I Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with I. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“It is in these moments that I wonder--despite my love of and commitment to science--if I have chosen the right track. Should I be following the long-established path carved out for me by my family, a path stolen from so many Jewish women and men by the Nazis during the past, horrible war? Do I owe it to them to carry on the Franklin traditions in their name?”
Source: Her Hidden Genius
“It is in these very items of knowledge which go beyond the world of senses, where experience can neither guide nor correct us, that reason carries out its investigations, which owing to their importance we consider to be far more excellent, and in their final aim far more sublime, than anything our understanding can learn in the field of appearances. Nay, we would rather dare anything, even at the risk of error, than surrender such investigations, either on ground of their precariousness or from any feeling of disdain or indifference. These unavoidable problems of pure reason itself are God, freedom, and immortality.”
“It is in this matter that I fall foul of so many American writers on writing; they seem to think that writing is a confidence game by means of which the author cajoles a restless, dull-witted, shallow audience into hearing his point of view. Such an attitude is base, and can only beget base prose.”
“It is in this mutual dependence of the functions and the aid which they reciprocally lend one another that are founded the laws which determine the relations of their organs and which possess a necessity equal to that of metaphysical or mathematical laws, since it is evident that the seemly harmony between organs which interact is a necessary condition of existence of the creature to which they belong and that if one of these functions were modified in a manner incompatible with the modifications of the others the creature could no longer continue to exist.”
“It is in this power of saying everything, and yet saying nothing too plainly, that the perfection of art consists.”
Source: pt. I. Of genral principles. pt. II. Of truth. v. 4. pt. v. Of mountain beauty
“It is in this sense that Franklin says, "war is robbery, commerce is generally cheating.”
Source: Capital, Volume I: A Critique of Political Economy
“It is in this sense that Nietzsche is driven, against many explicit resolutions to the contrary, to be a No-sayer. For what the décadents who surround him are doing is to say No where they should be saying Yes, where they should be Dionysian; and what is leading them to this life-denying perversity, mostly of course unconsciously, is that they subscribe to a set of values that puts the central features of *this* world at a discount. Where they find suffering, they immediately look for someone to blame, and end up hating themselves, or generalize that into a hatred of "human nature". They look for "peace of mind", using it as a blanket term and failing to see the diversity of states, some of them desirable and some of them the reverse, which that term covers. They confuse cause and effect, thinking that the connection between virtue and happiness is that the former leads to the latter, whereas in fact the reverse is the case. They have, in Nietzsche's cruelly accurate phrase, "the vulgar ambition to possess generous feelings" ("Expeditions of an Untimely Man, number 6). They confuse breeding fine men with taming them. Throughout the major part of Twilight this devastating list of our vulgarities continues.”
Source: Twilight of the Idols / The Anti-Christ
“It is in this space of mastery over paradigms that people throw off addictions, live in constant joy, bring down empires, get locked up or burned at the stake or crucified or shot, and have impacts that last for millennia.”
Source: Thinking in Systems: A Primer
“It is in this unearthly first hour of spring twilight that earth's almost agonized livingness is most felt. This hour is so dreadful to some people that they hurry indoors and turn on the lights.”
Source: The Death Of The Heart
“It is in this way that I went forth to teach.”
“It is in this world that we developed our passion for exploring the Cosmos, and it is here that we are, in some pain and with no guarantees, working out our destiny.”
Source: Cosmos
“It is in those times of hopeless chaos when the sovereign hand of God is most likely to be seen.”
“It is in time of peace that the value of life is fixed. The test of war reveals it.”
Source: Force and Ideas: The Early Writings
“It is in times like these that we face the most cunning of tricksters. We might even find a trickster in the seat of power.”
Source: Catching the Light
“It is in times of crisis that good leaders emerge.”
“It is in times of difficulty that great nations like great men display the whole energy of their character and become an object of admiration to posterity.”
“It is in times of great tragedy when the true spirit of our wonderful country unites as one.”
“It is in touching the most rogue, contemptible, and filthiest among us that we come closest to the person within us.”
“It is in vain a daring author thinks of attaining to the heights of Parnassus if he does not feel the secret influence of heaven and if his natal star has not formed him to be a poet.”
