W Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with W. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Why do we never expect dull people to be rascals?”
“Why do we not accept ESP as a psychological fact? Rhine has offered enough evidence to have convinced us on almost any other issue... Personally, I do not accept ESP for a moment, because it does not make sense. My external criteria, both of physics and of physiology, say that ESP is not a fact despite the behavioral evidence that has been reported. I cannot see what other basis my colleagues have for rejecting it... Rhine may still turn out to be right, improbable as I think that is, and my own rejection of his view is - in the literal sense - prejudice.”
“Why do we not care to acknowledge them? The cattle, the body count. We still don't like to admit the war was even partly our fault because so many of our people died. A photograph on every mantlepiece. And all this mourning has veiled the truth. It's not so much lest we forget, as lest we remember. Because you should realise the Cenotaph and the Last Post and all that stuff is concerned, there's no better way of forgetting something than by commemorating it.”
“Why do we not exhaust the heritage of the ages, spiritual and material for our immediate pleasure, and let posterity go hang? So far as simple rationality is concerned, self-interest can advance no argument against the appetite of present possessors. Yet within some of us, a voice that is not the demand of self-interest or pure rationality says that we have no right to give ourselves enjoyment at the expense of our ancestors' memory and our descendants' prospects. We hold our present advantages only in trust.”
“Why do we not hear the truth? Because we do not speak it.”
“Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways? Just to be silly!”
“Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute?”
Source: The Abundance
“why do we personify time? Is it because we’re afraid to admit that our lives are measured by an abstract force that neither knows nor cares about our entry into existence? Or our departure into death? Time is our mysterious master giving it a face and hands we attempt to transform it into our servant.”
“Why do we pigeonhole and label an artist? It is a sure way of missing the important, the contradictory, the things that make him or her unique.”
“Why do we place so much weight on being desired? Desire requires the least of our primal abilities. Think of the ebb and flow of all the things we desire. I want to be respected, appreciated, understood, and valued. That requires depth. That requires perspective. That requires conscious engagement. That requires strength.”
“Why do we place such a disproportionate emphasis on sporting achievement? Why doesn't success in other fields receive similar attention... Maybe it's because in a country that prides itself on being egalitarian, sport is intellectually and socio-economically an equal playing field. In fact, the more humble your background, the better, the underdog-turned champion is a narrative that resonates powerfully. We're far less interested in the stories of our best doctors, writers, lawyers, engineers, teachers or social workers. Their triumphs do not capture our collective imaginations.”
“Why do we pray for rewards instead of building a true connection with God? Perhaps it shows that humans are naturally driven by desire more than devotion.”
“Why Do We Procrastinate? P - postponing life R - resisting change O - overly cautious C - contemplating course of action R - reasoning and justifying A - afraid of success S - summoning up some courage T - trouble moving forward I - inability to see the outcome N - not able to trust in your abilities to make decisions A - attempting to control the situation T - time to reflect on your motives E - erodes progress”
“Why do we protect children from life? It's no wonder that we become afraid to live. We're not told what life really is. We're not told that life is joy and wonder and magic and even rapture, if you can get involved enough. We're not told that life is also pain, misery, despair, unhappiness, and tears. I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss any of it. I want to embrace life, and I want to find out what it's all about. I wouldn't want to go through life without knowing what it is to cry.”
“Why do we pursue information that we know will never leave our heads?”
Source: How We Are Hungry
“Why do we put our self esteem in the hands of complete strangers?”
“Why do we put people who are on drugs in jail? They're sick, they're not criminals. Sick people don't get healed in prison. You see? It makes no sense.”
“Why do we put suits in a garment bag and put garments in a suitcase?”
“Why do we put up with it? Do we like to be criticized? No, no scientist enjoys it. Every scientist feels a proprietary affection for his or her ideas and findings. Even so, you don’t reply to critics, Wait a minute; this is a really good idea; I’m very fond of it; it’s done you no harm; please leave it alone. Instead, the hard but just rule is that if the ideas don’t work, you must throw them away.”
Source: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
“Why do we put up with love? This despicable person who changes our whole universe and our whole being.”
“Why do we remember the Boys of Summer? We remember because we were young when they were, of course. But more, we remember because we feel the ache of guilt and regret. While they were running, jumping, leaping, we were slouched behind typewriters, smoking and drinking, pretending to some mystic communion with men we didn't really know or like. Men from ghettos we didn't dare visit, or rural farms we passed at sixty miles an hour. Loving what they did on the field, we could forget how superior we felt towards them the rest of the time. By cheering them on we proved we had nothing to do with the injustices that kept their lives separate from ours. There's nothing sordid or false about the Boys of Summer. Only our memories smell like sweaty jockstraps.”
Source: The Boys of Summer
“Why do we remember the past, but not the future?”
Source: The Theory Of Everything
“Why do we resent change so much? Simple answer: we feel like we are being forced instead of being guided.”
Source: Naked
“Why do we resist giving help to homeless men? In part because we don't understand how our pressure on men to support families often forces men to take transient jobs that are but a step away from homelessness (the death-of-a-salesman jobs, the migrant worker jobs...) and in part because we respond differently to men who fail [than women who fail].”
Source: The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex
“Why do we resist the mystery that change brings? When we get too rigid and inflexible, rigor mortis of the soul sets in. For proof of this, we need look no further than to those who choose to stay in a relationship or job long after the soul, or life force, that originally brought it passion and joy has vacated the premises.”
Source: The Art of Uncertainty: How to Live in the Mystery of Life and Love It
“Why do we romanticize the dead? Why can't we be honest about them? Especially moms. They're the most romanticized of anyone.
Moms are saints, angels by merely existing. NO ONE could possibly understand what it's like to be a mom. Men will never understand. Women with no children will never understand. No one buts moms know the hardship of motherhood, and we non-moms must heap nothing but praise upon moms because we lowly, pitiful non-moms are mere peasants compared to the goddesses we call mothers.”
Source: I'm Glad My Mom Died
“Why do we romanticize the virgin spaces? Land where no one’s walked or built or puked or fought over its uses? Land never once in its existence beholden to anyone or anything, forming timelessly, inured of us. We want it to seduce the cluttered world of today out from under us.”
Source: The Power of Amie Martine
“Why do we say razzle-dazzle instead of dazzle-razzle? Why super-duper, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, hocus-pocus, willy-nilly, hully-gully, roly-poly, holy moly, herky-jerky, walkie-talkie, namby-pamby, mumbo-jumbo, loosey-goosey, wing-ding, wham-bam, hobnob, razza-matazz, and rub-a-dub-dub? I thought you'd never ask. Consonants differ in "obstruency"—the degree to which they impede the flow of air, ranging from merely making it resonate, to forcing it noisily past an obstruction, to stopping it up altogether. The word beginning with the less obstruent consonant always comes before the word beginning with the more obstruent consonant. Why ask why?”
Source: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
“Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?”
“Why do we say that time passes away, when we do not say with just as much emphasis that it arises?”
Source: Being and Time
“Why do we send flowers when people die? It’s a reminder of beauty, fleeting beauty. This is death. I will appreciate the joy of their life when I am not awash in the horrible darkness. When I am not awash in the moments of leaking, of sobbing, of numbness. When I am not awash in practical issues like ashes, caskets, and bills.”
Source: Naked
“Why do we send valuable items like aluminium and food waste to landfill when we can turn them into new cans and renewable energy? Why use more resources than we need to in manufacturing? We must now work together to build a zero waste nation - where we reduce the resources we use, reuse and recycle all that we can and only landfill things that have absolutely no other use”
“Why do we serve? When we understand why, we won't be concerned about where we serve.”
“Why do we shave? It doesn't seem like a natural activity. There are no examples of shaving in nature. The only creature that comes close is the male South Pacific Groping Beetle, which sometimes, just before mating, will slap on a little Aqua Velva. But we think this resulted from atomic testing.”
Source: The Greatest Invention in the History of Mankind Is Beer: And Other Manly Insights from Dave Barry
“Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?”
