Solemnity Quotes - Page 2

• Among other things I think humor is a shield, a weapon, a survival kit. So here we are several billion of us, crowded into our global concentration camp for the duration. How are we to survive? Solemnity is not the answer, any more than witless and irresponsible frivolity is. I think our best chance lies in humor, which in this case means a wry acceptance of our predicament. We don't have to like it but we can at least recognize its ridiculous aspects, one of which is ourselves.

  Ogden Nash

  Lying, Mean, Acceptance

  "A Gleeful Splash of Ogden Nash" by Jonathan Yardley, www.washingtonpost.com. May 08, 2005.

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• There is a two-fold solemnity which belongs to the dying hour-it is the winding up of life, and it is the commencement of eternity.

  Frederick William Robertson

  Two, Dying, Eternity

  Frederick William Robertson (1880). “"The Human Race" and Other Sermons: Preached at Cheltenham, Oxford, and Brighton”

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• From what cause the rite of baptism first proceeded is not expressed formally in the scripture, but it may be probably thought to be an imitation of the law of Moses concerning leprosy, wherein the leprous man was commanded to be kept out of the camp of Israel for a certain time, after which time being judged by the priest to be clean, he was admitted into the camp after a solemn washing. And this may therefore be a type of the washing in baptism, wherein such men as are cleansed of the leprosy of Sin by Faith, are received into the church with the solemnity of baptism.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Men, Israel, Law

  Thomas Hobbes (2008). “Leviathan”, p.357, Simon and Schuster

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• In the end, only God can see the heart of an individual and distinguish the difference between legalistic deadweight and the passion of holy solemnity.

  Criss Jami

  Passion, Heart, Differences

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.35, Criss Jami

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• There is a difference between a private devotional life and a corporate one. Solemnity is proper in church, but things that are proper in church are not necessarily proper outside, and vice versa.

  C. S. Lewis

  Differences, Church, Vices

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• It is impossible to tell you the perfect sweetness of the lips and closed eyes, nor the solemnity of the seal of death which is set upon the whole figure. It is, in every way, perfect--truth itself, but truth selected with inconceivable refinement of feeling.

  John Ruskin

  Eye, Perfect, Feelings

  John Ruskin (1903). “The Works of John Ruskin”

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• Life is serious all the time, but living cannot be. You may have all the solemnity you wish in your neckties, but in anything important (such as sex, death, and religion), you must have mirth or you will have madness.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Sex, Wish, Important

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• When compiling his great dictionary, the young Noah Webster travels to the Himalayas, where he climbs to the cave of the world's wises man. 'O, great sage,' he says, 'tell me the meaning of life.' The sage sits Noah at his feet and, with great solemnity, commences to unfold the meaning of life. When finished, he places a hand on the young man's shoulder and says, 'Do you have any other questions, my son?' Noah flips a page in his notebook and says, 'You wouldn't know the meaning of lift, would you?'

  Robert Breault

  Life, Notebook, Son

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• You don't really have to believe what you write in a blog for more than the moment when you're writing it. You don't bring the same solemnity that you would bring to an actual essay.

  Nora Ephron

  Believe, Writing, Moments

  Nora Ephron (2015). “Nora Ephron: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations”, p.55, Melville House

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• The most innocent man, pressed by the awful solemnities of public accusation and trial, many be incapable of supporting his own cause. He may be utterly unfit to cross-examine the witnesses against him, to point out the contradictions or defects of their testimony. And to counteract it by properly introducing it and applying his own.

  William Rawle

  Men, Innocent Man, Trials

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• All kinds of performance practices have a certain register of power or solemnity.

  Theaster Gates

  Practice, Kind, Certain

  "Theaster Gates’ Monastic Orders". Interview with Ann Binlot, www.interviewmagazine.com. September 22, 2014.

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• The preternatural solemnity of a good many of the professionally religious is to me a point against them.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Religious, Good Man

  Alfred North Whitehead, Lucien Price (2001). “Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead”, p.59, David R. Godine Publisher

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• Every day our garments become more assimilated to ourselves, receiving the impress of the wearer's character, until we hesitate tolay them aside without such delay and medical appliances and some such solemnity even as our bodies.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Character, Receiving, Delay

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.16, Simon and Schuster

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• In self-examination, take no account of yourself by your thoughts and resolutions in the days of religion and solemnity; examine how it is with you in the days of ordinary conversation and in the circumstances of secular employment.

