Extremes Quotes - Page 22

• Introversion, at least if extreme, is a sign of mental and spiritual immaturity.

  Pearl S. Buck

  Spiritual, Immaturity, Introversion

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• The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions, just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.

  Erwin Rommel

  Ideas, Done, Impossible

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• There seems to be one quality of mind which seems to be of special and extreme advantage in leading him to make discoveries. It was the power of never letting exceptions go unnoticed.

  Francis Darwin

  Letting Go, Discovery, Mind

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• The surest defense against Evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even - if you will - eccentricity. That is, something that can't be feigned, faked, imitated; something even a seasoned imposter couldn't be happy with.

  Joseph Brodsky

  Happiness, Thinking, Evil

  Joseph Brodsky's commencement address at Williams College (1984), as quoted in Robert Inchausti "Thinking through Thomas Merton: Contemplation for Contemporary Times" (p. 110), 2014.

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• By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or memorable phrase of the mind itself. He believed it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care (saving them for later use, that is), seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments.

  James Joyce

  Spiritual, Memorable, Men

  "Stephen Hero". Book by James Joyce, 1944.

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• The brute animals have all the same sensations of pain as human beings, and consequently endure as much pain when their body is hurt; but in their case the cruelty of torment is greater, because they have no mind to bear them up against their sufferings, and no hope to look forward to when enduring the last extreme pain.

  Thomas Chalmers

  Hurt, Pain, Animal

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• It is because peaceful agitation and passive resistance are effective that I uphold them, and it is because force strengthens tyranny that I condemn it. War and Authority are companions; Peace and Liberty are companions. It is foolish in the extreme not only to resort to force before necessity compels, but especially to madly create the conditions that will lead to this necessity.

  Benjamin Tucker

  War, Passive Resistance, Peaceful

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• If you have newspapers dating to the last millennium, magazines from the Seventies stacked on your nightstand, and countless envelopes filled with family photos stuffed in a drawer, you may be carrying procrastination to an extreme.

  Marilyn Sokol

  Procrastination, Dating, Magazines

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• The wise man does not permit himself to set up even in his own mind any comparisons of his friends. His friendship is capable of going to extremes with many people, evoked as it is by many qualities.

  Charles Dudley Warner

  Friendship, Wise, Men

  Charles Dudley Warner (1872). “Back-log studies and My summer in a garden”, p.123

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• Evil people hate the light because it reveals themselves to themselves. ... They will destroy the light, the goodness, the love in order to avoid the pain of self-awareness. ... [E]vil is laziness carried to its ultimate, extraordinary extreme.

  M. Scott Peck

  Truth, Pain, Hate

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• The essence of Africa's crises is fundamentally it's extreme poverty.

  Jeffrey Sachs

  Philosophy, Essence, Political

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• It is foolish in the extreme not only to resort to force before necessity compels, but especially to madly create the conditions that will lead to this necessity.

  Benjamin Tucker

  War, Church, Corruption

  Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (1970). “Liberty”

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• Low-income people everywhere will be at risk of food insecurity due to loss of assets, absence of alternative livelihood options and lack of adequate insurance coverage from extreme weather events.

  Jacques Diouf

  Loss, Weather, People

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• While we would not want to attribute every extreme weather event to climate change - the pattern is building and the costs are rising - the human costs and the financial costs

  Edward Davey

  Weather, Rising, Patterns

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• The act of voting by ordinary Iraqis in the face of extreme danger confirms President Bush's belief that people around the globe, when given a chance, will choose liberty and democracy over enslavement and tyranny.

  John Ensign

  People, Voting, President

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• Extreme nationalism objectifies and dehumanizes those from other countries.

  Bryant H. McGill

  Country, Other Countries, Nationalism

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• But on the other hand, if you come under circumstances where each person is entitled to a pro-rata share of the pot, to take an extreme example, or even to a low level of the pie, than the effect of that situation is that free immigration, would mean a reduction of everybody to the same, uniform level. Of course, I'm exaggerating, it wouldn't go quite that far, but it would go in that direction. And it is that perception, that leads people to adopt what at first seems like inconsistent values.

  Milton Friedman

  Mean, Hands, Pie

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• I must admit that any favorable mention of the flying saucers by a scientist amounts to extreme heresy and places the one making the statement in danger of excommunication by the scientific theocracy. Nevertheless, in recent years I have investigated the story of the unidentified flying object (UFO), and I am no longer able to dismiss the idea lightly.

  Frank B. Salisbury

  Years, Ideas, Flying

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• Extreme weather like the droughts in Russia, China and Brazil and the flooding in Pakistan and Australia [in 2010] have contributed to a level of food price volatility we haven't seen since the oil crisisof 40 years ago. Unfortunately, this could be just a taste of things to come because in the next few decades the build-up of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere could greatly increase the risk of droughts, flooding, pest infestation and water scarcity for agriculture systems already under tremendous stress.

  John Beddington

  Stress, Weather, Oil

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• The Lord is in control. He knows the end from the beginning. He has given us adequate instruction that, if followed, will see us safely through any crisis. His purposes will be fulfilled, and someday we will understand the eternal reasons for all of these events. Therefore, today we must be careful to not overreact, nor should we be caught up in extreme preparations, but what we must do is keep the commandments of God and never loose hope!

  M. Russell Ballard

  Understanding, Preparation, Events

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• Men get tired of everything, of heaven no less than of hell; and that all history is nothing but a record of the oscillations of the world between these two extremes. An epoch is but a swing of the pendulum; and each generation thinks the world is progressing because it is always moving.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Moving, Tired, Men

  George Bernard Shaw (2012). “Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy”, p.201, The Floating Press

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• Hinduism threw away Buddhism after taking its sap. The attempt of all the Southern Acharyas was to effect a reconciliation between the two. Shankaracharya's teaching shows the influence of Buddhism. His disciples perverted his teaching and carried it to such an extreme point that some of the later reformers were right in calling the Acharya's followers "crypto-buddhists".

  Swami Vivekananda

  Buddhist, Teaching, Buddhism

  Swami Vivekananda (1951). “Complete Works”

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• No sustainable development, environmental harmony or lasting security will happen if we are unable to eradicate hunger and extreme inequality

  Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

  Environmental, Development, Hunger

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• Humans remain entirely atmosphere dependent, so there is no choice but to respond to extreme climatic behaviour and its many effects.

  Peter Garrett

  Choices, Atmosphere, Behaviour

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• The real question is whether we can learn anything from our experiences upon which we may grow and help others to grow in the likeness and image of God. We know that if we rebel against doing that which is reasonably possible for us, then we will be penalized. And we will be equally penalized if we presume in ourselves a perfection that simply is not there. Apparently, the course of relative humility and progress will have to lie somewhere between these extremes. In our slow progress away from rebellion, true perfection is doubtless several millennia away

  Bill W.

  Wisdom, Real, Lying

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