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Absurd Quotes

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Absurd Quotes

“When she looked at herself in her wedding photographs, Ammu felt the woman that looked back at her was someone else. A foolish jewelled bride. Her silk sunset-coloured sari shot with gold. Rings on every finger. White dots of sandalwood paste over her arched eye-brows. Looking at herself like this, Ammu's soft mouth would twist into a small, bitter smile at the memory - not of the wedding itself so much as the fact that she had permitted herself to be so painstakingly decorated before being led to the gallows. It seemed so absurd. So futile. Like polishing firewood.”

FactsEyeFeltMemoriesWhiteMouthsShotsGoldFingersPhotographFoolishRingsAbsurdBitterSunsetTwistsBridesSilkBrowsDotsGallowsFirewoodSariSandalwood
Book:The God of Small Things
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“What if all those strange and unexplainable bends in history were the result of supernatural interference? At which point I asked myself, what's the weirdest most eccentric historical phenomenon of them all? Answer:the Great British Empire. Clearly, one tiny little island could only conquer half the known world with supernatural aid. Those absurd Victorian manners and ridiculous fashions were obviously dictated by vampires. And, without a doubt, the British army regimental system functions on werewolf pack dynamics.”

IfsWorldLittlesAnswersResultsHalfKnownDoubtFashionStrangeFunctionArmyHistoricalBritishAidsTinyRidiculousAbsurdVampireConquerMannersIslandsEmpiresWhat IfPhenomenonPacksEccentricWerewolfInterferenceDynamicsVictorianBritish EmpireUnexplainableBritish Army
Author:Gail Carriger
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“Soon madness has worn you down. It’s easier to do what it says than argue. In this way, it takes over your mind. You no longer know where it ends and you begin. You believe anything it says. You do what it tells you, no matter how extreme or absurd. If it says you’re worthless, you agree. You plead for it to stop. You promise to behave. You are on your knees before it, and it laughs.”

IfsKnowsWayMindBelieveEndsMatterLaughingEasierPromiseMadnessAgreeExtremesArguingAbsurdKneesBehaveWornWorthlessBipolar
Author:Marya Hornbacher
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“Suddenly his expression turned to alarm. He sprinted toward us. For a moment I had an absurd vision of myself on the cover of one of Gran’s old romance novels, where the damsel wilts into the arms of one half-dressed beefy guy while another stands by,casting her longing looks. Oh, the horrible choices a girl must make! I wished I’d had a moment to clean up. I was still covered in dried river muck, twine, and grass, like I’d been tarred and feathered. Then Anubis pushed past me and gripped Walt’s shoulders. Well…that was unexpected.”

WellsLooksStillsMomentsPastRomanceGuyChoicesGirlHalfVisionNovelExpressionArmsRiversLongingCleanShouldersHorribleAbsurdGrassUnexpectedCoveredCastingAlarmsRomance NovelWaltOne HalfGransAnubisOld Romance
Author:Rick Riordan
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“It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you have established, according to your fine undertstanding, the limits of truth and falsehood, and it turns out that you must necessarily believe things even stranger than those you deny, you are obliged from then on to abandon these limits.”

BelieveTurnsDangerousFineLimitsStrangerDenyAbsurdAbandonFalsehoodObligedDisdainPresumptionTruth And Falsehood
Book:Complete Essays
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“The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation.”

WarStatesFactsFormLawNaturalWrittenCrimeCreationTaxesAuthorityAbsolutesKillingCriminalsPunishmentStealingHorribleAbsurdAnarchyApologyDiminishAnarchismAnarchistCopingNatural LawCapital PunishmentScourgeStandstillCrime And Criminals
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“It then becomes necessary to stop short and make a choice: Either/Or. Either one drifts with their absurd system of ideas, believing that this is the human community. Or one dissents totally from their system of ideas and stands as a lonely human being. (But luckily one notices that the others are in the same crisis and making the same choices.)”

BelieveHumansIdeasChoicesCommunityHuman BeingsLonelyCrisisAbsurdDissentEither Or
Book:Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society
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“Of all the universal lies she accepted unquestioningly, the happy ending was the most absurd. The hero and heroine lived happily ever after, and the ending seemed indisputable, definitive. No questions asked about how long love or happiness lasts in that 'forever' that can be divided into lifetimes, years, months. Even days”

YearsLongLastsLyingForeverMonthsHeroUniversalLifetimeAcceptedAbsurdDividedHappy EndingsHappily Ever AfterEver AfterHeroinesQuestions AskedLong LoveHeroes And Heroines
Book:The Club Dumas
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“I have been a hundred times on the point of killing myself, but still was fond of life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts. What can be more absurd than choosing to carry a burden that one really wants to throw to the ground? To detest, and yet to strive to preserve our existence? To caress the serpent that devours us, and hug him close to our bosoms till he has gnawed into our hearts?”

