Shambles Quotes

• What’s any artist, but the dregs of his work?

  William Gaddis

  Artist, Dregs

  William Gaddis (2002). “The Rush for Second Place: Essays and Occasional Writings”, p.93, Penguin

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• Every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.

  William James

  Lonely, Agony, Individual

  William James (2015). “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, p.158, Booklassic

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• The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact.

  William James

  Insanity, Vision, Facts

  William James (2015). “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, p.158, Booklassic

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• Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it.

  Jamie Lee Curtis

  Recovery, Acceptance, Life Is

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• My life is in shambles. It is crazy. It couldn't get any crazier. I'm just trying to stay sane.

  Barry Bonds

  Crazy, Trying, Life Is

  "In Interview, Bonds Says His Life Is a `Shambles'". articles.latimes.com. March 28, 2006.

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• The present system of protecting NHS patients was a bit of a shambles.

  Frank Dobson

  Nhs, Patient, Bits

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• I applied for a job at Starbucks. One of the questions was, 'Why do you want to work at Starbucks?' Uh, because my life is in shambles.

  Hannibal Buress

  Jobs, Want, Life Is

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• 

  I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can't truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.

  Zig Ziglar

  Motivational, Success, Business

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• Gross and obscure natures, however decorated, seem impure shambles; but character gives splendor to youth, and awe to wrinkled skin and gray hairs.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Nature, Character, Hair

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2009). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.118, Courier Corporation

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• Students of history are horror-struck at the massacres of old; but in the shambles, men are being murdered to-day.

  Herman Melville

  Men, Students, Horror

  Herman Melville (1855). “Mardi: And a Voyage Thither”, p.241

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• It's important for me to have hope because that's my job as a parent, to have hope, for my kids, that we're not going to leave them in a world that's in shambles, that's a chaotic place, that's a dangerous place.

  James Cameron

  Jobs, Kids, Parent

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• What's any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around. What's left of the man when the work's done but a shambles of apology.

  William Gaddis

  Apology, Artist, Men

  "The Letters of William Gaddis edited by Steven Moore - review" by Robert Potts, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2013.

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• The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.

  William James

  Lonely, Civilization, Agony

  William James (2015). “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, p.158, Booklassic

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• Out yonder they may curse, revile, and torture one another, defile all the human instincts, make a shambles of creation (if it were in their power), but here, no, here, it is unthinkable, here there is abiding peace, the peace of God, and the serene security created by a handful of good neighbors living at one with the creature world.

  Henry Miller

  Peace, May, Abiding

  Henry Miller (1957). “Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch”, p.404, New Directions Publishing

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• A minute analysis of life at once destroys that splendor which dazzles the imagination. Whatsoever grandeur can display, or luxury enjoy, is procured by offices of which the mind shrinks from the contemplation. All the delicacies of the table may be traced back to the shambles and the dunghill; all magnificence of building was hewn from the quarry, and all the pomp of ornament dug from among the damps and darkness of the mine.

  Samuel Johnson

  Life, Luxury, Imagination

  Samuel Johnson, Hester Lynch Piozzi, James Boswell (1804). “The beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: consisting of maxims and observations, moral, critical, and miscellaneous: to which are now added biographical anecdotes of the doctor, selected from the works of Mrs. Piozzi;--his Life, recently published by Mr. Boswell, and other authentic testimonies; also his will, and the sermon he wrote for the late Doctor Dodd”

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• Market moralities and mentalities-- fueled by economic imperatives to make a profit at nearly any cost-- yield unprecedented levels of loneliness, isolation, and sadness. And our public life lies in shambles, shot through with icy cynicism and paralyzing pessimism. To put it bluntly, beneath the record-breaking stock markets on Wall Street and bipartisan budget-balancing deals in the White House lurk ominous clouds of despair across this nation.

  Cornel West

  Wall, Loneliness, Lying

  Cornel West (1998). “Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America”, G K Hall & Company

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• We know about General John Kelly's military experience and his record there and being a decorated veteran of combat over in Iraq in particular. In fact, that's where I first met him was when Ramadi was shot to shambles during the surge era. We took a ride around there, even a minaret was shot in half and he pointed to that and said we were taking fire from that minaret. My son took that down with a 20 milimeter cannon. That's my first impression of John Kelly.

  Steve King

  Military, Son, Iraq

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• In his second term, [Ronald] Reagan completed the work of his first term - the rich got really rich, everything was deregulated, advocacy programs were quashed, the Savings and Loan program was trashed, the deficit was tripled, unions were busted, Housing and Urban Developing was in shambles, banks were closing, the military got lots of new toys, the religious right was strong, and AIDS was ignored.

  Kate Clinton

  Religious, Strong, Military

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• The second half was easy to sum up - and absolute shambles! 
  (on England losing to Denmark 4-1)

  Alan Hansen

  Scotland, Half, Denmark

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• Yes, I know,’ she said in answer to the unasked, for there was no time for explanations. ‘Yes. My face is spoilt.’ Grandible’s jowl wobbled and creased. Then, for the first time that Neverfell could remember, he changed to a Face she had never seen before, a frown more ferocious and alarming than either of the others. ‘Who the shambles told you that?’ he barked. ‘Spoilt? I’ll spoil them.’ He took hold of her chin and examined her. ‘A bit sadder, maybe. A bit wiser. But nothing rotten. You’re just growing yourself a rind at last. Still a good cheese.

  Frances Hardinge

  Rotten, Answers, Growing

  Frances Hardinge (2012). “A Face Like Glass”, p.307, Pan Macmillan

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• Zimbabwe is a lost country. There is no money in Zimbabwe, everything stands still. The economy of the country is in shambles, the inflation is the highest in this world.

  Thomas Mapfumo

  Country, Zimbabwe, World

  Source: www.sbs.com.au

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• Funny bones, to me, are more important than funny lines. If a comedian is just not likable and doing the lines, you could read them yourself. Whereas if someone [you like] shambles out, and they tell you what a bad day they've had, they don't have to say anything. I love them. I want to hug them because they've been through something. And it comes back to empathy, always empathy.

  Ricky Gervais

  Bad Day, Empathy, Comedian

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• I'M SAD, because another young life was lost from his family, the racial divide has widened, a community is in shambles, accusations, insensitivity hurt and hatred are boiling over, and we may never know the truth about what happened that day.

  Benjamin Watson

  Hurt, Racism, Community

  Benjamin Watson (2015). “Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race. Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us.”, p.15, NavPress

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• Its contempt for citizens ... is so routine, and so unlimited, that the agency has become a kind of Frankenstein, running wild and terrorizing Americans at will. The IRS hypocritically requires mistake-free returns when its own books are in shambles. It demands exorbitant sums of money without regard to the accuracy of its claims. It doesn't hesitate to use every possible maneuver to get what it wants, sometimes destroying businesses -- and lives -- in the process.

  James Bovard

  Running, Mistake, Book

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• about ten days ago I got started on a new book, and am completely, brazenly devoted to it: my hair is uncut, my letters are unwritten, the house is a shambles, and I sit here as happy as Mrs. Jellaby, though I am in 1836, not Africa. It won't go on like this, I shall fall over some obstacle, and wake out of my dreams with a black eye and broken shins: but while it does last, I daren't interrupt it. I haven't had such a spell of writing for nearly three years.

  Sylvia Townsend Warner

  Dream, Book, Fall

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