Terrible Things Quotes - Page 2

• What a terrible thing could be freedom. Trees were free when they were uprooted by the wind; ships were free when they were torn from their moorings; men were free when they were cast out of their homes—free to starve, free to perish of cold and hunger.

  Radclyffe Hall

  Home, Men, Wind

  Radclyffe Hall (2016). “The Well Of Loneliness”, p.273, Radclyffe Hall

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• This is the gift of your species and this is the danger, because you do not choose to control your imaginings. You imagine wonderful things and you imagine terrible things, and you take no responsibility for the choice. You say you have inside you both the power of good and the power of evil, the angel and the devil, but in truth you have just one thing inside you - the ability to imagine.

  Michael Crichton

  Responsibility, Angel, Evil

  Michael Crichton (2012). “Sphere”, p.335, Vintage

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• You'll see, you'll come to understand. These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life.

  Benedict Freedman

  Important, Goes On, Littles

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• Some may say that such a girl is not ready for a relationship with a man, especially a man in his late sixties. But to that I say: We don't know anything. We don't know how to cure a cold or what dogs are thinking. We do terrible things, we make wars, we kill people out of greed. So who are we to say how to love. I wouldn't force her. I wouldn't have to. She would want me. We would be in love. What do you know. You don't know anything. Call me when you've cured AIDS, give me a ring then and I'll listen.

  Miranda July

  Girl, Dog, War

  Miranda July (2008). “No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories”, p.43, Simon and Schuster

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• People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying school masters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years. Above all -- we were wet.

  Frank McCourt

  Mother, Bullying, Father

  Frank McCourt (1999). “Angela's Ashes: A Memoir”, p.11, Simon and Schuster

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• If you follow the will of God, you know that in spite of all the terrible things that happen to you, you will never lose a final refuge. You know that the foundation of the world is love, so that even when no human being can or will help you, you may go on, trusting in the One that loves you.

  Pope Benedict XVI

  Love You, Catholic, Foundation

  Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger (2007). “Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration”, p.38, Image

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• It's hard for me to talk about the terrible things that have happened in my lifetime because they didn't need to be.

  Tillie Olsen

  Needs, Lifetime, Terrible

  Source: progressive.org

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• Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.

  Ron Paul

  Believe, Government, Safety

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• Bullying is a terrible, terrible thing.

  Robert Carlyle

  Bullying, Terrible

  "Taking it seriously". Interview with Libby Brooks, www.theguardian.com. July 28, 2000.

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• When leading evangelicals say terrible things about Islam, evil things about Islam, terrible things about Muhammad, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

  Tony Campolo

  Evil, Islam, Muhammad

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• It's a terrible thing to go through life thinking that you have a rock on your side when you haven't.

  Maria Callas

  Thinking, Rocks, Your Side

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• When I'm back in New York - and this is a terrible thing to complain about - I eat a lot more really, really good food than perhaps I'd like to. So many of my friends are really good chefs. It's kind of like being in the Mafia.

  Anthony Bourdain

  New York, Mafia, Complaining

  Interview with Sean O'Neal, www.avclub.com. January 8, 2008.

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• Death is a companion for all of us, whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we're aware of it or not, and it's not necessarily a terrible thing.

  Alan Ball

  Companion, Terrible, Acknowledge

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• I was doing a terrible thing in using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point! What traitors books can be! You think they're backing you up, and then they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives.

  Ray Bradbury

  Book, Thinking, Hands

  "Fahrenheit 451". Book by Ray Bradbury, 1953.

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• It is a sad thing to want for happiness, but it is a terrible thing to see another groping about blindly for it, when it is almost within the grasp.

  Theodore Dreiser

  Want, Terrible, Sad Things

  Theodore Dreiser (2016). “Sister Carrie”, p.181, Theodore Dreiser

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• For me, Art is the restoration of order. It may discuss all sort of terrible things, but there must be satisfaction at the end. A little bit of hunger, but also satisfaction.

  Toni Morrison

  Art, Order, Restoration

  Interview with Don Swaim, 1987.

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• I think it's a shame when you come across young actors and musicians who haven't had the time to learn their craft. It doesn't matter if it's acting or music, you really have to learn how to do it from the bottom up because unless you have a great work ethic... fame is a terrible thing to have.

  Denis Leary

  Thinking, Work Ethic, Acting

  "The End of Rescue Me, But Not Denis Leary". Interview with Nancy Doyle Palmer, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 6, 2011.

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• It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.

  Helen Keller

  Inspirational, Motivational, Vision

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• Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.

  Erica Jong

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  FaceBook post by Erica Jong from Oct 18, 2014

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• Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.

  Hypatia

  Children, Pain, Believe

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• It's a terrible thing for a book, when you feel like you're supposed to like it.

  Lev Grossman

  Book, Like You, Terrible

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• I'm not denying that monopolies are terrible things, but I am denying that it is readily easy to resolve them through legislation of that nature.

  Alan Greenspan

  Easy, Legislation, Monopoly

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• The terrible thing about the quest for truth is that you find it.

  Remy de Gourmont

  Wisdom, Truth, Quests

  Remy de Gourmont (1920). “Philosophic Nights in Paris”

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• She walked quickly through the darkness with the frank stride of someone who was at least certain that the forest, on this damp and windy night, contained strange and terrible things and she was it.

  Terry Pratchett

  Night, Darkness, Forests

  "Wyrd Sisters". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1988.

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• Authors also create lovable, friendly characters, then proceed to do terrible things to them, like throw them in unsightly librarian-controlled dungeons. This makes readers feel hurt and worried for the characters. The simple truth is that authors like making people squirm. If this weren't the case, all novels would be filled completely with cute bunnies having birthday parties.

  Brandon Sanderson

  Cute, Hurt, Party

  Brandon Sanderson (2016). “Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians”, p.164, Macmillan

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