Phrases Quotes - Page 11

• I get a little nauseated, perhaps, when I hear the phrase 'freedom of the press' used as freely as it is, knowing that a large part of our proprietorial press is not free at all.

  Harold Wilson

  Knowing, Littles, Used

  Speech in the House of Commons, api.parliament.uk. December 05, 1974.

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• How truly language must be regarded as a hindrance to thought, though the necessary instrument of it, we shall clearly perceive on remembering the comparative force with which simple ideas are communicated by signs. To say, "Leave the room," is less expressive than to point to the door. Place a finger on the lips is more forcible than whispering, "Do not speak." A beck of the hand is better than, "Come here." No phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening the eyes and raising the eyebrows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose much by translation into words.

  Herbert Spencer

  Eye, Simple, Doors

  Herbert Spencer (1871). “Essays: Moral, Political and Aesthetic”, p.11

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• That the religious right completely took over the word Christian is a given. At one time, phrases such as Christian charity and Christian tolerance were used to denote kindness and compassion. To perform a "Christian" act meant an act of giving, of acceptance, of toleration. Now, Christian is invariably linked to right-wing conservative political thought -- Christian nation, Christian morality, Christian values, Christian family.

  Peter McWilliams

  Christian, Religious, Freedom

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• In the beginning the Gods made man, and fashioned the sky and the sea, And the earth's fair face for man's dwelling-place, and this was the Gods' decree: "Lo, We have given to man five wits: he discerneth folly and sin; He is swift to deride all the world outside, and blind to the world within: So that man may make sport and amuse Us, in battling for phrases or pelf, Now that each may know what forebodeth woe to his neighbor, and not to himself.

  James Branch Cabell

  Sports, Men, Sea

  James Branch Cabell (2013). “The Essential James Branch Cabell Collection”, p.5, eBookIt.com

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• I fight against the gluttony of time with so many very amusing weapons with gestures and with three attitudes and with charming phrases; with tears and with tinsel, and with sugar-coated pills, and with platitudes slightly regilded. Yes, and I fight him also with little mirrors wherein gleam confusedly the corruptions of lust, and ruddy loyalty, and a bit of moonshine, and the pure diamond of the heart's desire, and the opal cloudings of human compromise: but, above all, I fight that ravening dotard with the strength of my own folly.

  James Branch Cabell

  Loyalty, Attitude, Heart

  James Branch Cabell (1948). “The Witch-woman: A Trilogy about Her”, Amereon Limited

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• It is the compelling power of great thoughts and ideas to engender phrases of equal size.

  Aristophanes

  Ideas, Size, Equal

  "Frogs". Comedy by Aristophanes, 405 BC.

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• A truce to idle phrases!

  Aristophanes

  Idle, Truce

  Aristophanes (2004). “Plutus (Sparklesoup Classics)”, p.22, Sparklesoup LLC

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• The phrase, the world wants to be deceived, has become truer than had ever been intended. People are not only, as the saying goes, falling for the swindle; if it guarantees them even the most fleeting gratification they desire a deception which is nonetheless transparent to them. They force their eyes shut and voice approval, in a kind of self-loathing, for what is meted out to them, knowing fully the purpose for which it is manufactured. Without admitting it they sense that their lives would be completely intolerable as soon as they no longer clung to satisfactions which are none at all.

  Theodor Adorno

  Fall, Eye, Self

  Theodor W Adorno (2005). “The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture”, p.103, Routledge

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• To discover the meaning of what is called "social justice" has been one of my chief preoccupations for more than 10 years. I have failed in this endeavour or rather, have reached the conclusion that, with reference to society of free men, the phrase has no meaning whatever.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Men, Years, Justice

  "New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics and the History of Ideas". Book by Friedrich Hayek, The Atavism of Social Justice (ch. 5), 1978.

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• Breathe slumbrous music round me, sweet and slow,To honied phrases set!Into the land of dreams I long to go.Bid me forget!

  Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

  Dream, Sweet, Land

  Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1900). “Fancy's Following”

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• [Coining the phrase "test of significance"] Critical tests of this kind may be called tests of significance, and when such tests are available we may discover whether a second sample is or is not significantly different from the first.

  Ronald Fisher

  Different, May, Tests

  "Statistical Methods for Research Workers". Book by Ronald Fisher, 1925.

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• [Coining phrase "null hypothesis"] In relation to any experiment we may speak of this hypothesis as the "null hypothesis," and it should be noted that the null hypothesis is never proved or established, but is possibly disproved, in the course of experimentation. Every experiment may be said to exist only in order to give the facts a chance of disproving the null hypothesis.

  Ronald Fisher

  Order, Giving, Null

  "The Design of Experiments". Book by Ronald Fisher, 1935.

