Home / Topics / Active Quotes

Active Quotes

Browse 1862 quotes about Active.

Active Quotes

“The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation; and the pre-occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy, but simply alive and active. That is why it is necessary to happiness that one should be tired.”

Should Mean Persons Secret Alive Tired Active Unhappy Cures Miserable Bother Occupation Leisure

Author:George Bernard Shaw

“Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion.”

Self Might Passion Passionate Active Surrender Self Control Introvert Bondage Human Bondage

Book:The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection

Source: The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection

“Science manipulates things and gives up living in them. It makes its own limited models of things; operating upon these indices or variables to effect whatever transformations are permitted by their definition, it comes face to face with the real world only at rare intervals. Science is and always will be that admirably active, ingenious, and bold way of thinking whose fundamental bias is to treat everything as though it were an object-in-general - as though it meant nothing to us and yet was predestined for our own use.”

Source: The Primacy of Perception: And Other Essays on Phenomenological Psychology, the Philosophy of Art, History and Politics

“Right here and now, one quanta away, there is raging a universe of active intelligence that is transhuman, hyperdimensional, and extremely alien... What is driving religious feeling today is a wish for contact with this other universe.”

Life Feelings Today Universe Wish Religious Active Rage Driving Contact Aliens Quantum Here And Now

Book:True Hallucinations: And, the Archaic Revival

Source: True Hallucinations: And, the Archaic Revival

“Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties?”

Source: A Practical View of Preferred Christians

“Experience has taught me that those who give their time to the absorbing claims of what is called society, not having leisure to keep up a large acquaintance with the organs of opinion, remain much more ignorant of the general state either of the public mind, or of the active and instructed part of it, than a recluse who reads the newspapers need be.”

Needs Giving Mind States Opinion Taught Claims Active Newspapers Ignorant Leisure Organs Acquaintance Absorbing Recluse

Book:Autobiography John Stuart Mill: Top Biography

Source: Autobiography John Stuart Mill: Top Biography

“The will of the people, moreover, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority; type people, consequently, may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this as against any other abuse of power.”

People May Mean Desire Numbers Type Needed Succeed Abuse Majority Active Accepted Abuse Of Power Precaution Tyranny Of The Majority

Author:John Stuart Mill

“The whole bible is the working out of the relationship between God and man. God is not a dictator barking out orders and demanding silent obedience. Were it so, there would be no relationship at all. No real relationship goes just one way. There are always two active parties. We must have reverence and awe for God, and honor for the chain of tradition. But that doesn't mean we can't use new information to help us read the holy texts in new ways.”

“Life passes by now like the scenery outside a car window. I breathe and eat and sleep as I always did, but there seems to be no great purpose in my life that requires active participation on my part...I do not know where I am going or when I will get there.”

Knows Seems Purpose Sleep Car Window Active Breathe Participation Scenery Message In A Bottle Letter In A Bottle Active Participation

Book:Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

“The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.”

Hands Interest Justice Poor Class Rich Special Citizens Active Patriotic Republic Rich And Poor

Book:Addresses and Presidential Messages of Theodore Roosevelt, 1902-1904

Source: Addresses and Presidential Messages of Theodore Roosevelt, 1902-1904

“Women have to be active listeners and interrupters - but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about.”

Knows Talking Active Listeners

Author:Madeleine Albright

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions. Source: The Wisdom of Heschel”

“One of the issues I kept saying to my students is you have to learn to interrupt. When you raise your hand at a meeting, by the time they get to you, the point is not germane. So the bottom line is active listening. If you are going to interrupt, you look for opportunities. You have to know what you're talking about.”

Ifs Knows Looks Hands Opportunity Lines Talking Issues Students Listening Raises Meetings Bottom Active Bottom Line

Author:Madeleine Albright

“Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His Atonement made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven.”

Humans Made Father Jesus Heaven Christ Powerful Break Plans Jesus Christ Capacity Communicate Active Tongue Glorious Overwhelming Savior Atonement Redeemer Father In Heaven

Author:Richard G. Scott

“we need not avoid our active lives, but simply bring to them a new vision and shift of gravity. for in the center we are rooted in god's love. in such a place there is no need for striving and impatience and dashing about seeking approval.”

Needs Vision Strive Seeking Active Gravity Approval Rooted Impatience God's Love Active Life New Vision Dashing

Book:God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved

Source: God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved

“How do we beat her? I asked. You pretty much don’t, Horus said. She is the incarnation of the sun’s wrath. Back in the day when Ra was active, she would have been much more impressive, but still. .She’s unstoppable. A born killer. A slaying machine— “Okay, I get it!” I yelled.”

