Distance Quotes - Page 9

• Do not Bodies act upon Light at a distance, and by their action bend its Rays; and is not this action (caeteris paribus) [all else being equal] strongest at the least distance?

  Isaac Newton

  Light, Rays, Body

  "Opticks". Book by Isaac Newton, Query 1, 1704.

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• There are a lot of things that you can like at a distance without spending a huge amount of time pondering. It's not so complicated.

  Elvis Costello

  Complicated, Spending, Pondering

  "Elvis Costello: The ESQ&A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 17, 2013.

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• Ideas' can be only in the distant background of a work of art, something like a very low horizon. In the middle distance and foreground... there shouldn't be any 'ideas' visible.

  Mu Xin

  Art, Ideas, Horizon

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• It was precisely this notion of infinite series which in the sixth century BC led the Greek philosopher Zeno to conclude that since an arrow shot towards a target first had to cover half the distance, and then half the remainder, and then half the remainder after that, and so on ad infinitum, the result was, as I will now demonstrate, that though an arrow is always approaching its target, it never quite gets there, and Saint Sebastian died of fright.

  Tom Stoppard

  Arrows, Greek, Saint

  Tom Stoppard (2013). “Jumpers”, p.16, Faber & Faber

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• The rising sun complies with our weak sight, First gilds the clouds, then shows his globe of light At such a distance from our eyes, as though He knew what harm his hasty beams would do.

  Edmund Waller

  Eye, Clouds, Light

  Edmund Waller, Sir John Denham (1857). “The poetical works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham”, p.146

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• London is a city that offers all kinds of temptations, and whenever I go for a walk I discover things that I would like to bring back as souvenirs. But my resources are very limited. I cannot buy anything, and I make a point of taking my walks a good distance from these riches.

  Soseki Natsume

  Cities, Temptation, London

  Soseki Natsume (2011). “Spring Miscellany: And London Essays”, p.114, Tuttle Publishing

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• Every mile marker can be met with some measure of trepidation, in a race or in life. Am I on target? Do I have what it takes to finish strong? Am I taking care to stay nourished so I can endure? Is my training proving to be sufficient? Am I prepared for the hills? It is impossible to fathom the full distance, so we make our way to the next mile marker, and the next, checking in with ourselves as we go.

  Kristin Armstrong

  Strong, Race, Training

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• Death augments distance and dulls the memory. Death reconciles.

  Leonid Andreyev

  Death, Memories, Reconcile

  Leonid Andreyev (1922). “He who Gets Slapped: A Play in Four Acts”

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• The straight line is regarded as the shortest distance between two people, as if they were points.

  Theodor Adorno

  Two, People, Lines

  "Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life". Book by Theodor W. Adorno, 1951.

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• To those who view the voyage of life from the port of departure the bark that has accomplished any considerable distance appears already in close approach to the farther shore.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Life, Views, Departure

  Ambrose Bierce (2015). “Can Such Things Be?”, p.3, Sheba Blake Publishing

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• It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned.

  Isaac Asimov

  Space, Focus, Humanity

  Isaac Asimov (2004). “Foundation and Empire”, p.111, Spectra

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• Bullialdus wrote that all force respecting ye Sun as its center & depending on matter must be reciprocally in a duplicate ratio of ye distance from ye center.

  Isaac Newton

  Ratios, Matter, Sun

  Sir Isaac Newton (1959). “Correspondence: 1676-1687”

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• Even as considering African-Americans, immigrants and other groups who may be marginalized in different ways, American Muslims are still one of the most marginalized groups. Overt prejudice is probably more acceptable toward American Muslims than any other single group in the U.S. There is still a lot of policies in place that are incredibly effective that don't show any signs of eroding. So, I don't want to overstate the optimism but I think things are headed gradually in the right direction. Just because of the distance between us and 9/11.

  Glenn Greenwald

  Thinking, Optimism, Different

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• He who manages the distance, manages the damage.

  Rener Gracie

  Damage, Manage

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• We kid ourselves that we're trying to be empathetic with the human condition from a distance, but I don't think that is it at all. It's stupid; it's a waste of time. But when the earth flexes its muscles, that's rather different. That's a powerful reminder of where we are.

  Simon Winchester

  Powerful, Stupid, Kids

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• It's hard to measure success when we're dealing with between 500 and 5,000 years of patriarchy depending on which continent we sit, so I would say feminism has been successful and we have a huge distance to go, huge.

  Gloria Steinem

  Successful, Years, Feminism

  Interview with Max Miller, bigthink.com. October 28, 2010.

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• Aerial perspective has nothing to do with line, but concerns tones and colours, by the delicate manipulation of which an artist can suggest infinite distance.

  Walter J. Phillips

  Artist, Perspective, Lines

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• The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before ... What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.

  Jan L. Richardson

  Running, Mean, Past

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• Some set more by such things as come from a distance, but I rec'lect mother always used to maintain that folks was meant to be doctored with the stuff that grew right about 'em.

  Sarah Orne Jewett

  Mother, Ems, Stuff

  Sarah Orne Jewett (2012). “A White Heron and Other Stories”, p.50, Courier Corporation

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• Look at that mallard as he floats on the lake; see his elevated head glittering with emerald green, his amber eyes glancing in the light! Even at this distance, he has marked you, and suspects that you bear no goodwill towards him, for he sees that you have a gun, and he has many a time been frightened by its report, or that of some other. The wary bird draws his feet under his body, springs upon then, opens his wings, and with loud quacks bids you farewell.

  John James Audubon

  Spring, Farewell, Eye

  John James Audubon (1835). “Ornithological Biography: Or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; Accompanied by Descriptions of the Objects Represented in the Work Entitled The Birds of America, and Interspersed with Delineations of American Scenery and Manners. 5 Vol. Il. Q.”, p.165

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• Were the life of man prolonged, he would become such a proficient in villainy, that it would become necessary again to drown or to burn the world. Earth would become an hell; for future rewards when put off to a great distance, would cease to encourage, and future punishments to alarm.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Men, World, Earth

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.201

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• If all stories are fiction, fiction can be true -- not in detail or fact, but in some transformed version of feeling. If there is a memory of paradise, paradise can exist, in some other place or country dimensionally reminiscent of our own. The sad stories live there too, but in that country, we know what they mean and why they happened. We make our way back from them, finding the way through a bountiful wilderness we begin to understand. Years are nothing: Story conquers all distance.

  Jayne Anne Phillips

  Country, Memories, Mean

  FaceBook post by Jayne Anne Phillips from Feb 25, 2012

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• Memories seem to surface in no particular order, with no time attached. Yesterday can seem as distant as last year. My life now consists of fragments where some are so blinding in their intensity that they make everything else indistinguishable. It feels as if my existence was extinguished in a flash, and afterwards my universe became incomprehensible. I want to remember everything. But perhaps I need to give it more time. Allow myself some rest. Distance myself a little, to see if I can make out a pattern. And face the truth about what is really there.

  Linda Olsson

  Memories, Remembers Everything, Order

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• Shoot, after you've been through freeway traffic in Houston or Dallas, there's no road in the world that can scare you. Besides, we're pretty much used to driving long distances in Texas.

  Gib Lewis

  Texas, Long, Scare

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• To contemplate a thing implies maintaining oneself OUTSIDE it, resolved to keep a distance between it and ourselves.

  Bruce Lee

  Maintaining, Contemplating, Oneself

  Bruce Lee (2015). “Bruce Lee: Artist of Life”, p.37, Tuttle Publishing

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