“The sense of tragedy is that the world is not a pleasant little nest made for our protection, but a vast and largely hostile environment, in which we can achieve great things only by defying the gods; and that this defiance inevitably brings its own punishment.” WorldLittlesMadeEnvironmentAchieveTragedyProtectionPunishmentGreat ThingsPleasantHostileNestsDefianceDefyingHostile Environment Book:The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society Source: The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society
“if we continue with what is surely our greatest Western temptation, and think that in some way history owes us a solution, that we can, by pursuing our own most parochial self-interest, achieve in some miraculous way a consummation of world order, then we are heading not simply towards great disappointments, but towards disaster and tragedy as well.” IfsThinkingWorldWayWellsSelfOrderInterestAchieveSolutionsTragedyWesternDisappointmentDisasterTemptationImperialismMiraculousSelf InterestHeadingsWorld Order Author:Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth
“To me, the tragedy about this whole image-obsessed society is that young girls get so caught up in just achieving that they forget to realize that they have so much more to offer the world.” WorldWholeYoungGirlRealizingForgetAchieveOffersTragedyCaughtObsessedCaught Up Author:America Ferrera
“At least one indication of unbelief is the tendency to measure life's challenges against our own adequacy instead of God's promises. To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance - trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness.” EndsSelfChallengesAbilityAchieveGreatnessPromiseOvercomingDifficultyTragedyTendenciesSelf RelianceRelianceRise AboveIndicationSabbathUnbeliefAdequacy Author:Charles R. Swindoll
“Here is one of the fundamental defects of American fiction--perhaps the one character that sets it off sharply from all other known kinds of contemporary fiction. It habitually exhibits, not a man of delicate organization in revolt against the inexplicable tragedy of existence, but a man of low sensibilities and elemental desires yielding himself gladly to his environment, and so achieving what, under a third-rate civilization, passes for success. To get on: this is the aim. To weigh and reflect, to doubt and rebel: this is the thing to be avoided.” MenKindCharacterDesireLiteratureExistenceFictionKnownDoubtEnvironmentAchieveCivilizationLowsOrganizationThirdsTragedyAimFundamentalsRateContemporaryRebelDelicateSensibilityDefectsAvoidedRevoltExhibitsInexplicableContemporary FictionElementalsAmerican Literature Book:H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series Source: H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series
“The great tragedy of life is not that people set their sights too high and fail to achieve their goals but that they set their sights too low and do.” PeopleLife IsGoalFailingAchieveLowsSightTragedyGreat Tragedy Author:Michelangelo
“Those people who say that America is finite are some sense right. The environmental movement, for example, has a great wisdom to it: we need to protect, to preserve, to shelter as much as we need to develop. But I think this always has to be juxtaposed against the optimism of old, which is now represented in part by immigrants. I would like to see America achieve a kind of balance between optimism and tragedy, between possibility and skepticism.” PeopleThinkingNeedsKindAmericaAchieveExampleMovementPossibilityBalanceProtectOptimismTragedyEnvironmentalPreservesImmigrantsShelterSkepticismFiniteGreat Wisdom Author:Richard Rodriguez
“There are two great tragedies in life: one is to fail to achieve one's grandest ambitions, and the other one is to succeed.” TwoFailingAchieveSucceedAmbitionTragedyGreat Tragedy Author:Graham T. Allison