Has Beens Said Stills Born Sun Beats Okay Machines Active Killers Wrath Impressive Incarnation Unstoppable Back In The Day Slaying Horus

Book:The Kane Chronicles, The, Book One: Red Pyramid

Source: The Kane Chronicles, The, Book One: Red Pyramid

“Philosophy is not in a state of external reflection on other domains, but in a state of active and internal alliance with them, and it is neither more abstract nor more difficult.”

States Philosophy Difficult Reflection Active Abstract Internals Domain Alliances

Book:Cinema 1: The Movement Image

Source: Cinema 1: The Movement Image

“Consciousness does not just passively reflect the objective material world; it plays an active role in creating reality itself.”

World Doe Play Reality Consciousness Roles Materials Creating Active Objectives Material World

Book:The holotropic mind: the three levels of human consciousness and how they shape our lives

Source: The holotropic mind: the three levels of human consciousness and how they shape our lives

“And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power to make of us not simply victims, as nature and accident do, but active accomplices.”

Evil Victim Active Accidents Attractive Forbidden Taboo Unspeakable Accomplices

Author:Joyce Carol Oates

“When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined; when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which again have no further end than to prolong a wretched existence; and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation... when I consider all this... I am silent.”

Ends Certain Energy Existence Subjects Limits Mere Silent Satisfaction Active Faculty Investigation Providing Passive Wretched Confined Resignation Inquiring

Book:THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER (Literary Classics Series): Historical Romance Novel

Source: THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER (Literary Classics Series): Historical Romance Novel

“Sometimes the slow ones blame the active for the delay.”

Sometimes Blame Active Delay

Book:Aesop's fables

Source: Aesop's fables

“The heart overflows with gladness, and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God. In this experience the Holy Spirit is active, and has taught us in the flash of a moment the deep secret of joy. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.”

Heart Moments Joy Spirit Faith Found Secret Taught Holy Laughter Active Holy Spirit Leap Have Faith Faith In God Flash Taught Us Gladness Overflow Have Faith In God

Author:Martin Luther

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

“The most necessary task of civilization is to teach people how to think. It should be the primary purpose of our public schools. The mind of a child is naturally active, it develops through exercise. Give a child plenty of exercise, for body and brain. The trouble with our way of educating is that it does not give elasticity to the mind. It casts the brain into a mold. It insists that the child must accept. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning, and it lays more stress on memory than observation.”

“I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we're lead to is a life not fully lived. Cynicism is fear, and it's worse than fear - it's an active disengagement.”

Thinking Choices Fear Safety Active Cynicism Disengagement

Author:Ken Burns

“I find it impossible to experience either pride or shame over accidents of genetics in which I had no active part. I'm not necessarily proud to be female. I am not even proud to be human — I only love to be so.”

Humans Impossible Pride Proud Female Shame Active Accidents Genetics Only Love

Author:Zadie Smith

“An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.”

Mind Body Inspiration Active Fitness Active Minds

Author:George S. Patton

“Christmas is a time in which, of all times in the year, the memory of every remediable sorrow, wrong, and trouble in the world around us, should be active with us, not less than our own experiences, for all good.”

World Should Years Memories Trouble Sorrow Active Christmas All Time

Book:Dickens Ultimate Christmas Collection: The Greatest Stories & Novels for Christmas Time: A Christmas Carol, Doctor Marigold, Oliver Twist, Tom Tiddler's Ground, The Holly-Tree and more (Illustrated): The Best Loved Christmas Classics in One Volume

Source: Dickens Ultimate Christmas Collection: The Greatest Stories & Novels for Christmas Time: A Christmas Carol, Doctor Marigold, Oliver Twist, Tom Tiddler's Ground, The Holly-Tree and more (Illustrated): The Best Loved Christmas Classics in One Volume

“Alyosha's heart could not bear uncertainty, for the nature of his love was always active. He could not love passively; once he loved, he immediately also began to help.”

Heart Helping Bears Active Uncertainty His Love

Book:The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue

Source: The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue

“The paranoid one's wards are still active. They keep me several feet from the building." "But not his car," I said, a smile tugging at my lips. Barrons would go nuts if he knew that V'lane had touched his Viper. And stretched out on it nude? He'd have an aneurysm.”

Ifs Said Stills Feet Car Building Lips Active Touched Nuts Lanes Paranoid Tugging Vipers

Book:Shadowfever: Fever:

Source: Shadowfever: Fever:

“If I spend a Saturday being lazy and curled up on the couch with my dogs, I'll just make sure to get out and be active on Sunday.”

Ifs Dog Active Lazy Sunday Saturday My Dog Couches Being Lazy

Author:Sophia Bush

“All the sudden high-impact stress can really take a toll on your body. So if you still want to be active and get in a good workout, go to a yoga class or pilates class, or get in some strength and conditioning.”

