Respectable Quotes - Page 8

• there is that wish, in the name of democracy, to level down, because high cultural standards are despised and rejected, and even feared, in our Western Democracies. Don't let anyone else have what I've not got, or can't enjoy! - is the secret theory. A very large number of writers in the British and American popular press profess to be preaching democracy when in fact they are only trying to make envy respectable!

  Ann Bridge

  Numbers, Names, Envy

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• In populous cities, which are the seat of commerce and manufactures, the middle ranks of inhabitants, who derive their subsistence from the dexterity or labour of their hands, are commonly the most prolific, the most useful, and, in that sense, the most respectable part of the community.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hands, Cities, History

  Edward Gibbon (1846). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.113

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• I'm gonna be a respectable dude. When people talking to me, I'm gonna show everybody respect. I just wanted to do that, I needed some kind of balance and I think that Islam was perfect for me. It ain't nothing different than Christianity, we all believe in Jesus, we all believe in God, it's just that Islam really helped me balance out who I am. Cuz if I can go all day without making Salaat or asking for forgiveness or giving thanks, you know, I would probably be a lunatic. So that's what gave me balance.

  The Jacka

  Thank You, Jesus, Believe

  Source: pitchfork.com

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• It is not easy to make our lives respectable by any course of activity. We must repeatedly withdraw into our shells of thought, like the tortoise, somewhat helplessly; yet there is more than philosophy in that.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Philosophy, Philosophical, Thinking

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.148, Jazzybee Verlag

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• What is any respectable girl brought up to do but to catch some rich man's fancy and get the benefit of his money by marrying him?--as if a marriage ceremony could make any difference in the right or wrong of the thing!

  George Bernard Shaw

  Marriage, Girl, Sex

  George Bernard Shaw (2010). “Mrs. Warren's Profession”, p.30, Cosimo, Inc.

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• You are all alike, you respectable people. You can't tell me the bursting strain of a ten-inch gun, which is a very simple matter;but you all think you can tell me the bursting strain of a man under temptation. You daren't handle high explosives; but you're all ready to handle honesty and truth and justice and the whole duty of man, and kill one another at that game. What a country! What a world!

  George Bernard Shaw

  Country, Honesty, Gun

  George Bernard Shaw (2015). “The Collected Plays of George Bernard Shaw (Illustrated): Including Renowned Titles like Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, The Inca Of Perusalem, Macbeth Skit, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion”, p.1455, e-artnow

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• Sex is the most respectable and holy thing in all creation, the most serious act in life.

  George Sand

  Sex, Serious, Creation

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• I have never understood disliking for war. It panders to instincts already catered for within the scope of any respectable domestic establishment.

  Alan Bennett

  War, Instinct, Scope

  'Forty Years On' (1969) act 1

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• Hell is both sides of the tomb, and a devil may be respectable and wear good clothes.

  Charles Henry Parkhurst

  Clothes, Devil, May

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• People pay all that money to sit in a chair in the theater mainly because it is a respectable way to see and experience things they cannot see and experience in their own lives.

  Elizabeth Ashley

  People, Pay, Way

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• While Trump keeps the spotlight on himself, the "respectable" Republican establishment chips away at government programs that benefit the general population.

  Noam Chomsky

  Republican, Program

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• I have always liked reading biographies. It is the ideal literary genre for someone too prim, like me, to acknowledge a gossipy interest in the living - don't you hate gossips, aren't they too awful? - but avid for any nuggets from the private lives of the dead because that is perfectly respectable, an altogether worthy and informative way of spending one's time.

  Jill Tweedie

  Hate, Reading, Avid

  Jill Tweedie (1980). “It's only me: pieces from a column”, Robson Books Limited

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• Identifying as a Pagan, feminist, Witch, and anarchist is possibly a way to alarm great segments of the general public, but at least it keeps me from sinking into a boring and respectable middle age.

  Starhawk

  Feminist, Age, Identity

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• [The English] find ill-health not only interesting but respectable and often experience death in the effort to avoid a fuss.

  Pamela Frankau

  Ill Health, Interesting, Effort

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• I'm so respectable I'm getting scared ... I must be doing something wrong.

  Malvina Reynolds

  Scared

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• Backup dancers are completely respectable. They're the studio musicians of dance.

  Mike Birbiglia

  Dancer, Musician, Backup

  "Mike Birbiglia Talks About 'I'm In The Future Also' Tour". Washington Post Live Q&A, www.washingtonpost.com. October 07, 2009.

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• Sometimes I ask myself if writing novels is even respectable.

  Lorrie Moore

  Writing, Sometimes, Novel

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• By far the greater part of violence that humans inflicted on each other is not the work of criminals or mentally deranged, but of normal, respectable citizens service of the collective ego. One can go so far as to say that on this planet "normal" equals insane. What is it that lies at the root of this insanity? Complete identification with thought and emotion, that is to say, ego.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Lying, Roots, Insanity

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• Any respectable artist has really given up on a label because the labels are still kidding themselves that the only way to go is to sign these big names like Lady Gaga and expect to make gazillions.

  Tony Visconti

  Artist, Names, Labels

  "Sound & Vision: Tony Visconti". Interview with Allyson Mccabe, therumpus.net. January 4, 2016.

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• Jeff Sessions has some problematic spots on his history, but he has been a pretty normal, respectable senator, more conservative than a lot of us, but a respectable senator for a long period of time.

  David Brooks

  Long, Normal, Conservative

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• Jesus loves sinners. He only loves sinners. He has never turned anyone away who came to Him for forgiveness, and He died on the cross for sinners, not for respectable people.

  Corrie Ten Boom

  Jesus, People, Crosses

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• Betsy DeVos is not the most informed person on education policy, but I have seen her present a few times, and she presents as a pretty respectable, intelligent person who has cared passionately about education and cares about charter schools.

  David Brooks

  School, Intelligent, Care

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• In 1980, a well-meaning fundraiser came to see me and said, "Miss Graham, the most powerful thing you have going for you to raise money is your respectability." I wanted to spit. Respectable! Show me any artist who wants to be respectable.

  Martha Graham

  Powerful, Artist, Missing

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

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• The most dangerous lechers and creeps are not drunks wearing rags on the street, but respectable men wearing hairspray, pinstripes, and wedding rings who lurk in the halls of power.

  Michelle Malkin

  Men, Rags, Hairspray

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• Every paper published in a respectable journal should have a preface by the author stating why he is publishing the article, and what value he sees in it. I have no hope that this practice will ever be adopted.

  Morris Kline

  Practice, Should Have, Paper

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