W Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with W. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“What impresses men is not mind, but the result of mind.”
Source: The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays
“What impropriety or limit can there be in our grief for a man so beloved?.”
“What, in all very seriousness, the hell was going on?”
Source: Darkly Dreaming Dexter
“What in bloody hell is going on back there?" Angus boomed. "Some kind of cross-species orgy!”
Source: Knights of Stone: Bryce
“What, in case they plot a graph?”
Source: Resistance is Futile
“What in cat hell just happened?”
Source: The Spirit of a Witch
“What in essence happened under the Treuhand was a complete transfer without compensation of property and assets accumulated over forty years through hard work and effort by GDR citizens, as well as the land they owned (which in the GDR had no monetary value as such) to, in the main, West German owners. This transfer of a country's assets — unprecedented anywhere in the world during peacetime — amounted to billions of Euros: a robbing of ordinary people for the enrichment of a few. Of those companies and individuals who bought GDR property, 80 per cent were West Germans, only 10 per cent were from other countries, and a mere 5 per cent went to GDR citizens.”
Source: Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It
“What, in fact, do we know about the peak experience? Well, to begin with, we know one thing that puts us several steps ahead of the most penetrating thinkers of the 19th century: that P.E’.s are not a matter of pure good luck or grace. They don’t come and go as they please, leaving ‘this dim, vast vale of tears vacant and desolate’. Like rainbows, peak experiences are governed by definite laws. They are ‘intentional’.
And that statement suddenly gains in significance when we remember Thorndike’s discovery that the effect of positive stimuli is far more powerful and far reaching than that of negative stimuli. His first statement of the law of effect was simply that situations that elicit positive reactions tend to produce continuance of positive reactions, while situations that elicit negative or avoidance reactions tend to produce continuance of these. It was later that he came to realise that positive reactions build-up stronger response patterns than negative ones. In other words, positive responses are more intentional than negative ones.
Which is another way of saying that if you want a positive reaction (or a peak experience), your best chance of obtaining it is by putting yourself into an active, purposive frame of mind. The opposite of the peak experience—sudden depression, fatigue, even the ‘panic fear’ that swept William James to the edge of insanity—is the outcome of passivity. This cannot be overemphasised. Depression—or neurosis—need not have a positive cause (childhood traumas, etc.). It is the natural outcome of negative passivity.
The peak experience is the outcome of an intentional attitude. ‘Feedback’ from my activities depends upon the degree of deliberately calculated purpose I put into them, not upon some occult law connected with the activity itself. . . .
A healthy, perfectly adjusted human being would slide smoothly into gear, perform whatever has to be done with perfect economy of energy, then recover lost energy in a state of serene relaxation. Most human beings are not healthy or well adjusted. Their activity is full of strain and nervous tension, and their relaxation hovers on the edge of anxiety. They fail to put enough effort—enough seriousness—into their activity, and they fail to withdraw enough effort from their relaxation. Moods of serenity descend upon them—if at all—by chance; perhaps after some crisis, or in peaceful surroundings with pleasant associations. Their main trouble is that they have no idea of what can be achieved by a certain kind of mental effort.
And this is perhaps the place to point out that although mystical contemplation is as old as religion, it is only in the past two centuries that it has played a major role in European culture. It was the group of writers we call the romantics who discovered that a man contemplating a waterfall or a mountain peak can suddenly feel ‘godlike’, as if the soul had expanded. The world is seen from a ‘bird’s eye view’ instead of a worm’s eye view: there is a sense of power, detachment, serenity. The romantics—Blake, Wordsworth, Byron, Goethe, Schiller—were the first to raise the question of whether there are ‘higher ceilings of human nature’. But, lacking the concepts for analysing the problem, they left it unsolved. And the romantics in general accepted that the ‘godlike moments’ cannot be sustained, and certainly cannot be re-created at will. This produced the climate of despair that has continued down to our own time. (The major writers of the 20th century—Proust, Eliot, Joyce, Musil—are direct descendants of the romantics, as Edmund Wilson pointed out in Axel’s Castle.) Thus it can be seen that Maslow’s importance extends far beyond the field of psychology. William James had asserted that ‘mystical’ experiences are not mystical at all, but are a perfectly normal potential of human consciousness; but there is no mention of such experiences in Principles of Psychology (or only in passing).”
Source: New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow & the Post-Freudian Revolution
“What in fact takes place in an election is that two hand picked candidates are propped up before the citizenry, each candidate having been selected by a very small group of politically active people. A minority of the people... then elects one of these hand picked people to rule itself and the majority.”
“What in God's name did he want me to say? That I agreed with him completely at how our kiss had been successful? That it had meant as much as a kiss I'd drop on top of a child's head before bed to him? Well I wouldn't lie for the sake of lying. I'd rather stay silent and realize that the kind, gentle, passionate person I'd fallen for didn't exist and in his place was a cold, unfeeling fool who wouldn't know romance even if it had slapped him in the face.”
Source: The Visitors
“What in god’s name happened to your nuts?”
“They met a jet-powered water hose.”
