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Ability Quotes

Browse 7450 quotes about Ability.

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Ability Quotes

“Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.”

MenWorldFirstsSoulSelfStatesGovernmentLastsEvilLostNationsNaturalChanceAbilityPleasureLibertyMoralHonestThis WorldKingsDisciplineLimitsWeightBoundsCorruptionBoundariesGenuineRelaxEmpiresGoodsDividedDecayCommerceSelf DisciplineLicenseCompulsionDespotismProminentHamperMoral DecayHonest Government
Author:Russell Kirk
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“A man who is morally clean, other things being equal, has in every instance, greater agility, greater capacity, and greater endurance by far than the man who is not. While the latter is wasting his creative energies in useless pleasures, as well as in disease producing habits, the former is turning all of his creative energy into ability and genius, and the result is evident.”

MenWellsEnergyAbilityPleasureResultsCreativeGreaterHe ManGeniusHabitEqualDiseaseCapacityCleanInstanceFormerUselessLatterEnduranceEvidentAgilityBeing EqualCreative Energy
Author:Christian D. Larson
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“It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.”

MenHumansAbilityPerfectParticularActivitySkillsSurvivalSpeciesSatisfactionMeaningfulMeaning Of LifeAcquireYieldMasteryUtilityMeaningful LifeAcquisitionHuman ActivityLife Means
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“Let us consider what we call vicious luxury. No gratification, however sensual, can of itself be esteemed vicious. A gratification is only vicious when it engrosses all a man's expense, and leaves no ability for such acts of duty and generosity as are required by his situation and fortune. The same care and toil that raise a dish of peas at Christmas would give bread to a whole family during six months.”

MenGivingWholeCareAbilitySituationDutyMonthsSixRaisesFortuneBreadLuxurySensualGenerosityExpensesDishesToilViciousSix MonthsGratificationWhole FamilyPeas
Book:Selected essays
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“Any day above ground is a good one. A woman's beauty is her inherent ability to better a man in every way. My father, now in heaven, is the watcher of birds. And his eye is on his sparrow. God, in his great silence, is still there. Of that I haven't a single doubt. Music is the balm that heals the ache of a forlorn star.”

MenWayStillsEyeFatherHeavenStarsAbilitySilenceDoubtHavensMusic IsBirdHealHis EyesInherentSilence IsAcheSparrowsWatchersForlornWomen's Beauty
Author:Donald E. Williams, Jr.
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“No nation can be really great unless it is great in peace, in industry, integrity, honesty. Skilled intelligence in civic affairs and industrial enterprises alike; the special ability of the artist, the man of letters, the man of science, and the man of business; the rigid determination to wrong no man, and to stand for righteousness-all these are necessary in a great nation.”

MenScienceArtistNationsAbilitySpecialHonestyHe ManIndustryIntegrityDeterminationLettersIntelligentAffairEnterpriseRighteousnessReally GreatCivicsGreat NationsHonesty Integrity
Book:The Works of Theodore Roosevelt: American ideals. Administration-Civil service
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“Artur Rubinstein, the famous pianist, was once asked the secret of his success-was it dedication, ability, discipline, hard work? Mr. Rubinstein smiled as he remarked, "It's hard to say, but one thing I do know: if you love life, life will love you back!" What a wonderful insight! That philosophy explains how a man in his eighties can continue to be so creative. For life is simply filled with exciting blessings for everybody. They're ours if we give enough of ourselves to life!”

IfsKnowsMenLifeGivingHardEnoughPhilosophyLife IsAbilitySecretCreativeWonderfulOne ThingLove YouHard WorkDisciplineBlessingExcitingFilledInsightLove LifeDedicationEightyPianist
Book:The joy of living: inspiring and practical writings ...
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“Hitler appeared, a man with limited intellectual abilities and unfit for any useful work, bursting with envy and bitterness against all whom circumstance and nature had favored over him....In his desperate ambition for power he discovered that his speeches, confused and pervaded with hate as they were, received wild acclaim by those whose situation and orientation resembled his own. He picked up this human flotsam on the streets and in the taverns and organized them around himself. This is the way he launched his political career.”

MenWayHumansPoliticalHateAbilitySituationCareersStreetsCircumstancesSpeechAmbitionIntellectualEnvyConfusedOrganizedDesperateBitternessOrientationBurstingAcclaimTavernsFlotsam
Author:Albert Einstein
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“Men whose only concern is other people's opinion of them are like actors who put on a poor performance to win the applause of people of poor taste; some of them would be capable of good acting in front of a good audience. A decent man plays his part to the best of his ability, regardless of the taste of the gallery.”

PeopleMenPlayWould BeActorsWinningAbilityPoorActingOpinionAudienceFrontsTasteCapableConcernPerformancesDecentApplauseGalleryDecent ManGood ActingPoor PerformancePoor Taste
Book:Chamfort: Reflections on Life, Love & Society : Together with Anecdotes and Little Philosophical Dialogues
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“I verily believe that a man's way with women is in inverse ratio to his prowess among men. The weakling and the saphead have often great ability to charm the fair sex, while the fighting man who can face a thousand real dangers unafraid, sits hiding in the shadows like some frightened child.”

