I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Is it not possible that the rage for confession, autobiography … especially for memories of earliest childhood, is explained by our persistent yet mysterious belief in a self which is continuous and permanent.
- Katherine Mansfield”
Source: The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life
“Is it not possible that the ultimate end is gaiety and music and a dance of joy?”
Source: The Crock of Gold
“Is it not possible that those who invented the devil may have studied divinity in Persia, where the creed obtains that powers of light and darkness, Ormuzd and Ahriman, strive perpetually for mastery of the world Surely, otherwise, they would have remembered that if the devil exists, God must have created him, which in itself is blasphemy, for God can create no evil.”
Source: Bellarion
“Is it not possible that we are still living in the Dark Ages, still mocking the suggestion of 'mystical' forces that we cannot see or comprehend.”
“Is it not possible to look beyond the canes, the wheelchairs, the braces, and the crutches into the hearts of the people who have need of these aids? They are human beings and want only to be treated as ordinary people. They may appear different, move awkwardly, and speak haltingly, but they have the same feelings. ... They want to be loved for what they are inside, without any prejudice for their impairment. Can there not be more tolerance for differences-differences in capacity, differences in body and in mind?”
“Is it not rather what we expect in men, that they should have numerous strands of experience lying side by side and never compare them with each other?”
Source: Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
“Is it not remarkable that the common repute which we all give to attorneys in the general is exactly opposite to that which every man gives to his own attorney in particular? Whom does anybody trust so implicitly as he trusts his own attorney? And yet is it not the case that the body of attorneys is supposed to be the most roguish body in existence?”
Source: Miss Mackenzie: Trollope's Works
“Is it not shameful and a great scandal that we poor latecomers, we Christians, aided by grace, the Faith, and the sacraments, should be running about like blind hens, ignorant of our own self and of the depth within us?”
“Is it not singular how some men continue to obtain the reputation of popular authorship without adding a word to the literature of their country worthy of note?? To puff and to get one's self puffed have become different branches of a new profession.”
“Is it not so that a son what is bad to his mother is bad to his wife?”
Source: A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN MAGGIE NOW
“Is it not strange how humans will resort to the most inhumane of actions as the first plausible solution? Why are we such a feral bloodthirsty species when we are supposedly the enlightened ones? Are we guardians... or just mindless butchers?”
Source: Ink Bleeder
“Is it not strange how such things can happen, momentous things, things that seem to change the world itself and yet they do not? The river flows, the sun shines, the birds sing. Nature is indifferent to man. Which is perhaps why we can find in it a source of healing. We may be wounded, but it is not. Despite our weariness, it renews itself continually. I find that thought comforting.”
Source: European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman
“Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?”
“Is it not strange that mankind should so willingly battle for religion and so unwillingly live according to its precepts?”
“Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?”
“Is it not strange, that an infant should be heir of the whole world, and see those mysteries which the books of the learned never unfold?”
Source: Centuries of Meditations
“Is it not strange, that sheep's guts should hale souls out of men's bodies!”
“Is it not superfluous to write more than one novel if the writer has not become, say, a new man? Obviously, all the novels of an author not infrequently belong together and are to a certain degree only one novel.”
“Is it not that bad to be trapped somewhere, then? Depending on where you're trapped?" "I suppose it depends on how much you like the place you're trapped in," Widget says. "And how much you like whoever you're stuck there with," Poppet adds, kicking his black boot with her white one.”
Source: The Night Circus
“Is it not that in the chain of human events, the birthday of a nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”
“Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Saviour?”
Source: An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport, at Their Request, on the Sixty-first Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1837
“Is it not the artist who - like our dreams - dissolves the pretenses that hide us from ourselves, disclosing both our self-serving fantasies and our unsuspected potentialities?”
Source: The Hero: Myth, Image, Symbol
“Is it not the business of the conductor to convey to the public in its dramatic form the central idea of a composition; and how can he convey that idea successfully if he does not enter heart and soul into the life of the music and the tale it unfolds?”
“Is it not the case that many a life journey starts out in the opposite direction to its destiny?”
