I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“If, as I have reason to believe, I have disintegrated the nucleus of the atom, this is of greater significance than the war.”
“If, as I suspect, my body survives by uttering itself over and over again, then I have some questions. If [I] am one word, so are my daughters, so are all of us in strings and loops. Each life is one short word slowly uttered.”
“If, as I suspect, the American consumer now enters a sustained slowdown, there will be unmistakable reverberations on U.S.-centric export flows in many major regions of the world.”
“If, as is believed by many Canadians, Canada can not exist without Quebec, then it simply does not deserve to exist.”
“If, as is generally the case, the heirs are not equal to the demands which life makes on an entrepreneur, the inherited wealth rapidly vanishes.”
Source: Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist
“If, as is natural, you focus on the corruption and on those threatened institutions that are trying to prevent change - even though they don't really know what they're trying to prevent - then you can get pessimistic.”
“If, as Marshall McLuhan once taught us, the medium is the message, then Derfner's medium-this lovely, discursive amalgamation of wit and smarts-is indeed his message about how to stay happy, sane, and honest in whatever situation one finds oneself in.”
“If, as Niko asks, you show them mercy, then the gods will be well pleased.”
Source: Soul of the city
“If, as some savants of consciousness suggest, we are actually agreeing to create, from moment to moment, everything we perceive as real, then it stands to reason that we're also responsible for keeping it going in some harmonious manner.”
“If, as some say, evil lies in the hearts and not the institutions of men, then there's hardly a distinction worth making between, say, Hitler's Germany and Rebecca's Sunnybrook Farm.”
Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
“If, as Steven King once wrote, 'Valleys are the dimples on the face of the earth,' then Silicon Valley is undoubtedly the deepest, most sparkling dimple of them all.”
Source: The Toonies Invade Silicon Valley
“If, as we decided in Munich, there will be a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian assistance can flow into Syria - then this will open the door for the beginning of the political transition process.”
“If, as we have said, we commemorate each of the saints with hymns and appropriate songs of praise, how much more should we celebrate the memory of Peter and Paul, the supreme leaders of the pre-eminent company of the apostles? They are the fathers and guides of all Christians: apostles, martyrs, holy ascetics, priests, hierarchs, pastors and teachers.”
“If, as you believe there is an Almighty, Omnipresent, Omniscient God, who created the earth or universe, please let me know, first of all, as to why he created this world. This world which is full of woe and grief, and countless miseries, where not even one person lives in peace....Where is God? What is He doing? Is He getting a diseased pleasure out of it? A Nero! A Genghis Khan! Down with Him!”
“If, as you teach, the universe has no beginning and no end, why should we?”
Source: The Sacred Band
“If, at the close of business each evening, I myself can understand what I've written, I feel the day hasn't been totally wasted.”
“If, at the end of my days, the sum of what I've taken exceeds the sum of what I've given, then I have lived in vain.”
“If, at the end of the day, we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes.”
“If, at the limit, you can rule without crime, you cannot do so without injustices.”
“If, at the office or in different exchanges in daily living, you have to spend time with people who are at lower power levels, then you have to be aware of that and keep your awareness very much within.”
“If, at the time when the mind is praying it is distracted by any extraneous thought or worry about anything, then this prayer is not called pure.”
“If, because of anxiety and self-doubt, you procrastinate and only think about working, you'll feel more exhausted than if you'd created for hours.”
Source: The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance
“If, before undertaking some action, you must obtain the permission of society-you are not free, whether such permission is granted to you or not. Only a slave acts on permission. A permission is not a right.”
Source: The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
“If, by chance, someone among those men of extraordinary talent is found who has firmness of soul and who refuses to yield to the genius of his age and to debase himself with childish works, woe unto him! He will die in poverty and oblivion.”
“If, by chance, you find that you are losing hope, tap back into those who inspire you.”
“If, by happiness, you mean the absence of adversity I and all fabricants are the happiest stratum in corpocracy as genomicists insist. However, if happiness means the conquest of adversity or a sense of purpose, or the xercise of one’s will to power, then of all Nea So Copros’s slaves we surely are the most miserable.”
Source: Cloud Atlas: A Novel
“If, by some miracle, you're lucky enough to meet the One, whatever you do, don't let them go. Because you don't get another shot at it. Soulmates aren't like buses; there's not going to be another one along in a minute. That's why they're called 'The One'.”
