Unlikely Quotes - Page 16

As long as the peace-makers are armed with assault rifles, it's highly unlikely we'll ever have peace.

Wayne Gerard Trotman

Long, Rifles, Makers

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We should always keep an open mind about any new phenomenon in nature. To merely say that's impossible, therefore it doesn't exist, is to commit a serious error. A much better approach would be to say That's quite unlikely, but show me the evidence you have that says that it may be so. It would be the height of arrogance to think that man knows everything possible about the Universe or the Earth. There are many things yet to be discovered, and that is why we have scientific research (or any kind of research). That should be the rationalist's approach to parapsychology and the occult.

Gordon Stein

Men, Thinking, Errors

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You can never be absolutely certain that anything doesn't exist. But you can show that it's unlikely.

Richard Dawkins

Certain, Shows

The Hugh Hewitt Show, www.hughhewitt.com. October 20, 2009.

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Mark Twain was so good with crowds that he became, in competition with singers and dancers and actors and acrobats, one of the most popular performers of his time. It is so unusual, and so psychologically unlikely, too, for a great writer to be a great performer, too.

Kurt Vonnegut

Writing, Dancer, Competition

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It is unlikely that someone could proclaim "truths" that are counter to physical laws for very long (for example, that it is healthy for children to run around in bathing suits in winter and in fur coats in summer) without appearing ridiculous. But it is perfectly normal to speak of the necessity of striking and humiliating children and robbing them of their autonomy, at the same time using such high-sounding words as chastising, upbringing, and guiding onto the right path.

Alice Miller

Summer, Running, Children

Alice Miller (2002). “For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence”, p.16, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the Gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether. Also those who have worshipped their own kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of God.

Sallust

Kings, Believe, Punishment

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Where religion is trivialized, one is unlikely to find persecution.

Charles Krauthammer

Persecution

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You know why men make more money than women? Because, in the unlikely event that we're both on the Titanic and it starts to sink, for some reason, you get to leave with the kids and I have
to stay - that's why I get the dollar more an hour.

Bill Burr

Kids, Men, Events

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America is built around this premise that you can do it, and there are an awful lot of people who are unlikely to have done it who did.

Michael Bloomberg

America, People, Done

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Often it was the most unlikely people who found within themselves a spark of something greater. It was probably always there, but most people are never tested, and they go through their whole lives without ever knowing that when things are at their worst, they are at their best.

Jonathan Maberry

Knowing, People, Sparks

Jonathan Maberry (2011). “Rot and Ruin”, p.201, Simon and Schuster

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I started off believing all men were equal. I now know that's the most unlikely thing ever to have been... But by observation, reading, watching, arguing, asking, that is the conclusion I've come to.

Lee Kuan Yew

Bullying, Reading, Believe

"Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas". Book by Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez and Sumiko Tan, 1998.

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Anything at all is possible. Some things are unlikely. Some things will never happen. But they always could, at any time.

Ashly Lorenzana

Happens

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The idea that we are alone in the universe seems to me completely implausible and arrogant, considering the number of planets and stars that we know exist, it's extremely unlikely that we are the only form of evolved life.

Stephen Hawking

Stars, Ideas, Numbers

"'I’m an Atheist’: Stephen Hawking on God and Space Travel". El Mundo Interview with Pablo Jauregui, www.nbcnews.com. September 23, 2014.

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Removing the faults in a stage-coach may produce a perfect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car.

Edward de Bono

Perfect, Car, May

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So my antagonist said, "Is it impossible that there are flying saucers? Can you prove that it's impossible?" "No," I said, "I can't prove it's impossible. It's just very unlikely." At that he said, "You are very unscientific. If you can't prove it impossible then how can you say that it's unlikely?" But that is the way that is scientific. It is scientific only to say what is more likely and what less likely, and not to be proving all the time the possible and impossible.

Richard P. Feynman

Possible And Impossible, Flying, Way

"The Character of Physical Law". Book by Richard P. Feynman, 1965.

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Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.

Noam Chomsky

Leadership, Believe, Responsibility

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It is most unlikely. But--here comes the big "but"--not impossible.

Roald Dahl

Life, Magic, Impossible

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I guess sometimes the greatest memories are made in the most unlikely of places, further proof that spontaneity is more rewarding than a meticulously planned life.

J.A. Redmerski

Memories, Sometimes, Spontaneity

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If all people are unique, and if they are constantly changing each and every day, then all one can say about any social research finding is that it applied to that group of people on that given day, and given the propensity of humans to be different and to change, then it is unlikely that one would get the same results if one were to repeat the study.

Wayne Dyer

Change, Unique, People

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No storyteller has been able to dream up anything as fantastically unlikely as what really does happen in this mad Universe.

Robert A. Heinlein

Dream, Science, Mad

Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.41, Penguin

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Miracles are instantaneous, they cannot be summoned, but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them.

Katherine Anne Porter

Character, Angel, Miracle

Ship of Fools pt. 3 (1962)

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An IPO is like a negotiated transaction - the seller chooses when to come public - and it's unlikely to be a time that's favourable to you.

Warren Buffett

Transactions, Sellers

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How different things might be if, rather than saying "I think I'm in love," we were saying "I've connected with someone in a way that makes me think I'm on the way to knowing love." Or if instead of saying "I am in love" we say "I am loving" or "I will love." Our patterns around romantic love are unlikely to change if we do not change our language.

Bell Hooks

Romantic Love, Thinking, Knowing Love

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It would seem unlikely that a manufacturer of short-lived paperboard boxes could make the slightest cultural impact upon his time. But the facts show that if even the humblest product is designed, manufactured, and distributed with a sense of human values and with a taste for quality, the world will recognize the presence of a creative force.

Herbert Bayer

Impact, Creative, Quality

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As is typical of this God [of Israel], he calls his people into freedom in the most unlikely place.

Mark Galli

Israel, People, Typical

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