B Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with B. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“But the mystery of the being of your wristwatch will be identical with the mystery of the being of the universe and of yourself as well.”
Source: Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor
“But the myth of power is, of course, a very powerful myth, and probably most people in this world more or less believe in it. It is a myth, which, if everybody believes in it, becomes to that extent self-validating. But it is still epistemological lunacy and leads inevitably to various sorts of disaster.”
“But the myth of violent solutions as the ultimate solutions maintains itself in much of popular media.”
“But the name Magnus Bane made him think of a towering sort of figure, with huge shoulders and formal purple warlock’s robes, calling down fire and lightning. Not Magnus himself, who was more of a cross between a panther and a demented elf.”
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
“But the nature of my main work in chemistry can be better represented by more than 280 English publications, of which roughly 200 concern the theory of chemical reactions and related subjects.”
Source: Frontier Orbitals and Reaction Paths: Selected Papers of Kenichi Fukui
“But the nature of our civilized minds is so detached from the senses, even in the vulgar, by abstractions corresponding to all theabstract terms our languages abound in, and so refined by the art of writing, and as it were spiritualized by the use of numbers, because even the vulgar know how to count and reckon, that it is naturally beyond our power to form the vast image of this mistress called "Sympathetic Nature.”
“But the nature of the universe hath no such out-place; but herein doth consist the wonder of her art and skill, that she having once circumscribed herself within some certain bounds and limits, whatsoever is within her that seems either corrupted, or old, or unprofitable, she can change it into herself, and of these very things can make new things; so that she needeth not to seek elsewhere out of herself either for a new supply of matter and substance, or for a place where to throw out whatsoever is irrecoverably putrid and corrupt. Thus she, as for place, so for matter and art, is herself sufficient unto herself.”
Source: Meditations
“But the nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.”
“But the need for conflict to expose prejudice and unclear reasoning, which is deeply embedded in my philosophy of science, has its origin in these debates.”
“But the need for justice is like ownership or love. Feeding it only makes it grow.”
Source: The Overstory
“But the newest research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don't depend on information coming in from the senses.”
“But the nice man had cold eyes. When interacting with his fascinated lady-harem, they had been blue. But when he turned his attention to me - however briefly - I could have sworn that they turned gray, the color of water beneath a sky from which snow will soon fall.”
Source: 11/22/63
“But the night doesn't swallow her up.
Everywhere she goes she is still there;
the silence is as big as herself.”
Source: Middle Kingdom
“But the Night Mother is mother to all! It is her voice we follow! Her will! Would you dare risk disobedience? And surely... punishment?”
“But the nightmare was a strange comfort to me; in it, I found a sense of escape, and were it possible to go live in that nightmare, I would have, bizzare though that may sound.”
Source: Four Kings
“But the novels of women were not affected only by the necessarily narrow range of the writer's experience. They showed, at least in the nineteenth century, another characteristic which may be traced to the writer's sex. In Middlemarch and in Jane Eyre we are conscious not merely of the writer's character, as we are conscious of the character of Charles Dickens, but we are conscious of a woman's presence of someone resenting the treatment of her sex and pleading for its rights.”
Source: Selected essays
“But the nuclear powers still cling tenaciously to their weapons.”
Source: A Quest for Global Peace: Rotblat and Ikeda on War, Ethics and the Nuclear Threat
“But the ocean chose you, and I believe you were chosen because of who you are--- not despite it."
Moana's chest tightened. She thought of the first time she'd waded into the ocean's tide. The memory was hazy after the years, but she could still remember the shape of the pretty shell she'd found--- and the turtle on the sand she'd chosen to help, instead of claiming that shell for herself. Only then had the ocean's waves revealed the glimmering heart.
"Maybe you're right."
"Of course I am." Afā grinned, and Moana saw a flash of her father in him. They had the same self-assured grin, the same brazen spirit. "We can't let our mistakes define us, right?" Moana sniffed at the familiar words as Afā went on. "I look at you and I see so much strength and pride--- and I know you're not a failure, so don't forget who you are.”
