B Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with B. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
“But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back - fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.”
Source: Why Men Fight: A Method of Abolishing the International Duel
“But if time exists only in my head, and I'm the last human being, it will end with my death. The thought cheers me. I may be in a position to murder time. The big net will tear and fall, with its sad contents, into oblivion. I'm owed some gratitude, but no one after my death will know I murdered time. Really these thoughts are quite meaningless. Things happen, and, like millions of people before me, I look for meaning in them, because my vanity will not allow me to admit that the whole meaning of an event lies in the event itself.”
Source: The Wall
“But if today is really in honor of a hundred children murdered in a war," he said, "is today a day for a thrilling show? The answer is yes, on one condition: that we, the celebrants, are working tirelessly to reduce the stupidity and viciousness of ourselves and of all mankind.”
Source: Cat’s Cradle
“But if today's low-income countries are to move from poverty to an incipient affluence... then none of those factors could make a difference without the rising consumption of fuels and electricity: a decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption during early stages of modern economic development would defy the laws of thermodynamics." (p. 350, italics added)”
Source: Energy and Civilization: A History
“But if two and two and fifty make a million...”
“But if used for retribution, magic is vengeance incarnate.”
Source: Blood Of The Fold
“But if watching the sky is to be his duty, how should he begin? Now and then he has spotted one of the five bright planets or recognized a constellation, but he knows little about the turning of the heavens. When he contemplates the great distances between this and that, and the vast multitude of solitary objects spread over the celestial dome, he cannot fathom how one goes about searching for what is yet unknown.”
Source: The Blind Astronomer's Daughter
“But if we admit God, must we admit Miracle? Indeed, indeed, you have no security against it. That is the bargain. Theology says to you in effect, 'Admit God and with Him the risk of a few miracles, and I in return will ratify your faith in uniformity as regards the overwhelming majority of events.”
“But if we are all God’s children, why does God spend so much time in history ordering one branch of his universal family to wipe out another branch? Why did his love for his Jewish children have to be expressed by the extermination of his Palestinian children? Why did he later abandon his Jewish children in favour of his Christian children and encourage his new favourites to torment their older siblings? Why did he order his Muslim children who worship him as One to persecute his pagan children who worship him as Many? Why is there so much violence in religious history, all done by groups who claim God is on their side?
Unless you are prepared to believe that God actually plays favourites like some kind of demented tyrant, then there are only two ways out of this dilemma. The obvious one is to decide that there is no God. What is called God is a human invention used, among other things, to justify humankind’s love of violence and hatred of strangers. Getting rid of God won’t solve the problem of human violence but it will remove one of its pretexts.”
Source: A Little History of Religion
“But if we are talking in terms of making progress in life, we must understand that "good enough" is very different from "best.”
“But if we are to be told by a foreign Power . . . what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.”
Source: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799
“But if we are to grasp the full value of the materials, we must note that myths are not exactly comparable to dream. Their figures originate from the same sources -- the unconscious wells of fantasy-- and their grammar is the same, but they are not the spontaneous products of sleep. On the contrary their patterns are consciously controlled. And their understood function is to serve as powerful picture language for the communication of traditional wisdom.”
Source: The Hero with a Thousand Faces
“But if we are to remain a great empire, we must have a greater understanding of the hearts and minds of others.”
Source: The Sweet Far Thing
“But if we are to retain freedom, then we can only do so by keeping the determining mass of the citizens the possessors of property with personal control over it, as individuals or as families. For property is the necessary condition of economic freedom in the full sense of that term. He that has not property is under economic servitude to him who has property, whether the possessor of it be another individual or the State.”
Source: The Crisis Of Civilization
“But if we are truly happy inside, then age brings with it a maturity, a depth, and a power that only magnifies our radiance.”
“But if we begin thinking about the world being over 100 million years old, then it's absolutely by chance that you and I are sitting here alive today, while all the others are dead or have never been born.”
“But if we believe what we profess concerning the worth of the individual, then the idea of individual development within a framework of ethical purpose must become our deepest concern, our national preoccupation, our passion, our obsession. We must think of education as relevant for everyone everywhere - at all ages and in all conditions of life.”
“But if we can learn to fall more in love with the Lord and trust Him in the middle of every storm, we build our endurance to keep running the race.”
“But if we can manage it so people don't have things forced on them that they don't want, I think there's every reason to believe things can settle out in a situation that is recognizably better than the one we're stuck in today.”
“But if we come back, if German men come back, if British men come back, and Japs, and French, and all the other men, all of us talking, writing, painting, making movies of heroes, and cockroaches and foxholes and blood, then future generations will always be doomed to future Hitlers. It's never occurred to boys to have contempt for wars, to point to soldiers' pictures in history books, laughing at them. If German boys had learned to be contemptuous of violence, Hitler would have had to take up knitting to keep his ego warm.”
