I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“It is certain that there is no other passion which does produce such contrary effects in so great a degree. But this may be said for love, that if you strike it out of the soul, life would be insipid, and our being but half animated.”
Source: Essays, Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste
“It is certain that there may be extraordinary mental activity with an extremely small absolute mass of nervous matter: thus the wonderfully diversified instincts, mental powers, and affections of ants are notorious, yet their cerebral ganglia are not so large as the quarter of a small pin's head. Under this point of view, the brain of an ant is one of the most marvelous atoms of matter in the world, perhaps more so than the brain of a man.”
Source: Darwinism Stated by Darwin Himself: Characteristic Passages from the Writings of Charles Darwin
“It is certain that this is not only good which the Almighty has done, but that it is best; He hath reckoned all your steps to heaven.”
Source: Letters of Samuel Rutherford: With a Sketch of His Life
“It is certain that those who have the living faith in their hearts see at once that all existence is none other than the work of the God whom they adore. But for those in whom this light is extinguished, [if we were to show them our proofs of the existence of God] nothing is more calculated to arouse their contempt. . . .”
“It is certain that we cannot escape anguish, for we are anguish.”
“It is certain, I think, that the best government is the one that governs the least. But there is a much-neglected corollary: the best citizen is the one who least needs governing.”
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
“It is certain, indeed, that the sacred writers were apt to make great allowances for people with empty stomachs, and though I am well aware that the present profane ones think this very reprehensible, I venture to agree with the sacred writers.”
Source: Sammlung
“It is certain," exclaimed my uncle in a tone of triumph. "But silence, do you hear me? silence upon the whole subject; and let no one get before us in this design of discovering the centre of the earth.”
Source: A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth / Voyage au centre de la terre (Bilingual Edition: English - French / Édition bilingue: anglais - français)
“It is certainly a good thing always to forgive with generosity, but it is no doubt just never to forget the wrongs received: they belong to the route that leads to inner maturity.”
“It is certainly a greater and more wonderful work to change the minds of enemies, bringing about a change of soul, than to kill them.”
“It is certainly important to be looking for cures to medical disorders, but it is equally important to conduct research on human health and well-being.”
“It is certainly impossible to imagine forgiving the enemy while their animus remains undefeated.”
“It is certainly impossible to lose respect if you lose out of some stupid discussions.”
“It is certainly much easier wholly to decline a passion than to keep it within just bounds and measures; and that which few can moderate almost anybody may prevent.”
“It is certainly no crime to depict the bizarre ideas that nature inspires.”
“It is certainly no part of religion to compel religion.”
“It is certainly not a matter of indifference whether I learn something without effort or finally arrive at it myself through my system of thought. In the latter case everything has roots, in the former it is merely superficial.”
“It is certainly not a matter of skill or honour to build something next to a beauty that will overshadow it; the real skill and honour is to add another beauty to a beauty that complements it and even highlights its beauty!”
“It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable.”
Source: BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL - Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future: The Critique of the Traditional Morality and the Philosophy of the Past
“It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable; it is precisely thereby that it attracts the more subtle minds. It seems that the hundred-times-refuted theory of the "free will" owes its persistence to this charm alone; some one is always appearing who feels himself strong enough to refute it.”
Source: Writings of Nietzsche: Volume 1
“It is certainly not then-not in dreams- but when one is wide awake, at moments of robust joy and achievement, on the highest terrace of consciousness, that mortality has a chance to peer beyond its own limits, from the mast, from the past and its castle tower. And although nothing much can be seen through the mist, there is somehow the blissful feeling that one is looking in the right direction.”
Source: Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited
“It is certainly not true that the population can be easily divided into those who lead healthy lifestyles, and those who do not: most people's patterns are mixed, with both good and bad areas of life.”
“It is certainly of great importance for a general to keep his plans secret; and Frederick the Great was right when he said that if his night-cap knew what was in his head he would throw it into the fire. That kind of secrecy was practicable in Frederick's time when his whole army was kept closely about him; but when maneuvers of the vastness of Napoleon's are executed, and war is waged as in our day, what concert of action can be expected from generals who are utterly ignorant of what is going on around them?”
“It is certainly possible that an individual can, qua individual, suffer some failure of meaning, as in pathological boredom or depression. But any given social world is also a nexus of common significances, saliences, taboos, and a general shared orientation that can also either be sustained or can fail. Indeed one of the most interesting aspects of such a social condition, shared meaningfulness, or intelligibility, is that it can fail, go dead, lose its grip, and a very great deal of what interests Hegel is simply what such shared practical meaningfulness must be that it could fail, and how we should integrate our account of action into a fuller theory of the realization of such a condition and its failure. (His general name for the achievement and maintenance of such a form of intelligible life is “Sittlichkeit” and his case for this sort of priority of Sittlichkeit over strictly individualist accounts of mindedness in-action has not, I want to argue, been properly appreciated.)”
