Instance Quotes - Page 12

• We can never safely exceed the actual facts in our narratives. Of pure invention, such as some suppose, there is no instance. To write a true work of fiction even is only to take leisure and liberty to describe some things more exactly as they are.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Writing, Liberty, Facts

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “The Illustrated "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"”, p.325, Princeton University Press

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• There are instances when we are like horses, we psychologists, and grow restless: we see our own shadow wavering up and down before us. A psychologist must look away from himself in order to see anything at all.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Horse, Order, Shadow

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• Very few men can speak of Nature, for instance, with any truth. They overstep her modesty, somehow or other, and confer no favor.They do not speak a good word for her. Most cry better than they speak, and you can get more nature out of them by pinching than by addressing them. The surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods, handling them as indifferently as his axe, is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature. Better that the primrose by the river's brim be a yellow primrose, and nothing more, than that it be something less.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Nature, Men, Rivers

  Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.76, Xist Publishing

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• The life of a thinking man will probably be divided into two parts -- the first in which he desires to exterminate modern thinkers, and the second in which he desires to watch them exterminating each other. ... Suppose, for instance, there is an old story and a new skeptic who is skeptical of the story. We have only to wait a little while for a yet newer skeptic who is skeptical of the skeptic. He will probably find the old notion actually a help in his new notion. This process is an abstract truth applying to anything, apart from agreement or disagreement.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Truth, Men, Thinking

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• The difference between "machines" and "engines" is obviously this, that machines need more workmen and greater power to make them take effect, as for instance ballistae and the beams of presses. Engines, on the other hand, accomplish their purpose at the intelligent touch of a single workman...

  Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

  Intelligent, Hands, Differences

  "De architectura (Ten Books on Architecture)". Book by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (Book X, Chapter I, Section 3), circa 15 BC.

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• I personally object to the veil on aesthetic as well as other grounds; but I must admit that, for instance in the suburbs of American cities, I have often seen women attired more sloppily than our Persian women normally are.

  Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

  Cities, Veils, Persian

  "Mission for my Country". Book by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, p. 232, 1961.

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• It is in numberless instances happier to have a false opinion which we believe true, than a true one of which we doubt.

  Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke

  Believe, Doubt, Opinion

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• Recognition for a job well done is high on the list of motivating influences for all people; more important in many instances than compensation itself. When someone is promoted, a promotion that everyone could see coming because of an excellent record, the entire department is stimulated. For it is clear, then, that promotions are based on merit. A promotion that seems to come out of the blue, which is always the case when no one knows what the next fellow is doing, causes nothing but resentment and a further weakening of the will to work.

  John Moulder Wilson

  Jobs, Blue, People

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• A vague goal is no goal at all. The Ten Commandments wouldn't be very impressive, for instance, if they weren't specific, but simply were couched in a phraseology such as 'thou shalt not be a bad person.

  Neal A. Maxwell

  Goal, Impressive, Ten Commandments

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• A seeming ignorance is very often a most necessary part of worldly knowledge. It is, for instance, commonly advisable to seem ignorant of what people offer to tell you; and when they say, Have not you heard of such a thing? to answer No, and to let them go on, though you know it already.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Ignorance, Knowledge, People

  "Manners and speech or maxims extracted from Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son". Book by Lord Chesterfield, 1884.

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• Not a step can we take in any direction without perceiving the most extraordinary traces of design; and the skill everywhere conspicuous is calculated in so vast a proportion of instances to promote the happiness of living creatures, and especially of ourselves, that we feel no hesitation in concluding that, if we knew the whole scheme of Providence, every part would appear to be in harmony with a plan of absolute benevolence.

  Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux

  God, Skills, Design

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, (p. 261), 1895.

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• The greatest successes grow out of great failures. In numerous instances the result is better that comes after a series of abortive experiences than it would have been if it had come at once; for all these successive failures induce a skill which is so much additional power working into the final achievement.... The hand that evokes such perfect music from the instrument has often failed in its touch, and bungled among the keys.... Every disappointed effort fences in and indicates the only possible path of success, and makes it easier to find.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Keys, Hands, Skills

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• A handbag is only one item to be worn with a complete outfit. Add a peony pink leather handbag to a charcoal gray suit, for instance, and the impact is chic with a touch of wit.

  Kate Spade

  Impact, Suits, Add

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• It's an astonishing skill that people can read, and read well. Very few people can read well. For instance, I have to be very careful with irony, saying something while meaning the exact opposite.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Opposites, Skills, People

  Interview with David Barsamian, www.sharedhost.progressive.org. June 12, 2003.

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• Civil disobedience is a stimulation for the fighters and a challenge to the opponent, in the present instance, authority.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Challenges, Opponents, Fighter

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• History is replete with instances of men, who, by dying with courage and compassion on their lips converted the hearts of their violent opponents.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Death, Heart, Men

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.93, A&C Black

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• In many instances, we are much better at fixing our mistakes after we've made them. In some situations, it is easier to sweep things under the rug and forget about them.

  Dave Matthews

  Mistake, Fixing, Forget

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• I can't imagine how American readers will react to a novel, but if the story is appealing it doesn't matter much if you don't catch all the detail. I'm not too familiar with the geography of nineteenth century London, for instance, but I still enjoy reading Dickens.

  Haruki Murakami

  Reading, Matter, Details

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

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• Moreover, joint occurrences tend to be better recalled than instances when the effect does not occur. The proneness to remember confirming instances, but to overlook disconfirming ones, further serves to convert, in thought, coincidences into causalities.

  Albert Bandura

  Doe, Causality, Joints

  Albert Bandura (1986). “Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory”, Prentice Hall

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• In any given instance, behavior can be predicted best by considering both self-efficacy and outcome beliefs . . . different patterns of self-efficacy and outcome beliefs are likely to produce different psychological effects

  Albert Bandura

  Self, Different, Patterns

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• If you accept learning as a dominant determination of your behavior, then all of a sudden you're open to the idea that, for instance, there are other people who are more educated than you about the environment, who you will learn from. It's kind of like you don't even have to believe that you know anything about the environment, but you do have to understand that your behavior has been determined by learning in the past.

  Greg Graffin

  Determination, Believe, Past

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Society has to be structured such that there are checks and balances, so that it can't be manipulated, for instance, for the profit of just some multinational company who's going to get rich on trying to legislate the environment.

  Greg Graffin

  Balance, Trying, Environment

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Don't say I want to lose 30 pounds in 30 days. Say, you know what I want to lose weight- say 30 pounds in three to six months for instance. But more importantly I want to knock out 20 pushups a day or I want to run a 3K a day and time myself, and try to beat my time every time every week.

  Jackie Warner

  Running, Trying, Three

  Source: candieanderson.com

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• I have never understood, for instance, why some people see contemporary art as divided between 'painting' and 'conceptual art', as though this represented a genuine division.

  Michael Craig-Martin

  Art, People, Division

  Source: briansherwin-artcritic.blogspot.com

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• Japan's diplomatic efforts could have had a broader international perspective. Relations with the U.S. are, of course, the cornerstone of Japan's diplomacy, but the U.S. acts on its global strategy. For instance, Washington suddenly got closer to China in the early 1970s as part of its strategy against the Soviet Union.

  Sadako Ogata

  Japan, Perspective, Effort

  "Japan should be a peace broker, former UN refugee chief says". Interview with Hiroyuki Akita, asia.nikkei.com. August 19, 2015.

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