MenWayBelieveChildrenRealFacesFightingSexAbilityDangerThousandShadowFairsCharmFrightenedHidingRatiosUnafraidInverseProwessHiding In The Shadows
Book:Under the Moons of Mars
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“Rational behavior ... depends upon a ceaseless flow of data from the environment. It depends upon the power of the individual to predict, with at least a fair success, the outcome of his own actions. To do this, he must be able to predict how the environment will respond to his acts. Sanity, itself, thus hinges on man's ability to predict his immediate, personal future on the basis of information fed him by the environment.”

MenAbleActionIndividualAbilityEnvironmentInformationDependsFutureBehaviorFairsFlowBasesRationalDataOutcomesFedsSanityHinges
Book:future shock
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“Differences in political opinions are as unavoidable as, to a certain point, they may perhaps be necessary; but it is exceedingly to be regretted that subjects cannot be discussed with temper on the one hand, or decisions submitted to without having the motives, which led to them, improperly implicated on the other; and this regret borders on chagrin when we find that men of abilities, zealous patriots, having the same general objects in view, and the same upright intentions to prosecute them, will not exercise more charity in deciding on the opinions and actions of one another.”

MenMayHandsActionPoliticalCertainDifferencesAbilityDecisionViewsOpinionSubjectsObjectsRegretExerciseIntentionCharityBordersMotiveTemperPatriotPartisanshipZealousChagrinPolitical Opinions
Book:The real George Washington
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“There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability. The sternest comment that can be made against employers as a class lies in the fact that men of Ability usually succeed in showing their worth in spite of their employer, and not with his assistance and encouragement.”

MenMadeFactsLyingAbilityClassSucceedEncouragementSpiteCommentAssistanceEmployersScarce
Book:A Message to Garcia and Thirteen Other Things: As Written
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“Needless to say, under either system [socialism or fascism], the inequalities of income and standard of living are greater than anything possible under a free economy -- and a man's position is determined, not by his productive ability and achievement, but by political pull and force. Under both systems, sacrifice is invoked as a magic, omnipotent solution in any crisis -- and "the public good" is the altar on which victims are immolated.”

MenPoliticalForceAbilityEconomyGreaterMagicSacrificePositionAchievementSolutionsStandardsCrisisVictimDeterminedIncomeSocialismInequalityProductiveFascismAltarsStandards Of LivingOmnipotentPublic GoodFree Economy
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“You are different from the really great man in only one thing: The great man, at one time, also was a very little man, but he developed one important ability: he learned to see where he was small in his thinking, and actions. Under the pressure of some task which was dear to him he learned better and better to sense the threat that comes from his smallness and pettiness. The great man, then, knows when and in what he is a little man.”

ThinkingKnowsMenLittlesImportantDifferentActionAbilityOne ThingTasksPressureThreatDearGreat MenOne TimeReally GreatLittle ManSmallnessPettiness
Author:Wilhelm Reich
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“Good art means the ability of any one man to pin down in some permanent and intelligible medium a sort of idea of what he sees in Nature that nobody else sees. In other words, to make the other fellow grasp, through skilled selective care in interpretative reproduction or symbolism, some inkling of what only the artist himself could possibly see in the actual objective scene itself.”

MenMeanArtIdeasCareArtistAbilitySceneFellowsObjectivesMediumsPermanentOne ManPinsSymbolismReproductionGood ArtSelective
Author:H. P. Lovecraft
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“It is a melancholy consideration that there should be several among us so hardened and deluded as to think an oath a proper subject for a jest; and to make this, which is one of the most solemn acts of religion, an occasion of mirth. Yet such is the depravation of our manners at present, that nothing is more frequent than to hear profligate men ridiculing, to the best of their abilities, these sacred pledges of their duty and allegiance; and endeavouring to be witty upon themselves, for daring to prevaricate with God and man.”

ThinkingMenShouldAbilitySubjectsDutySacredWittyOccasionsMannersConsiderationMelancholyDaringSolemnPledgeAllegianceOathMirthJestHardenedDeluded
Book:The Tatler. The Guardian. The Freeholder. The Whig-examiner. The lover. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals. Remarks on several parts of Italy, etc. The present state of the war. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The evidences of the Christian religion. Essay on Virgil's Georgics. Poems on several occasions. Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Notes on some of the foregoing stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Poemata. Rosamond. Cato. The drummer
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“When a man has his heart in the right place and good taste, he can not only do well in politics but is even predetermined for it. If someone is modest and does not yearn for power, he is certainly not ill-equipped to engage in politics; on the contrary, he belongs there. What is needed in politics is not the ability to lie but rather the sensibility to know when, where, how and to whom to say things.”

IfsKnowsMenWellsHeartDoeLyingAbilityNeededTasteIllContrarySensibilityModestCan NotRight PlaceGood TastePredetermined
Author:Vaclav Havel
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“Crime, especially crime involving money, reflects the gap between the expectation to provide and the ability to provide... If we really want men to commit crime as infrequently as women, we can start by not expecting men to provide for women more than we expect women to provide for men.”

IfsMenWantAbilityCrimeExpectationsCommitGapsWant MeExpectingInvolving
Book:The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex
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