Rationalize Quotes - Page 2

• DUE TO OUR FEELINGS ARISING FROM CONTACT, we think and we rationalize, conceptualize, theorize, philosophize and speculate. Because of the feeling arising from the six senses, we increase our desire; we come to wrong views and wrong beliefs. We recall our past sights, smells, sounds, tastes, touches and ideas and build up more desires, thoughts, concepts, beliefs, ideas, theories and philosophies.

  Henepola Gunaratana

  Philosophy, Past, Thinking

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• It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.

  Eric Hoffer

  Needs, Cowardice

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

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• However toplofty and idealistic a man may be, he can always rationalize his right to earn money.

  Raymond Chandler

  Money, Men, May

  Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). “Raymond Chandler Speaking”, p.139, Univ of California Press

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• Human beings, when they encounter that which can't be understood, either run away from it, run towards it blindly, or just rationalize it out of existence.

  Frederick Lenz

  Running, Buddhism, Humanity

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• Amazing what we can self-rationalize when we really want something

  Harlan Coben

  Self, Want Something, Want

  Harlan Coben (2013). “Six Years”, p.18, Penguin

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• You're trying to be tricky. What's morality?" "It's the difference between what's right and what you can rationalize." "Must be a human thing." "Exactly.

  Christopher Moore

  Differences, Trying, Morality

  Christopher Moore (2009). “Practical Demonkeeping”, p.93, Zondervan

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• You can minimize your sin. Rationalize your sin. Justify your sin.

  Johnny Hunt

  Leadership, Christian, Church

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• Most of us use ‘I’m waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life’ as a means of avoiding action.  Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday?  Or to go on your last vacation?  Or exercise this morning?  Probably not, but you still did it.  The point isn’t that vacations or exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving  God.

  Francis Chan

  Morning, Mean, Exercise

  Francis Chan (2013). “Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God”, p.169, David C Cook

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• Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earth quake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Religious, War, Believe

  Ezra Taft Benson (1988). “The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson”, Bookcraft Pubs

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• In the 17 years since I graduated from this great College of Law, I have seen that, for many of us, it becomes increasingly easy to rationalize our actions in the name of expediency when facing difficult decisions-to choose a path where the ends justify the means. I want to ask you to challenge Machiavelli's philosophy. I want to humbly suggest that you be the guardians of a more complicated truth: that the means are as important-and sometimes even more important-than the ends.

  Beau Biden

  Philosophy, Mean, College

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• Food is art, I believe. If you are going to be serving a living thing, you have to honor that living thing with some kind of care and thought and preparation to rationalize the taking of that life in some way.

  Bryan Fuller

  Art, Believe, Preparation

  "'Hannibal' producer Bryan Fuller on cannibal cuisine, renewal and more". Interview with Alan Sepinwall, uproxx.com. September 19, 2013.

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• Sam Harris fearlessly describes a moral and intellectual emergency precipitated by religious fantasies--misguided beliefs that create suffering, that rationalize violence, that have endangered our nation and our future. His argument for the morality, the honesty, and the humility of atheism is galvanizing. It is a relief that someone has spoken so frankly, with such passion yet such rationality. Now when the subject arises, as it inevitably does, I can simply say: Read Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation.

  Janna Levin

  Christian, Religious, Honesty

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• An artist is attracted to certain kinds of form without knowing why. You adopt a position intuitively; only later do you attempt to rationalize or even justify it.

  Fernando Botero

  Artist, Knowing, Kind

  Fernando Botero (1992). “Fernando Botero: Paintings and Drawings”, Prestel Pub

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• It is easy to rationalize that we don't have time to exercise. Not so. Ultimately, our improved health through exercise will provide us more time and energy to accomplish other tasks. We can usually do about whatever we want to-if we want to badly enough.

  Joe J. Christensen

  Exercise, Energy, Tasks

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• I'm not saying people should go out and start killing," the California-based Vlasak says. But he's not saying activists shouldn't kill either, even though he's a doctor, devoted to mending people. "There's a lot of violence used against animals" Vlasak rationalizes. And some of those responsible won't stop, he says, "until they are forced to stop.

  Jerry Vlasak

  Animal, Doctors, California

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• If you want the Kingdom speeded, go out and speed it yourselves. Only obedience rationalizes prayer. Only Missions can redeem your intercessions from insincerity.

  William Carey

  Prayer, Want, Kingdoms

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• The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.

  Stephen Covey

  Life, Change, Cheating

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• You know, we always tried to rationalize by saying you take the good, you take the upside, you got to deal with the downside, you've to take the downside.

  Julius Erving

  Deals, Knows

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• When you're tired, you rationalize. You make excuses in your mind. You say, "I'm too tired; I'm bushed; I can't do this; I'll loaf." Then you're a coward.

  Vince Lombardi

  Tired, Mind, Coward

  Vince Lombardi (2003). “What It Takes to Be #1 : Vince Lombardi on Leaders: Vince Lombardi on Leadership”, p.118, McGraw Hill Professional

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• In some instances, you may care so much about the person who has hurt you, or be so unable to be angry with him (or with anyone), that you rationalize his hurtful acts by finding some basis in your own actions for his hurtful behavior; you then feel guilty rather than angry. Put in other terms, you become angry with yourself rather than with the one who hurt you.

  Paul Ekman

  Hurt, Care, May

  Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen (2003). “Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions from Facial Clues”, p.79, ISHK

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• We can rationalize anything and easily quit on ourselves. Leadership is refusing to quit on others.

  Simon Sinek

  Quitting

  Twitter post from Feb 12, 2015

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• As long as we rationalize nuclear weapons as "necessary" in order to save American lives, then nuclear weapons will never be gotten rid of.

  Bernard Lown

  Order, Long, Nuclear

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• Companies like Enron have learned that small investments in endowing chairs, sponsoring research programs or hiring moonlighting professors can return big payoffs in generating books, reports, articles, testimony and other materials to push for and rationalize public policy positions that damage the public interest but benefit corporate bottomlines.

  Ralph Nader

  Book, Research, Benefits

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• Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse.

  Julius Erving

  Basketball, Teacher, Effort

  "The Wondrous Dr. J". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 26, 1992.

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• I remember a Buddhist teachers reflections on the Holocaust...What terrible karma those Jews mustve had... This kind of fundamentalism, which blames the victims and rationalizes their horrific fate, is something no longer to be tolerated quietly. It is time for... modern Buddhism to outgrow it by accepting social responsibility and finding ways to address such injustices.

  David Loy

  Karma, Teacher, Buddhist

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