Traits Quotes - Page 20

• Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. Bush had strong nerves. Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

  Fred Barnes

  Strong, People, Decision

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• The compulsion to do good is an innate American trait. Only North Americans seem to believe that they always should, may, and actually can choose somebody with whom to share their blessings. Ultimately this attitude leads to bombing people into the acceptance of gifts.

  Ivan Illich

  Attitude, Believe, Acceptance

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• Havin' fun while freedom fightin' must be one of those lunatic Texas traits we get from the water - which is known to have lithium in it - because it goes all the way back to Sam Houston, surely the most lovable, the most human, and the funniest of all the great men this country has ever produced.

  Molly Ivins

  Country, Fun, Men

  "The Fun’s in the Fight" by Molly Ivins, www.motherjones.com. May/June 1993.

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• No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place.

  Meir Kahane

  Revenge, Justified, Right Time

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• Girls especially are fond of exchanging confidences with those whom they think they can trust; it is one of the most charming traits of a simple, earnest-hearted girlhood, and they are the happiest women who never lose it entirely.

  Lucy Larcom

  Girl, Simple, Thinking

  Lucy Larcom (1961). “A New England girlhood”

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• You always try to do your own thing. One of the things I wanted to do was to write a book that combines some of the best traits of contemporary fantasy with some of the traits of the historical novel.

  George R. R. Martin

  Book, Writing, Historical Novels

  "Fantasy Author George R.R. Martin: Blood of Bayonne". Interview with Joanna Buffum and Dylan Runco, njmonthly.com. March 15, 2013.

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• I see nothing wrong with the human trait to desire. In fact, I consider it integral to our success mechanism. Becoming attached to what we desire is what causes the trouble. If you must have it in order to be happy, then you are denying the happiness of the here and now.

  Peter McWilliams

  Happiness, Success, Order

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• Stubborness we deprecate,
  Firmness we condone,
  The former is our neighbors trait,
  The latter is our own.

  John Wooden

  Neighbor, Stubbornness, Firmness

  John Wooden, Jack Tobin, Bill Walton (2004). “They Call Me Coach”, McGraw Hill Professional

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• This leads us to note down in our psychological chart of the mass-man of today two fundamental traits: the free expansion of his vital desires, and, therefore, of his personality; and his radical ingratitude towards all that has made possible the ease of his existence. These traits together make up the well-known psychology of the spoilt child.

  Jose Ortega y Gasset

  Children, Men, Two

  Jose Ortega Y Gasset (1960). “the Revolt of the Masses”

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• And I think it's because good cons are all based on the victim's need, and the successful con artist is the one, I guess, who can exploit that. I remember reading something about this, that one of the great traits of confidence tricksters is the level that they flatter their victim.

  Alfred Molina

  Reading, Successful, Artist

  Interview With Sam Adams, film.avclub.com. October 29, 2009.

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• After a certain age, the more one becomes oneself, the more obvious one's family traits become.

  Marcel Proust

  Age, Certain, Obvious

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• Humility is not a trait I often associate with America.

  Mira Nair

  Humility, America, Associates

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• The brain is not a bag of traits. It's startlingly complex. There are few or no single genes with a consistent effect on the mind.

  Steven Pinker

  Brain, Mind, Bags

  "Will Genetic Engineering Kill Us?" by Mark Baard, www.wired.com. April 16, 2003.

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• I never did any training in journalism or in finance, so I really was in the deep end. I got very good at going to press conferences and nodding. I'd figure it out when I got back to the office. Charts and numbers. I've never been great with facts, ever, my whole life. For a journalist, that's not a very good trait.

  Sophie Kinsella

  Numbers, Office, Training

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• Perhaps nothing is so depressing an index of the inhumanity of the male-supremacist mentality as the fact that the more genial human traits are assigned to the underclass: affection, response to sympathy, kindness, cheerfulness.

  Kate Millett

  Depressing, Kindness, Males

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• All children mythologise their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know someone? Heart, mind and soul? Ask him to tell you about when he was born. What you get won’t be the truth: it will be a story. And nothing is more telling than a story.

  Diane Setterfield

  Children, Heart, Soul

  Diane Setterfield (2007). “The Thirteenth Tale”, p.32, Simon and Schuster

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• Love brings to light a lover's noble and hidden qualities-his rare and exceptional traits: it is thus liable to be deceptive of his normal qualities.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Light, Quality, Noble

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• By definition, love made you better than good enough; it redefined perfection to include your traits, instead of excluding them.

  Jodi Picoult

  Perfection, Definitions, Good Enough

  Jodi Picoult (2009). “Handle with Care: A Novel”, p.475, Simon and Schuster

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• Humility is a fantastic trait and is one of the most important things we can have

  Dennis Prager

  Humility, Important, Fantastic

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• Gentleness is an active trait, describing the manner in which we should treat others. Meekness is a passive trait, describing the proper Christian response when others mistreat us.

  Jerry Bridges

  Christian, Should, Treats

  Jerry Bridges (2016). “The Practice of Godliness”, p.181, NavPress

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• Emo means different things to different people. Actually, that's a massive understatement. Emo seems solely to mean different things to different people—Like pig latin or books by Thomas Pynchon, confusion is one of its hallmark traits.

  Andy Greenwald

  Emo, Latin, Book

  Andy Greenwald (2003). “Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo”, p.1, Macmillan

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• Every year I try to grow as a player and not get stuck in a rut. I try to improve my game in every way possible. But that trait is not something I've worked on, it's part of me.

  Lionel Messi

  Player, Years, Games

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• the heart of religion is not altered states but altered traits of character. For me, then, the test of a substance's religious worth or validity is not what kind of far-out experience it can produce, but is the life improved by its use? That's the test. Now, on that score, if you remove the "religious cocoon," the experiences don't seem to have much in the way of discernible, traceable effects.

  Huston Smith

  Religious, Heart, Character

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• Understand: you are one of a kind. Your character traits are a kind of chemical mix that will never be repeated in history. There are ideas unique to you, a specific rhythm and perspective that are your strengths, not your weaknesses. You must not be afraid of your uniqueness and you must care less and less what people think of you.

  Robert Greene

  Character, Unique, Thinking

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• Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered. I think one of the reasons that we are counseled to get married early in life is to avoid developing inappropriate character traits that are hard to change.

  Richard G. Scott

  Selfish, Character, Thinking

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