Literal Quotes - Page 2

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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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 in the literal rising of the body of Christ. It's the cornerstone of my Christian faith.

Francis Collins

Christian, Believe, Rising

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I do not consider myself a literal genius.

Lil Wayne

Genius

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God wastes nothing - not even sin. The soul that has struggled and come through is enriched by it's experiences, and Grace does not merely blot out the evil past but in the most literal sense "makes it good."

Dorothy L. Sayers

Faith, Inspiration, Past

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...The Bill of Rights is a literal and absolute document. The First Amendment doesn't say you have a right to speak out unless the government has a 'compelling interest' in censoring the Internet. The Second Amendment doesn't say you have the right to keep and bear arms until some madman plants a bomb. The Fourth Amendment doesn't say you have the right to be secure from search and seizure unless some FBI agent thinks you fit the profile of a terrorist. The government has no right to interfere with any of these freedoms under any circumstances.

Harry Browne

Thinking, Fbi Agents, Rights

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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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The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.

Jacques Yves Cousteau

Ocean, Men, Sea

Speech by Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas on the occasion of the signing of the Belém Statement, Lisbon, europa.eu. July 13, 2017.

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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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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 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 my understanding of God I start with certain firm beliefs. One is that the laws of nature are not broken. We do not, of course, know all these laws yet, but I believe that such laws exist. I do not, therefore, believe in the literal truth of some miracles which are featured in the Christian Scriptures, such as the Virgin Birth or water into wine. ... God works, I believe, within natural laws, and, according to natural laws, these things happen.

Nevill Francis Mott

Christian, Believe, Hard Work

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Don't swear in the Literal Heart of Jesus.

John Green

Jesus, Hipster, Heart

John Green (2013). “The John Green Collection”, p.814, Penguin

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All translation is a compromise - the effort to be literal and the effort to be idiomatic.

Benjamin Jowett

Effort, Language, Compromise

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My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.

John Dominic Crossan

Smart, People, Dumb

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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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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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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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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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Most of us would be upset if we were accused of being "silly." But the word "silly" comes from the old English word "selig," and its literal definition is "to be blessed, happy, healthy and prosperous."

Zig Ziglar

Happiness, Meaningful, Silly

Zig Ziglar (1997). “Over the Top: Moving from Survival to Stability, from Stability to Success, from Success to Significance”, p.63, Thomas Nelson Inc

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In matters of observation chance favors only the prepared mind. (not literal translation) - Dan's les champs de observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares.

Louis Pasteur

Life, Mind, Favors

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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 that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.

George Steiner

Past, Mirrors, Other Cultures

George Steiner (1974). “In Bluebeard's Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture”, p.3, Yale University Press

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A verse from the Veda says, 'What you see, you become.' In other words, just the experience of perceiving the world makes you what you are. This is a quite literal statement.

Deepak Chopra

Attitude, Perception, Experience

Deepak Chopra (1990). “Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/body Medicine”, Bantam

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Anyway that other thing we almost did in Paris-that's probably off the table for a while.Unless you want that whole baby-I'm-on-fire-when-we kiss thing to become freakishly literal

Cassandra Clare

Baby, Kissing, Fire

Cassandra Clare (2012). “Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instruments Series (5 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls”, p.2282, Simon and Schuster

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