Shocking Quotes - Page 2

• I don't like that particular word 'shocking.' I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before … I was in a position to take those pictures. I felt an obligation to do them.

  Robert Mapplethorpe

  Unexpected, Obligation, Position

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• we are such inward secret creatures, that inwardness the most amazing thing about us, even more amazing than our reason. but we cannot just walk into the cavern and look around. most of what we think we know about our minds is pseudo-knowledge. we are all such shocking poseurs, so good at inflating the importance of what we think we value.

  Iris Murdoch

  Thinking, Secret, Mind

  Iris Murdoch (1999). “A Severed Head, The Black Prince, The Sea, The Sea”

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• The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich.

  Bertrand Russell

  Should Have, Ideas, Leisure

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “In Praise of Idleness”, p.9, Lulu Press, Inc

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• How shocking must thy summons be, O death, to him that is at ease in his possessions! who, counting on long years of pleasure here, is quite unfurnished for the world to come.

  Robert Blair

  Years, Long, Ease

  Robert Blair (1826). “Sacred poems: comprising The grave, by R. Blair: The last day, by E. Young: Death, by bishop Porteus: and some minor pieces. With memoirs and notes by S. Drew”, p.21

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• If you purposefully look to shock people, it isn't funny. That's what 50 million dollar Hollywood comedies do; try to be shocking and dirty. They aren't really. It isn't enough to shock. It's easy to shock. Real surprise is what I'm after. Those early movies, we had drugs, which you weren't supposed to show. You weren't supposed to shoot up. We would make fun of hippies. I think that we were punk before there was punk.

  John Waters

  Fun, Real, Hippie

  "John Waters Takes It All". Interview with Colleen Kelsey, www.interviewmagazine.com. August 28, 2014.

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• Looking back, I still can't believe how unprofessional the news media was. So much spin, so few hard facts. All those digestible sound bites from an army of 'experts' all contradicting one another, all trying to seem more 'shocking' and 'in-depth' than the last one. It was all so confusing, nobody seemed to know what to do.

  Max Brooks

  Believe, Army, Media

  Max Brooks (2006). “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War”, p.122, Broadway Books

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• I think it is shocking that 15- and 16-year-olds leave school unable to add up and with the reading ability of a four-year-old.

  Joan Collins

  Reading, School, Thinking

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• Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.

  Richard Branson

  Inspirational, Business, Opportunity

  FaceBook post by Richard Branson from May 09, 2016

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• If something is shocking without being funny it's hard to justify.

  Seth MacFarlane

  Justify, Being Funny, Hard

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• 

  Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

  Richard Branson

  Inspirational, Success, Business

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• Emma was a shocking driver, simultaneously sloppy and petrified, and for the first fifty miles had been absent-mindedly driving with her spectacles on top of her contact lenses so that other traffic loomed menacingly out of nowhere like alien space cruisers.

  David Nicholls

  Space, Lenses, Fifty

  David Nicholls (2009). “One Day”, p.236, Hachette UK

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• I am shocking, impertinent and insolent that's how it is.

  Brigitte Bardot

  Insolent

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• Watching them, she realized they made so much sense together. Every look, every touch, was a reassurance, almost electric, as if they were shocking each other with every contact.

  Sarah Addison Allen

  Together, Looks, Reassurance

  Sarah Addison Allen (2011). “The Peach Keeper: A Novel”, p.212, Bantam

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• It does not do to rely too much on silent majorities, Evey, for silence is a fragile thing, one loud noise, and its gone. But the people are so cowed and disorganised. A few might take the opportunity to protest, but it'll just be a voice crying in the wilderness. Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap. Our masters have not heard the people's voice for generations, Evey and it is much, much louder than they care to remember.

  Alan Moore

  Opportunity, Voice, People

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• I'd rather get a good clean laugh with good material, than an easy laugh by swearing or shocking. That's not clever or comedic, anybody can get a laugh that way, it's too easy.

  Jim Dale

  Clever, Laughing, Way

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

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• There is a strong tendency to get used to and accept very bad things that would be shocking if seen with fresh eyes.

  Ray Dalio

  Strong, Eye, Would Be

  "Ray Dalio eclipses George Soros as most successful fund manager" by Simon Goodley, www.theguardian.com. March 09, 2012.

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• The golden rule for every business man is this: 'Put yourself in your customer's place.'

  Orison Swett Marden

  Success, Leadership, Business

  Orison Swett Marden (1907). “The Optimistic Life”

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• When I watch Mad Men and I see the patronising attitudes to women that are so shocking for all of us to watch now, I feel that I've lived and see the same evolution in this regard around disability.

  Aimee Mullins

  Attitude, Men, Mad

  "US Paralympics TV coverage disappointing, says chef de mission" by Amelia Gentleman, www.theguardian.com. August 31, 2012.

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• There are matters in the Bible, said to be done by the express commandment of God, that are shocking to humanity and to every idea we have of moral justice.

  Thomas Paine

  Motivation, Ideas, Justice

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• There is a one woman in China that claimed she paid $50 to get my e-mail address. It was pretty shocking. I got one this morning from Scotland. A girl's requesting a signed photo of me.

  Michael Phelps

  Girl, Sports, Morning

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• What people can survive and what they don't survive is shocking to me. Someone can go to Iraq and be blown to bits and survive. Someone can trip and fall on the street and they die - that's that.

  Laura Linney

  Fall, Iraq, People

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• Vanity is the healthiest thing in life.

  Karl Lagerfeld

  Vanity, Things In Life

  "Did I say that?" by John Hind, www.theguardian.com. January 24, 2009.

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• I am not a second option person. It is that or nothing. If it is not the way I see it I prefer not to see it.

  Karl Lagerfeld

  Way, Persons, Ifs

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• I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Science, Literature, Logic

  Arthur Conan Doyle (2016). “The Sign of the Four”, p.21, Arthur Conan Doyle

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• Star Trek?” I asked her. “Really?” “What?” she demanded, bending unnaturally black eyebrows together. “There are two kinds of people in the universe, Molly,” I said. “Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans. This is shocking.” She sniffed. “This is the post-nerd-closet world, Harry. It’s okay to like both.” “Blasphemy and lies,” I said.

  Jim Butcher

  Stars, War, Lying

  Jim Butcher (2011). “Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files”, p.391, Penguin

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