“It is in vain for man to endeavor to instruct man in those things which the Holy Spirit alone can teach.”
“It is in vain for us to devise schemes by which competition can be put out of civilized life. Competition is the condition of life.”
Source: The Life that Really is
“It is in vain that a man of sound mind and cool temper understands the condition of such a wretched being... He can no more communicate his own wisdom to him than a healthy man can instil his strength into the invalid by whose bedside he is seated.”
Source: The Sorrows of Young Werther: Top Classic of German
“It is in vain that he seeks dominion abroad, who is not kingly at home.”
Source: Summaries of Thought
“It is in vain that we get upon stilts, for once on them, it is still with our legs that we must walk. And on the highest throne in the world we are still sitting on our own ass.”
“It is in vain that we search for an essential difference between good and evil, for their constituents are the same. The crucial distinction lies in their structure, i.e., the manner in which the pieces are assembled. Evil is disintegration, an angry juxtaposition of alienated opposites, with parts always striving to repress other parts. Good is the synthesis and reconciliation of these same pieces.”
Source: Maps of the Mind
“It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that half by far the most important and influential.”
Source: Course of popular lectures; with 3 addresses on various public occasions, and a reply to the charges against the French reformers of 1789
“It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that half by far the most important and influential. If they exert it not for good, they will for evil; if they advance not knowledge, they will perpetuate ignorance. Let women stand where they may in the scale of improvement, their position decides that of the race.”
Source: Course of popular lectures; with 3 addresses on various public occasions, and a reply to the charges against the French reformers of 1789
“It is in vain to chase two birds at the same time, even if you have a thousand legs.”
“It is in vain to drown a fish, no matter how deep you submerge it.”
“It is in vain to expect any advantage from our profession of the truth, if we be not sincerely just and honest in our actions.”
“It is in vain to expect our prayers to be heard, if we do not strive as well as pray.”
Source: Æsop's fables: an anthology of the fabulists of all countries
“It is in vain to hide a fruitful seed in fertile soil.”
“It is in vain to hope to guard against events too mighty for human foresight or precaution, and it would be idle to object to a government because it could not perform impossibilities.”
Source: The federalist papers
“It is in vain to hope to please all alike. Let a man stand with his face in what direction he will, he must necessarily turn his back on one half of the world.”
“It is in vain to look for the elevation of woman so long as she is degraded in marriage.”
Source: The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: In the school of anti-slavery, 1840 to 1866
“It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the impulse of self-preservation. It is worse than in vain; because it plants in the Constitution itself necessary usurpations of power, every precedent of which is a germ of unnecessary and multiplied repetitions.”
Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788
“It is in vain to ridicule a rich fool, for the laughers will be on his side.”
“It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”
Source: The Complete Works Of Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, and The Professor
“It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth. Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.”
Source: Jane Eyre
“It is in vain to try and stop a star from rising, even with a ladder.”
“It is in vain, I perceive, to look for ease and happiness in a world of troubles.”
Source: Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious
“It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
“It is in Virginia and Georgia that the war now rages and where it will continue for at these points - Richmond and Atlanta - the enemy's main strength is concentrated.”
“It is in virtue of his own desires and curiosities that any man continues to exist with even patience, that he is charmed by the look of things and people, and that he wakens every morning with a renewed appetite for work and pleasure. Desire and curiosity are the two eyes through which he sees the world in the most enchanted colours...and the man may squander his estate and come to beggary, but if he keeps these two amulets he is still rich in the possibilities of pleasure.”
Source: Virginibus Puerisque ; And, Across the Plains
“It is in virtue of unity that beings are beings.”
Source: Enneads: On the One and good
“It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society.”
Source: The Ethics of Liberty
“It is in writing of the emotions that style becomes most individual, in moments of passion, betrayal, of life and death.”
“It is in your act that you exist, not in your body. Your act is yourself, and there is no other you.”
“It is in your best interest to avoid sleep debt, otherwise be prepared to pay both the DEBT and the INTEREST!”
Source: The Dusk And Dawn Master: A Practical Guide to Transforming Evening and Morning Habits, Achieving Better Sleep, and Mastering Your Life
“It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.”
Source: Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom