Statements Quotes - Page 6

• Whenever you see a sweeping statement that a tremendous amount can come from a very small number of assumptions, you always find that it is false. There are usually a large number of implied assumptions that are far from obvious if you think about them sufficiently carefully.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Thinking, Small Numbers, Assumption

  "The Feynman Lectures on Physics". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 1964.

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• All "if" statements about the past are as dubious as prophecies of the future are. It seems fairly plausible that if Alexander or Ghengis Khan had never been born, some other individual would have filled his place and executed the design of the Hellenic or Mongolic expansion; but the Alexanders of philosophy and religion, of science and art, seem less expendable; their impact seems less determined by economic challenges and social pressures; and they seem to have a much wider range of possibilities to influence the direction, shape and texture of civilizations.

  Arthur Koestler

  Art, Philosophy, Past

  "The Sleepwalkeers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe". Book by Arthur Koestler, 1959.

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• The age calls for simple statements and restatements of simple truths. The prophets of doom are involved, those who would bring light must be clear.

  Lin Yutang

  Simple, Light, Age

  Lin Yutang, (2013). “Between Tears and Laughter”, p.4, Read Books Ltd

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• Magicians and scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangely, live in a world of their own, speak a specialized language and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothing in common with a group of people who often dress strangely, speak a specialized language, live in ... er.

  Terry Pratchett

  Common Sense, People, Magic

  "The Science of Discworld". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1999.

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• What our view of the effectiveness of religion in history does at once make evident as to its nature is--first, its necessary distinction; second, its necessary supremacy. These characters though external have been so essential to its fruitfulness, as to justify the statement that without them religion is not religion. A merged religion and a negligible or subordinate religion are no religion.

  William Ernest Hocking

  Character, Views, Effectiveness

  William Ernest Hocking (1916). “The meaning of God in human experience: philosophic study of religion”

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• Alongside the statement about one man's poison being another man's high, one might as well add that one man's saint can be another man's sore and one man's hero can turn out to be that man's biggest hangup.

  Ken Kesey

  Hero, Men, Saint

  Ken Kesey (1965). “Sometimes a great notion”

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• Be aware of the words that go into your mind, both conscious and unconscious, because words and ideas can be great tools for your mind to use in coming to appropriate decisions. Remember that a statement spoken in spiritual consciousness can contain great spiritual power. Speaking powerful words of love changes things and outer circumstances as well as consciousness itself.

  John Templeton

  Spiritual, Powerful, Ideas

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• I was a student, and as such you generally rely on prior models of how to make art, but these were not satisfying. Then I discovered in photos what had been missing in paintings; namely that they make a terrific variety of statements and have great substance. That is what I wanted to convey to paintings and apply to it.

  Gerhard Richter

  Art, Missing, Technique

  Gerhard Richter, Dietmar Elger, Hans-Ulrich Obrist (2009). “Gerhard Richter: writings 1961-2007”, Distributed Art Pub Inc

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• Grey. It makes no statement whatever; it evokes neither feelings nor associations: it is really neither visible nor invisible. Its inconspicuousness gives it the capacity to mediate, to make visible, in a positively illusionistic way, like a photograph. It has the capacity that no other colour has, to make 'nothing' visible.

  Gerhard Richter

  Art, Giving, Feelings

  Robert Storr, Gerhard Richter (2000). “Gerhard Richter: October 18, 1977”, ABRAMS

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• I said in my earlier book, and find no reason for retracting my statement, that the famous Jewish sense of humour got lost in transit to Israel.

  George Mikes

  Funny, Humorous, Book

  George Mikes (1969). “Coat of Many Colors: Israel”

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• The saying of Protagoras is like the views we have mentioned; he said that man is the measure of all things, meaning simply that that which seems to each man assuredly is. If this is so, it follows that the same thing both is and is not, and is bad and good, and that the contents of all other opposite statements are true, because often a particular thing appears beautiful to some and ugly to others, and that which appears to each man is the measure

  Aristotle

  Beautiful, Men, Views

  Aristotle (2016). “Metaphysics”, p.274, Aristotle

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• There are many true statements about complex topics that are too long to fit on a PowerPoint slide.

