Explanation Quotes - Page 7

• For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations.

  Carl Sagan

  Religious, Time, Long

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Cosmos”, p.194, Ballantine Books

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• God is in my head, but the devil is in my pants.

  Jonathan Winters

  Inspirational, Devil, Pants

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• The pre-history of our species is hag-ridden with episodes of nightmarish ignorance and calamity, for which religion used to identify, not just the wrong explanation, but the wrong culprit. Human sacrifices were made preeminently in times of epidemics, useless prayers were uttered, bogus miracles attested to, and scapegoats - such as Jews or heretics or witches - hunted down and burned.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Prayer, Ignorance, Sacrifice

  Christopher Hitchens (2007). “The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever”, p.9, Da Capo Press

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• He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.

  Jean-Luc Godard

  Inspirational, Watches, Void

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• Any attempt at understanding humanity must include an explanation of the hold that supernatural belief continues to have on most of the human race.

  Victor J. Stenger

  Race, Understanding, Humanity

  Victor J. Stenger (1990). “Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses”

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• Never retract, never explain, never apologize; get things done and let them howl.

  Nellie L. McClung

  Motivational, Apology, Criticism

  Nellie L. McClung (1915). “In Times Like These”, p.7, University of Toronto Press

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• They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God gets hardly a mention.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Lonely, Religious, Science

  Neil deGrasse Tyson (2007). “Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries”, p.353, W. W. Norton & Company

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• In evolution, as in all areas of science, our knowledge is incomplete. But the entire success of the scientific enterprise has depended on an insistence that these gaps be filled by natural explanations, logically derived from confirmable evidence. Because "intelligent design" theories are based on supernatural explanations, they can have nothing to do with science.

  Bruce Alberts

  Intelligent, Design, Gaps

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• Since the most important element of any concept is that its originating question be appropriately framed, any theory demanding an explanation for homosexuality is a problematic one because it maintains our existence as a category of deviance. I mean, no one is running around trying to figure out why some people like sports, for example.

  Sarah Schulman

  Sports, Running, Mean

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• Some explanations of a crime are not explanations: they're part of the crime.

  Olavo de Carvalho

  War, Corruption, Crime

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• Never complain. Never explain.

  Katharine Hepburn

  Positivity, Complaining, Complaints

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• Pain is strong, aye - but friends' eyes, more strong." I told him that he knows next to nothing about me & I know nothing about him. He jabbed at his eyes & jabbed at mine, as if that single gesture were ample explanation.

  David Mitchell

  Strong, Pain, Eye

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• One of the servants had reported that Daisy had been sneaking around the house at night, deliberately tripping all the traps to keep the mice from being killed. “Is this true, daughter?” Thomas Bowman had rumbled, his gaze filled with ire as he stared at Daisy. “It could be,” she had allowed. “But there is another explanation.” “And what is that?” Bowman had asked sourly. Her tone turned congratulatory. “I think we are hosting the most intelligent mice in New York!

  Lisa Kleypas

  Daughter, New York, Intelligent

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• Every woman wants to be first to someone sometime in her life and that desire is the explanation for many strange things women do.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Desire, Want, Firsts

  Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor Roosevelt (1984). “A World of Love: Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Friends, 1943-1962”, Doubleday Books

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• I wondered if kicking him in the head would make the whole explanation pop out of his mouth in one chunk.

  Ilona Andrews

  Kicking, Mouths, Pops

  Ilona Andrews (2011). “Magic Slays”, p.92, Penguin

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• The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.

  John Berger

  Sight, Evening, Earth

  "Ways of Seeing". Book by John Berger, 1972.

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• That is the explanation of war, an outrage by humanity upon humanity in despite of humanity.

  Victor Hugo

  War, Humanity, Outrage

  Victor Hugo (1980). “Les misérables”, Viking Pr

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• We'll choose knowledge no matter what, we'll maim ourselves in the process, we'll stick our hands into the flames for it if necessary. Curiosity is not our only motive; love or grief or despair or hatred is what drives us on. We'll spy relentlessly on the dead; we'll open their letters, we'll read their journals, we'll go through their trash, hoping for a hint, a final word, an explanation, from those who have deserted us--who've left us holding the bag, which is often a good deal emptier than we'd supposed.

  Margaret Atwood

  Grief, Flames, Hands

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• I don't need any explanation about what you do with your life. You and I...we grew up together,and that's it. Yeah, we shared a lot of stuff back then, and we were there for each other when it mattered. But neither one of us can fit into the clothes we used to wear , and this relationship between us is just the same. It doesn't fit in our lives any longer. We don't...fit anymore. And listen., I didn't mean to get pissy in the truck, but I think you need to be clear on this. You and I? We have a past. That's it. That's ...all we'll ever have" (Blay to Qhuinn).

  J.R. Ward

  Mean, Past, Thinking

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• Poor people never, or hardly ever, ask for an explanation of all they have to put up with. They hate one another, and content themselves with that.

  Louis-Ferdinand Celine

  Hate, People, Poor

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• A garter. You’re supposed to take it off and keep it as a memento. K-k-kinda like a trophy for going far sexually with a girl. It’s stupid, really. And kind of d-d-degrading if I think about it too m-m-much.” “I know what it is,” he says, amusement evident in his voice. “I just wanted to hear your explanation.

  Simone Elkeles

  Girl, Stupid, Thinking

  Simone Elkeles (2011). “Rules of Attraction”, p.103, Simon and Schuster

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• I had no words to give him. No explanation. I didn’t understand it, myself. It scared me, but then so do roller coasters, and I ride them anyway, too.

  Megan Hart

  Giving, Scared, Roller Coaster

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• Some who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be those accustomed to being controlled— those who are not trusted, given explanations, encouraged to think for themselves, helped to develop and internalize good values, and so on. Control breeds the need for more control, which is used to justify the use of control.

  Alfie Kohn

  Running, Children, Thinking

  Alfie Kohn (1999). “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes”, p.49, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• The present moment, though, is outside of time, it’s Eternity. In India they use the word “karma” for lack of any better term. But it’s a concept that’s rarely given a proper explanation. It isn’t what you did in the past that will affect the present. It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.

  Paulo Coelho

  Karma, Past, India

  "Aleph". Book by Paulo Coelho, 2011.

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• It is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization. There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.

  Stephen Hawking

  Motivational, Atheist, Believe

  YouTube Chanel "stepore"/ "Stephen Hawking There is no God. There is no Fate.", www.youtube.com. August 15, 2011.

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