Observation Quotes - Page 15

• Whatever their limitations, Freud and Marx developed complex and subtle theories of human nature grounded in their observation of individual and social behavior. The crackpot rationalism of free-market economics merely relies on an abstract model of how people "must" behave.

  Ellen Willis

  People, Social Behavior, Human Nature

  Letter to "The New York Times", February 27, 1997.

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• Biochemists and biologists who adhere blindly to the Darwinism theory search for results that will be in agreement with their theories and consequently orient their research in a given direction, whether it be in the field of ecology, ethology, sociology, demography (dynamics of populations), genetics (so-called evolutionary genetics), or paleontology. This intrusion of theories has unfortunate results: it deprives observations and experiments of their objectivity, makes them biased, and, moreover, creates false problems.

  Pierre-Paul Grasse

  Knowledge, Objectivity, Agreement

  "Evolution of living organisms: evidence for a new theory of transformation" by Pierre-Paul Grasse, Academic Press, (p. 7), 1977.

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• The philosopher forms his principles on an infinity of particular observations. He does not confuse truth with plausibility, he takes for truth what is true, for false what is false, for doubtful what is doubtful, and probable what is probable. The philosophical spirit is thus a spirit of observation and accuracy.

  Denis Diderot

  Philosophical, Objectivity, Infinity

  "L'Encyclopédie", Article on Philosophy, Volume 25, 1766.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• It seems a shallow observation, but... the Tory Conference are not an attractive lot, are they? I mean, if all those people were born in the same village, you'd blame pollution, wouldn't you?

  Jeremy Hardy

  Mean, People, Village

  "The News Quiz". BBC Radio 4, October 1998.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is an assumption brought forth countless of times in various contexts that the world would be better, drifting slower towards the ruin, if women had the "power"; if political leadership, decision making, government and economic life was in the hands of women. I think reality, the observation material, supports the assumption.

  Pentti Linkola

  Reality, Thinking, Government

  "Women As The Protectors Of Life II". Essay by Pentti Linkola, 1996.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• If those persons, who fancy themselves gifted with both the power and the right to define and punish other men's vices, would but turn their thoughts inwardly, they would probably find that they have a great work to do at home; and that, when that shall have been completed, they will be little disposed to do more towards correcting the vices of others, than simply to give to others the results of their experience and observation.

  Lysander Spooner

  Home, Men, Giving

  Lysander Spooner (2006). “Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty”, p.16, ReadHowYouWant.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• If the subject is in a suffering circumstance, it is all the more preferable to apply craft to the utmost. Call it art or not, we photographers should always try to pass on our observations with the utmost clarity.

  Dennis Stock

  Art, Suffering, Trying

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

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Over the years, whenever I've felt that little twinkle in the hairs on the back of my neck., as I encountered an original thought or observation in a fishing book, I've turned the corner of the page down.

  Arnold Gingrich

  Book, Lakes, Hair

  7 Copy quote

• I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Art, Brother, Book

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, David Stuart Davies (1998). “The Best of Sherlock Holmes”, p.200, Wordsworth Editions

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• An ideologue - one who thinks ideologically - can't lose. He can't lose because his answer, his interpretation and his attitude have been determined in advance of the particular experience or observation. They are derived from the ideology, and not subject to the facts.

  James Burnham

  Attitude, Thinking, Experience

  59 Copy quote

• Religion is based upon blind faith supported by no evidence. Science is based upon confidence that results from evidence - and that confidence can be modified and/or reversed by further observations and experimentation. Science approaches truth, closer and closer, by hard dedicated work. Religion already has it all decided, and it's in the book. It's dogma, unchangeable, and unaffected by reality and whatever facts we come upon in the real world.

  James Randi

  Real, Book, Atheism

  68 Copy quote

• Start small, make a promise and keep it. Then, make larger promises and keep them. Eventually, your honor will become greater than your moods or your circumstances, which includes your medical condition and other people's stereotypic observations. Once you overcome this comparison based mentality, your confidence will soar.

  Stephen Covey

  People, Honor, Promise

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• The observations that have developed over the years have given us perspective about where we fit in. We are newcomers, really recent arrivals on a planet that is four and a half billion years old.

  Sylvia Earle

  Years, Perspective, Half

  "Big Thinkers on Evolution". "NOVA" Interview, www.pbs.org. October 6, 2009.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The future is an empty canvas or a blank sheet of paper, and if you have the courage of your own thought and your own observation you can make of it what you will

  Lewis H. Lapham

  Paper, Canvas, Empty

  9 Copy quote

• Jeff Selingo is one of the most respected observers of American higher education...Not all will agree with his observations, conclusions, predictions and recommendations, but all will gain from this thoughtful, well-written, provocative volume. I highly recommend it.

  David J. Skorton

  Thoughtful, Gains, Provocative

  6 Copy quote

• There are three friendships which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Friendship with the upright; friendship with the sincere; and friendship with the man of much observation: these are advantageous. Friendship with the man of specious airs; friendship with the insinuatingly soft; and friendship with the glib-tongued: these are injurious.

  Confucius

  Friendship, Men, Air

  Confucius (2013). “Confucian Analects, The Great Learning & The Doctrine of the Mean”, p.311, Courier Corporation

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• children are made of eyes and ears, and nothing, however minute, escapes their microscopic observation.

  Fanny Kemble

  Children, Eye, Ears

  Fanny Kemble (1863). “Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839”, p.22

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Presence of mind, penetration, fine observation, are the sciences of women; ability to avail themselves of these is their talent.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Opportunity, Presence Of Mind, Talent

  9 Copy quote

• Conversation is interesting in proportion to the originality of the central ideas which serve as pivots and the fitness of the little facts and observations which are contributed by the talkers.

  Philip Gilbert Hamerton

  Ideas, Interesting, Littles

  Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1873). “The Intellectual Life: With a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, etched by Leopold Flameng”, p.262

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Redundancy of language is never found with deep reflection. Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking. He who thinks much says but little in proportion to his thoughts.

  Washington Irving

  Reflection, Thinking, Style

  8 Copy quote

• Criticism is not construction, it is observation.

  George William Curtis

  Criticism, Construction

  George William Curtis (1858). “The Potiphar Papers”, p.13

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• A maxim is a conclusion upon observation of matters of fact, and is merely speculative; a "principle" carries knowledge within itself, and is prospective.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Principles, Matter, Facts

  4 Copy quote

• Should you happen to notice that another person is extremely tall or overweight, eats too much or declines convivial drinks, has red hair or goes about in a wheelchair, ought to get married or ought not to be pregnant -- see if you can refrain from bringing these astonishing observations to that person's attention.

  Judith Martin

  Hair, Attention, Red

  20 Copy quote

• Sin is a basilisk whose eyes are full of venom. If the eye of thy soul see her first, it reflects her own poison and kills her; if she see thy soul, unseen, or seen too late, with her poison, she kills thee: since therefore thou canst not escape thy sin, let not thy sin escape thy observation.

  Francis Quarles

  Eye, Soul, Firsts

  8 Copy quote

• It is for the most part in our skill in manners, and in the observations of time and place and of decency in general, that what is called taste by way of distinction consists; and which is in reality no other than a more refined judgment.

  Edmund Burke

  Reality, Skills, Way

  7 Copy quote