I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“If obedience is not rendered in the homes, we shall never have a whole city, country, principality, or kingdom well governed. For this order in the homes is the first rule; it is the source of all other rule and government.”
Source: What Luther says: an anthology
“If obedience is the chief thing good stood upon, why are not other laws and statutes urged as strictly as those which concern ceremonies?”
Source: A Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies Obtruded on the Church of Scotland
“If obedience is the result of the instinct of the masses, revolt is the result of their thought.”
Source: Napoleon in his own words from the French of Jules Bertaut
“If observed facts of undoubted accuracy will not fit any of the alternatives it leaves open, the system itself is in need of reconstruction.”
Source: The Structure of Social Action: A Study in Social Theory with Special Reference to a Group of Recent European Writers
“If obstacles are large, jump higher.”
“If Occupy Wall Street can see their way to more collaboration with the union movement, then there will be a great deal of political action possible.”
“If Occupy Wall Street was actually a march, and people from all around the country could collect and march toward Washington, D.C., as part of this massive movement of people . . . I think that kind of pressure is much more powerful than a sit-in that seems to be a little unorganized.”
“If odours may worke satisfaction, they are so soveraigne in plants and so comfortable that no confection of the apothecaries can equall their excellent vertue.”
Source: Gerard's Herball - Or, Generall Historie of Plantes
“If, of all the seasons, there is a season in which a person completely forgets himself and constantly watches the magical environment, it is undoubtedly autumn!”
“If of these United States I was the President,No man that owed another should ever pay a cent;And he who dunn'd another should be banished far away,And attention to the pretty girls is all a man should pay.”
“if, of three friends (A, B, and C), A should die, then B loses not only A but “A’s part in C,” while C loses not only A but “A’s part in B.” In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend.”
Source: The Four Loves
“If officers desire to have control over their commands, they must remain habitually with them, industriously attend to their instruction and comfort, and in battle lead them well.”
“If often happens too, both in courts and in cabinets, that there are two things going on together,--a main plot and an under-plot; and he that understands only one of them will, in all probability, be the dupe of both. A mistress may rule a monarch, but some obscure favorite may rule the mistress.”
Source: Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
“If oil companies were to invest their high profits into alternative fuel research it will help America move toward new forms of energy.”
“If oil exploration can threaten a place as beautiful and meaningful as Virunga, where next?”
“If OJ Simpson did not have a handgun, Nicole and Ron would still be alive today.”
“If old age means a crown of thorns, the trick is to wear it jauntily.”
“If olive oil comes from olives, then where does baby oil come from?”
“If Olivia was like a decadent chocolate-covered strawberry, and Portia a pineapple-and-spice hummingbird cupcake, then Cordelia was peanut butter brittle, still sweet, though with something more substantial added by way of peanuts, but unbendable.”
Source: The Glass Kitchen
“If on a friend’s bookshelf You cannot find Joyce or Sterne Cervantes, Rabelais, or Burton, You are in danger, face the fact, So kick him first or punch him hard And from him hide behind a curtain.”
Source: Collected Poems
“If on any given day you don't cry from rejoicing in the beauty of the world, then you have not lived that day.”
“If on Judgement Day I were summoned by St. Peter to give testimony to the used-to-be sheriff's act of kindness, I would be unable to say anything in his behalf. His confidence that my uncle and every other Black man who heard of the Klan's coming ride would scurry under their houses to hide in chicken droppings was too humiliating to hear. Without waiting for Momma's thanks, he rode out of the yard, sure that things were as they should be and that he was a gentle squire, saving those deserving serfs from the laws of the land, which he condoned.”
“If on one day we find the fast-spreading recognition of popular rights accompanied by a silent, growing perception of the rights of women, we also find it accompanied by a tendency towards a system of non-coercive education--that is, towards a practical illustration of the rights of children.”
Source: Social Statics; Or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, & the First of Them Developed
“If on paper one would say, "You're gonna spend three weeks in Death Valley," you say, "No, I'm not going to be able to." Very often, very quickly you forget about it.”
“If on social media there is rampant offense over Donald Trump saying "We got some bad hombres out there," then Trump becomes a reprobate again, a sexist, a bigot, a misogynist, all of these things, 'cause we got some bad hombres out there.”
“If on the one side we do not harbor the illusion that the entire proletariat must be enlightened before it can be called into battle, so on the other we do not doubt that as much enlightenment as possible must be produced with oral and printed agitation.”
“If on the other hand he went to pay his respects to The Door and it wasn't there . . . what then? The answer, of course, was very simple. He had a whole board of circuits for dealing with exactly this problem, in fact this was the very heart of his function. He would continue to believe in it whatever the facts turned out to be, what else was the meaning of Belief? The Door would still be there, even if the Door was not.”
Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Box Set: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
“If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.”
Source: The Art of War
“If on the other hand, they identify their good and interests with things that are external and outside the sphere of will, they are bound to be impeded and frustrated, subservient to those who have authority over the things that you have admired and feared. They are also bound to be utterly irreverent since they think that God has a grudge against them, and to be unfair, since they always grab more for themselves; and they are bound to lack self-respect and generosity.”
Source: How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life
“If, on the other hand, you insist on your knowledge of the emperor's nakedness, you may not find the ready assent from others which could confidently be expected only if you assume their good faith toward their own experience; In fact, their strenuous denial that they share your experience may leave you in such isolation that ultimately not only they but you yourself begin to question your sanity.”
Source: Illusion and Reality: The Meaning of Anxiety
“If on thoughts of death we are fed,
Thus, a coffin, became my bed.”
Source: Phantom Phantasia: Poetry for the Phantom of the Opera Phan
“If on your own or by the criticism of others you discover error in your work, correct it then and there; otherwise in exposing your work to the public, you will expose your error also.”
Source: Leonardo da Vinci's advice to artists
“If on-base percentage is so important, then why don't they put it up on the scoreboard?”
“If once a man delays castling and his king remains in the center, files will open up against him, bishops sweep the board, rooks will dominate the seventh rank, and pawns turn into queens.”
Source: The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 masterly games of chess strategy
“If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.”
Source: The Confessions of an English Opium Eater/The Daughter of Lebanon
“If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.”
“If once a woman breaks through the barriers of decency, her ease is desperate; and if she goes greater lengths than the men, and leaves the pale of propriety farther behind her, it is because she is aware that all return is prohibited, and by none so strongly as by her own sex.”
“If once again Germany destabilizes Europe, then Germany will be not be divided again, but wiped off the map. East and West have the necessary technology in order to enforce this verdict. If Germany begins again, there is no other solution.”
“If once he has got the right fingering, plays in good time, with the notes fairly correct, then only pull him up about the rendering; and when he has arrived at that stage, don’t let him stop for the sake of small faults, but point them out to him when he has played the piece through. . . I have always adopted this plan; it soon forms musicians which, after all, is one of the first aims of art and it gives less trouble both to master and pupil.”
“If once in America the question of religious toleration was raised in defense of nonbelievers who dissented from religious orthodoxy, today it is raised by believers who feel excluded from a predominantly secular public world.”
“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”
Source: Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts
“If once we admit, be it for a single hour or in a single instance, that there can be anything more important than compassion for a fellow human being, then there is no crime against man that we cannot commit with an easy conscience.”
“If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.”
Source: The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln
“If one abandons their principles when tested by struggle, they were never true principles but advertisements for character they never possessed.”
“If one abuses or neglects internal powers, external forces will act accordingly.”
Source: From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph over Death and Conscious Encounters With the Divine Presence
“If one accepts the 24th and 104th Psalms as scriptural norms, then surface mining and other forms of earth destruction are perversions. If we take the Gospels seriously, how can we not see industrial warfare - with its inevitable massacre of innocents - as a most shocking perversion? By the standard of all scriptures, neglect of the poor, of widows and orphans, of the sick, the homeless, the insane, is an abominable perversion.”
“If one acts rightly and honestly, it is difficult to decide whether it is the effect of integrity or skill.”
“If one admits that the influence of the outside world is essentially beneficial, the lack of such influence during sleep would tend to diminish the value of our dream activity so as to render it inferior to the mental activity that takes place when we are awake, when we are exposed to these beneficial influences of surrounding reality. But how can one say that the influence of reality is exclusively beneficial. Could it not also be damaging, and could its absence not give access to qualities superior to those that we have when awake?”
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”
Source: Walden or, Life in the Woods
“If one advances confidently, Thoreau had written in Walden, in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He'd also observed that part of this success was the product of being alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”