He grimaced.
“They’re already healing.”
A rare glint of amusement lit Lawrence’s eyes. “You have balls of steel.”
“You have inappropriate humour.”
Source: Releasing The Wolf
“What in Gods name is it worth to be human, if we have to be saved from ourselves by a machine?”
Source: Stand on Zanzibar
“What in Hades were you doing, lady? I almost hit you."
Remington rose to confront him, but before he could say a word, Madeline came up like an infuriated wasp. "What was I doing? What were you doing? You almost hit this dog." Her cheeks and the tip of her nose glowed scarlet with fury. Her eyes sparked with brilliant blue. She had a smudge on one cheek and her hat was askew, but that didn't matter, for all the passion she had revealed in the morning's kiss she put into the defense of a mutt she had never before seen.
Surly with guilt, the youth said, "It was just a flea-ridden stray." Then her loveliness registered. He jerked to attention, back straight, shoulders back. He stared with avid fascination into her face. "I believe we may have met, although I can't quite remember-"
She rampaged on, "Is that the way you were taught? To run over defenseless animals?"
Stepping back, Remington folded his arms. This youth didn't stand a chance.
Her eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. I recognize you. You're Lord Mauger!"
"Yes, I... I am. Viscount Mauger, humbly at your service." Whipping his hat from his head, the youth bowed, eager to make a belated good impression on the beauty before him. "And you are...?"
She wasn't impressed or interested. "I know your mother, and she would box your ears for this."
Dull red rose in Mauger's cheeks. "You won't tell her."
"Not if you promise to be more careful in the future. I won't be around to rescue the next dog, and I remember what a fine lad you were. You love animals, and you'd feel guilty if you killed one."
"You're... you're right." Mauger's pleading eyes looked much like the dog's. "I just bought the chestnut, and came into town, and I wanted to show him off, but that's no excuse..."
As Mauger dug his toe into the dirt, Remington realized he was observing a master at work. She had taken the young man from fury, to infatuation, to guilt in one smooth journey, and Mauger adored her for it.”
Source: One Kiss From You
“What in heaven’s name do you mean?’
“=Not the name of heaven. Just the place you come from.=
“‘You don’t know anything about the place I come from.’
“=It is true I don’t know the place. But I know a great deal about the place now, after learning to know you. I know what kind of stories—not the stories themselves, mind you, but the kind of stories—they tell their children. I know what the children are led to expect from the world. Fair treatment. A happy life. Even that question you ask comes out of the mountains.=
“‘Is there anything wrong with that? You make it look stupid.’
“=There is nothing wrong, and there is something wrong. There is nothing wrong with making a place where children can be safe. I can hardly imagine it myself, but it sits on the edge of my vision like a small sun. It’s a blinding glimpse of something. Safety. So very odd. And I suppose there’s nothing wrong with a modicum of safety, though I think my way one at least learns how to react quickly. But there is something wrong in the kind of complacency…= his sign is complicated: a cat after cream, a fat despot =…which lets you think you have a right to a happy life just because you can think of the idea.=
“‘I don’t agree with you. Everyone should be able to be complacent in that way!’ As she speaks she illustrates the way by repeating the cat-with-cream sign. ‘But that other, that arrogance, I don’t think we are arrogant, in the mountains, like that—do you?’
“=Arrogant? I don’t know. Arrogant? A curious word. The arrogance of privilege. You had safety. That’s a privilege.=”
Source: Black Wine
“What in heaven's name is strange about a grandmother dancing nude? I'll bet lots of grandmothers do it.”
“What in hell are people for”
Source: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
“What in hell are you really made of, Howard? After all, it's only a building. It's not the combination of holy sacrament, Indian torture, and sexual ecstasy that you seem to make of it."
"Isn't it?”
Source: The Fountainhead
“What in Helos’s name had just happened? The Calbernan had turned unexpectedly and caught her gaze upon him and then…
She dragged in a breath, then another. Ragged. Shaken. She couldn’t even begin to describe what had happened. It was as if, with one look, he’d dived into the deepest, most secret parts of her soul, places no one – not even she – had ever been.”
Source: The Sea King
“What in life can love not penetrate?”
Source: The First Phone Call From Heaven
“What in Mandela was seen as an almost saintly ability to conciliate could, in a lesser man, be read as weak-kneed populism.”
“What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support, That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. 1 Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 22.”
“What in me is pure conviction is simple prejudice in you.”
Source: A Short Walk from the Station
“What, in nature," Kit asked, "is the most beautiful thing you've seen? Or the most terrible?"
"The Dismals," Giles answered promptly. "A beautiful aberration in the lay of the land--North Alabama. A section mysteriously lowered, strewn with boulders, ferny, mossy, cooler--the vegetation, they say, typical of Canada. There the creek runs clear, but all other Alabama rivers and waterways are muddy with sediment. I even like the name--the Dismals. An eternal place, disjunct with the climate, the time, and its location."
"You think being dismal is an attractive association with eternity?" I asked.
"It is a cool Eden in the Southern summer heat. What's yours, Una?"
