Disposition Quotes - Page 23

• I know that even the meanest person has still at his disposition high-sounding words wherewith to mask his real character.

  Henryk Sienkiewicz

  Real, Character, Mask

  Henryk Sienkiewicz (1897). “Without Dogma: A Novel of Modern Poland”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The theory of politics that emerges from the political literature of the pre-Revolutionary years rests on the belief that what lay behind every political scene, the ultimate explanation of every political controversy, was the disposition of power.

  Bernard Bailyn

  Years, Political, Literature

  Bernard Bailyn (2012). “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution”, p.55, Harvard University Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is the nature of the human disposition to hate him whom you have injured.

  Tacitus

  Hate, Humans, Injured

  7 Copy quote

• Alluring pleasure is said to have softened the savage dispositions (of early mankind).
  [Lat., Blanda truces animos fertur mollisse voluptas.]

  Ovid

  Savages, Pleasure, Said

  8 Copy quote

• The good or evil we confer on others very often, I believe, recoils on ourselves; for as men of a benign disposition enjoy their own acts of beneficence equally with those to whom they are done, so there are scarce any natures so entirely diabolical as to be capable of doing injuries without paying themselves some pangs for the ruin which they bring on their fellow-creatures.

  Henry Fielding

  Believe, Men, Evil

  Henry Fielding (1975). “The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling”, p.765, Wesleyan University Press

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• As the malicious disposition of mankind is too well known, and the cruel pleasure which they take in destroying the reputation of others, the use we are to make of this knowledge is, to afford no handle for reproach; for bad as the world is, it seldom falls on anyone who hath not given some slight cause for censure.

  Henry Fielding

  Fall, Use, World

  Henry Fielding (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry Fielding (Illustrated)”, p.1527, Delphi Classics

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• When one is a child, the disposition of objects, tables and chairs and doors, seems part of the natural order: a house-move lets in chaos - as it does for a dog.

  Elizabeth Bowen

  Dog, Children, Moving

  Elizabeth Bowen (1998). “Bowen's Court”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Verily, the best of husbands hath many raw edges, and many unnecessary pleats in his temper, and many wrinkles in his disposition, which must be removed.

  Helen Rowland

  Husband, Wrinkles, Unnecessary

  Helen Rowland (2017). “The Sayings of Mrs. Solomon”, p.8, Litres

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Why did Americans smile so often? Was it out of politeness or because of a gay disposition? Whatever it was, I for one had never been spoiled with smiles. I found it very pleasant! ... I was beginning to understand that with Americans smiling was, as with healthy infants, a natural need. And my reaction was to respond in the same way.

  Svetlana Alliluyeva

  Gay, Healthy, United States

  SVETLANA ALLILUYEVA (1969). “ONLY ONE YEAR”

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never old, or middle-aged, or young; but, in a condition of unchangeable constancy, moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progression.

  Edmund Burke

  Moving, Fall, Race

  Edmund Burke (1999). “The Portable Edmund Burke”, p.405, Penguin

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Man is neither by birth nor disposition a savage, nor of unsocial habits, but only becomes so by indulging in vices contrary to his nature.

  Plutarch

  Men, Vices, Savages

  6 Copy quote

• The morning is the best time, there are no people around. My pleasant disposition likes the world with nobody in it.

  Georgia O'Keeffe

  Morning, People, Solitude

  13 Copy quote

• The disposition to give a cup of cold water to a disciple is a far nobler property than the finest intellect. Satan has a fine intellect, but not the image of God.

  William Dean Howells

  Giving, Water, Cups

  10 Copy quote

• Serve a noble disposition, though poore, the time comes that hee will repay thee.

  George Herbert

  Noble, Thee

  George Herbert (1874). “The Complete Works of George Herbert: Prose”, p.333

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The vain, inconstant, rebellious disposition of the people [of Armorica], was incompatible either with freedom or servitude.

  Edward Gibbon

  People, Rebellious, Vain

  4 Copy quote

• A person has two passions for love and abhorrence. A big disposition to excessiveness has just a love, because it is more ardent and stronger.

  Rene Descartes

  Passion, Love Is, Two

  7 Copy quote

• I think there's something to be said for developing the disposition to own stocks without fretting.

  Charlie Munger

  Thinking, Said, Fretting

  Charlie Munger's investment advice at the 2003 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, www.tilsonfunds.com. May 3, 2003.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you've got on the one hand death, dogmatism, domination, and on the other you've got desire in the face of death, dialogue in the face of dogmatism, democracy in the face of domination, then philosophy itself becomes a critical disposition of wrestling with desire in the face of death, wrestling with dialogue in the face of dogmatism, and wrestling with democracy, trying to keep alive a very fragile democratic experiment.

  Cornel West

  Philosophy, Wrestling, Hands

  Source: genius.com

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• The basic skill of an actor is, in fact, empathy, and that's maybe not a skill, it's a disposition. I am an assistant storyteller. I enjoy feeling useful to a team effort. It's my way of finding a use for myself, a utility in this world.

  Harrison Ford

  Team, Skills, Effort

  "Star Wars Archive: Harrison Ford, Solo Artist". Interview with William Thomas, www.empireonline.com. June, 2002.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• How strange or odd some'er I bear myself,
  As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
  To put an antic disposition on.

  William Shakespeare

  Thinking, Acting, Actors

  William Shakespeare (2011). “Hamlet”, p.67, Simon and Schuster

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are five billion human beings and in a certain way I think we need five billion different religions, because there is such a large variety of dispositions. I believe that each individual should embark upon a spiritual path that is best suited to his or her mental disposition, natural inclination, temperament, belief, family and cultural background.

  Dalai Lama

  Spiritual, Believe, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• Life is not so much a matter of position as of disposition.

  Andrew Carnegie

  Matter, Life Is, Position

  19 Copy quote

• There are petty-minded people who cannot endure to be reminded of their ignorance because, since they are usually quite blind to all things, quite foolish, and quite ignorant, they never question anything, and are persuaded that they see clearly what in fact they never see at all, save through the darkness of their own dispositions.

  Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable

  Ignorance, People, Darkness

  4 Copy quote

• Being a Catholic, I was drawn to the mystery of the Latin and the smoke and the mirrors and all of that. That part of my disposition definitely did lend itself to finding my way to the back door of some artistic pursuit.

  Susan Sarandon

  Latin, Mirrors, Doors

  Interview with George Saunders, www.interviewmagazine.com. March 27, 2016.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Schools are, indeed, one important method of the transmission which forms the dispositions of the immature; but it is only one means, and, compared with other agencies, a relatively superficial means. Only as we have grasped the necessity of more fundamental and persistent modes of tuition can we make sure of placing the scholastic methods in their true context.

  John Dewey

  School, Mean, Agency

  John Dewey (2004). “Democracy and Education”, p.4, Courier Corporation

  13 Copy quote

  Show source