Discourse Quotes - Page 6

• A lawsuit is to ordinary life what war is to peacetime. In a lawsuit, everybody on the other side is bad. A trial transcript is a discourse in malevolence.

  Janet Malcolm

  War, Law, Ordinary

  Janet Malcolm (2011). “The Journalist and the Murderer”, p.63, Vintage

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of "true scientific discourse." It isn't.

  Jimmy Wales

  Charlatans, Lunatic

  "Jimmy Wales tells 'energy workers' that Wikipedia won't publish woo". boingboing.net. March 26, 2014.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is through an "intimate cessation of all intellectual operations" that the mind is laid bare. If nor, discourse maintains it in its little complacency. ... The difference between inner experience and philosophy resides principally in this: that in experience, ... what counts is no longer the statement of wind, but the wind.

  Georges Bataille

  Philosophy, Wind, Differences

  Georges Bataille (1988). “Inner Experience”, p.13, SUNY Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The poet's discourse can be compared to the track of a charged particle through a cloud-chamber. An energised field of association and connotation, of overtones and undertones, of rebus and homophone, surround its motion, and break from it in the context of collision .. in Western poetry so much of the charged substance is previous poetry.

  George Steiner

  Clouds, Track, Poetry

  6 Copy quote

• Since I became a knitting humor writer, I seem to be understood a little better - at least for the purposes of social discourse.

  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

  Knitting, Purpose, Littles

  4 Copy quote

• I think it's always good when you're able to, as an actor, allow your work to be some kind of a conduit for social discourse, and an examination of where we are, as a society.

  Zachary Quinto

  Thinking, Actors, Examination

  Source: collider.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• This is what happens when the discourse of publishing, defined and driven by spoken and written language, is talked about in exactly the same vocabulary and syntax as any widgetmaking industry. Books are reformulated as 'product' - like screwdrivers or flea-bombs or soap - and the majority of writers are perceived as typists with bad attitudes.

  Suzette Haden Elgin

  Attitude, Book, Vocabulary

  4 Copy quote

• I think a Play the best divertisement that wise men have: but I do also think them nothing so who do discourse so formallie about the rules of it, as if 'twere the grand affair of humane life.

  Aphra Behn

  Wise, Men, Thinking

  Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.273, Delphi Classics

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• In thy discourse, if thou desire to please;
  All such is courteous, useful, new, or wittie:
  Usefulness comes by labour, wit byease;
  Courtesie grows in court; news in the citie.

  George Herbert

  Desire, News, Courtesy

  George Herbert (1861). “The Poetical Works of G. H. and R. Heber. With Memoir”, p.9

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite.

  William Shenstone

  Infinite, Jest, Sensible

  William Shenstone (1804). “Essays on Men and Manners”, p.176

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• That man is guilty of impertinence who considers not the circumstances of time, or engrosses the conversation, or makes himself the subject of his discourse, or pays no regard to the company he is in.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Men, Pay, Guilty

  4 Copy quote

• Nothing is more detestable than a professed declaimer who retails his discourses as a quack does his medicines.

  Jean Baptiste Massillon

  Medicine, Doe, Clergymen

  4 Copy quote

• The world of public discourse - political, social, diplomatic, commercial - has so corrupted language that we are rightly more suspicious of the meaning of words than we are convinced of their veracity. Language has been turned on its head.

  Deena Metzger

  Political, World, Language

  Deena Metzger (2009). “Writing for Your Life: Discovering the Story of Your Life's Jou”, p.7, Harper Collins

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• To write a genuine familiar or truly English style is to write as anyone would speak in common conversation, who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force, and perspicuity, setting aside all pedantic and oratorical flourishes.

  William Hazlitt

  Writing, Choices, Style

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1270, Delphi Classics

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• A brave man is clear in his discourse, and keeps close to truth.

  Aristotle

  Men, Bravery, Clear

  7 Copy quote

• Every one knows the veneration which was paid by the Jews to a name so great, wonderful, and holy. They would not let it enter even into their religious discourses. What can we then think of those who make use of so tremendous a name, in the ordinary expression of their anger, mirth, and most impertinent passions?

  Joseph Addison

  Religious, Passion, Thinking

  Joseph Addison (1827). “The Evidences of the Christian Religion: To which are Added, Several Discourses Against Atheism and Infidelity, and in Defence of the Christian Revelation”, p.92

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Affectation hath always had a greater share both in the action and discourse of men than truth and judgment have.

  Aphra Behn

  Men, Action, Share

  Aphra Behn (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Aphra Behn (Illustrated)”, p.274, Delphi Classics

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Next, to make them expert in the usefullest points of grammar; and withal to season them and win them early to the love of virtue and true labour, ere any flattering seducement or vain principle seize them wandering, some easy and delightful book of education would be read to them; whereof the Greeks have store, as Cebes, Plutarch, and other Socratic discourses.

  John Milton

  Children, Book, Winning

  John Milton, James Augustus St. John, Charles Richard Sumner (1872). “The Prose Works of John Milton ...: With a Preface, Preliminary Remarks, and Notes”, p.468

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Where no interest is takes in science, literature and liberal pursuits, mere facts and insignificant criticisms necessarily become the themes of discourse; and minds, strangers alike to activity and meditation, become so limited as to render all intercourse with them at once tasteless and oppressive.

  Madame de Stael

  Meditation, Mind, Criticism

  8 Copy quote

• In common discourse we denominate persons and things according to the major part of their character; he is to be called a wise man who has but few follies.

  Isaac Watts

  Wise, Character, Men

  Isaac Watts (1809). “Logic: Or, The Right Use of Reason, in the Inquiry After Truth”, p.151

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is a difficult task to talk to the purpose, and to put life and perspicuity into our discourse.

  Jeremy Collier

  Talking, Tasks, Purpose

  Jeremy Collier (1732). “Essays upon several moral subjects”, p.24

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Of all sorts of flattery, that which comes from a solemn character and stands before a sermon is the worst-complexioned. Such commendation is a satire upon the author, makes the text look mercenary, and disables the discourse from doing service.

  Jeremy Collier

  Character, Looks, Flattery

  4 Copy quote

• Uncommon expressions are a disfigurement rather than an embellishment of discourse.

  David Hume

  Expression, Style, Embellishment

  9 Copy quote

• If you light upon an impertinent talker, that sticks to you like a bur, to the disappointment of your important occasions, deal freely with him, break off the discourse, and pursue your business.

  Plutarch

  Disappointment, Light, Break Off

  Plutarch, Matthew Morgan (1718). “Plutarch's Morals”, p.64

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• If we ban whatever offends any group in our diverse society, we will soon have no art, no culture, no humor, no satire. Satire is by its nature offensive. So is much art and political discourse. The value of these expressions far outweighs their risk.

  Erica Jong

  Art, Expression, Diverse Society

  Erica Jong (2007). “What Do Women Want?: Essays by Erica Jong”, p.84, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

  Show source