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Ability Quotes

Browse 7450 quotes about Ability.

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Ability Quotes

“Before I start carving the idea must be almost complete. I say 'almost' because the really important thing seems to be the sculptor's ability to let his intuition guide him over the gap between conception and realization without compromising the integrity of the original idea; the point being that the material has vitality - it resists and makes demands.”

ImportantIdeasSeemsAbilityMaterialsIntegrityDemandOriginalsImportant ThingsIntuitionGuidesCompromiseRealizationGapsConceptionVitalitySculptorsOriginal IdeasCarving
Author:Barbara Hepworth
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“The world is now unipolar and contains o­nly o­ne superpower. Canada shares a continent with that superpower. In this context, given our common values and the political, economic and security interests that we share with the United States, there is now no more important foreign policy interest for Canada than maintaining the ability to exercise effective influence in Washington so as to advance unique Canadian policy objectives.”

WorldImportantStatesPoliticalValuesGivenInterestAbilityUnitedCommonUnited StatesShareInfluenceEconomicSecurityPolicyExerciseUniqueObjectivesCanadaForeign PolicyContinentsMaintainingSuperpower
Author:Stephen Harper
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“The programme of the British Labour Party under Neil Kinnock is so wildly irresponsible, so separate and apart from the historic NATO strategy, that I think a Labour government that stood by its present policies - and I rather doubt that they would - would, if it didn't destroy the Alliance, at least diminish its effective ability to do the task for which it was created.”

IfsThinkingGovernmentAbilityPartyDoubtPolicyTasksStrategyBritishLabourDiminishHistoricAlliancesIrresponsibleProgrammesNatoLabour Party
Author:Richard Perle
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“What right do we have to claim, as some might, that human beings are the only inhabitants of our planet blessed with an actual ability to be "aware"? The impression of a "conscious presence" is indeed very strong with me when I look at a dog or a cat or, especially, when an ape or monkey at the zoo looks at me. I do not ask that they are "self-aware" in any strong sense (though I would guess that an element of self-awareness can be present). All I ask is that they sometimes simply feel!”

FeelsHumansLooksSelfSometimesMightAsksStrongHuman BeingsAbilityAwarenessDogPlanetsElementsConsciousCatClaimsSelf AwarenessBlessedImpressionVery StrongMonkeysLook At MeOur PlanetApesZoos
Author:Roger Penrose
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“To know is not too demanding: it merely requires memory and time. But to understand is quite a different matter: it requires intellectual ability and training, a self conscious awareness of what one is doing, experience in techniques of analysis and synthesis, and above all, perspective.”

KnowsDifferentSelfMatterMemoriesAbilityAwarenessPerspectiveIntellectualTrainingConsciousTechniqueAnalysisSelf ConsciousSynthesisConscious Awareness
Book:The evolution of civilizations: an introduction to historical analysis
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“I have endeavoured to show that the ability to pay taxes depends, not on the gross money value of the mass of commodities, nor on the net money value of the revenue of capitalists and landlords, but on the money value of each man's revenue compared to the money value of the commodities which he usually consumes.”

MenShowsValuesAbilityPayDependsTaxesMassCapitalistCommodityGrossRevenueLandlord
Book:The Works of David Ricardo. With a notice of the life and writings of the author: by J. R. McCulloch
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“Sentir mon Cœur is a privilege only granted to the exceptional man - the one who has the ability to find words that exactly (or, to himself, convincingly) express his feelings... The value of words help to define the feeling itself... The common failure is to allow habitual words and phrases, flowing spontaneously from the memory, to determine and deform the feelings.”

MenHelpingFeelingsValuesMemoriesAbilityCommonPrivilegeDetermineGrantedPhrasesExceptionalHabitual
Author:Herbert Read
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“I despair at the rise of modern violence. I truly give in to despair at times, that deep, futureless pit of despair.... I watch the American slaughterhouse, the casual attacks on popes, presidents, and uncounted others, and I wonder if there are many more out there with the Ability or if butchery has simply become the modern way of life.”

IfsWayGivingPresidentAbilityWonderWatchesViolenceModernDespairPopePitsCasualSlaughterhousesButchery
Book:Carrion Comfort
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“Obama has already demonstrated an extraordinary ability to change the limits of what one can say publicly. His greatest achievement up to now is that, in his refined non-provocative way, he has introduced into public speech topics which had hitherto been de facto unsayable: the continuing importance of race in politics, the positive role of atheists in public life, the necessity to talk with "enemies" like Iran or Hamas, and so on. This is just what US politics needs today more than anything, if it is to break out of its gridlock: new words which will change the way we think and act.”

