Literal Quotes

• OUR ORDINATION: Sir Isaac Newton, 1642 – 1747 About the times of the End, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition.

  Isaac Newton

  Men, Attention, Body

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• There are bits of the literal future right here, right now, if you know how to look for them.

  William Gibson

  Looks, Right Now, Knows

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• The month of Ramadan is the world's most widespread fast and yet its teachings are minimised, neglected and even betrayed (through literal application of rules that overlooks their ultimate objective).

  Tariq Ramadan

  Teaching, World, Ramadan

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• I’ve lived the literal meaning of the ‘land of the free’ and ‘home of the brave.’ It’s not corny for me. I feel it in my heart. I feel it in my chest. Even at a ball game, when someone talks during the anthem or doesn’t take off his hat, it pisses me off. I’m not one to be quiet about it, either.

  Chris Kyle

  Home, Heart, Land

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• When it comes to literal nourishment, the food we eat, life begets life.

  Victoria Moran

  Begets, Nourishment

  "Ageless Living in a Culture of Youth" by Victoria Moran, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 10, 2011.

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• When we talk about how movies used to be made, it was over 100 years of film, literal, physical film, with emulsion, that we would expose to light and we would get pictures.

  Keanu Reeves

  Light, Years, Film

  "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. August 22, 2012.

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• Whenever you have dynamic interactions between 300 million people and the American economy acting in really complex ways, that introduces a degree of almost chaos theory to the system, in a literal sense.

  Nate Silver

  People, Acting, Degrees

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• I think people's perception of a rich girl is literal, but metaphorically I embrace it as being rich in love, spirit, joy and religion. So it's not about money.

  Angie Stone

  Girl, Thinking, People

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• The camera would miss it all. A magnificent picture is never worth a thousand perfect words. Ansel Adams can be a great artist, but he can never be Shakespeare. His tools are too literal.

  John Dunning

  Artist, Perfect, Missing

  John Dunning (2012). “The Bookman's Wake”, p.188, Simon and Schuster

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• Extremists often derive their inspiration from literal interpretations of texts that should rightly be read not as Associated Press reports from the ancient world, but as theological and literary enterprises requiring independent intellectual assessment.

  Jon Meacham

  Inspiration, Independent, Assessment

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• It is not the literal past, the 'facts' of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.

  Brian Friel

  Past, Shapes, Facts

  Brian Friel, Paul Delaney (2000). “Brian Friel in conversation”, Univ of Michigan Pr

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• So the greatest source of happiness is other people- and what does money do? It isolates us from other people. It enables us to build walls, literal and figurative, around ourselves. We move from a teeming college dorm to an apartment to a house, and if we're really wealthy, to an estate. We think we're moving up, but really we're walling off ourselves.

  Eric Weiner

  Wall, Moving, College

  Eric Weiner (2014). “The Geography of Bliss”, p.151, Random House

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• I do not consider myself a literal genius.

  Lil Wayne

  Genius

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• Not everyone can afford to eat well in America, which is a literal shame, but most of us can: Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food, less than the citizens of any other nation.

  Michael Pollan

  America, Income, Citizens

  Michael Pollan (2009). “Food Rules: An Eater's Manual”, p.48, Penguin

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• We learn that many great thinkers were convinced that the Bible contained the Ancient Mysteries, but not in the literal words—that the words on the pages were codes, and that the Bible is comprised of heavy-handed and useless story covering up something much more important and interesting. I get the feeling that [Dan Brown] is trying to tell me something, but I am not biting, reader.

  Maureen Johnson

  Interesting, Feelings, Important

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• However, displayed right alongside all the Confederate flag paraphernalia is a bunch of American flag merch – American flag place mats, patriotic “body crystals,” flag stickers you attach to your skin. Personally, I’m small-minded and literal enough that I see the two symbols as contradictory, especially in a time of war. But I fear that the consumer who buys a Confederate flag coffee cup, which she will then put on her American flag place mat, is the sort of sophisticated thinker who is open-minded enough that she is capable of hating blacks and Arabs at the same time.

  Sarah Vowell

  Hate, War, Coffee

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• Metaphor is one of a group of problem-solving medicines known as figures of speech which are normally used to treat literal thinking and other diseases.

  Grant Morrison

  Thinking, Medicine, Groups

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• I believe the Scriptures teach that there's a literal heaven and a literal hell, just like Jesus said. And without forgiveness of sins that, yeah, the place of punishment is called hell.

  Kirk Cameron

  Jesus, Believe, Punishment

  "Kirk Cameron, From Sitcom Star to Evangelist" by Martin Bashir, abcnews.go.com. March 17, 2006.

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• In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom - along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

  Noam Chomsky

  Rights, Illustration, Justice

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• I've always felt writing a song was a bit like going on location. That's true in an almost literal sense. Where you are seeps in somehow.

  Elvis Costello

  Song, Writing, Location

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• When a middle-aged man says in a moment of weariness that he is half dead, he is telling the literal truth.

  Elmer Davis

  Men, Half, Telling The Truth

  On not being Dead, as Reported

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• All religions are true but none are literal.

  Joseph Campbell

  Inspirational, Hero Journey, Religion

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• Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

  Carl Sagan

  Inspirational, Life, Truth

  Carl Sagan, Tom Head (2006). “Conversations with Carl Sagan”, p.145, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Everyone knows that a lot of memoirs have made-up scenes; it's obvious. And everyone knows that half the time at least fictions contain literal autobiographical truths. So how do we decide what's what, and does it even matter?

  Lauren Slater

  Doe, Fiction, Half

  Lauren Slater (2000). “Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir”, Random House Incorporated

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• Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.

  Voltaire

  Giving, Letters, Woe

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