WantHeartHas BeensStillsExistenceWorstWeaknessHundredInstinctStriveKillingBurdenRidiculousAbsurdPreservesHugBosomsSerpentCaressDetestKilling Myself
Author:Voltaire
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“In the whole of your absurd past you discover so much that's absurd, so much deceit and credulity, that it might be a good idea to stop being young this minute, to wait for youth to break away from you and pass you by, to watch it going away, receding in the distance, to see all its vanity, run your hand through the empty space it has left behind, take a last look at it, and then start moving, make sure your youth has really gone, and then calmly, all by yourself, cross to the other side of Time to see what people and things really look like.”

PeopleLooksIdeasWholeHandsMightRunningLastsPastMovingYoungLeftWaitingSidesSpaceBehindsWatchesBreakGoneMinutesYouthCrossesEmptyDistanceAbsurdVanityDeceitGoing AwayGood IdeasLeft BehindAway From YouEmpty SpaceCredulity
Author:Louis-Ferdinand Celine
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“The observations and encounters of a solitary, taciturn man are vaguer and at the same times more intense than those of a sociable man; his thoughts are deeper, odder and never without a touch of sadness. Images and perceptions that could be dismissed with a glance, a laugh, an exchange of opinions, occupy him unduly, become more intense in the silence, become significant, become an experience, an adventure, an emotion. Solitude produces originality, bold and astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden.”

MenEmotionSilenceOpinionLaughingSadnessProduceAdventureSolitudePerceptionDeeperSignificantIntenseAbsurdObservationEncountersOriginalitySolitaryGlancesForbiddenAstonishingSociablePerversenessTaciturnBeauty Poetry
Book:Death in Venice & A Man and His Dog: A Dual-Language Book
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“The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse... By misuse, I mean that people who have never glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, assertions, and egoic delusions, such as "My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false," or Nietzsche's famous statmeent "God is dead.”

PeopleIfsGivingYearsMeanUseBeliefBehindsTalkingEmptyInfiniteSacredConvictionArguingAbsurdRealmsDelusionAssertionVastnessMisuseTrue GodGod Is Dead
Author:Eckhart Tolle
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“If I convince myself that this life has no other aspect than that of the absurd, if I feel that its whole equilibrium depends on that perpetual opposition between my conscious revolt and the darkness in which it struggles, if I admit that my freedom has no meaning except in relation to its limited fate, then I must say that what counts is not the best living but the most living.”

IfsFeelsWholeDarknessStruggleFateDependsConsciousAspectRelationAbsurdThis LifeOppositionConvincePerpetualRevoltEquilibrium
Book:The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays
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“I heard you're campaigning on my behalf." He walked over to me. "That wouldn't be because you'd miss me too much if I were gone,would it?" "Don't be absurd," I scoffed. "I don't condone murder, even for people like you." "People like me,huh?" He cocked an eyebrow. "You mean devilishly handsome, debonair young men who come to sweep rebellious princesses of their feet?" "You came to kidnap me, not sweep me off my feet," I said,but he waved his hand at the idea. "Semantics.”

PeopleIfsMenMeanSaidIdeasHandsYoungGoneToo MuchHeardFeetMissingLike YouMurderLike MeAbsurdYoung ManPrincessHandsomeBehalfEyebrowsRebelliousCampaigningSemanticsMiss MeDebonair
Book:Trylle: The Complete Trilogy
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“A lonely, quiet person has observations and experiences that are at once both more indistinct and more penetrating than those of one more gregarious; his thoughts are weightier, stranger, and never without a tinge of sadness. . . . Loneliness fosters that which is original, daringly and bewilderingly beautiful, poetic. But loneliness also fosters that which is perverse, incongruous, absurd, forbidden.”

PersonsBeautifulSadnessLonelinessQuietLonelyOriginalsStrangerAbsurdObservationPoeticForbiddenGregariousQuiet Person
Author:Thomas Mann
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“...the total number of galaxies in the universe seems to be in the region of ten billion, and that each of them has about a hundred billion stars the size of the sun. These numbers are so absurd that I strangely find myself in a good mood. It's all so immense. I think Paul feels a bit like this as well. There is so little I can do to make a difference. It is liberating.”

ThinkingFeelsWellsLittlesI CanSeemsUniverseStarsBitsCan DoDifferencesNumbersSunTenHundredSizeBillionsMoodAbsurdMaking A DifferenceRegionsImmenseGalaxyLiberatingGood Mood
Book:Naïve. Super
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“We ought, all of us, to realize each other in this intense, pathetic, and important way. If you say that this is absurd, and that we cannot be in love with everyone at once, I merely point out to you that, as a matter of fact, certain persons do exist with an enormous capacity for friendship and for taking delight in other people's lives; and that such persons know more of truth than if their hearts were not so big.”

PeopleIfsKnowsLifeHeartPersonsMatterFactsBigsCertainOrdinaryCapacityIdealsAffectionVicesDelightEnormousAbsurdIntensityMatter Of FactExclusion
Author:William James
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