"The Kentucky hills in spring. Layers of pink and white--redbud and dogwood."
"And you?" Giles asked Kit.
"Stars," he said. That was all.”
Source: Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
“What in the blue star-blazes did you see in Jason?" he asked, still forcefully but with his frustration and jealousy under better control.
"For one thing, Djetth, he wasn't trying to kill me!"
("Marsh", heroine of Insufficient Mating Material)”
Source: Insufficient Mating Material
“What in the fuck are you?”
Source: The Return
“What in the hell happened to your eye?” I laugh and roll off the bed, out of harm’s way. “You happened.” I make my way toward the window. “I need to clear my head. I’m gonna go for a run. Wanna come?” Six crinkles up her nose. “Yeah… no. You have fun with that.”
Source: Hopeless
“What in the known world could kill a dragon? Well, it turned out the answer was another dragon.”
Source: Of War and Ruin
“What in the name of fanny?!”
Source: Dear Fatty
“What in the name of Hitler's panties and matching bra set was she talking about?”
“What in the name of reason does this nation expect of a people, poorly trained and hard pressed in severe economic competition, without political rights, and with ludicrously inadequate common-school facilities? What can it expect but crime and listlessness, offset here and there by the dogged struggles of the fortunate and more determined who are themselves buoyed by the hope that in due time the country will come to its senses?”
Source: The Souls of Black Folk
“What in the name of Zeus's testicles?”
Source: Third Grave Dead Ahead
“What in the rising man was industry and economy, becomes in the rich man parsimony and avarice.”
Source: Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette
“What in the seven levels of hell did my son see in this place?” Horace asks.
We’re standing on the street on Thursday morning, staring up at the house, after taking inventory of the place. From here, I can see five different spots where the brick needs to be repaired and pick out where shingles are missing on the sloped roof. The porch sags, and the windows are dingy. But if I let my eyes go out of focus and ignore all that, I can kinda picture what the place might look like after a little—never mind—a lot of TLC.
“It has good bones?” I suggest.
“It’s got old bones,” he mutters.
I smirk. “Yeah? So do you. Doesn’t mean they’re all bad.”
He smacks my arm, but he’s grinning. “Just wait till you get to be my age, and then tell me how good old bones are.”
Source: Sing Sweet Nightingale
“What in the three worlds are you doing?” I took stock of the mess of torn pages scattered around me like the fanned-out train of a dress.
“Making paper animals. I’m taking requests for the next ten minutes only.”
“A spider.”
“How about a horse?”
“A caterpillar.”
“Can I tempt you with a horse?”
He stared at me, unimpressed. “A stag.”
“I’m sorry, did you say horse?” He pressed a finger between his brows, pushing upward as he sighed. “A fucking horse, then.”
I flung the mangled paper I had been holding at him. “Enjoy”
Source: A Dream of Embers
“What in the whole fuck is happening? I must be dreaming. I'm gonna cry, I'm gonna throw up, I will die.”
Source: Minefields
“What in the world are you thinking?” She sounded pretty flustered. “I try not to think,” Leo admitted. “It interferes with being nuts. Just concentrate on moving that Celestial bronze. Echo, you ready?”
“What in the world had Grover Cleveland done? Will you tell me? You give it up? I have been looking for six weeks for a Democrat who could tell me what Cleveland has done for the good of his country and for the benefit of the people, but I have not found him.... He says himself...that two-thirds of his time has been uselessly spent with Democrats who want office.... Now he has been so occupied in that way that he has not done anything else.”
“What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away.”
“What in the world is this abomination?”
Lissa, only slightly more tactful, asked, “Adrian, is this some kind of joke?”
Source: Silver Shadows
“What in the world would drive an author to write his own death into the script, and then sentence himself to that very death by turning his fiction into fact? The fact is, you and I are that ‘what the world.”
“What in the world would ever lead to me believe that life is a series of opportunities that are readily available to everyone else but me? What really leads me to believe such an atrocious lie is that I don’t believe in myself sufficiently to engage those opportunities in the first place.”
“What in the world would I sing for if I had it all?”
“What in the world would we do without our libraries?”
“What in us the women leave uncultivated, children cultivate when we retain them near us.”
Source: Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels
“What in your life allows you to give up to other people, and allows you to forgive others and accept forgiveness.”
“What in your life is calling you, When all the noise is silenced, The meetings adjourned... The lists laid aside, And the Wild Iris blooms By itself In the dark forest... What still pulls on your soul?”
“What in your life is worth fighting for? What has ever been worth fighting for? Have you ever had to fight for anything? I should warn you—a worthwhile life is not an easy life. Maybe I should ask that first: Do you want a worthwhile life?”
Source: Decide to Hope
“What incensed him the most was the blatant jokes of the ones that passed it all off as a jest, pretending to understand everything and in reality not knowing their own minds.”
“What incredible arrogance to believe that we limited human beings can destroy that which we cannot even begin to understand - much less create on our own - and that is earth and all of its glories.”
“What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.”
Source: Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions, and Discoveries: Interspersed with Some Particulars Respecting the Author