Respectable Quotes - Page 2

• Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art.

  John Updike

  Change, Art, Reflection

  John Updike (1991). “Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism”, Alfred A. Knopf

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• This is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out.

  David Foster

  Art, Real, Bullshit

  "David Foster Wallace's Legendary Graduation Speech Is Now An Awesome Short Film". "This Is Water" Speech at Kenyon College, www.businessinsider.com. 2005.

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  Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy.

  Albert Schweitzer

  Life, Death, Respect

  Albert Schweitzer (1984). “The Words of Albert Schweitzer”

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• What Joe Hamilton lacked more than anything else in the world was some one to kick him. Many a man who might have lived decently and become a fairly respectable citizen has gone to the dogs for the want of some one to administer a good resounding kick at the right time. It is corrective and clarifying.

  Paul Laurence Dunbar

  Dog, Men, Citizens

  Paul Laurence Dunbar (2017). “Delphi Complete Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar (Illustrated)”, p.992, Delphi Classics

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• The devil's most devilish when respectable.

  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

  Respect, Witty, Devil

  'Aurora Leigh' (1857) bk. 7, l. 105

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• Our freedom must be had at all hazards. If the men of property will not help us they must fall; we will free ourselves by the aid of that large and respectable class of the community - the men of no property.

  Wolfe Tone

  Fall, Men, Class

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• SORCERY, n. The ancient prototype and forerunner of political influence. It was, however, deemed less respectable and sometimes was punished by torture and death.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Death, Punishment, Political

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.209, 谷月社

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• But the most deplorable effect of all, is that diminution of attachment and reverence, which steals into the hearts of the people, towards a political system which betrays so many marks of infirmity, and disappoints so many of their flattering hopes. No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected, without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.

  James Madison

  Heart, Government, Attachment

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.306, Coventry House Publishing

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• In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible... Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness... Political language [is] designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.

  George Orwell

  Lying, Writing, Political Language

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• The sin of respectable people reveals itself in flight from responsibility.

  Eberhard Bethge

  Responsibility, People, Flight

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• Winning 9 games is very respectable.

  Mark Richt

  Winning, Games

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• Freemasonry is an ancient and respectable institution, embracing individuals of every nation, of every religion, and of every condition in life. Wealth, power and talents are not necessary to the person of a Freemason. An unblemished character and a virtuous conduct are the only qualifications for admission into the Order.

  Andrew Jackson

  Character, Order, Talent

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• It is time, therefore, to abandon the superstition that natural science cannot be regarded as logically respectable until philosophers have solved the problem of induction. The problem of induction is, roughly speaking, the problem of finding a way to prove that certain empirical generalizations which are derived from past experience will hold good also in the future.

  A.J. Ayer

  Past, Superstitions, Way

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• Respectable society believed in God in order to avoid having to speak about him.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  God, Order, Speak

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• The truth is . . . that the great artists of the world are never puritans, and seldom ever ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man - that is, virtuous in the YMCA sense - has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading, and it is highly improbable that the thing has ever been done by a virtuous woman.

  H. L. Mencken

  Art, Book, Reading

  H. L. Mencken, Marion Elizabeth Rodgers (2010). “H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series”, Hubsta Ltd

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• Nothing will make me change my principles. Even with the knife at my neck I shall still declare, up to this day, the poor have done everything; it is time for the rich to take their turn... The selfish people, the young idlers, must be made useful, whether they like it or not, and some respite be procured for the useful and respectable worker.

  Jean-Paul Marat

  Selfish, Knives, People

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• It is asserted by most respectable writers upon our government, that a well-regulated militia, composed of the yeomanry of the country, have ever been considered the bulwark of a free people. Tyrants have never placed any confidence on a militia composed of freemen.

  John L. DeWitt

  Country, Tyrants, Government

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• Understand that you, yourself, are no more than the composite picture of all your thoughts and actions. In your relationships with others, remember the basic and critically important rule: If you want to be loved, be lovable. If you want respect, set a respectable example!

  Denis Waitley

  Love, Inspiring, Respect

  Denis Waitley (1986). “The Winner's Edge: The Critical Attitude of Success”, Berkley

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• Mathematical economics is old enough to be respectable, but not all economists respect it. It has powerful supporters and impressive testimonials, yet many capable economists deny that mathematics, except as a shorthand or expository device, can be applied to economic reasoning. There have even been rumors that mathematics is used in economics (and in other social sciences) either for the deliberate purpose of mystification or to confer dignity upon common places as French was once used in diplomatic communications.

  James R Newman

  Respect, Powerful, Communication

  "The World of Mathematics".

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• Football brings out the sociologist that lurks in some otherwise respectable citizens. They say football is a metaphor for America's sinfulness.

  George Will

  Football, America, Citizens

  George F. Will (1978). “The pursuit of happiness, and other sobering thoughts”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• From my earliest childhood I nourished and cherished the desire to make a creditable journey in a new country, and write such a respectable account of its natural history as should give me a niche amongst the scientific explorers of the globe I inhabit, and hand my name down as a useful contributor of original matter.

  Joseph Dalton Hooker

  Country, Writing, Science

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• Upon this theology he rarely pondered. The kernel of his practical religion was that it was respectable, and beneficial to one's business, to be seen going to services; that the church kept the Worst Elements from being still worse; and that the pastor's sermons, however dull they might seem at the time of taking, yet had a voodooistic power which 'did a fellow good-- kept him in touch with Higher Things.

  Sinclair Lewis

  Past, Church, Elements

  Sinclair Lewis (2013). “Babbitt”, p.298, Lulu Press, Inc

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• No society can exist if respect for the law does not to some extent prevail; but the surest way to have the laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality are in contradiction, the citizen finds himself in the cruel dilemma of either losing his moral sense or of losing respect for the law, two evils of which one is as great as the other, and between which it is difficult to choose.

  Frederic Bastiat

  Law, Two, Evil

  "Selected Essays on Political Economy". Book by Frederic Bastiat edited by George B. de Huszar (translated), 1964.

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• The Gospel is open to all; the most respectable sinner has no more claim on it than the worst.

  Martyn Lloyd-Jones

  Bible, God, Christian

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• It is hardly respectable to be good nowadays.

  Edith Sitwell

  Integrity, Ethics, Be Good

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