Destructive Quotes - Page 7

• Resort to science has rendered modern war so destructive of life and property that it presents a new problem to mankind, such, that unless our civilization shall find some means of making an end to war, war will make an end to our civilization.

  John Hessin Clarke

  War, Mean, Civilization

  John Hessin Clarke (1925). “America and World Peace”

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• Nothing can be more destructive to ambition, and the passion for conquest, than the true system of astronomy. What a poor thing is even the whole globe in comparison of the infinite extent of nature!

  Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle

  Passion, Ambition, Astronomy

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• Suicide thwarts the plan of the entity which sends out the personality. Fortunately, the entity is far beyond the reach of man's destructive tendencies.

  Manly Hall

  Suicide, Suicidal, Men

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• It’s not that Etienne dislikes Tybalt. Etienne just dislikes chaos, and Tybalt causes almost as much commotion as I do. Sometimes more, when he really sets his mind to it, although my chaos is a little more destructive, if I do say so myself.

  Mira Grant

  Mind, Littles, Causes

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• Truth is dangerous. It topples palaces and kills kings. It stirs gentle men to rage and bids them take up arms. It wakes old grievances and opens forgotten wounds. It is the mother of the sleepless night and the hag-ridden day. And yet there is one thing that is more dangerous than Truth. Those who would silence Truth’s voice are more destructive by far. It is most perilous to be a speaker of Truth. Sometimes one must choose to be silent, or be silenced. But if a truth cannot be spoken, it must at least be known. Even if you dare not speak truth to others, never lie to yourself.

  Frances Hardinge

  Mother, Kings, Lying

  "Fly by Night". Book by Frances Hardinge, October 7, 2005.

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• Self-pity is the most destructive of all narcotics.

  Sebastian Horsley

  Self Esteem, Self Pity, Narcotics

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• It is as though some old part of yourself wakes up in you, terrified, useless in the life you have, its skills and habits destructive but intact, and what is left of the present you, the person you have become, wilts and shrivels in sadness or despair: the person you have become is only a thin shell over this other, more electric and endangered self. The strongest, the least digested parts of your experience can rise up and put you back where you were when they occurred; all the rest of you stands back and weeps.

  Peter Straub

  Sadness, Self, Skills

  FaceBook post by Peter Straub from Mar 02, 2014

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• I have given no definition of love. This is impossible, because there is no higher principle by which it could be defined. It is life itself in its actual unity. The forms and structures in which love embodies itself are the forms and structures in which love overcomes its self-destructive forces.

  Paul Tillich

  Self, Unity, Overcoming

  Paul Tillich, Erdmann Sturm (1998). “Sozialphilosophische und Ethische Schriften”, p.700, Walter de Gruyter

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• Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

  Cory Doctorow

  Happiness, Men, Power

  Cory Doctorow (2010). “Little Brother”, p.235, Tor Teen

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• Because even if they are doing something immoral, I'd be an idiot to start criticizing them for it if I wasn't perfect myself. Smoking is self-destructive. Drinking is self-destructive. Losing your temper and yelling at people is wrong. Lying is wrong. Cheating is wrong. Stealing is wrong. But people do that stuff all the time. Soon as I figure out how to be a perfect human being, then I'm qualified to go lecture other people about how they live their lives.

  Jim Butcher

  Cheating, Lying, Drinking

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• The idiot had shot their own dog. That’s what happened when the destructive potential of a man’s weapons exceeded his intelligence.

  Ilona Andrews

  Dog, Men, Weapons

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• don’t believe the war is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. Oh no, the common man is every bit as guilty; otherwise, people and nations would have re- belled long ago! There’s a destructive urge in people, the urge to rage, murder and kill. And until all of humanity, without exception, undergoes a metamorphosis, wars will continue to be waged, and everything that has been carefully built up, cultivated and grown will be cut down and destroyed, only to start allover again!

  Anne Frank

  War, Believe, Cutting

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• I allowed myself to suffer how jarringly destructive the present feels and how fragile the past.

  Ann Brashares

  Past, Suffering, Feels

  Ann Brashares (2010). “My Name is Memory”, p.51, Penguin

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• My worst habit is my fear & my destructive rationalizing.

  Sylvia Plath

  Habit, Worst

  Sylvia Plath (2011). “The Journals of Sylvia Plath”, p.430, Faber & Faber

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• Fear is the destructive energy in man. It withers the mind, it distorts thought, it leads to all kinds of extraordinarily clever and subtle theories, absurd superstitions, dogmas, and beliefs.

  Jiddu Krishnamurti

  Clever, Fear, Men

  Jiddu Krishnamurti (1991). “The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, 1961: There Is No Thinker, Only Thought”, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company

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• Since opposed principles, or ideologies, are irreconcilable, wars fought over principle will be wars of mutual annihilation. But wars fought for simple greed will be far less destructive, because the aggressor will be careful not to destroy what he is fighting to capture. Reasonable - that is, human - men will always be capable of compromise, but men who have dehumanized themselves by becoming the blind worshipers of an idea or an ideal are fanatics whose devotion to abstractions makes them the enemies of life.

  Alan Watts

  War, Fighting, Simple

  "The Way of Zen".

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• Nothing is more creative... nor destructive... than a brilliant mind with a purpose.

  Dan Brown

  Creative, Mind, Purpose

  Dan Brown (2014). “Inferno: Special Illustrated Edition (Enhanced): Featuring Robert Langdon”, p.296, Knopf

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• ...so much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty, and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating and destructive effect upon society than the others.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Running, Long, Greed

  Eleanor Roosevelt (1960). “You Learn by Living”, p.153, Westminster John Knox Press

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• The signs of excessive indulgence in this destructive pastime are easily detectable. They are these: A disposition to eat, to drink, to smoke, to meet together convivially, to laugh, to joke, and tell indelicate stories— and mainly, a yearning to paint pictures.

  Mark Twain

  Laughing, Together, Stories

  Mark Twain (1992). “Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches & Essays: 1852-1890”, Library of America

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• It's our very capacity for self-consciousness that makes us self-destructive!

  Alison Bechdel

  Self, Consciousness, Capacity

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• If there is no honesty, there is no relationship. The only degree to which there is a relationship is the degree to which you are honest. Expressing your clear desires does not make you a dictator and you telling what you think, feel, and what you want or don’t want, is just called being honest. It doesn't control him at all. You’re trying to control others by withholding information by not getting involved and by not being honest. Withholding information is a form of manipulation. It is dishonest and it’s destructive to a relationship.

  Stefan Molyneux

  Honesty, Thinking, Desire

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• We are living in an era in which billions of people are grappling to promote communication, tolerance, and understanding over the more destructive forces of war, terrorism, and political chaos that have characterized the beginning of the 21st Century.

  Aberjhani

  War, Communication, People

  Aberjhani (2014). “Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry”, p.20, Lulu.com

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• Damnosa quid non imminuit dies?
  What does not destructive time destroy?

  Horace

  Time, Doe, Dies

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• A hug's a happy thing while a shrug's so often destructive.

  Malcolm Forbes

  Happiness, Hug, Happy Things

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• Our whole attitude about life is money-oriented. And money is one of the most uncreative things one can become interested in. Our whole approach is power-oriented and power is destructive, not creative. A man who is after money will become destructive, because money has to be robbed, exploited; it has to be taken away from many people, only then can you have it. Power simply means you have to make many people impotent, you have to destroy them - only then will you be powerful, can you be powerful.

  Rajneesh

  Money, Powerful, Attitude

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