Incidents Quotes

There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former.

Joseph Addison

Life, Future, Men

Joseph Addison (1793). “A Collection of Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments”, p.336

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There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former. The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace. Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.

Joseph Addison

Men, Evil, Secret

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What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?

Henry James

Inspirational, Determination, Character

"The Art of Fiction" (1884)

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My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident.

Hans Christian Andersen

Lovely, Stories, Life Is

Hans Christian Andersen (2013). “The True Story of My Life”, Lulu Press, Inc

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If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write.

W. Somerset Maugham

Writing, Character, Passion

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Everything that I had done creatively related to two or three incidents that happened to me when I was a child that I'd forgotten. Everything, absolutely everything.

Pete Townshend

Children, Two, Three

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The great secret of a successful marriage is to treat all disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters.

Harold Nicolson

Relationship, Marriage, Successful

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Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

W. H. Murray

Inspirational, Moving, Commitment

"The Scottish Himalaya Expedition". Book by W. H. Murray, 1951.

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As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Animal, Links, Able

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, David Stuart Davies (1998). “The Best of Sherlock Holmes”, p.53, Wordsworth Editions

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An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.

Walter Bagehot

Exaggeration Is, Interesting, Vices

Richard Holt Hutton, Walter Bagehot (1858). “The National Review”, p.463

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In reality, we can prove that the incidents of drug, alcohol abuse and violence have dropped dramatically among professional athletes - but the problem is it would be impossible to convince than fans, because of what they read on the AP wire.

Leigh Steinberg

Athlete, Reality, Alcohol

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In recent years - before the intifada - there were three or four incidents of anti-Semitism a year, and that's out of 18 million crimes and violations of the law.

Jean-Marie Le Pen

Years, Law, Three

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The causes of the China Incident were the exclusion and insult of Japan throughout China, the exclusion of Japanese goods, the persecution of Japanese residents in China, and the illegal violation of Japanese rights

Hideki Tojo

Rights, Japan, Causes

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In the final analysis, the incident is seen as originating from an emotional expression of the frustration and anger of the proud people of China who had been subject to ever increasing oppression from without and decadent corruption from within.

Chen-Ning Yang

Anger, Frustration, Emotional

Chen Ning Yang (2005). “Selected Papers, 1945-1980, with Commentary”, p.247, World Scientific

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What is truth? Truth doesn't really exist. Who is going to judge whether my experience of an incident is more valid than yours? No one can be trusted to be the judge of that.

Tracey Emin

Judging, Trusted

Interview with Stephan Collishaw, www.believermag.com. April 2004.

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Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

W. H. Murray

Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience.

Dale Carnegie

Inspirational, Life, Motivational

Dale Carnegie (2017). “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking”, p.128, Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd

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And so in my warnings, I was pointing to a number of incidents around the communion that could undermine our growing sense of communion - of becoming a global communion. So that's why I pointed to New Westminster in Canada, to incidents in the United States, and Sydney itself.

George Carey

Numbers, United States, Warning

"Archbishop of Canterbury speaks out". "The Religion Report" with Stephen Crittenden, www.abc.net.au. September 25, 2002.

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In the year 1915 a series of trivial incidents led some Chinese students in Cornell University to take up the question of reforming the Chinese language.

Hu Shih

Years, Chinese, Students

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As anyone who has been close to someone that has committed suicide knows, there is no other pain like that felt after the incident.

Peter Green

Suicide, Pain, Committed

"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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It is a beneficent incident of the ownership of land that a pioneer who reduces it to use, and helps to lay the foundations of a new State, finds a profit in the increasing value of land as the new State grows up.

William Graham Sumner

Growing Up, Land, Foundation

William Graham Sumner (1903). “What Social Classes Owe to Each Other”, p.43, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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It is a natural virtue incident to our sex to be pitiful of those that are afflicted.

Elizabeth I

Sex, Virtue, Natural

Elizabeth I, Leah S. Marcus, Janel Mueller, Mary Beth Rose (2000). “Elizabeth I: Collected Works”, p.223, University of Chicago Press

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Every time I am in danger of believing the glamour of my own press, some incident inevitably brings me back to earth.

Jessica Savitch

Believe, Style, Earth

Jessica Savitch (1983). “Anchorwoman”, Berkley

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My next book is Scene by Scene: as Seen by Fay Wray. It'll be about different incidents. Just my feelings about quite a few people. Attitudes. My thoughts about the universe and simple things like that.

Fay Wray

Attitude, Book, Simple

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I think that by and large chess players have been very kind. Like I said there have been a few incidents, but they certainly didn't serve to bring me down any.

Maurice Ashley

Player, Thinking, Chess

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