Source: Hegel's Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life
“It is certainly possible that someone who has had contact with this patient could develop Ebola, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”
“It is certainly safe, in view of the movement to the right of intellectuals and political thinkers, to pronounce the brain death of socialism.”
“It is certainly the case that if you are often reviewed, you will find yourself repeatedly blamed and praised for saying what you never said, and for not saying what you have said.”
Source: The Art of Writing and the Gifts of Writers
“It is certainly true in the United States that there is an uneasiness about certain aspects of science, particularly evolution, because it conflicts, in some people's minds, with their sense of how we all came to be. But you know, if you are a believer in God, it's hard to imagine that God would somehow put this incontrovertible evidence in front of us about our relationship to other living organisms and expect us to disbelieve it. I mean, that doesn't make sense at all.”
“It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people.”
Source: Memoir of the Life of Richard H. Lee, and His Correspondence with the Most Distinguished Men in America and Europe
“It is certainly true that ‘actions speak louder than words,’ but words become as monuments to thoughts.”
Source: The Satanic Bible
“It is certainly true that all beliefs and all myths are worthy of a respectful hearing. It is not true that all folk beliefs are equally valid - if we’re talking not about an internal mindset, but about understanding of the external reality.”
Source: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
“It is certainly true that conservative Christians are much more likely to doubt the reality of climate change than mainline Christians or the unaffiliated. But when we control for political affiliation and for the important role of thought leaders in determining our opinions on social issues such as climate change, most of the faith-related bias disappears.”
“It is certainly true that cooking is therapeutic, creative and all those other faintly creepy self-helpish words. I would love to tell you that learning to cook was part of my journey toward actualization. I would love to tell Oprah this. I would love to tell Oprah this while weeping. But I learned to cook for a much simpler reason: in the abject hope that people would spend time with me if I put good things in their mouth. It is, in other words (like practically everything else I do), a function of my desperation for emotional connection and acclaim.”
“It is certainly true that most men need some kind of a God. A few, and they are the men of genius, do not bow to an alien law. The rest try to justify their doings and misdoings, their thinking and existence (at least the menial side of it), to some one else, whether it be the personal God of the Jews, or a beloved, respected, and revered human being. It is only in this way that they can bring their lives under the social law. . . .”
“It is certainly true that principles cannot be more securely founded than on experience and consciously clear thinking.”
“It is certainly true that reason is the most important and the highest rank among all things and, in comparison with other things of this life, the best and something divine. It is the inventor and mentor of all the arts, medicines, laws, and of whatever wisdom, power, virtue, and glory men possess in this life.”
Source: Career of the reformer
“It is certainly true that whatever a man may do or say, the most significant thing about him is what he thinks; and significant also is how he came to think it, why he continued to think it, or, if he did not continue, what the influences were which caused him to change his mind.”
“It is certainly very hard to write about sex in English without making it unattractive.”
“It is Chairman Mao who should be held primarily responsible for the Great Leap Forward. But it didn't take him long - just a few months - to recognize his mistake, and he did so before the rest of us and proposed corrections. And in 1962, when because of some other factors those corrections had not been fully carried out, he made a self-criticism. But the lessons were not fully drawn, and as a result the "Cultural Revolution" erupted.”
“It is challenging for a human brain to distinguish between noises and threats if a considerable value is at stake.”
“It is challenging to fly with eagles when you have been walking with turtles.”
Source: Wealth of Words
“It is challenging. I have my days where I feel really guilty that I've been here every day if I have to work a lot. But I am so lucky to live in a country where a girl like me can make this kind of living, achieve her dreams and reach her goals. And I don't think anywhere else in the world can girls have the freedom that we do here to have these amazing careers and be mothers.”
“It is change continuing change, inevitable change that is the dominant factor in society today.”
“It is change that contains vital information, not steady states. Human beings, however, take adaptation to cognitive extremes. We don't just habituate, we recalibrate. We create for ourselves a world of targets, and each time we hit one we replace it with another.”
Source: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.”
“It is changes that are chiefly responsible for diseases, especially the greatest changes, the violent alterations both in the seasons and in other things. (:)...regimen and temperature, and one period of life to another.”
Source: Hippocrates
“It is changing the face of terrorism. It is basically bringing it to the United States, to our great citizens. It is -- we know terrorists are barbaric, and murderers that attack innocent civilians, as they did in this case.”
“It is character that communicates most eloquently.”
Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
“It is character that counts in a nation as in a man.”
Source: The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses