Irreverent Quotes - Page 2

• Passonate, irreverent, utterly relevant, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk offers an unforgettable portrait of a reluctant hero. Ben Fountain writes like a man inspired and his razor sharp exploration of our contemporary ironies will break your heart.

  Margot Livesey

  Hero, Writing, Heart

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• "Mad" magazine is like one of my few formative experiences, absolutely. "Mad" magazine teaches a whole generation of people to be irreverent toward power.

  Daniel H. Pink

  People, Mad, Teach

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Whereas modern cynicism brought despair about the ability of the human species to realize laudable ideals, postmodern cynicism doesn't — not because it's optimistic, but because it can't take ideals seriously in the first place. The prevailing attitude is Absurdism. A postmodern magazine may be irreverent, but not bitterly irreverent, for it's not purposefully irreverent; its aim is indiscriminate, because everyone is equally ridiculous. And anyway, there's no moral basis for passing judgment. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

  Robert Wright

  Attitude, Optimistic, Despair

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• I respect the astute and rigorously unsentimental David Horowitz as one of America's most original and courageous political analysts. He has the true 1960s spirit - audacious and irreverent, yet passionately engaged and committed to social change.

  Camille Paglia

  America, Political, Spirit

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• I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. ... I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me... These are not, however, the days of miracles ... I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Wise, Religious, Men

  Reply to an Emancipation Memorial (1862), published in "The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln" edited by Henry Jarvis Raymond and Francis Bicknell Carpenter, (p. 255), 1865.

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• I think I definitely want to blame my parents on this one. One of the things about having a minister for a father, you do tend to develop an irreverent streak. Kinda goes with the territory. And Dad was as bad as I am, really . .

  Matt Ruff

  Dad, Father, Thinking

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• Faith always presented to the mind the idea of an abnormal intellectual condition, of the subversion or suspension of the critical faculties. It sometimes comprised more than this, but it always included this. It was the opposite of doubt and of the spirit of doubt. What irreverent men called credulity, reverent men called faith; and although one word was more respectful than the other, yet the two words were with most men strictly synonymous.

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky

  Men, Opposites, Ideas

  William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1865). “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe”, p.63

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• Rock musicians are consistent in their disdain and irreverent treatment of Jesus Christ.

  Tim LaHaye

  Christian, Religious, Jesus

  Tim F. LaHaye, Beverly LaHaye (1995). “The Spirit-Filled Family”, Harvest House Pub

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• Toyin Falola has given us what is truly rare in modern African writing: a seriously funny, racy, irreverent package of memories, and full of the most wonderful pieces of poetry and ordinary information. It is a matter of some interest, that the only other volume A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt reminds one of is Ake, by Wole Soyinka. What is it about these Yorubas?

  Ama Ata Aidoo

  Memories, Writing, Ordinary

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• for me the most fun of my career is to bring a little bit of irreverence to characters. And, you know, I don't think that the producers were expecting me to be as irreverent as I am.

  Dean Winters

  Fun, Character, Thinking

  "‘Battle Creek’ star Dean Winters on nearly killing Josh Duhamel and more". Interview with Daniel Fienberg, uproxx.com. March 1, 2015.

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• Most poetry is the utterance of a man in some state of passion, love, joy, grief, rage, etc., and no doubt this is as it should be. But no man is perpetually in a passion and those states in which he is amused and amusing, detached and irreverent, if less important, are no less amusing. If there were no poets who, like Byron, express these states, Poetry would lack something.

  W. H. Auden

  Grief, Passion, Men

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• Many artists and writers have used cannabis for creative stimulation - from the writers of the world's religious masterpieces to our most irreverent satirists.

  Jack Herer

  Religious, Artist, Creative

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• Most of the drug CEOs I know, they're not themselves - they're what people want them to be. It's pretty obvious of the different drug executives. They're old white men, very buttoned up. They're appropriate, so to speak. I'm a little bit more irreverent, and I'm not going to change just because I have this job.

  Martin Shkreli

  Jobs, Men, White

  "We called Martin Shkreli and asked him point blank about the drug-price scandal - here's what he said". Interview with Lydia Ramsey, www.businessinsider.com. October 13, 2015.

