Presuming Quotes

• True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.

  Akhenaton

  Wise, Wisdom, Ignorance

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• Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man may receive at least a moderate education...appears to be an object of vital importance...

  Abraham Lincoln

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  Abraham Lincoln's Address Delivered in Candidacy for the State Legislature, March 9, 1832.

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• You're presuming too much by using the word legacy - presuming that someone is going to care.

  Michael Bolton

  Legacy, Care, Too Much

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• I believe we must seek God's will, never presuming to identify it with our own program or power.

  David Price

  Believe, Program, God's Will

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• The character of instrumental music... lets the emotions radiate and shine in their own character without presuming to display them as real or imaginary representations.

  Franz Liszt

  Real, Character, Shining

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• She said it had been hijacked shortly after takeoff. By this time, the plane had been in the air - again, I'm presuming that it took off on time - for over an hour.

  Ted Olson

  Air, Hours, Said

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• Whenever you speak to someone, you are presuming the two of you have a certain degree of familiarity - which your words might alter. So every sentence has to do two things at once: convey a message and continue to negotiate that relationship.

  Steven Pinker

  Two, Degrees, Might

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• Not-knowing is true knowledge.
  Presuming to know is a disease.
  First realize that you are sick;
  then you can move toward health.

  Laozi

  Inspirational, Moving, Knowing

  Laozi (2008). “Daodejing: A Literal-critical Translation”, University Press of Amer

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• It turns out that a lot of women just have a problem with women in power. You know, this whole sisterhood, this whole let's go march for women's rights and, you know, just constantly talking about what women look like or what they wear, or making fun of their choices or presuming that they're not as powerful as the men around. This presumptive negativity about women in power I think is very unfortunate, because let's just try to access that and have a conversation about it, rather than a confrontation about it.

  Kellyanne Conway

  Fun, Powerful, Sisterhood

  Source: tech.fortune.cnn.com

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• Loners live among the mob, so the mob mistakes us for its own, presuming and assuming. When the mob gets too close, the truth is revealed. Running or walking away, chased or free, any which way, we tell the mob in effect I don't need you.

  Anneli Rufus

  Running, Mistake, Walking Away

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• They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of the grief is finite

  Cassandra Clare

  Sad, Time, Get Well

  Cassandra Clare (2013). “The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess”, p.601, Simon and Schuster

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• Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  "Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters".

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• Every one of the world's "great" religions utterly trivializes the immensity and beauty of the cosmos. Books like the Bible and the Koran get almost every significant fact about us and our world wrong. Every scientific domain -- from cosmology to psychology to economics -- has superseded and surpassed the wisdom of Scripture. Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music.

  Sam Harris

  Book, Our World, Self

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• The world is not fair. If you persist in presuming it is, you will create a lot of unnecessary misery for yourself.

  Fred Green

  World, Misery, Unnecessary

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• When someone who is known for being comedic does something straight, it's always "a big breakthrough" or a "radical departure." Why is is no one ever says that if a straight actor does comedy? Are they presuming comedy is easier?

  Carol Burnett

  Humor, Doe, Actors

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• Electricity is of two kinds, positive and negative. The difference is, I presume, that one comes a little more expensive, but is more durable; the other is a cheaper thing, but the moths get into it.

  Stephen Leacock

  Science, Two, Differences

  Stephen Leacock (1910). “Literary Lapses: A Book of Sketches”

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• Sometimes we are devils to ourselves When we will tempt the frailty of our powers, Presuming on their changeful potency.

  William Shakespeare

  Evil, Temptation, Sometimes

  William Shakespeare (1867). “Works. The Text Carefully Restored According to the First Editions: With Introductions, Notes Original and Selected, and a Life of the Poet”, p.472

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• The proper study of Mankind is Man.

  Alexander Pope

  Men, Occupy Yourself, Literature

  An Essay on Man Epistle 2, l. 1 (1733) See Charron 1

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• That Francis Bacon retains his reputation gained, is not strange to any that knows him. The unusual words wherewith he had spangled his speech, were rather gracious for their propriety than strange for their novelty, and like to serve both for occasions to report and means to remember his argument. Certain sentences of his , somewhat obscure, and as it were presuming upon their capacities will, I fear, make some of them rather admire than commend him. In sum, all is as well as words can make it, and if it please Her Majesty to add deeds, the Bacon may be too hard for the Cook.

  Edward Coke

  Mean, Deeds, May

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• I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.

  Alan Greenspan

  Mistake, Self, Made

  " Greenspan - I was wrong about the economy. Sort of" by Andrew Clark and Jill Treanor, www.theguardian.com. October 23, 2008.

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• Preferential affirmative action patronizes American blacks, women, and others by presuming that they cannot succeed on their own. Preferential affirmative action does not advance civil rights in this country.

  Alan Keyes

  Country, Rights, Doe

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• Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.

  Alexander Pope

  God, Men, Psychology

  An Essay on Man Epistle 2, l. 1 (1733) See Charron 1

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• You don't have to be an heiress to look like one, if you act like one then everyone will just presume you are one.

  Paris Hilton

  Funny, Looks, Heiress

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• I presume that nobody will deny the positive aspects of the North American cultural world. These are well known to all. But these aspects do not make one forget the disastrous effects of the industrial and commercial process of 'cultural lamination' that the USA is perpetrating on the planet.

  Jose Saramago

  Positive, Usa, America

  "Interview with Jose Saramago, Author of Blindness". Political Affairs Magazine Interview, www.politicalaffairs.net. March 2006.

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• It is time Australian Muslims stop being treated as negotiable citizens in their own country. It is time people stop 'tolerating' us, presuming some right to decide if we have a place in our own home.

  Randa Abdel-Fattah

  Country, Home, People

  4 Copy quote