Extremes Quotes - Page 14

• The existing principle of selfish interest and competition has been carried to its extreme point; and, in its progress, has isolated the heart of man, blunted the edge of his finest sensibilities, and annihilated all his most generous impulses and sympathies.

  Frances Wright

  Selfish, Stupid, Heart

  Frances Wright (1850). “Fanny Wright Unmasked by Her Own Pen: Explanatory Notes, Respecting the Nature and Objects of the Institution of Nashoba, and of the Principles Upon Which It Is Founded”, p.5

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• Bad Religion has never been about criticizing people who are Christian. But we've always been about pointing out the irony and contradictions in Christian theology and the more extreme versions of Christians that seek to challenge modern secularism.

  Greg Graffin

  Christian, People, Challenges

  "Bad Religion Cut an Unlikely Christmas EP". Interview with Emily Zemler, www.rollingstone.com. November 28, 2013.

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• Many of the greatest composers and musicians do their best work in extreme confinement but we are seeing it in other fields - uses of technology to link people together in networks to solve problems and almost certainly we'll get better ideas than we would from them just doing it on their own.

  Geoff Mulgan

  Technology, Ideas, People

  "Is crowd-sourcing the answer to restoring trust in government?". Interview with Eleanor Hall, www.abc.net.au. November 29, 2012.

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• America is the greatest engine of innovation that has ever existed, and it can't be duplicated anytime soon, because it is the product of a multitude of factors: extreme freedom of thought, an emphasis on independent thinking, a steady immigration of new minds, a risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing, a noncorrupt bureaucracy, and financial markets and a venture capital system that are unrivaled at taking new ideas and turning them into global products.

  Thomas Friedman

  Independent, Thinking, Ideas

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• This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.

  Ben Elton

  Psychology, Special, Violence

  "The Young Ones". TV series, 1982 - 1984.

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• Scientists, therefore, are responsible for their research, not only intellectually but also morally. This responsibility has become an important issue in many of today's sciences, but especially so in physics, in which the results of quantum mechanics and relativity theory have opened up two very different paths for physicists to pursue. They may lead us - to put it in extreme terms - to the Buddha or to the Bomb, and it is up to each of us to decide which path to take.

  Fritjof Capra

  Responsibility, Science, Issues

  "The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture". Book by Fritjof Capra, 1983.

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• I wonder if any of them can tell from just looking at me that all I am is the sum total of my pain, a raw woundedness so extreme that it might be terminal. It might be terminal velocity, the speed of the sound of a girl falling down to a place from where she can't be retrieved. What if I am stuck down here for good?

  Elizabeth Wurtzel

  Love, Girl, Pain

  Elizabeth Wurtzel (2014). “Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America”, p.214, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Resilience is based on the ability to embrace the extremes -- while no becoming an extremist. ... **Most companies don't do paradox very well.** (emphasis by author) [2002] p.25f

  Gary Hamel

  Resilience, Becoming, Paradox

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• As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.

  Isaac Bashevis Singer

  Animal, Men, Principles

  "Enemies, A Love Story" by Isaac Bashevis Singer, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (p. 257), 1972.

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• All extremes of feeling are allied to madness.

  Virginia Woolf

  Feelings, Madness

  "Orlando: A Biography".

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• Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigues, I have had my vision.

  Virginia Woolf

  Vision, Laying Down, Lighthouse

  Virginia Woolf (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Virginia Woolf (Illustrated)”, p.1130, Delphi Classics

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• The pleasure of living and the pleasure of the orgasm are identical. Extreme orgasm anxiety forms the basis of the general fear of life.

  Wilhelm Reich

  Anxiety, Pleasure, Form

  Wilhelm Reich (1973). “The Discovery of the Orgone”

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• I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our knowledge we cannot do either.

  Jonathan Swift

  Taught Us, Opinion, Remember

  Jonathan Swift (2005). “Gulliver's Travels - Literary Touchstone Edition”, p.233, Prestwick House Inc

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• Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Political, Disputes, Always Wrong

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• With the superciliousness of extreme youth, I put thirty-five as the utmost limit at which a man might fall in love without making a fool of himself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Falling In Love, Men, Might

  W. Somerset Maugham (2012). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.18, Courier Corporation

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• Between shame and shamelessness lies the axis upon which we turn; meteorological conditions at both these poles are of the most extreme, ferocious type. Shamelessness, shame: the roots of violence.

  Salman Rushdie

  Lying, Axes, Roots

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• I once heard someone say that the concept of moderation seems a little extreme, and tonight...I agree.

  Koren Zailckas

  Alcohol, Tonight, Littles

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• Out of a human population on earth of four and a half billion, perhaps twenty people can write a book in a year. Some people lift cars, too. Some people enter week-long sled-dog races, go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, fly planes through the Arc de Triomphe. Some people feel no pain in childbirth. Some people eat cars. There is no call to take human extremes as norms.

  Annie Dillard

  Dog, Pain, Book

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• Passion lends them power, time means to meet, tempering extremities with extremes sweet.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Passion, Mean

  William Shakespeare, Jonnie Patricia Mobley (2003). “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: A Facing-pages Translation Into Contemporary English”, p.58, Lorenz Educational Publishers

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• Why worry about minor little details like clean air, clean water, safe ports and the safety net when Jesus is going to give the world an "Extreme Makeover: Planet Edition" right after he finishes putting Satan in his place once and for all?

  Arianna Huffington

  Jesus, Air, Safety

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• Cruel blows of fate call for extreme kindness in the family circle.

  Dodie Smith

  Kindness, Fate, Blow

  Dodie Smith (2017). “I Capture the Castle: Young Adult Edition”, p.85, St. Martin's Griffin

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• The great Sufi poet and philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for unhappiness. Better to live a life of single-pointed focus, he taught. But what about the benefits of living harmoniously among extremes? What if you could somehow create an expansive enough life that you could synchronize seemingly incongruous opposites into a worldview that excludes nothing?

  Elizabeth Gilbert

  Writing, Opposites, Focus

  Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.30, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• the intensity, glory, and absolute assuredness if my mind's flight made it very difficult for me to believe once i was better, that the illness was one i should willingly give up....moods are such an essential part of the substance of life, of one's notion of oneself, that even psychotic extremes in mood and behavior somehow can be seen as temporary, even understandable reactions to what life has dealt....even though the depressions that inevitably followed nearly cost me my life.

  Kay Redfield Jamison

  Depression, Giving Up, Believe

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• I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.

  Charles Bukowski

  Mad, Rich Poor, Poverty

  Charles Bukowski (2001). “Ham On Rye”, p.307, Canongate Books

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• I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.

  Paul Krugman

  Believe, Law, Political

  "The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming America From The Right". Book by Paul Krugman, October 1, 2007.

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