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• And again, we're kind of trying to be in that place, that's just so absurd and irreverent and hysterical and it's something that at our company we're kind of, we're so irreverent about everything, we're sort of irreverent about the establishment, we're irreverent about civilization, we're irreverent about philosophy, we're irreverent about religion.

  Brian Henson

  Philosophy, Civilization, Trying

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I don't plan [my recordings], I really don't. It's so spontaneous I wish all rock lovers and rock journalist could witness a Ted Nugent recording session. It is so primal, it's like idiot kids in the garage with their first loud amplifiers, its intoxicating, it is irreverent, it is uninhibited.

  Ted Nugent

  Kids, Rocks, Wish

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• I reluctantly concluded that there was no way for me to help bring into being the Muslim culture I'd dreamed of, the progressive, irreverent, skeptical, argumentative, playful and unafraid culture which is what I've always understood as freedom.... Actually Existing Islam ... which makes literalism a weapon and redescription a crime, will never let the likes of me in.

  Salman Rushdie

  Islam, Culture, Weapons

  "Excerpts From Rushdie's Address: 1,000 Days 'Trapped Inside a Metaphor'". Address at Columbia University, www.nytimes.com. December 12, 1991.

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• Comics write to their point of view. If you're an exceedingly irreverent comedian, you've got to see where that point of view fits or produces the most funny.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Writing, Views, Comedian

  Interview with Steve Heisler, www.avclub.com. November 11, 2008.

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• We're also irreverent, we have an irreverent attitude towards puppets, as well. So a lot of what we do is we're kind of making fun of the puppets for being puppets, even while we're doing it. And again, that all feeds into the absurdity of this show.

  Brian Henson

  Fun, Attitude, Puppets

  Source: bigthink.com

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• People think because 'Vice' is irreverent and because we're crazy, we're stunt journalists. You know what? I don't actually care.

  Shane Smith

  Crazy, Thinking, People

  "Vice's New Envelope-Pushing Docu-Series Premieres on HBO Tonight" by Allison P.Davis, www.elle.com. April 5, 2013.

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• You learn history in school, and you have a reverential feeling toward it. But by being irreverent, it feels current.

  Benjamin Walker

  School, Feelings, Currents

  "Interview: Benjamin Walker and the cast of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson". Interview with Sharon Steel, www.timeout.com. November 5, 2010.

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• There were two recording studios in Bellingham. One was really expensive, a "nice studio." We were at the point where we were young and irreverent. We would scoff at the idea of a nice studio. "Why would you want to go to a nice studio? Oh wow, they have really expensive gear. Ooh, that's really fancy. Well we've got an eight-track. We've got it going on here." Now that we have the resources, we're like, "Oh wow, a nice studio is pretty nice! They do have nice outboards here. It's actually a pretty good place." It's funny how much changes so quickly.

  Ben Gibbard

  Nice

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Not that I don't think irreverent humor and someone being filthy is funny, I just do what I do. Any comedian would admit throwing an f-bomb in there would help get a reaction. ... I'm not on a Puritanical pursuit, but when I would curse in a joke, I believe I'm not done writing it.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Believe, Writing, Thinking

  "Jim Gaffigan returns to his old stomping grounds, Purdue". "Journal & Courier" Newspaper, September 6, 2007.

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• Man is made of the wholly common, and custom is his nurse; woe then to them who lay irreverent hands on his old house-furniture, the dear inheritance from his forefathers: For time consecrates, and what is gray with age becomes religion.

  Friedrich Schiller

  Men, Hands, Nurse

  Friedrich Schiller (2015). “The Works of Frederick Schiller: Top Classic of German”, p.1260, 谷月社

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• Speak not of guilt, speak not of responsibility. When the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners; when the senses shiver and shudder, it is only a fool and and an irreverent person that will keep his distance, who will not embrace the good cause, marching towards the conquest of pleasures and passions. All of morality's laws - poorly understood and applied - are nil and cannot stand even for a moment, when the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners.

  C.P. Cavafy

  Distance, Responsibility, Passion

  "The Regiment of the Senses". Poem by Constantine P. Cavafy, transl. by Manuel Savidis, www.cavafy.com.

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• Howard Zinn was magical as a teacher. Witty, irreverent, and wise, he loved what he was teaching and clearly wanted his students to love it, also.

  Alice Walker

  Wise, Witty, Teacher

  Alice Walker (2013). “The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way”, p.74, New Press, The

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