Discreet Quotes - Page 3

• Oh, if I could put some of my reckless spirit into these discreet cautious lazy men!

  Mary Boykin Chesnut

  Men, Lazy Man, Laziness

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• For instance, I never complained that my birthday was overlooked; people were even surprised, with a touch of admiration, by my discretion on this subject. But the reason for my disinterestedness was even more discreet: I longed to be forgotten in order to be able to complain to myself... Once my solitude was thoroughly proved, I could surrender to the charms of a virile self-pity.

  Albert Camus

  Self, Order, People

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Fall”, p.85, Vintage

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• A person who is discreet in speaking will be useful during the good times and will avoid punishment during the bad.

  Yamamoto Tsunetomo

  War, Punishment, Good Times

  Yamamoto Tsunetomo, William Scott Wilson (2002). “Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai”, p.49, Kodansha International

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• That meddling in other people's affairs...formerly conducted by the most discreet intrigue is now openly advocated under the name of intervention.

  T. S. Eliot

  Peace, War, Names

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• De-Christianizing America has been high on the progressive agenda, and, thanks to the government (especially the federal courts), it has been a great success. Nor can we overlook the contribution of the entertainment industry, which now determines what passes for 'culture.' The main practical vehicle of de-Christianization has been the Sexual Revolution. A few radicals have called for the abolition of the family, but most liberals have been more discreet, avoiding hostile rhetoric while quietly but constantly pursuing policies that result in lower birthrates and fatherless children.

  Joseph Sobran

  Children, America, Government

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• Love is . . . a madness most discreet

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Love Is, Madness

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• We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove. We have two opinions: one private, which we are afraid to express; and another one - the one we use - which we force ourselves to wear to please Mrs. Grundy, until habit makes us comfortable in it, and the custom of defending it presently makes us love it, adore it, and forget how pitifully we came by it. Look at it in politics.

  Mark Twain

  Love, Sheep, Two

  Mark Twain (1973). “What Is Man? and Other Philosophical Writings”, p.62, Univ of California Press

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• The press and politicians. A delicate relationship. Too close, and danger ensues. Too far apart and democracy itself cannot function without the essential exchange of information. Creative leaks, a discreet lunch, interchange in the Lobby, the art of the unattributable telephone call, late at night.

  Howard Brenton

  Art, Night, Lunch

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• If you have a grateful heart (which is a miracle amongst you statesmen), show it by directing the bearer to the best wine in town, and pray let not this highest point of sacred friendship be performed slightly, but go about it with all due deliberation and care, as holy priests to sacrifice, or as discreet thieves to the wary performance of burglary and shop-lifting. Let your well-discerning palate (the best judge about you) travel from cellar to cellar and then from piece to piece till it has lighted on wine fit for its noble choice and my approbation.

  John Wilmot

  Grateful, Heart, Wine

  Letter to the diplomat Henry Savile, 1674.

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• With his continual doctrine [Bishop Hooper] adjoined due and discreet correction, not so much severe to any as to them which for abundance of riches and wealthy state thought they might do what they listed. And doubtless he spared no kind of people, but was indifferent to all men, as well rich as poor, to the great shame of no small number of men nowadays. Whereas many we see so addicted to the pleasing of great and rich men, that in the meantime they have no regard to the meaner sort of poor people, whom Christ hath bought as dearly as the other.

  John Foxe

  Men, Small Numbers, People

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• Britney's a very beautiful human being. After I worked with her, I realized that there was a reason why she was the most popular pop artist over so many other pop artists at that time who were more talented, had better voices. And it was because of her heart, her soulShe had the most amazing energy and was always positive and a very discreet person. We were young, too, and got to make a movie about three friends on a road trip. It was so much fun!

  Zoe Saldana

  Beautiful, Fun, Heart

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• I like density, not volume. I like to leave something to the imagination. The reader must fit the pieces together, with the author's discreet help.

  Maureen Howard

  Writing, Imagination, Together

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• I occasionally meet people and they say, 'Oh, I was born to Discreet Music'... They always have very weird eyes, those people.

  Brian Eno

  Eye, People, Born

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• We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Sheep, Waiting

  Mark Twain, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (2009). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.338, Courier Corporation

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• When you're talking with a person at this level of the government, at the very highest level, I think you have to be very discreet because he, President Clinton, is very aware that anything he says publicly can have a profound impact on American politics and on world politics.

  Lee H. Hamilton

  Thinking, Impact, Government

  "The Commissioners". "PBS NewsHour" with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. April 8, 2004.

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• I’ll be real discreet,” Tank said. As discreet as a six-foot-six, no-neck guy weighing three hundred and fifty pounds, all dressed in black SWAT clothes, with a Glock holstered at his side could be.

  Janet Evanovich

  Real, Feet, Clothes

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• Ain't nothing too discreet about the disease of conceit.

  Bob Dylan

  Disease, Conceit, Egotism

  Song: Disease of Conceit, Album: Oh Mercy, 1989

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• The contrast between the familiar and the exceptional was everywhere around me. A bullock cart was drawn up beside a modern sports car at a traffic signal. A man squatted to relieve himself behind the discreet shelter of a satellite dish. An electric forklift truck was being used to unload goods from an ancient wooden cart with wooden wheels. The impression was of a plodding indefatigable and distant past that had crashed intact through barriers of time into its own future. I liked it.

  Gregory David Roberts

  Sports, Past, Men

  Gregory David Roberts (2004). “Shantaram: A Novel”, p.14, Macmillan

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• There is a justice, but we do not always see it. Discreet, smiling, it is there, at one side, a little behind injustice, which makes a big noise.

  Jules Renard

  Justice, Littles, Noise

  Jules Renard, Louise Bogan, Elizabeth Roget (2008). “The Journal of Jules Renard”, p.251, Tin House Books

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• Members of your family might say they are working hard all day long, while you are off at school or clarinet lessons, but the only way to know this for sure is to follow them at a discreet distance.

  Daniel Handler

  Distance, School, Long

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• Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs; being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears; what is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Eye, Love Is

  William Shakespeare (1847). “The Plays of William Shakespeare”, p.148

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• When suicide is out of fashion we conclude that none but madmen destroy themselves; and all the efforts of courage appear chimerical to dastardly minds ... Nevertheless, how many instances are there, well attested, of men, in every other respect perfectly discreet, who, without remorse, rage, or despair, have quitted life for no other reason than because it was a burden to them, and have died with more composure than they lived?

  David Hume

  Suicide, Fashion, Men

  David Hume (1799). “ESSAYS ON SUICIDE AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL”, p.60

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• In a discreet man's mouth, a public thing is private.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Men, Mouths

  Benjamin Franklin (2008). “The Way to Wealth and Poor Richard's Almanac”, Nayika Publishing

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• Nothing is text but what is spoken of in the Bible and meant there for person and place; the rest is application; which a discreet man may do well; but it is his scripture, not the Holy Ghost's. First, in your sermons use your logic, and then your rhetoric; rhetoric without logic is like a tree with leaves and blossoms, but no root.

  John Selden

  Men, Roots, Tree

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• if a man be discreet enough to take to hard drinking in his youth, before his general emptiness is ascertained, his friends invariably credit him with a host of shining qualities which, we are given to understand, lie balked and frustrated by his one unfortunate weakness.

  Agnes Repplier

  Lying, Drinking, Men

  Agnes Repplier (1891). “Points of View”, Boston Houghton, Mifflin 1893.

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