IfsThinkingWayNeedsTodayAbilityRaceEnemyRolesBreakLimitsSpeechAchievementImportanceExtraordinaryAtheistIranContinuingTopicsPublic LifeRefinedProvocativeBreak OutHamasGreatest AchievementNew WordsAbility To ChangeGridlock
Author:Slavoj Žižek
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“There are only three kinds of people. LEADERS. Those who take charge, build, inspire, and create. FOLLOWERS. Those who support leaders and work to achieve mutually beneficial goals.... [and] DESTROYERS. Destroyers cannot find it within themselves to follow anyone, their hatred and insecurity is too pure to see strength in any OTHER being. The utterly lack the ability to inspire or create, so they do the only thing left to them -- they tear down all they come in contact with.”

PeopleKindThreeLeftGoalAbilityLeaderSupportAchieveTearsInspirePureHatredContactInsecurityFollowersBeneficialDestroyers
Author:Rick Remender
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“Exploring and understanding the Net is an ongoing process. Cyberspace never sits still; it evolves as fast as society itself. Only if we fight to preserve our freedom of speech on the Net will we ensure our ability to keep up with both the Net and society.”

IfsStillsFightingProcessUnderstandingAbilitySpeechEvolvePreservesFreedom Of SpeechExploringOngoingCyberspace
Book:Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age
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“The ability of nonintelligent people to understand the most complicated mechanisms and to use them has always been to me a cause of astonishment: their inability to understand simple questions is even more astonishing. The general acceptance of simple ideas is difficult and rare, and yet it is only when simple, fundamental, ideas have been accepted that further progress becomes possible on a higher level.”

PeopleHas BeensIdeasUseCausesDifficultSimpleAbilityLevelsProgressAcceptanceHigherFundamentalsComplicatedAcceptedMechanismInabilityAstonishingHigher LevelAstonishmentSimple Ideas
Book:A History of Science: Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece
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“In 302, the Roman emperor Diocletian commanded "there should be cheapness," declaring, "Unprincipled greed appears wherever our armies ... march. ... Our law shall fix a measure and a limit to this greed." The predictable result of Diocletian's food price controls were black markets, hunger and food confiscation by his soldiers. Despite the disastrous history of price controls, politicians never manage to resist tampering with prices -- that's not a flattering observation of their learning abilities.”

ShouldLawBlackAbilityResultsPoliticianLimitsArmyGreedSoldierHungerDespiteManageObservationMarchPredictableEmperorFlatteringDeclaringCheapnessRoman Emperor
Author:Walter E. Williams
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“Paradoxically, the simpler poetry is, the more difficult it becomes for a critic to discuss intelligently. Trained to explicate, the critic often loses the ability to evaluate literature outside the critical act. A work is good only in proportion to the richness and complexity of interpretations it provokes.”

LiteratureDifficultLosesAbilityCriticsCriticalComplexityProportionPoetry IsInterpretationProvokingRichnessEvaluate
Book:Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture
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“As a mathematician, von Neumann was quick, brilliant, efficient, and enormously broad in scientific interests beyond mathematics itself. He knew his technical abilities; his virtuosity in following complicated reasoning and his insights were supreme; yet he lacked absolute self confidence.”

SelfInterestAbilityAbsolutesMathematicsFollowingInsightComplicatedBrilliantSelf ConfidenceSupremeReasoningBroadsEfficientMathematicianVirtuosityVon Neumann
Author:Stanislaw Ulam
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“Micromessaging -- communicating with other human beings through visual, audible, sublingual means, no doubt predates our ability to speak. We actually read micromessages quite naturally without thinking about them. You might say human beings read each other's micromessages subconsciously, in the same way that one dog understands another dog is unfriendly simply because the dog's fur is standing on end. The dogs read each other perfectly. It's not all that different for people.”

PeopleThinkingWayHumansMeanDifferentEndsMightSpeakHuman BeingsAbilityDoubtDogStandingCommunicateVisualsNo DoubtFurUnfriendlyAbility To SpeakCommunicating With Others
Book:Micromessaging
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“I don't know where the characters are going to go or what's going to happen. I know that something inevitable will happen. I know that they want certain things and they're in a certain room and they smell like this and they look like that. More often than not, an entropy creeps in that strangles me, and then the inevitable happens. I don't know if I have the ability to write an ending like My Fair Lady's, when everyone gets what they want after a few minor conflicts. If I tried to write that it would just be false. Or I'd have someone enter with a machine gun.”

IfsKnowsWantWritingLooksCharacterHappensCertainAbilityRoomsConflictGunFairsMachinesSmellInevitableMinorsCreepsEntropyMachine GunsMy Fair Lady
Author:Adam Rapp
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“The American College of Sports Medicine found that the productivity of people after exercise was an average of 65 percent higher than those who did not exercise. If I have something that's really bothering me, so much that it almost hurts my head to try to sort it out, I always find the solution in a puddle of sweat! Intense exercise is like taking a magic pill that gives you the ability to solve problems like a superhero.”

PeopleIfsGivingTryingProblemFoundSportsHurtAbilityMagicCollegeHigherExerciseSolutionsPercentMedicineAverageSolveProductivityIntenseBotherSweatSuperheroPillsPuddles
Author:Chalene Johnson
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