Rhetorical Quotes - Page 3

• The poetry of this one is called philosophical, of that one philological, of a third rhetorical, and so on. Which is then the poetic poetry?

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Philosophical, Poetic, Thirds

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• When you see all that rhetorical smoke billowing up from the Democrats, well ladies and gentleman, I'd follow the example of their nominee; don't inhale.

  Ronald Reagan

  Gentleman, Example, Democrat

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• I'd finished the first two [books] and they were going to to be published, and [editor] said, "We need you to write a summary that will drive people to these books." And it took forever. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I looked at the back of other children's books that were full of giddy praise and corny rhetorical questions, you know, "Will she have a better time at summer camp than she thinks?" "How will she escape from the troll's dungeon?" All these terrible, terrible summaries of books, and I just couldn't.

  Daniel Handler

  Summer, Children, Book

  Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. November 16, 2005.

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• I think that when you reveal things that are going to cause pain, you have rhetorical resources in poetry.

  Vijay Seshadri

  Pain, Thinking, Causes

  "You Are Vijay Seshadri". Interview with Laura Standley, logger.believermag.com. June 10, 2014.

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• Sometimes societies become too stupid to survive. A nation that takes Barack Obama's current rhetorical flourishes seriously is certainly well advanced along that dismal path.

  Mark Steyn

  Stupid, Path, Sometimes

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• What a wretched thing is all fame! A renown of the highest sort endures, say, for two thousand years. And then? Why, then, a fathomless eternity swallows it. Work for eternity; not the meagre rhetorical eternity of the periodical critics, but for the real eternity wherein dwelleth the Divine.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Real, Years, Two

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• To claim "humanitarian motives" when the motive is envy and its supposed appeasement, is a favorite rhetorical device of politicians today, and has been for at least a hundred and fifty years.

  Helmut Schoeck

  Years, Envy, Atheism

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• The doctrine which, from the very first origin of religious dissensions, has been held by bigots of all sects, when condensed into a few words and stripped of rhetorical disguise, is simply this: I am in the right, and you are in the wrong. When you are the stronger, you ought to tolerate me; for it is your duty to tolerate truth. But when I am the stronger I shall persecute you; for it is my duty to persecute error.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Religious, Errors, Atheism

  "Critical and Miscellaneous Essays". Book by Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, p. 60, 1843.

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• Given, a man with moderate intellect, a moral standard not higher than the average, some rhetorical affluence and a great glibness of speech, what is the career in which, without the aid of birth or money, he may most easily attain power and reputation in English society? Where is that Goshen of mediocrity in which a smattering of science and learning will pass for profound instruction, where platitudes will be accepted as wisdom, bigoted narrowness as holy zeal, unctuous egoism as God-given piety?

  George Eliot

  Men, Average, Careers

  George Eliot (1883). “The Essays of George Eliot”, p.34, Jazzybee Verlag

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• Whoop-de-do," said Ram. "What?" "I'm celebrating." "Was that irony or loss of mental function?" asked the expendable. "Was that a rhetorical questions, a bit of humor, or a sign that you are losing confidence in me?" "I have no confidence in you, Ram," said the expendable. "Well, thanks." "You're welcome.

  Orson Scott Card

  Thank You, Loss, Rams

  Orson Scott Card (2011). “Pathfinder”, p.64, Simon and Schuster

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• O love-why can't you leave me alone? Which is a rhetorical question meaning: for heaven's sake, don't.

  Thomas Merton

  Love, Heaven, Leave Me Alone

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• Obama's rhetorical overtures to democracy, it turned out, were just a decoy to conceal his unwavering determination to govern from the far left.

  Sean Hannity

  Determination, Democracy, Unwavering

  Sean Hannity (2010). “Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda”, p.6, Harper Collins

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• In late modernity we grow more and more accustomed to politicians and public figures who are indebted to their appetites for their "values," to their intellectual sloth for their "principles," to their rhetorical cleverness for their "conscience," and to their regimented conformism for their "philosophy."

  Kenny Smith

  Philosophy, Intellectual, Sloth

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• The revival in religion will be a rhetorical problem - new persuasive words for defaced or degraded ones.

  Thornton Wilder

  Problem, Revival, Persuasive

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• All language is rhetorical, and even the senses are poets.

  George Santayana

  Language, Poet, Senses

  George Santayana (1955). “Letters”

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• What am I to do with you?" Redd asked. "M-maybe you could-" Jack began. The Cat raised a paw. "I know." "It was a rhetorical question, fools! You don't answer it! Since when do I need help making anyone suffer?

  Frank Beddor

  Cat, Suffering, Needs

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• It became quite clear to me that the Natural Law mystique, in Catholic, libertarian or neo-pagan forms, remains basically a set of rhetorical strategies to hypnotize others into the state which Bernard Shaw called "barbarism" and defined as 'the belief that the laws of one's own tribe are the laws of the universe'.

  Robert Anton Wilson

  Rhetorical Strategies, Law, Catholic

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• I’m not a gun owner and, as I think as is the case for the more than half the people in the country who also aren’t gun owners, that means that for me guns are alien. In the current rhetorical climate people seem not to want to say: I think guns are kind of scary and don’t want to be around them.

  Josh Marshall

  Country, Mean, Gun

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• When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably) as a rhetorical device. Such cases do not function as speculations in the pejorative sense - as silly stories that provide insight into complex mechanisms - but rather as idealized illustrations to exemplify a difficult point of theory. (Other fields, like philosophy and the law, use such conjectural cases as a standard device.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Philosophy, Silly, Law

  Stephen Jay Gould (2011). “Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms”, p.310, Harvard University Press

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• President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.

  William Safire

  Empathy, President, Politician

  1990 LanguageMaven Strikes Again.

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• The only tactic liberals have is to try to intimidate people into thinking that the Tea Party is racist. The Tea Party is not a racist movement, period! If it were, why would the straw polls keep showing that the black guy is winning? That's a rhetorical question. Let me state it: The black guy keeps winning.

  Herman Cain

  Party, Winning, Thinking

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• I come from a place that likes grandeur; it likes large gestures; it is not inhibited by flourish; it is a rhetorical society; it is a society of physical performance; it is a society of style.

  Derek Walcott

  Style, Gestures, Likes

  "Interview with Ed Hirsch". "Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series", 1986.

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• There can be little question that good composition is far less dependent upon acquaintance with its laws, than upon practice and natural aptitude. A clear head, a quick imagination, and a sensitive ear, will go far towards making all rhetorical precepts needless.

  Herbert Spencer

  Clear Head, Law, Practice

  Herbert Spencer (1873). “Philosophy of Style: An Essay”, p.9

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• The reality distortion field was a confounding mélange of a charismatic rhetorical style, indomitable will, and eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand.

  Walter Isaacson

  Reality, Hands, Style

  Walter Isaacson (2011). “Steve Jobs”, p.118, Simon and Schuster

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• Bill Knott's poems are . . . rhetorical fluff . . . and fake.

  Ron Loewinsohn

  Fake, Bills, Fluff

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