Source: Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel
“Is it not the disparity of wealth that consumes the willing soul. Rather, the golden keys of opportunity clamor softly with fraught anxiety of things which may never come.”
“Is it not the excess and greed of this and the neglect of all other things that revolutionizes this constitution too and prepares the way for the necessity of a dictatorship?”
Source: The Republic
“Is it not the glory of the people of America, that whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly spirit, posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example of the numerous innovations displayed on the American theatre, in favor of private rights and public happiness.”
Source: The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
“Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties?”
Source: A Practical View of Preferred Christians
“Is it not the ignorance of the soul that convinces us to believe? Yet, it seems my belief is tainted by my consciousness, which forces me to know”
“Is it not the interest of the human race, that every one should be so taught and placed, that he would find his highest enjoyment to arise from the continued practice of doing all in his power to promote the well-being, and happiness, of every man, woman, and child, without regard to their class, sect, party, country or colour”
Source: A development of the principles and plans on which to establish self-supporting home colonies: as a most secure and profitable investment for capital, and an effectual means permanently to remove the causes of ignorance, poverty, and crime
“Is it not the obligation of young men to push boundaries, and wiser men push back?”
“Is it not the play of the mind we are after? Is it not that that shows a mind is there at all?”
“Is it not the same distance to God everywhere?”
Source: Of Human Freedom
“Is it not the worst pain to know there is a cure for your child's illness and then not be able to obtain it? Oh it must be the one of the worst types of pain in the world.”
Source: Zahrah the Windseeker
“Is it not their vulnerability that makes women charming to men and sans a semblance of timidity, won’t femininity suffer?”
Source: Benign Flame: Saga of Love
“Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden age, and to adopt as a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct, that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue?”
Source: The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
“Is it not tragic, for example, that while in the last World War almost everyone believed it was the war to end all wars and wanted to make it so, now in this Second World War almost no writer that I have read dares even suggest that this is the war to end all wars, or act on that belief? We have lost the courage to hope.”
Source: Between Tears and Laughter
“Is it not true that each superpower has enough nuclear weapons to kill all members of mankind several times over? Yes. And the same is true of kitchen knives.”
“Is it not true that for every person the course of life is along the line of least resistance, and that in this the movement of humanity is like the movement of material bodies?”
Source: Scientific memoirs, being experimental contributions to a knowledge of radiant energy
“Is it not true that in ancient times the worst punishment of all was not death, but banishment?”
“Is it not true that no two human beings understand anything whatsoever about each other, that those who consider themselves bosom friends may be utterly mistaken about their fellow and, failing to realize this sad truth throughout a lifetime, weep when they read in the newspapers about his death?”
“Is it not true that the clever rogue is like the runner who runs well for the first half of the course, but flags before reaching the goal: he is quick off the mark, but ends in disgrace and slinks away crestfallen and uncrowned. The crown is the prize of the really good runner who perseveres to the end.”
“Is it not true that the criminal is a natural product, and that society unconsciously produces these children of vice? Can we not safely take another step, and say that the criminal is a victim, as the diseased and deformed and insane are victims? We do not think of punishing a man because he is afflicted with disease--our desire is to find a cure. We send him, not to the penitentiary, but to the hospital, to an asylum...instead of punishing, we pity. If there are diseases of the mind...as there are diseases of the body...and if these deformities produce what we call vice, why should we punish the criminal, and pity those who are physically diseased?”
“Is it not true that your gloominess and bad temper are due to your lack of determination in breaking the subtle snares laid by your own disordered desires? The daily examination of conscience is an indispensible help if we are to follow our Lord with sincerity of heart and integrity of life.”
“Is it not true, then, that my life with all its limitation touches at many points the life of the World Beautiful? Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be, therein to be content.”
“Is it not when the fall is the lowest that charity ought to be the greatest?”
“Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves?”
“Is it not wonderful, that the love of the parent should be so violent while it lasts and that it should last no longer than is necessary for the preservation of the young?”
Source: The spectator
“Is it not written in the sacred text. 'There's a lot goes on we don't know about, in my opinion'" said Lu-Tze”
Source: Thief of Time
“Is it not, then, better to be ridiculous and friendly than clever and hostile?”