  Edward Tufte

  Long, Topics, Slides

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• The force of truth that a statement imparts, then, its prominence among the hordes of recorded observations that I may optionally apply to my own life, depends, in addition to the sense that it is argumentatively defensible, on the sense that someone like me, and someone I like, whose voice is audible and who is at least notionally in the same room with me, does or can possibly hold it to be compellingly true.

  Nicholson Baker

  Sympathy, Voice, Rooms

  Nicholson Baker (2011). “U and I: A True Story”, p.65, Vintage

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• But the fact a person denies that he is theorising is no reason for taking him at his word and failing to investigate what implicit theory is involved in his statements.

  Talcott Parsons

  Facts, Failing, Reason

  Talcott Parsons (1967). “Structure of Social Action”, Free Pr

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• The royal family's existence is a constant reminder of the hollowness of John Major's rhetoric, and idiotic statements by its leading members a constant boost to the republican cause. They're fine opening hospitals. It's when they open their mouths they get into trouble.

  Alastair Campbell

  Mouths, Royal, Causes

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• Mandatory auditor rotation is designed to address a potential conflict of interest between a public company and its auditor. Because an auditor is hired and paid by the public company it audits, the auditor's desire to maintain a good relationship with its client could conflict with its duty to rigorously question the client's financial statements.

  Robert Pozen

  Relationship, Desire, Auditors

  "An Intermediate Approach to the Auditor Rotation Issue" by Robert Pozen, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 9, 2012.

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• I'll say, what makes me happy about making movies is, every once in a while through movies we find a kind of honesty. There's an honesty in fiction that's as effective or even more powerful than the honesty of our lives. We can find something that's genuinely true, like a chemistry between people or a statement that speaks to an audience.

  Shane Black

  Honesty, Powerful, People

  "10 Questions: Shane Black". Interview with Steve Head, www.ign.com. October 21, 2005.

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• When you do have songs where you're going to say something, some kind of statement about cultural or social stuff, that in general people love it. People love to be challenged in that way.

  Catie Curtis

  Song, People, Stuff

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• The 'wisdom of the crowds' is the most ridiculous statement I've heard in my life. Crowds are dumb.

  Drew Curtis

  Dumb, Crowds, Ridiculous

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• I wanted something that had the feel of a complete band and a variety of instrument. Apart from doing the album for musical satisfaction, I felt it was an important statement for other women - showing you don't have to rely on other people to do things for you.

  Danielle Dax

  People, Musical, Important

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• When you look at guys who get recruited, most of the best athletes, they come from poor families. I don't forget. I was a junior looking through my mother's stuff and looked at her bank statement, and we had $30 in the bank.

  Eric Dickerson

  Mother, Athlete, Guy

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• To be sure, American higher education is a diverse ecosystem, comprising institutions of all sizes, price tags, and mission statements.

  Gordon Gee

  Price Tag, Ecosystems, Size

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• In Iran I think nobody loses their job because of making a statement that reflects their opinion. ... From this point of view, conditions in Iran are far better than in many other places in the world.

  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

  Jobs, Thinking, Views

  "Ahmadinejad: 'Future Belongs to Iran'". www.foxnews.com. September 19, 2010.

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• The increasing technicality of the terminology employed is also a serious difficulty. It has become necessary to learn an extensive vocabulary before a book in even a limited department of science can be consulted with much profit. This change, of course, has its advantages for the initiated, in securing precision and concisement of statement; but it tends to narrow the field in which an investigator can labour, and it cannot fail to become, in the future, a serious impediment to wide inductive generalisations.

  Thomas George Bonney

  Book, Science, Vocabulary

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• There can be no ultimate statements science: there can be no statements in science which can not be tested, and therefore none which cannot in principle be refuted, by falsifying some of the conclusions which can be deduced from them.

  Karl Popper

  Science, Principles, Conclusion

  Karl Popper (2005). “The Logic of Scientific Discovery”, p.25, Routledge

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