Wright Mills

  Government, Issues, Political

  C. Wright Mills (2000). “The Power Elite”, p.242, Oxford University Press

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• People watch movies - and it's vague ideas, it's vague notions, but people pick up on these things, that they are supposed to think certain ways or that they're not supposed to think, basically, and they don't.

  Crispin Glover

  Thinking, Ideas, People

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com. 2003.

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• The Southern whites are in many respects a great people. Looked at from a certain point of view, they are picturesque. If one will put oneself in a romantic frame of mind, one can admire their notions of chivalry and bravery and justice.

  James Weldon Johnson

  Romantic, Views, People

  James Weldon Johnson, Sondra K. Wilson (1995). “The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson: Social, political, and literary essays”, p.352, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• When you do not know how to focus your thoughts effectively, they can become scattered, miscellaneous, and fixated on "stuff negative notions, toxic relationships, and situations from the past."

  Darren Johnson

  Past, Focus, Toxic

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• I found it an interesting portrait of a marriage in exploring notions of how one partner supports the other, whilst not jeopardizing the greater good - which is the family.

  Rachel Griffiths

  Interesting, Support, Portraits

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• Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

  Seneca the Younger

  Education, Giving Up, Science

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

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• It wasn't that I was shy to go out with him, I just didn't want people with preconceived notions to assume anything about why we were together. I was pretty careful for a while.

  Rose McGowan

  People, Together, Shy

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• I am persuaded that the world has been tricked into adopting some false and most pernicious notions about consistency - and to such a degree that the average man has turned the rights and wrongs of things entirely around and is proud to be "consistent," unchanging, immovable, fossilized, where it should be his humiliation.

  Mark Twain

  Men, Rights, Average

  Mark Twain, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (2009). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.407, Courier Corporation

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• Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Happiness, Care, Virtue

  Marcus Aurelius (Emperor of Rome), André Dacier, Thomas Gataker, Cebes (of Thebes.) (1708). “The Emperor Marcus Antoninus His Conversation with Himself: Together with the Preliminary Discourse of the Learned Gataker ; as Also the Emperor's Life”, p.193

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• Father had notions about manhood suffrage, public schools, the education and the elevation of the masses, and the gradual emancipation of the slaves, that did not suit the uncompromising views of people in places like Richmond.

  John Sergeant Wise

  Education, Father, School

  John Sergeant Wise, Paul Dennis Sporer (2005). “End of an Era: The Last Days of Traditional Southern Culture as Seen Through the Eyes of a Young Confederate Soldier”, p.40, Anza Publishing

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• I am not concerned with truth, nor with conventional notions of what is beautiful.

  Mark Strand

  Beautiful, Concerned, Conventional

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• It's embarrassing to be involved in the same business as the mainstream comic thing. It's still very embarrassing to tell other adults that I draw comic books - their instant, preconceived notions of what that means.

  Daniel Clowes

  Book, Mean, Adults

  "Clowes Speak" by Tad Friend, July 30, 2001.

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• The problem is not simply that the Singularity represents the passing of humankind from center stage, but that it contradicts our most deeply held notions of being.

  Vernor Vinge

  Problem, Passing, Stage

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• Future orientation is combined with a notion and expectation of progress, and nothing is impossible.

  Alan Dundes

  Expectations, Progress, Impossible

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• First get a clear notion of what you desire to accomplish and then in all probability you will succeed in doing it.

  Henry Maudslay

  Success, Science, Accomplishment

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• But if the strength ain't real, I recall thinking the very last thing that day, before I finally passed out, then the weakness sure enough is. Weakness is true and real. I used to accuse the kid of faking his weakness. But faking proves the weakness is real. Or you wouldn't be so weak as to fake it. No, you can't ever fake being weak. You can only fake being strong. . .

  Ken Kesey

  Strong, Real, Kids

  Ken Kesey (2006). “Sometimes a Great Notion”, p.469, Penguin

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