Ability Quotes - Page 39

• There is a divide in our culture between people who want to see evidence of a politiсian's knowledge and worldliness, and people for whom "git 'er done" actions, as you put it, provide tangible proof of the ability to lead. I don't know how developed that idea is.

  Libby Copeland

  Ideas, People, Culture

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• I have endeavoured to show that the ability to pay taxes depends, not on the gross money value of the mass of commodities, nor on the net money value of the revenue of capitalists and landlords, but on the money value of each man's revenue compared to the money value of the commodities which he usually consumes.

  David Ricardo

  Men, Pay, Commodity

  David Ricardo, John Ramsay McCulloch (1852). “The Works of David Ricardo. With a notice of the life and writings of the author: by J. R. McCulloch”, p.7

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• We have repeatedly demonstrated our species's bottomless ability to lower our standards to make information technology look good.

  Jaron Lanier

  Technology, Looks, Information

  Jaron Lanier (2010). “You Are Not a Gadget”, p.32, Vintage

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• The programme of the British Labour Party under Neil Kinnock is so wildly irresponsible, so separate and apart from the historic NATO strategy, that I think a Labour government that stood by its present policies - and I rather doubt that they would - would, if it didn't destroy the Alliance, at least diminish its effective ability to do the task for which it was created.

  Richard Perle

  Party, Thinking, Government

  The Times, September 25, 1986.

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• Many of the points made by the antiwar movement have been consciously assimilated by the Pentagon and its lawyers and advisers. Precision weaponry is good in itself, but its ability to discriminate is improving and will continue to improve. Cluster bombs are perhaps not good in themselves, but when they are dropped on identifiable concentrations of Taliban troops, they do have a heartening effect.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Troops, Bombs, Movement

  Simon Cottee, Thomas Cushman, Christopher Hitchens (2008). “Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left”, p.5066, NYU Press

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• To know is not too demanding: it merely requires memory and time. But to understand is quite a different matter: it requires intellectual ability and training, a self conscious awareness of what one is doing, experience in techniques of analysis and synthesis, and above all, perspective.

  Carroll Quigley

  Memories, Self, Perspective

  Carroll Quigley (1979). “The evolution of civilizations: an introduction to historical analysis”, Liberty Fund Inc.

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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 love being inside my brain and pushing myself to think in ever more complex ways because I know the ideas are there for the taking. It's all about being focused and disciplined and making use of one's abilities.

  Nancy Crow

  Love Is, Thinking, Ideas

  Nancy Crow (2006). “Nancy Crow”

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• When it came down to technical skill and ability of the two teams, Croatia were far superior.

  Alan Mullery

  Team, Skills, Two

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• Paradoxically, the simpler poetry is, the more difficult it becomes for a critic to discuss intelligently. Trained to explicate, the critic often loses the ability to evaluate literature outside the critical act. A work is good only in proportion to the richness and complexity of interpretations it provokes.

  Dana Gioia

  Literature, Proportion, Interpretation

  Dana Gioia (2002). “Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture”, Graywolf Pr

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• Teaching art is a shared experience. Our ability to share our own personal vision and interact with others through art can become realized.

  Michael Bell

  Art, Teaching, Vision

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• Loneliness is a prerequisite for freedom. Freedom depends on the ability to reflect, and reflection can only begin when one is alone.

  Gao Xingjian

  Loneliness, Reflection, Depends

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• In 302, the Roman emperor Diocletian commanded "there should be cheapness," declaring, "Unprincipled greed appears wherever our armies ... march. ... Our law shall fix a measure and a limit to this greed." The predictable result of Diocletian's food price controls were black markets, hunger and food confiscation by his soldiers. Despite the disastrous history of price controls, politicians never manage to resist tampering with prices -- that's not a flattering observation of their learning abilities.

  Walter E. Williams

  Army, Law, Greed

  "Economics for the Citizen (Part 9)". capitalismmagazine.com. January 20, 2005.

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• What I actually admire in Perl is its ability to provide a very successful abstraction of the horrible mess that is collectively called Unix.

