Unwilling Quotes - Page 7

• I am said to be difficult of acquaintance, unwilling to meet any one half way, and showing a social manner which is easy, not diffident, but formal and unresponsive, tending constantly to hold people off.

  Albert J. Nock

  People, Half, Way

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• Myriads of daisies have shone forth in flower Near the lark's nest, and in their natural hour Have passed away; less happy than the one That by the unwilling ploughshare died to prove The tender charm of poetry and love.

  William Wordsworth

  Love, Flower, Larks

  William Wordsworth (1847). “The Poems of William Wordsworth”, p.356

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• Th' unwilling gratitude of base mankind!

  Alexander Pope

  Gratitude, Mankind

  Alexander Pope, Alexander Dyce (1856). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope”, p.57

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• Excessive distrust is not less hurtfJul than its opposite. Most men become useless to him who is unwilling to risk being deceived.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Men, Opposites, Risk

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• A strange, glazed expression came into his eyes and he staggered around the cabin looking for all the world like a zombie unwilling to take part in an experiment in advanced necromancy.

  Lionel Fanthorpe

  Eye, Expression, Zombie

  John E. Muller, Lionel Fanthorpe, Patricia Fanthorpe (2014). “Dark Continuum”, p.9, Hachette UK

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• It is a common failing-and one that I have myself suffered from-to fall in love with a hypothesis and to be unwilling to take no for an answer. A love affair with a pet hypothesis can waste years of precious time. There is very often no finally decisive yes, though quite often there can be a decisive no.

  Peter Medawar

  Falling In Love, Science, Years

  Peter Brian Medawar (1981). “Advice to a young scientist”

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• You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. I will not insult you by saying that you are dedicated to selfless service--it is not a virtue in my morality. In my morality, the defense of one's country means that a man is personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave of any enemy, foreign or domestic. This is an enormous virtue.

  Ayn Rand

  Country, Mean, Men

  Ayn Rand (1984). “Philosophy: Who Needs It”, p.18, Penguin

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• It’s all about sticking to your plan and experiencing feelings as they arise. If you are unwilling to feel your feelings, the temptation is to avoid them by jumping off your system

  Ed Seykota

  Jumping, Temptation, Feelings

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• The particular egoic patterns that you react to most strongly in others and misperceive as their identity tend to be the same patterns that are also in you, but that you are unable or unwilling to detect within yourself.

  Eckhart Tolle

  Identity, Patterns, Particular

  Eckhart Tolle (2006). “A New Earth (Oprah #61): Awakening to Your Life's Purpose”, p.56, Penguin

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• Old persons are sometimes as unwilling to die as tired-out children are to say good night and go to bed.

  Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

  Good Night, Children, Tired

  unknown

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• The blame for [the national debt]
  lies with the Congress and the President,
  with Democrats and Republicans alike,
  most all of whom have been unwilling
  to make the hard choices or
  to explain to the American people that
  there is no such thing as a free lunch.

  Warren Rudman

  Lying, Government, Lunch

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• Like most human behavior, violence has meaning: it only seems 'senseless' or 'meaningless' to the extent we are unable-or unwilling-to decode it.

  Stephen A. Diamond

  Violence, Existential, Behavior

  Stephen A. Diamond (1996). “Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity”, p.9, SUNY Press

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• Sloth is the desire for ease, even at the expense of doing the known will of God. Whatever we do in life requires effort. Everything we do is to be a means of salvation. The slothful person is unwilling to do what God wants because of the effort it takes to do it. Sloth becomes a sin when it slows down and even brings to a halt the energy we must expend in using the means to salvation.

  John Hardon

  Mean, Effort, Sloth

  John A. Hardon (1989). “Pocket Catholic Catechism”, Image

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• Rules and particular inferences alike are justified by being brought into agreement with each other. A rule is amended if it yields an inference we are unwilling to accept; an inference is rejected if it violates a rule we are unwilling to amend.

  Nelson Goodman

  Yield, Agreement, Justified

  Nelson Goodman (1972). “Problems and projects”

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• Cruise passengers can be blinded to the very real perils of the sea by ship operators unwilling to interrupt the party for security warnings. And after an incident occurs, a thorough investigation can be profoundly difficult when the crime scene literally floats away, on schedule, to its next port of call.

  Chris Shays

  Real, Party, Sea

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• Reading has always been life unwrapped to me, a way of understanding the world and understanding myself through both the unknown and the everyday. If being a parent consists often of passing along chunks of ourselves to unwitting-often unwilling-recipients, then books are, for me, one of the simplest and most sure-fire ways of doing that.

  Anna Quindlen

  Reading, Book, Fire

  Anna Quindlen (2010). “Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public and the Private”, p.114, Ballantine Books

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• It seems to me we have been in a rhetorical arms race in this country, with each side unwilling to lay down its weapons for fear - usually justified - the other side would beat them to a pulp.

  Pat Sajak

  Country, Race, Arms

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• No man achieves great success who is unwilling to make personal sacrifices.

  Napoleon Hill

  Sacrifice, Men, Achieve

  Napoleon Hill (2008). “The Law of Success: The Master Wealth-Builder's Complete and Original Lesson Plan forAchieving Your Dreams”, p.313, Penguin

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• We must not indulge our inclinations, as we do little children, till they grow weary of the thing they are unwilling to let go. We must not continue our sinful practices in hopes that the divine grace will one day overpower our spirits, and make us hate them for their own deformity.

  Henry Scougal

  Letting Go, Children, Hate

  Henry Scougal (1775). “The life of God in the soul of man. Or, The nature and excellency of the Christian religion. And An account of the beginnings and advances of a spiritual life. 2 letters [by H. Scougal. With a preface by G. Burnet].”, p.66

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• Baptism is not to be conferred on a man who is unwilling to give up his other sins, so neither should Baptism be given to one who is unwilling to renounce his unbelief. Nevertheless, each of them receives the Sacrament if it is conferred on him, although not unto salvation.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Giving Up, Men, Baptism

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• I have never on the field of battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. You have been good soldiers. You can be good citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, and the government to which you have surrendered can afford to be and will be magnanimous.

  Nathan Bedford Forrest

  War, Law, Government

  "Farewell address". May 9, 1865.

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• If you can't force or are unwilling to force your people to follow you, with or without threats, you are not a leader.

  Lee Kuan Yew

  Inspiring, People, Leader

  "Success Stories Lee Kuan Yew". DVD, documentary, 2002.

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• I hate it when people call themselves 'entrepreneurs' when what they're really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell of go public, so they can cash in and move on. They're unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business.

  Steve Jobs

  Hate, Real, Moving

  "Playboy Interview: Steve Jobs". Interview With David Sheff, reprints.longform.org. February 1985.

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• The great majority of Americans are suspended between these opposing attitudes. They are uneasy with injustice but unwilling yet to pay a significant price to eradicate it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Attitude, Majority, Pay

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• Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Selfish, Refinement, Busybodies

  "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, Book III, (5), (c. 161 - 180 AD).

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