  Jeremy Taylor

  Self, Ordinary, Employment

  Jeremy Taylor (1851). “Readings for every day in Lent”, p.45

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• The tragic solemnity of existence strikes us with terrible force on that morning when we wake to find the mournful words "too late" ringing in our ears.

  Henri Frederic Amiel

  Morning, Too Late, Ears

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• Solemnity and a complete absence of irony also mark kitsch.

  Denis Dutton

  Kitsch, Irony, Absence

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• Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies. The law of contrasts is one of the laws of beauty. Under the conditions of our climate, shadow gives light its worth; sternness enhances mildness; solemnity, splendor. Varying proportions of size support and subserve one another.

  Sophie Swetchine

  Light, Law, Giving

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• Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes are generally honest. Complete solemnity is almost always dishonest. The writer of the snippet merely refers to a frivolous and fugitive fact in a frivolous and fugitive way. The writer of the leading article has to write about a fact he has known for 20 minutes as though he has studied it for 20 years.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Writing, Years, Way

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• The humorous look of children is perhaps the most endearing of all the bonds that hold the Cosmos together. Their top-heavy dignity is more touching than any humility; their solemnity gives us more hope for all things than a thousand carnivals of optimism; their large and lustrous eyes seem to hold all the stars in their astonishment; their fascinating absence of nose seems to give to us the most perfect hint of the humour that awaits us in the kingdom of heaven.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Stars, Children, Humorous

  "The Defendant". Book by G. K. Chesterton, A Defence of Baby-Worship, 1901.

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• Some people write heavily, some write lightly. I prefer the light approach because I believe there is a great deal of false reverence about. There is too much solemnity and intensity in dealing with sacred matters; too much speaking in holy tones.

  C. S. Lewis

  Believe, Writing, Light

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• The truth is that it is our attitude towards children that is right, and our attitude towards grown-up people that is wrong. Our attitude towards our equals in age consists in a servile solemnity, overlying a considerable degree of indifference or disdain. Our attitude towards children consists in a condescending indulgence, overlying an unfathomable respect.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Children, Attitude, People

  "The Defendant". Book by G. K. Chesterton, 1901.

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• Happy is the house that shelters a friend! It might well be built, like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day. Happier, if he know the solemnity of that relation, and honor its law! He offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up, like an Olympian, to the great games, where the first- born of the world are the competitors.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Friendship, Law, Games

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1937). “Essays, First and Second Series”, p.65, Jazzybee Verlag

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• I care not for the theoretical symmetry and impregnable logic of your moral code, I care not for the hoary respectability and traditional mysticisms of your theological institutions, I care not for the beauty and solemnity of your rituals and religious ceremonies, I care not even for the reasonableness and unimpeachable fairness of your social ethics,--if it does not turn out better, nobler, truer, men and women,--if it does not add to the world's stock of valuable souls,--if it does not give us a sounder, healthier, more reliable product from this great factory of men--I will have none of it.

  Anna Julia Cooper

  Religious, Men, Giving

  Anna Julia Cooper, Charles C. Lemert, Esme Bhan (1998). “The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper: Including A Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters”, p.187, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Though Americans talk a good deal about the virtue of being serious, they generally prefer people who are solemn over people who are serious. In politics, the rare candidate who is serious, like Adlai Stevenson, is easily overwhelmed by one who is solemn, like General Eisenhower. This is probably because it is hard for most people to recognize seriousness, which is rare, especially in politics, but comfortable to endorse solemnity, which is as commonplace as jogging.

  Russell Baker

  People, Jogging, Serious

  "So This Is Depravity". Book by Russell Baker, 1980.

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• Primitive times are lyrical, ancient times epical, modern times dramatic. The ode sings of eternity, the epic imparts solemnity tohistory, the drama depicts life. The characteristic of the first poetry is ingeniousness, of the second, simplicity, of the third, truth.

  Victor Hugo

  Drama, Epic, History

  Victor Hugo (1909). “The Works of Victor Hugo ...”

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