  Erik Naggum

  Successful, Unix, Admire

  "Using Lisp to Call another program in linux?". Usenet discussion groups, groups.google.com. November 11, 2002.

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• There are only three kinds of people. LEADERS. Those who take charge, build, inspire, and create. FOLLOWERS. Those who support leaders and work to achieve mutually beneficial goals.... [and] DESTROYERS. Destroyers cannot find it within themselves to follow anyone, their hatred and insecurity is too pure to see strength in any OTHER being. The utterly lack the ability to inspire or create, so they do the only thing left to them -- they tear down all they come in contact with.

  Rick Remender

  Goal, People, Hatred

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• This backlog affects not just the ability to identify and convict the guilty, but it also affects our ability to identify the innocent.

  Chris Asplen

  Guilty, Innocent, Convicts

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• Regardless of all of the ways that the media have changed in recent years, one thing that will never go out of style in America is the ability of a free press to keep the public accurately and honestly informed about its government.

  Candice S. Miller

  America, Government, Media

  "Detroit Free Press Wins Pulitzer Prize". Candice S. Miller, "Congressional Record", Volume 155, Number 59, United States House of Representatives, Page H4588, www.gpo.gov. April 22, 2009.

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• Respect is not fear and awe; it...[is]the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his unique individuality. Respect, thus, implies the absence of exploitation. I want the loved person to grow and unfold for his own sake, and in his own ways, and not for the purpose of serving me.

  Erich Fromm

  Respect, Unique, Individuality

  Erich Fromm (2000). “The Art of Loving: The Centennial Edition”, p.26, A&C Black

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• when I was younger I used to wrestle, and I feel that it contributed to my athletic ability because as a wrestler you have to be an all-encompassed athlete. You need stamina, strength, endurance and mental capacity. You also have to learn how to adapt in any situation. In the book, that's how all the sports helped me in my strategies for football and life.

  Dhani Jones

  Sports, Football, Book

  "Bengals LB Jones proves to be a true Renaissance man". Interview with Michael Fabiano, www.nfl.com. May 17, 2011.

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• Every one's abilities may be increased or strengthened by a kind of culture.

  Jacob Abbott

  Culture, May, Kind

  Jacob Abbott (1835). “The Young Christian: Or, a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty”, p.303

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• The truth is that adversity is a part of most days. Whether you are ultimately weakened or strengthened by each event, or the accumulation of events, will depend on you first mastering the ability to Take It On!

  Erik Weihenmayer

  Adversity, Events, Firsts

  Erik Weihenmayer, Paul Stoltz (2012). “The Adversity Advantage: Turning Everyday Struggles into Everyday Greatness”, p.34, Simon and Schuster

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• We underestimate the distance between ourselves and others. Not just inferential distance, but distances of temperament and ability, distances of situation and resource, distances of unspoken knowledge and unnoticed skills and luck, distances of interior landscape.

  Eliezer Yudkowsky

  Distance, Skills, Luck

  "Beware of Other-Optimizing". lesswrong.com. April 10, 2009.

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• The American College of Sports Medicine found that the productivity of people after exercise was an average of 65 percent higher than those who did not exercise. If I have something that's really bothering me, so much that it almost hurts my head to try to sort it out, I always find the solution in a puddle of sweat! Intense exercise is like taking a magic pill that gives you the ability to solve problems like a superhero.

  Chalene Johnson

  Sports, Hurt, Exercise

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• Experience is primarily the ability to restrain our fleeting impulses.

  Sergei Lukyanenko

  Fleeting, Impulse

  "Day Watch". Book by Sergei Lukyanenko, Vladimir Vasilyev, 2000.

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• Fears to look bad in front of other people, to say something wrong, to be laughed at - all those fears deprive us of half of our abilities. This is one of the main school problems. That teacher understands it, who can teach students to study without fear of the teacher, without fear of classmates, and, the most important, without fear of a subject.

  Simon Soloveychik

  Teacher, School, People

  "The Last Book" by Simon Soloveychik, (Ch. 20), 1999.

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