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• Nothing in finance is more fatuous and harmful, in our opinion, than the firmly established attitude of common stock investors regarding questions of corporate management. That attitude is summed up in the phrase: "If you don't like the management, sell your stock." ... The public owners seem to have abdicated all claim to control over the paid superintendents of their property.

  Benjamin Graham

  Attitude, Opinion, Common

  "The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing". Book by Benjamin Graham, Chapter I, What the Intelligent Investor Can Accomplish, p. 18, 1949.

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• The phrase "may you live in interesting times" is the lowest in a trilogy of Chinese curses that continue "may you come to the attention of those in authority" and finish with "may the gods give you everything you ask for." I have no idea about its authenticity.

  Terry Pratchett

  Ideas, Giving, Interesting

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• In fact, a very similar phrase was invented to account for the sudden transition of wood, metal, plastic and concrete into an explosive condition, which was "nonlinear, catastrophic structural exasperation," or to put it another way--as a junior cabinet minister did on television the following night in a phrase which was to haunt the rest of his career--the check-in desk had just got "fundamentally fed up with being where it was.

  Douglas Adams

  Night, Careers, Transition

  "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul". Book by Douglas Adams, 1988.

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• A typical vice of American politics the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues, and the announcement of radical policies with much sound and fury, and at the same time with a cautious accompaniment of weasel phrases each of which sucks the meat out of the preceding statement.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Real, Issues, Vices

  Theodore Roosevelt (1941). “Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia”

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• My opinion is that we have, in the person of Da Free John, a Spiritual Master and religious genius of the ultimate degree. I assure you I do not mean that lightly. I am not tossing out high-powered phrases to 'hype' the works of Da Free John. I am simply offering to you my own considered opinion: Da Free John's teaching is, I believe, unsurpassed by that of any other spiritual Hero, of any period, of any place, of any time, of any persuasion.

  Ken Wilber

  Spiritual, Religious, Believe

  "Scientific Proof of the Existence of God Will Soon Be Announced by the White House". Book by Da Free John, December 1, 1980.

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• i keep drinking the ink from my pen and i'm balancing history books up on my head but it all boils down to one quotable phrase if you love something give it away

  Conor Oberst

  Drinking, Book, Giving

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• Sentir mon Cœur is a privilege only granted to the exceptional man - the one who has the ability to find words that exactly (or, to himself, convincingly) express his feelings... The value of words help to define the feeling itself... The common failure is to allow habitual words and phrases, flowing spontaneously from the memory, to determine and deform the feelings.

  Herbert Read

  Memories, Men, Feelings

  "The Cult of Sincerity". Book by Herbert Read, 1968.

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• I suppose I ought to think up some dramatic, quotable phrase for Public Information and the history books, but I'm damned if any of them come to mind. Besides, admitting the truth wouldn't sound too good. The truth, Russell, is that now the moment's here, I'm scared shitless. Somehow I don't think even Public Information could turn that into good copy.

  David Weber

  Book, Thinking, Mind

  "The Short Victorious War". Book by David Weber, 1994.

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• In ancient times there was no public education, except that of the forum, the theater, and the street, and the general degree of illiteracy was very high. The early men of science were left very much to themselves and such a phrase as "the scientific culture of Alexandria in the third century B.C." does not cover any reality. In a sense, this is still true today; the real pioneers are so far ahead of the crowd (even a very literate crowd) that they remain almost alone.

  George Sarton

  Real, Men, Degrees

  "A History of Science". Book by George Sarton. Volume 2: "Hellenistic Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries B.C.", Preface, 1959.

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• Common sense is a phrase employed to denote that degree of intelligence, sagacity, and prudence which is common to all men.

  William Fleming

  Men, Common Sense, Degrees

  William Fleming, Charles Porterfield Krauth (1860). “The Vocabulary of Philosophy, Mental, Moral and Metaphysical: With Quotations and References; for the Use of Students”, p.95

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• The phrase "work-life balance" tells us that people think that work is the opposite of life. We should be talking about life-life balance.

  Patrick Dixon

  Work, Thinking, Talking

  "Building a Better Business". Book by Patrick Dixon, 2005.

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• Because we believe that somewhere in the nest of paradigms contained in the phrase "missional church" lies nothing less that the future viability of Western Christianity.

  Alan Hirsch

  Lying, Believe, Church

  Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch (2011). “The Faith of Leap (Shapevine): Embracing a Theology of Risk, Adventure & Courage”, p.155, Baker Books

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• How often have I rattled on with God and said nothing at all? Relying on clichés, throwaway phrases, and high language I'd never use in everyday conversation, I took prayer for granted and lost sight of the wondrous opportunity to draw close to God.

  Margaret Feinberg

  Prayer, Opportunity, Sight

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