Astonishing Quotes - Page 4

• I think the way IBM has embraced the open source philosophy has been quite astonishing, but gratifying. I hope they'll do very well with it.

  Larry Wall

  Philosophy, Thinking, Way

  ChangeLog.net Interview, lwn.net. January 17, 2001.

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• Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. The photographs show the dry, pounded surface of the moon in the foreground, dry as an old bone. Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming, membrane of bright blue sky, is the rising earth, the only exuberant thing in this part of the cosmos.

  Lewis Thomas

  Distance, Moon, Blue

  Lewis Thomas (1990). “A Long Line of Cells Collected Essays”

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• At one year of age the child says his first intentional wordhis babbling has a purpose, and this intention is a proof of conscious intelligenceHe becomes ever more aware that language refers to his surroundings, and his wish to master it consciously becomes also greater.Subconsciously and unaided, he strains himself to learn, and this effort makes his success all the more astonishing.

  Maria Montessori

  Children, Years, Effort

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• I have a theory about marriage, Monsieur Boustouler. And it’s that nearly always you will know within two weeks if it’s going to work. It’s astonishing how many people remain shackled for years, decades even, in a protracted and mutual state of self-delusion and false hope when in fact they had their answer in those first two weeks.

  Khaled Hosseini

  Self, Years, Two

  "And the Mountains Echoed". Book by Khaled Hosseini, May 21, 2013.

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• I wish I could remember the moment when I was a kid and I discovered that the letters linked into words, and that the words linked to real things. What a revelation that must have been. We don't have the words for it, since we hadn't yet learned the words. It must have been astonishing, to be given the key to the kingdom and see it turn in our hands so easily.

  David Levithan

  Real, Kids, Keys

  Rachel Cohn, David Levithan (2010). “Dash & Lily's Book of Dares”, p.83, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• Real Madrid fans have to wear sunglasses while watching their team because this star-studded team of diamonds is just astonishing.

  Ray Hudson

  Stars, Real, Team

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• We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ.
  The greater truth of the holiday is His deity.
  More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby
  is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!

  John F. MacArthur

  Christmas, Baby, Holiday

  John F. MacArthur (2006). “Truth for Today: A Daily Touch of God's Grace”, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• The beautiful always retains the freshness of novelty, while the astonishing soon grow tiresome.

  August Bournonville

  Beautiful, Dance, Novelty

  August Bournonville (1979). “My theatre life”, Wesleyan

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• There are astonishing stories of heroism not only in preventing bloodshed, but in building understanding which lasts.

  Scilla Elworthy

  Peace, Understanding, Stories

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• Christianity is NOT a religion; it is the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however - the Good News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over - period.

  Robert Farrar Capon

  Jesus, Jobs, Humanity

  Robert Farrar Capon (1996). “The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-found of Church History”, p.2, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• When one thinks of the wondrous glory of Christ, how astonishing that He can join with us! But more, when one thinks of His bringing many sons to glory at such a cost, one is lost in adoring amazement.

  George Wigram

  Son, Thinking, Cost

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• When true forgiveness happens it is one of the most astonishing and liberating of the human experience.

  Richard Holloway

  Forgiveness, Human Experience, Humans

  Richard Holloway (2002). “On Forgiveness: How Can We Forgive the Unforgivable?”, p.12, Canongate Books

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• When one is in a good sound rage, it is astonishing how calm one can be.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Anger, Sound, Calm

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• It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. Indeed, our so-called "educated classes" are to this day in total ignorance of the most important circumstances and the most remarkable phenomena which Anthropogeny has brought to light.

  Ernst Haeckel

  Ignorance, Science, Men

  Ernst Haeckel (1883). “The Evolution of Man: A Popular Exposition of the Principal Points of Human Ontogeny and Phylogeny”

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• Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy.

  Carl Sagan

  Dream, Spiritual, Atheist

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• It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association

  William James

  Educational, Philosophy, Literature

  William James (2013). “Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals”, p.42, Courier Corporation

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• I find nothing in fables more astonishing than my experience in every hour. One moment of a man's life is a fact so stupendous as to take the luster out of fiction.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Time, Men, Fiction

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1979). “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Lectures and biographical sketches”

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• Is it astonishing that, like children trying to catch smoke by closing their hands, philosophers so often see the object they would grasp fly before them?

  Henri Bergson

  Children, Hands, Trying

  Henri Bergson (1949). “An Introduction to Metaphysics”, p.45, Hackett Publishing

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• Profoundness, genius, spontaneity, merit, nobility, ingenuity, voice propriety, feeling, discernment, sensibility, good taste, great tone, rightness, courtliness, vivacity, boldness, style, freshness, harmony, perfection, imagination, purity, correctness. The greatest writer of all times. God's most astonishing creation.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Religious, Voice, Imagination

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• Four elements, Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, also provide an example of the astonishing togetherness of our universe. They make up the "organic" molecules that constitute living organisms on a planet, and the nuclei of these same elements interact to generate the light of its star. Then the organisms on the planet come to depend wholly on that starlight, as they must if life is to persist. So it is that all life on the Earth runs on sunlight. [Referring to photosynthesis]

  George Wald

  Life, Running, Stars

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• We have been involved in racing for so long, it is astonishing we were not born with hooves.

  Daniel Wildenstein

  Long, Racing, Born

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• Like most little girls, I found the lure of grown-up accessories astonishing - lipstick, perfume, hats and gloves. When I write female characters in my historical novels, getting these details right is vital.

  Sara Sheridan

  Girl, Writing, Character

  "Historic Edinburgh fashion at the City Art Centre" by Sara Sheridan, www.theguardian.com. May 5, 2011.

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• Many fantasy novels - 'Lord of the Rings', for instance, or 'Lavondyss' by Robert Holdstock - are beautifully written. Geoff Ryman's 'The Child Garden' is exquisite and utterly beguiling. Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' trilogy is an astonishing piece of multi-faceted storytelling. So quality of writing does not condemn the genre.

  David Gemmell

  Children, Writing, Garden

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• The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you and me is nothing short of astonishing.

  Francis Chan

  Powerful, Love You, Knowing

  Francis Chan (2013). “Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God”, p.62, David C Cook

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• If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls.

  Alphonse de Lamartine

  Eye, Mean, Army

  "Histoire de la Turquie", Volume 1, (p. 277), 1854.

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