Distraction Quotes - Page 20

• Even the rich aren't often happy. Their wealth is at best only a temporary distraction. It doesn't make them immune to emotional and mental suffering, or to disease and death. They too must deal with loneliness, the deaths of loved ones and the frustrations and boredom of old age.

  Frederick Lenz

  Inspirational, Loneliness, Buddhism

  Frederick Lenz (1994). “Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap”, Interglobal Seminars

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• We go to the movies to forget about time, to be in a dream state. And it's entertainment, distraction, from the fact that everything is kind of crumbling in front of our eyes.

  Christian Marclay

  Dream, Eye, Entertainment

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• Far too many people, especially within evangelicalism, think that the individual is all that matters, and that the corporate dimension is a distraction or diversion. Of course Christianity is deeply personal for every single Christian; nobody gets lost in the kingdom of God. But you can't play that off against the corporate dimension.

  N. T. Wright

  Christian, Thinking, Play

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• I procrastinate in spades. In my defence, I also try to have all other distractions solved before I can concentrate on writing. My small theory is that to write for three hours, you need to feel like you have three days. To write for three days, you need to feel like you've got three weeks, and so on.

  Markus Zusak

  Writing, Trying, Three

  Interview with Sarah Kinson, www.theguardian.com. March 28, 2008.

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• This is not a problem. I'm making everybody very calm, distracted by my bad results and then I'm going to shoot. One good result and I'm coming back. This is a distraction, it's the calm before the storm.

  Ernests Gulbis

  Storm, Calm, Problem

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• When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.

  Blaise Pascal

  Pain, Men, Facts

  Blaise Pascal (2007). “Thoughts”, p.52, Cosimo, Inc.

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• I write four books a year. I'm very fortunate that I write quickly; around 3,500 words a day. Being strict about delineating my writing time and personal life, as well as keeping distractions at bay, is the only way I can accomplish this.

  Alexander McCall Smith

  Book, Writing, Years

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• Are there so many fascinating, exciting things to do or so many challenges pressing down upon you that it is hard to keep focused on that which is essential? When things of the world crowd in, all too often the wrong things take highest priority. Then it is easy to forget the fundamental purpose of life. Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people. It is distraction. He would have good people fill life with 'good things' so there is no room for the essential ones. Have you unconsciously been caught in that trap?

  Richard G. Scott

  Powerful, People, Priorities

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• In our age of increasing distractions it's more important than ever to find ways to maintain perspective and remember that life is brief and tender.

  Candy Chang

  Perspective, Important, Age

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• Watching movies is my one distraction.

  Marilyn Manson

  "Freak or unique?". Interview with Emma Brockes, www.theguardian.com. December 1, 2003.

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• In our land of opportunities and distractions, it's hard to devote our attention to the quiet pleasures of reading. It's as if we live our lives in a noisy restaurant and can't have the intimate conversation we most yearn for.

  Steve Leveen

  Reading, Opportunity, Land

  Steve Leveen (2005). “The Little Guide to Your Well-read Life”

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• Teenagers talk about the idea of having each other's 'full attention.' They grew up in a culture of distraction. They remember their parents were on cell phones when they were pushed on swings as toddlers. Now, their parents text at the dinner table and don't look up from their BlackBerry when they come for end-of-school day pickup.

  Sherry Turkle

  Teenager, School, Phones

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• I suspect that money is a far greater distraction for the artist than hunger.

  J. D. Salinger

  Artist, Hunger, Suspects

  "Whose Words Are They, Anyway?" by David Margolic, www.nytimes.com. November 01, 1987.

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• I was struck by the fact that I hadn't been awed in a while. Did that mean awesome things had disappeared from my life? No. What it did mean was that I'd gotten too caught up in distractions and mind mucking to recognize anything as awe-inspiring. . . . I hadn't been paying attention to the beauty around me.

  Sue Thoele

  Mean, Mind, Attention

  Sue Patton Thoele (2008). “The Mindful Woman: Gentle Practices for Restoring Calm, Finding Balance, and Opening Your Heart”, p.98, New Harbinger Publications

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• Under our present enormous accumulation of books, I do affirm that a most miserable distraction of choice must be very generally incident to the times; that the symptoms of it are in fact very prevalent, and that one of the chief symptoms is an enormous 'gluttonism' for books.

  Thomas de Quincey

  Book, Choices, Facts

  Thomas De Quincey (1856). “Letters to a Young Man: And Other Papers”, p.40

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• If you can become a mirror you have become a meditator. Meditation is nothing but skill in mirroring. And now, no word moves inside you so there is no distraction.

  Rajneesh

  Inspirational, Moving, Mirrors

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• Let us endeavor to commence every enterprise with a pure view to the glory of God, continue it without distraction, and finish it without impatience.

  Francois Fenelon

  Views, Glory, Impatience

  Francois Fenelon (2014). “Spiritual Progress”, p.125, Lulu.com

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• I was a captive and a slave. I loved Dora Spenlow to distraction! She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I dont know what she was--anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted.

  David Copperfield

  Saws, Fairy, Slave

  David Copperfield “The Works of Charles Dickens”

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• Playing live is a lost art, and you don't see a lot of bands that go out and play the way the older bands do. It's a celebration, and a lot of people treat it like a commercial or a distraction.

  Corey Taylor

  Art, Play, People

  "Government and Go-Go : Conversations with Stone Sour and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, and Chuck Brown". Interview with Mike Ragogna, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 17, 2010.

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• The cross is almost a distraction and false advertisement for God.

  Brian D. McLaren

  Crosses, Advertisements

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• Art is a high calling - fears are coincidental. Coincidental, sneaky and disruptive, we might add, disguising themselves variously as laziness, resistance to deadlines, irritation with materials or surroundings, distraction over the achievements of others - indeed as anything that keeps you from giving your work your best shot. What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don't, quit.

  David Bayles

  Art, Irritation, Giving

  David Bayles, Ted Orland (2001). “Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking”, p.14, Image Continuum Press

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• I write early in the morning at the computer, and people think Im crazy, but I still use my Mac-Classic even though we have a state-of-the-art PC. There are just less distractions with the simpler machine.

  Wendelin Van Draanen

  Art, Morning, Crazy

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• Any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.

  Terence Winter

  Way, Gangsters

  Interview with June Thomas, www.slate.com. September 14, 2012.

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• When technology is used as a gimmick it can be a terrible distraction. The trick is to harness technology in a way that empowers the audience, informs them and brings them closer to the action. CNN has always been an innovator on election night, with the Magic Wall leading the way. Tonight, for the first time, and we're going to put the Magic Wall in the hands of our audience. Along with our partners at Microsoft, we have built a tool to let our users drill down into the key races and access a great deal of data, real time, as the results are unfolding.

  Andrew Morse

  Wall, Real, Technology

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• I'll sit down for an hour or two a few days a week in a quiet place and brainstorm. The earlier in the day, the better, before the parade of distractions starts.

  Ted Alexandro

  Two, Quiet, Week

  "Laughing at something is a form of accepting it, or at least making peace with it". Interview with Chris Cobb, logger.believermag.com. September 19, 2014.

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