Source: How Far I'll Go
“But the ocean of darkness was sweeping everything away, and the heavy anchor was no match for this black tide”
Source: The Boneyard: Short fictions of the morbid and macabre: The Boneyard Series: Vol 1
“But the old Italian commedia that I loved—Pantaloon, Harlequin, Scaramouche, and the rest—lived on as they always had, with tightrope walkers, acrobats, jugglers, and puppeteers, in the platform spectacles at the St.-Germain and the St.-Laurent fairs.”
Source: The vampire Lestat
“But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.”
Source: The War Poems
“But the old maxim still applies: Where there is love, there is bound to be heartache.”
Source: The Forty Rules of Love
“But the older he grew and the more intimately he came to know his brother, the oftener the thought occurred to him that the power of working for the general welfare – a power of which he felt himself entirely destitute – was not a virtue but rather a lack of something: not a lack of kindly honesty and noble desires and tastes, but a lack of the power of living, of what is called heart – the aspiration which makes a man choose one out of all the innumerable paths of life that present themselves, and desire that alone.”
Source: The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Memoirs, Letters & Essays on Art, Religion and Politics: Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Resurrection, The Death of Ivan Ilych, A Confession, The Cossacks, Correspondences with Gandhi, The Kreutzer Sonata, Fables and Stories for Childrenand Many More
“But the older I get the more I become aware that I was raised thinking that my real value was based on the role I would play for other people. After all, being deemed a good wife or a good mother or daughter is rarely based on how true you are to yourself.
Where I was raised, women are taught that to be a good woman you need to be good for other people. If your kids are happy, then you're a good mom. If your husband is happy, then you're a good wife. All of your value is essentially wrapped up in other people's happiness. How can anyone successfully navigate that for a lifetime?
It's no wonder so many mothers send me notes telling me they've lost themselves. Of course they have! If you live your life to please everyone else, you forget what used to make you YOU.”
Source: Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals
“But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.
And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.”
Source: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45
“But the one piece of this dish that plays the biggest role of all... is this wrapping around the chicken breast... the Croûte!"
Croûte!
A base of bread or pie dough seasoned with savory spices, croûte can refer either to the dough itself or a dish wrapped in it. It's a handy addition that can boost the aroma, textures and presentation of a dish without overpowering its distinctive flavors!
"You are correct. Therein lies the greatest secret of my dish.
Given the sudden measurements to the original plan and my need to create an entirely different dish...
... the Croûte I had intended to use to wrap the chicken breast required two very specific additions.
Those two ingredients were...
FINELY MINCED SQUID LEGS...
... AND PEANUT BUTTER."
"NO WAY! SQUID LEGS AND PEANUT BUTTER?!"
"Yes! Squid legs and peanut butter! Appetizer and main dish! There is no greater tie that could bind our two dishes together!"
Peanut butter's mild richness adds subtle depth to the natural body of the chicken, making it an excellent secret seasoning. And the moderately salty bitterness of the squid legs is extremely effective in tying the Croûte's flavor together with the meaty juiciness of the chicken!
"Even an abominable mash-up that Yukihira has tinkered with for ages...
... can be transformed into elegant gourmet beauty when put in my capable hands.
The Jidori chicken breasts and the squid and peanut butter Croûte... those are the two pillars of my dish! To support them, I revised all the seasonings for the sauces and garnishes...
... so that after you tasted Soma Yukihira's dish...
... the deliciousness of my own dish would ring across your tongues as powerfully as possible!”
Source: 食戟のソーマ 30 [Shokugeki no Souma 30]
“But the one thing all of the people in the Ape Yard had in common was that they were trapped, caught in that basin of poverty and servitude to Doc Bobo in the hollow, and held in place by the weight of the white structure beyond. For them, escape seemed futile at the outset.”
Source: A Cry of Angels
“But the one thing that has power completely is love, because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.”
“But the one thing that I did do was establish myself as a good actor.”
“But the one thing you should. not do is to suppose that when something is wrong with the arts, it is wrong with the arts ONLY.”
Source: Ezra Pound and the Visual Arts
“But the ones who go posing as moralists are the worst. Cost-free morals. Full of great ways for others to improve without any expense to themselves. There's an ego thing in there, too. They use the morals to make someone else look inferior and that way look better themselves. It doesn't matter what the moral code is -- religious morals, political morals, racist morals, capitalist morals, feminist morals, hippie morals -- they're all the same. The moral codes change but the meanness and the egotism stay the same.”
Source: Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals
“But the only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you; it may have other and much more profound meanings for the critic, but at second-hand they can be of small service to you.”
“But the only measure that he knows is desire desire for power and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this we shall put him out of reckoning.”
Source: The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
“But the only possible guarantee of the future is responsible behavior in the present.”
Source: The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
“But the only rhyme he could summon for 'out' was 'sauerkraut,' which lacked poetic glory. He let it go. The right line would come in time. That was the thing about poetry. It crept up through the draws and coulees of the brain.”
Source: That Old Ace in the Hole
“But the only thing that distracts me from my current situation is fantasizing about killing President Snow.”
Source: Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)
“But the only thing that is important is, Am I loving God and growing holy every day?”
“But the only way never to do the wrong thing is never to do anything.”
Source: The Dresden Files Collection 7-12
“But the opposite is true as well," Kate added softly. "You can't shun new challenges or hide yourself from love just because you think you might not be here to carry your dreams to completion. In the end, you'll have just as many regrets as did my father.”
Source: The Viscount Who Loved Me
“But the origin of the American Republic is distinguished by peculiar circumstances. Other nations have been driven together by fear and necessity-the governments have generally been the result of a single man's observations; or the offspring of particular interests. In the formation of our constitution, the wisdom of all ages is collected-the legislators of antiquity are consulted-as well as the opinions and interests of the millions who are concerned. In short, it is an empire of reason.”
“But the original was there as well—more jaded and rudimentary, functional rather than romantic. It fit not just the yellow house but another door, deep within my own heart. One that had been locked so tight for so long that I was afraid to even try it for fear of what might be on the other side”
Source: Lock and Key
“But the other audience, I think, is people in Central America because since last summer, they've been running ads down there - the United States government has - don't come, it's dangerous. You will be immediately deported. That's literally what it says in Spanish.”
“But the other half of my motivation came from farther back in my brain, in the curious part that I inherited. It came from the spot in my skull that feels the burning need to unravel puzzles, finish crosswords, indulge in Internet games, and read all the mystery books I can get my grubby little paws on. Like it or not, need it or not, and want it or not, I can't leave a good mystery alone.”
Source: Bloodshot
“But the other notion is, we also believe that those folks closest on the ground that we're holding accountable for the results can decide, and ought to evaluate which programs get results.”
“But the others, those who tried to bring Jesus to life at the call of love, found it a cruel task to be honest. The critical study of the life of Jesus has been for theology a school of honesty. The world had never seen before, and will never see again, a struggle for truth so full of pain and renunciation as that of which the Lives of Jesus of the last hundred years contain the cryptic record.”
“But the overruling disconcertingness was to find himself unconcerned. It was as if some mysterious oil had been introduced into the workings of his mind. If a thought irked him, he thought of something else. If a project miscarried, a flooding serenity swept him beyond it. He lived a tranquil truant, dissociated from himself as though by a slight agreeable fever.”
Source: Kingdoms of Elfin
“But the owls themselves are not hard to find, silent and on the wing, with their ear tufts flat against their heads as they fly and their huge wings alternately gliding and flapping as they maneuver through the trees. Athena's owl of wisdom and Merlin's companion, Archimedes, were screech owls surely, not this bird with the glassy gaze, restless on the bough, nothing but blood on its mind.”
Source: Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays
“But the paradox in owning our personal mediocrity is that it makes us, in the strictest sense of the word, exceptional. It is not about believing in yourself - in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s about realizing that the less you need to be special, the more special you’ll become… Exceptional investment outcomes are attainable by all of us, if we just stop trying so hard.”
Source: The Behavioral Investor: How psychology shapes wealth, risk, and investment decisions
“But the paradox is here: when cultivated people do stay away from a certain portion of the population, when all social advantages are persistently withheld, it may be for years, the result itself is pointed to as a reason and is used as an argument for the continued withholding.”
Source: Twenty Years at Hull House