“Why do we so desire fame? Because we desire to matter.”
Source: The Talk: A Young Person's Guide to Life's Big Questions
“Why do we so mindlessly abuse our planet, our only home? The answer to that lies in each of us. Therefore, we will strive to bring about understanding that we are--each one of us--responsible for more than just ourselves, our family, our football team, our country, or our own kind; that there is more to life than just these things. That each one of us must also bring the natural world back into its proper place in our lives, and realize that doing so is not some lofty ideal but a vital part of our personal survival.”
“Why do we sometimes suffer from grief over loved ones or defeat in our own lives?" asked the Rabbit.
The Eagle replied: "The path to serenity is paved by adversity. Hardship makes us endure tragedy or setbacks. There is no content ending to anyone's story since we all inherit the same fault in the conclusion of our own breath. While one story will end in happiness, the other will end in terrible heartache; and it is you who decides the life you truly deserve.”
“Why do we spend so much of our limited time on this earth focusing on all the things that our eulogies will never cover?”
Source: Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder
“Why do we spend years using up our bodies to nurture our minds with experience and find our minds turning then to our exhausted bodies for solace?”
Source: Save Me the Waltz: A Novel
“Why do we start immigration in 1965? Guess whose idea it was? Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy, 1965, we needed to reinstitute the immigration laws. It wasn't based in humanity, although that's the way it was sold. It was rooted in registering voters.”
“Why do we still cling to the intellectually retarded notion that liberty can be obtained, maintained, or lost at the end of a gun barrel? When you're working 3 minimum wage jobs to make the minimum payment on a pair of socks you bought 12 years ago because your credit card company slapped you with an interest rate that would make a loan shark holler WTF! ... well, no one needs to hold a gun to your head. Your ass has already been sold down the river.”
“Why do we stop believing in ourselves? Why do we let facts and figures and anything but dreams rule our lives?”
Source: Rosie Dunne
“Why do we study the universe? Why do we look at the sky and ask questions, build telescopes, travel to the very limits of our planet to answer them? Why do we stargaze?
We don't know exactly why, but we must.”
Source: The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers
“Why do we take a dollar? Why do we give a dollar to countries that have no rights for women? We have to think about that.”
“Why do we tell lies? We lie because the truth is too painful or too shameful for us to face, or because the truth is simply inconvenient and has to be suppressed before it’s allowed to disturb us. We invent lies because, for whatever reason, we want to invent reality. And the false reality which we invent, the world we make up by our lying, has one great advantage for us: It makes no claim on us. It demands nothing. It doesn’t shape us in the way that truth shapes us; it faces us with no obligations; it has no hard, resistant surfaces which we can’t get through. A lie is a made-up reality, and so never unsettles, never criticizes, never resists, never overthrows us. It’s the world, not as it is, but as we wish it to be: a world organized around us and our desires, the perfect environment in which we can be left at peace to be ourselves and to follow our own good or evil purposes.”
“Why do we tell stories? It's because we want to connect to people, we want to tell them who we are, we want to tell them a story that affects us, that impacts us. And to help a young filmmaker doing a short or independent film is my testament, I think, is my desire to really make sure that our younger generations get passed along all the elders' experience and to literally have the image - to literally carry them on their shoulders and say, 'This is what the world is. This is how the world operates. Let me show you how.'”
“Why do we tend to consider ourselves happier than homeless people? If there is no money, no gold, no private property, no marriage, no religion, no government, maybe there is no reason to trouble about anything, which in turn can save human life from the unnecessary anxiety associated with them. Anxiety comes mainly from the connection to external world. If you have got nothing of value in the external world, you will have no fear of losing anything there. If there is no fear, there is no reason to be unhappy and there are more reasons to enjoy just the existence of yourself.”
“Why do we tend to dread tomorrow? Because we weren’t all that wise in living out the ‘today’ that put that ‘tomorrow’ out into tomorrow.”
“Why do we think love is a magician? Because the whole power of magic consists in love. The work of magic is the attraction of one thing by another because of a certain affinity of nature.”