Source: You're the One that I don't want
“If, by the way I play, I can be a role model or encourage someone else, that would be great.”
“If, during the course of the game, it be discovered that any error or illegality has been committed in the moves of the pieces, the moves must be retraced, and the necessary correction made, without penalty.”
“If, during the Second World War, the United States had retooled its factories for manufacturing bicycles instead of munitions, we’d be one of the healthiest, least oil-dependent, and most environmentally-sound constituents in the Nazi empire today.”
“If, early on, you know how things are put together, then you can build. The architect is in charge of making - he is not an artist.”
“If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: 'The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,' I would hide my head in a bag. The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.”
“If, every day, I dare to remember that I am here on loan, that this house, this hillside, these minutes are all leased to me, not given, I will never despair.”
Source: Fear of Fifty
“If, for example, a conspiratorially minded elite is so powerful, has at its fingertips such multiple and delicate instruments with which to fine-tune accumulation, then how can the periodic headlong slides into crisis be explained?”
“If, for example, all the codons are triplets, then in addition to the correct reading of the message, there are two incorrect readings which we shall obtain if we do not start the grouping into sets of three at the right place.”
“If, for example, each of us had the same share of capital in the national total capital, then if the share of capital goes up it's not a problem, because you get as much as I do. The problem is that capital in capitalist countries is very heavily concentrated, especially financial capital. So then if the share of income from that source goes up, that actually exacerbates inequality.”
“If, for example, existing government intervention is minor, we shall attach a smaller weight to the negative effect of additional government intervention. This is an important reason why many earlier liberals, like Henry Simons, writing at a time when government was small by today's standards, were willing to have government undertake activities that today's liberals would not accept now that government has become so overgrown.”
Source: Milton Friedman on Freedom: Selections from The Collected Works of Milton Friedman
“If, for example, I saw my grandparents or my daughter for an instant, would I recognize them? Probably not, because in looking so hard for a way to keep them alive, remembering them in the most minimal details, I have been changing them, adorning them with qualities they may not have had. I have given them a destiny much more complex than the ones they lived.”
Source: My invented country: a memoir
“If, for example, one day Ki Bagoes Hadikoesoemo becomes the Indonesian Head of State, and dies, won't his child be [his replacement]? Then because of that I do not adhere to the principle of monarchism.”
“If, for example, you were to think more deeply about death, then it would be truly strange if, in so doing, you did not encounter new images.”
“If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a semi-official statement; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable. It is only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own, and one to which he attaches minor importance, that he defines it as the opinion of well-informed circles.”
Source: The Essays, Articles and Reviews of Evelyn Waugh
“If, for instance, we'd made the film after the show had been to Broadway, it would have been exactly the same film but we would have been assured that they would have understood it. We didn't have to do any alterations for Broadway. I was supposed to go a fortnight before it opened to alter anything that was necessary and there was nothing really.”
“If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that's a very tricky business. We've got to know his background... I'm saying these things because they are real, and if I don't think that, and I think even if today the Prime Minister doesn't think carefully about this, we could have a tragedy.”
“If, for some reason, everyone knew who I was without me having to have my own TV show, that's what I would do. That way, I could do less shows a year.”
“If, for some reason, I cannot bear to work on something that needs to get done, I'm not going to force that. I'll just take a mental vacation. I think the best solution sometimes to working out a problem is to walk squarely away from it.”
“If, for some reason, we make some big mistake and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter a computer Dark Ages for about twenty years.”
Source: Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs
“If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.”
Source: Reflections
“If, however, a government refrains from regulations and allows matters to take their course, essential commodities soon attain a level of price out of the reach of all but the rich, the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent, and the fraud upon the public can be concealed no longer.”
Source: The Economic Consequences of the Peace: The classic text on the Treaty of Versailles and post war Europe
“If, however, economic ambitions are good servants, they are bad masters”
Source: SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
“If, however, one factor is too successful, it will continue to be the winning factor regardless of the variation in the other factors over the range of variation in the conditions, and therefore will stifle the development of other advantageous factors until the conditions change sufficiently that it no longer is the winning factor. At this point, the whole population is ill prepared for the change, and may well perish entirely if the winning factor accidentally becomes the matching factor for a disease or a predator.”