Traits Quotes - Page 9

• There are many more traits that the climate deniers share with the creationists and Holocaust deniers and others who distort the truth.

  Donald R. Prothero

  Holocaust, Climate, Share

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• One of the most unattractive human traits, and so easy to fall into, is resentment at the sudden shared popularity of a previously private pleasure. Which of us hasn't been annoyed when a band, writer, artist or television series that had been a minority interest of ours has suddenly achieved mainstream popularity? When it was at a cult level we moaned at the philistinism of a world that didn't appreciate it, and now that they do appreciate it we're all resentful and dog-in-the-manger about it.

  Stephen Fry

  Dog, Fall, Artist

  Stephen Fry (2012). “The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography”, p.204, The Overlook Press

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• Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. He must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Character, Men, Suits

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• Listen to me: I never married because I was too easily bored. It's an awful, self-defeating trait to have. It's much better to be too easily interested.

  Rachel Cohn

  Self, Bored, Awful

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• After all the fears, the warnings, after all, a woman's mistakes are different from a girl's. They are written by fire on stone. They are a trait and not an error.

  Janet Fitch

  Girl, Mistake, Fire

  Janet Fitch (2013). “White Oleander”, p.76, Hachette UK

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• I worry that there are people who are put in positions of authority because they're good talkers, but they don't have good ideas. It's so easy to confuse schmoozing ability with talent. Someone seems like a good presenter, easy to get along with, and those traits are rewarded. Well, why is that? They're valuable traits, but we put too much of a premium on presenting and not enough on substance and critical thinking.

  Susan Cain

  Thinking, Ideas, Worry

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• Introversion- along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness- is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living in the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man's world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.

  Susan Cain

  Cousin, Disappointment, Class

  Susan Cain (2012). “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking”, p.12, Penguin UK

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• In this respect fundamentalism has demonic traits. It destroys the humble honesty of the search for truth, it splits the conscience of its thoughtful adherents, and it makes them fanatical because they are forced to suppress elements of truth of which they are dimly aware

  Paul Tillich

  Honesty, Humble, Thoughtful

  Paul Tillich (2012). “Systematic Theology”, p.3, University of Chicago Press

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• No one tells the truth to people they don't actually know, and if they do it is a horrible trait. Everyone wants something smaller, something neater than the truth.

  Ann Patchett

  Want Something, People, Telling The Truth

  Ann Patchett (2012). “State of Wonder”, p.382, A&C Black

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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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• When there are miles to go before we sleep, altered traits are more important than altered states.

  Huston Smith

  Sleep, Important, States

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• The goal of spiritual life is not altered states, but altered traits

  Huston Smith

  Spiritual, Goal, Life Is

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• Mourning is one of the most profound human experiences that it is possible to have... The deep capacity to weep for the loss of a loved one and to continue to treasure the memory of that loss is one of our noblest human traits.

  Edwin S. Shneidman

  Memories, Grief, Loss

  Edwin S. Shneidman (1995). “Voices of Death”, Kodansha Globe

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• It is harder to be a lifter than a bodybuilder...lifting is purely masculine whereas bodybuilding entails feminine traits. Bodybuilding reminds me of a woman getting ready to go somewhere. Can you tell me that greasing your body up and posing in front of a mirror is masculine? A bodybuilder puts strength secondary to his physique, whereas the lifter puts strength foremost because it is more masculine to do so.

  Doug Hepburn

  Workout, Bodybuilding, Mirrors

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• You must give soldiers reasons to have confidence and pride in themselves, in their leaders, and in their units. Only then will you have loyalty. Loyalty was the primary trait I looked for in soldiers.

  George W. Dunaway

  Loyalty, Pride, Army

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• Mental pictures offer us an opportunity to practice new traits and attitudes, which otherwise we could not do. This is possible because again - your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an actual experience and one that is vividly imagined.

  Maxwell Maltz

  Life, Motivational, Attitude

  Maxwell Maltz (2002). “New Psycho-Cybernetics”, p.55, Penguin

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• A man finds room in the few square inches of the face for the traits of all his ancestors; for the expression of all his history, and his wants.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Squares, Expression

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Barbara L. Packer, Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson (2003). “The Conduct of Life”, p.96, Harvard University Press

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• You can't assume that kindness is an inherited trait. It is learned behavior.

  Katie Couric

  Kindness, Assuming, Behavior

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• Familiarity confounds all traits of distinction; interest and prejudice take away the power of judging.

  William Hazlitt

  Justice, Judging, Prejudice

  William Hazlitt (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of William Hazlitt (Illustrated)”, p.1341, Delphi Classics

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• Satan had two conditions [to his plan]: the first was the denial of agency, and the second, that he would have the honor. In other words, something had to be in it for him. And thus he became the father of lies and selfishness. Taking up one's cross and following the Savior means overcoming selfishness; it is a commitment to serve others. Selfishness is one of the baser human traits, which must be subdued and overcome. We torture our souls when we focus on getting rather than giving.

  James E. Faust

  Selfish, Lying, Father

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• The fundamental biological variant is DNA. That is why Mendel's definition of the gene as the unvarying bearer of hereditary traits, its chemical identification by Avery (confirmed by Hershey), and the elucidation by Watson and Crick of the structural basis of its replicative invariance, are without any doubt the most important discoveries ever made in biology. To this must be added the theory of natural selection, whose certainty and full significance were established only by those later theories.

  Jacques Monod

  Science, Dna, Discovery

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• If we justify war, it is because all peoples always justify the traits of which they find themselves possessed, not because war will bear an objective examination of its merits

  Ruth Benedict

  War, Examination, Bears

  Ruth Benedict (1973). “Patterns of Culture”, p.57, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I have been scientifically studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so-called,) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result profoundly humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.

  Mark Twain

  Science, Animal, Men

  Mark Twain (1973). “What Is Man? and Other Philosophical Writings”, p.81, Univ of California Press

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• Genius involves figuring out who you are, and owning yourself. It’s about amplifying your best traits and compensating for the rest. Geniuses grab life by the horns, and persevere amidst setbacks. They take control of their lives, instead of waiting for others to open up doors. In this very important sense, greatness is completely, utterly, made.

  Scott Barry Kaufman

  Greatness, Doors, Waiting

  "Geniuses Are Made, Not Born" by Scott Barry Kaufman, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 15, 2012.

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• Human beings never think for themselves. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion.

  Michael Crichton

  Fear, Thinking, Self

  "The Lost World". Book by Michael Crichton, 1995.

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