“But, if we consider, as physicists now claim, that everything is energy—everything we see, everything we think, everything we do—then it is just possible that this same law of conservation of energy applies to questions of morality. A conservation of moral energy, a maintenance of equilibrium… a balance exists and must be preserved. If an action is taken that disrupts that balance, then an action similar in kind and degree is required to restore equilibrium.”
Source: Eye for Eye
“But if we continue in sin, and rebel and harden our hearts, we shall become so inured and fixed in it, that it will be natural, and we shall choose it from time to time.”
Source: The Quaker, Being a Series of Sermons by Members of the Society of Friends ...
“But if we do not try, the dream will remain a dream.”
Source: VoiceMates
“But if we establish the working hypothesis that the UFOs are machines, we also have to assume the following:
a) They are not built by human beings..
b) They are flying by means of artificial fields of gravity..
c) They produce high-tension electric charges in order to push the air out of their paths, so it does not start glowing, and strong magnetic fields to influence the ionized air at higher altitudes.”
“But if we expect justice for ourselves, we must support it for others.”
“But if we get to the point where more people do not believe in a God than who do believe in God, we will have a hollow legal system - we will have something without heart.”
“But if we had to trade with a Europe dominated by the present German trade policies, we might have to change our methods to some totalitarian form. This is a prospect that any lover of democracy must view with consternation.”
“But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honour of our country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for.”
Source: Journals: Captain Scott's Last Expedition
“But if we have people who have the power to tell a story, there will always be readers.”
“But if we have the energy of compassion and loving kindness in us, the people around us will be influenced by our way of being and living.”
“But if we hide ourselves away, afraid to grow and learn, we might wake up in the flames of the ignorance that burns and we'll never be much more than only casualties of war in a struggle we can't win if we have no faith to begin. We've got to tip the lid and let some sunlight in.”
“But if we judge only those things which are in our power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.”
Source: Stoic Six Pack: Meditations of Marcus Aurelius The Golden Sayings Fragments and Discourses of Epictetus Letters from a Stoic and The Enchiridion
“But if we keep denying that there are problems with some male immigrants, then we will just drive the people into the arms of the right-wing populists. Without the ignorance or the trivialization on the part of all the political parties, there would be no Pegida or Alternative for Germany.”
“But if we know that the people of God are first a fellowship of sinners, we are freed to hear the unconditional call of God's love and to confess our needs openly before our brothers and sisters. The fear and pride that clings to us like barnacles cling to others also. In acts of mutual confession we release the power that heals. Our humanity is no longer denied, but transformed.”
“But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand. Human intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years so far as we can tell. If intelligent people invested intense energy in issues that now seem foolish to us, then the failure lies in our understanding of their world, not in their distorted perceptions.”
Source: The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
“But if we learn to think of it as anticipation, as learning, as growing, if we think of the time we spend waiting for the big things of life as an opportunity instead of a passing of time, what wonderful horizons open out!”
“But if we leave them alone, just satisfying ourselves with social work, economic work and the building up of a national army, it can make progress, hopefully within a short time.”
“But if we never acted except when we were certain our motives were pure, we would never act at all.”
Source: Revelation
“But if we play it safe, the problem is that we may be losing out, and I believe we are.”
“But if we're going to be putting up signs on our walls in our own homes, shouldn't they be encouraging us to do our work well and selflessly instead?”
Source: The Minimalist Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life
“But if we see ourselves as connected to God, or as reconnecting to our Source through meditation, then we can attract anything we want into our lives.”
“But if we want thriving marriages, we must stop focusing on our own needs and commit to focusing on meeting theirs.”
Source: Thrive in Marriage: Unlocking 10 Secrets to a Thriving Marriage
“But if we weren’t related, if we met today, we wouldn’t choose to be friends. We’re different people with different values, and we’re also adults who can choose who we want to spend our time with…”
Source: How to Sell a Haunted House
“But if we’re going to kill them all, we might as well make an occasion of it.” Toshak shrugged. “Do as you wish,” he said. “Occasion or not, as long as they’re all dead, I’m happy.”
Source: Erak's Ransom (Ranger's Apprentice Book 7)
“But if what can exist does exist, is memory invention or is invention memory?”
Source: Art and Lies
“But if what interests you are stories of the fantastic, I must warn you that this kind of story demands more art and judgment than is ordinarily imagined.”
“But if writing about people who are not yourself is illegitimate, then the only legitimate work is autobiography; and as a reader and a citizen, I don’t want to live in that world.”
“But if you - if what - the reports are true, what they're saying is, is that as a consequence of us getting 30 million additional people health care, at the margins that's going to increase our costs, we knew that.”
“But if you admit you don't know, you always have the edge over those who guess.”
Source: Checkpoint