Benign Quotes - Page 2

• The Spy Act strikes a right balance between preserving legitimate and benign uses of this technology, while still, at the same time, protecting unwitting consumers from the harm caused when it is misused and, of course, designed for nefarious purposes.

  Cliff Stearns

  Technology, Balance, Spy

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• Pity is a benign form of abuse.

  Michael J. Fox

  Abuse, Pity, Form

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• I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

  George Washington

  Sweet, Retirement, Freedom

  George Washington (1851). “The life of General Washington: first president of the United States”, p.337

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• It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration.

  Albert Camus

  Lonely, Stars, Philosophy

  L'Etranger (The Stranger) pt. 2, ch. 5 (1942)

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• For the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still.

  Albert Camus

  Happiness, Heart, Firsts

  L'Etranger (The Stranger) pt. 2, ch. 5 (1942)

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• The most beautiful words in the English language are 'not guilty'.

  Maxim Gorky

  Beautiful, Money, Business

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• ... we find ourselves facing a rising tide of biologically active, synthetic organic chemicals. Some tinker with our hormones. Some attach themselves to our chromosomes and trigger mutations. Some cripple the immune system. Some light up our genes and so enhance the production of certain enzymes. If we could metabolize these chemicals into completely benign breakdown products and excrete them, they would pose less of a hazard. Instead, a good many of them accumulate.

  Sandra Steingraber

  Light, Good Man, Environmental

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• It took a long time, but my heart now feels full when I think of him. When you fall in love again—which I have—it's funny the other things that come back in with that open-ness. You have this ghost chorus of the lovers who came before, but they're benign now, they're good spirits.

  Emma Forrest

  Falling In Love, Heart, Thinking

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• I have written it before and am not ashamed to write it again. Without Wodehouse I am not sure that I would be a tenth of what I am today -- whatever that may be. In my teenage years, his writings awoke me to the possibilities of language. His rhythms, tropes, tricks and mannerisms are deep within me. But more than that, he taught me something about good nature. It is enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind.

  Stephen Fry

  Teenage, Writing, Years

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• Eating a tuna roll at a sushi restaurant should be considered no more environmentally benign than driving a Hummer or harpooning a manatee.

  Daniel Pauly

  Tuna Fish, Sushi, Driving

  "The Perils Of Overfishing, Part 2". Interview with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. November 3, 2009.

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• To one American family out of four, the idea of capitalism as a benign system of comfort , dignity , and personal advance is only a myth , or worse, a bitter mockery.

  Robert Heilbroner

  Ideas, Four, Comfort

  "The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers". Book by Robert L. Heilbroner, Chapter X, The Modern World, p. 28, 1953.

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• Squandering our gifts brings distress to our lives. As it turns out, it's not merely benign or 'too bad' if we don't use the gifts that we've been given; we pay for it with our emotional and physical well-being. When we don't use our talents to cultivate meaningful work, we struggle. We feel disconnected and weighted down by feelings of emptiness, frustration, resentment, shame, disappointment, fear, and even grief.

  Brené Brown

  Motivational, Meaningful, Disappointment

  Brené Brown (2010). “The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are”, p.123, Simon and Schuster

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• A university is not a service station. Neither is it a political society, nor a meeting place for political societies. With all its limitations and failures, and they are invariably many, it is the best and most benign side of our society insofar as that society aims to cherish the human mind.

  Richard Hofstadter

  Failure, Men, Political

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• You get thought of in terms of your last job. So if my last job is that of a meat cleaver-wielding character, I will hardly be cast as some benign, older gentleman.

  Ben Cross

  Jobs, Character, Gentleman

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• In England, the system is benign and the people are hostile. In America, the people are friendlyand the system is brutal!

  Quentin Crisp

  America, People, England

  1985 In The Guardian, 23 Oct.

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• Beneficent spirals, operating by benign feedback, mean that everything needful is not required at once: each individual improvement is beneficial for the whole

  Jane Jacobs

  Mean, Improvement, Individual

  Jane Jacobs (2007). “Dark Age Ahead”, p.175, Vintage

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• Individuals who have been wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole; but under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution's focus upon the individual. ...To pursue the concept of racial entitlement - even for the most admirable and benign of purposes - is to reinforce and preserve for future mischief the way of thinking that produced race slavery, race privilege and race hatred. In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American.

  Antonin Scalia

  Eye, Thinking, Race

  Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U.S. 200, 239, 1995.

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• Justice-august and pure, the abstract idea of all that would be perfect in the spirits and the inspirations of men!-where the mind rises; where the heart expands; where the countenance is ever placid and benign; where her favorite attitude is to stoop to the unfortunate; to hear their cry and to help them; to rescue and relieve; to succor and save; majestic, from its mercy; venerable, from its Lutility; uplifted, without pride; firm without obduracy; beneficent in each preference; lovely, though in her frown!

  Richard Brinsley Sheridan

  Attitude, Inspiration, Heart

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• So shall the world go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning.

  John Milton

  Men, Goes On, World

  John Milton, Henry John Todd (1801). “The Poetical Works of John Milton”, p.454

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• Naturalism is the view that the physical world is a self-contained system that works by blind, unbroken natural laws. Naturalism doesn't come right out and say there's nothing beyond nature. Rather, it says that nothing beyond nature could have any conceivable relevance to what happens in nature. Naturalism's answer to theism is not atheism but benign neglect. People are welcome to believe in God, though not a God who makes a difference in the natural order.

  William A. Dembski

  Atheist, Believe, Self

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• I wasn't raised Catholic; I just really like the image of a neutral and benign Mary floating around somewhere, being nice to people.

  Moby

  Nice, People, Catholic

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• Hmph," said Sharon . "Did you know that the numbers three and seven are sacred to vampires? There are seven vampire sects." "Seven sacred sects," I repeated. "Say that three times fast." "How about I spank you instead?" asked Patrick in a benign tone that belied the flare of irritation in his gaze. "Only if you tie me to a bed and use a paddle." His silver eyes went molten. Uh-oh. Me and my big smart-aleck mouth. "I… uh, sorry. I didn't mean that. I saw Secretary a few too many times. I'm impressionable.

  Michele Bardsley

  Sorry, Smart, Mean

  Michele Bardsley (2006). “I'm the Vampire, That's Why”, p.68, Penguin

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• I think the use of lethal injection is the way of lying to ourselves, to make it look like executions are peaceful, are benign, are sort of like going to sleep, and they're not. They're brutal things.

  Alex Kozinski

  Lying, Sleep, Thinking

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• Taking away a person's control of her own life - meaning her bank account - is one of the greatest infringements a democracy can impose, especially when it applies to young people. It is an infringement even if the intent may be perceived as benign and socially valid.

  Steig Larsson

  People, Democracy, Meaning Of Life

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• But I got a great deal else from the experience. I learned to pitch a tent and sleep beneath the stars. For a brief, proud period I was slender and fit. I gained a profound respect for the wilderness and nature and the benign dark power of woods. I understand now, in a way I never did before, the colossal scale of the world. I found patience and fortitude that I didn't know I had. I discovered an America that millions of people scarcely know exists. I made a friend. I came home.

  Bill Bryson

  Stars, Home, Sleep

  "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail". Book by Bill Bryson, 1997.

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