Ifs Want Stills Body Class Yoga Stress Impact Active Your Body Workout Conditioning Tolls Pilates Good Workout Strength And Conditioning

Author:Sophia Bush

“Experience is not worth the getting. It's not a thing that happens pleasantly to a passive you--it's a wall that an active you runs up against.”

Happens Running Wall Active Passive

Book:The Echoes of the Jazz Age Collection: The Beautiful and Damned, Winter Dreams, The Great Gatsby, Babylon Revisited, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and many more

Source: The Echoes of the Jazz Age Collection: The Beautiful and Damned, Winter Dreams, The Great Gatsby, Babylon Revisited, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and many more

“The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul”

World Inspirational Soul Values One Thing Active My Soul Soul Searching American Scholar

Book:Essays and Lectures

Source: Essays and Lectures

“If the work of our sanctification presents us with difficulties that appear insurmountable, it is because we do not look at it in the right way. In reality, holiness consists in one thing alone, namely, fidelity to God's plan. And this fidelity is equally within everyone's capacity in both its active and passive exercise.”

Ifs Way Looks Reality Plans One Thing Exercise Capacity Difficulty Active Holiness Passive Right Way Fidelity Sanctification God's Plan Insurmountable

Author:Jean-Pierre de Caussade

“He was intrigued by the power of words, not the literary words that filled the books in the library but the sharp, staccato words that went into the writing of news stories. Words that went for the jugular. Active verbs that danced and raced on the page.”

Writing Book Stories News Pages Filled Library Active Power Of Words Verbs Intrigued News Stories

Book:I Am the Cheese

Source: I Am the Cheese

“I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General.”

Years Country Three Force Four Military Months Members Majors Active Thirty Three Years Marine Marine Corps Racket Military Force Lieutenants Military Service

Author:Smedley Butler

“Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can - working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!”

Wells Heart Mean Desire Waiting Failing Exercise Endure Active Staying Hardship Passive Fortitude Resignation Delayed

Author:Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“The brain of a person in love will show activity in the amygdala, which is associated with gut feelings, and in the nucleus accumbens, an area associated with rewarding stimuli that tends to be active in drug abusers. Or, to recap: the brain of a person in love doesn't look like the brain of someone overcome by deep emotion. It looks like the brain of a person who's been snorting coke.”

Looks Persons Shows Feelings Emotion Brain Drug Activity Areas Overcoming Active Guts Stimulus Coke Abusers Nucleus Gut Feelings Deep Emotions

Book:House Rules: A Novel

Source: House Rules: A Novel

“I was taken to an examining room where a big butch nurse practitioner came in and asked me if I was pregnant. “No way!” Was I sexually active? “Nope!” Had I ever been molested? “Well,” I said, trying to make a joke, “Oprah says the only answers to that question are ‘Yes’ and ‘I don’t remember.’ ” I laughed. We were having fun. The nurse looked at me, concerned/annoyed.”

Ifs Way Trying Wells Said Bigs Remember Fun Answers Rooms Taken Jokes Concerned Active Having Fun Laughed Nurse Pregnant Annoyed Sexually Examining Were Pregnant

Author:Tina Fey

“Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. Not surprisingly, while India continued to have famines under British rule right up to independence... they disappeared suddenly with the establishment of a multiparty democracy and... a free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early-warning system a country threaten by famines can have.”

“Part of life is a quest to find that one essential person who will understand our story. But we choose wrongly so often. Over the ensuing years that person we thought understood us best ends up regarding us with pity, indifference, or active dislike. Those who truly care can be divided into two categories: those who understand us, and those who forgive our worst sins. Rarely do we find someone capable of both.”

Years Persons Two Ends Stories Care Life Is Sin Worst Essentials Capable Understood Forgiving Active Pity Indifference Categories Divided Dislike Quests Parts Of Life

Book:Glass Soup

Source: Glass Soup

“In high school, I was very active in extracurricular activities such as art, theatre, and choir. I also wrote for the school newspaper, but not regularly, because I never liked writing non-fiction very much.”

Writing Art School Fiction Activity High School Active Theatre Newspapers Non Fiction Choir Extracurricular Activities

Author:Meg Cabot

“Who taught you to write in blood on my back? Who taught you to use your hands as branding irons? You have scored your name into my shoulders, referenced me with your mark. The pads of your fingers have become printing blocks, you tap a message on to my skin, tap meaning into my body. Your morse code interferes with my heart beat. I had a steady heart before I met you, I relied upon it, it had seen active service and grown strong. Now you alter its pace with your own rhythm, you play upon me, drumming me taut.”

“The ultimate meaning of the active life is to make possible the happiness of contemplation.”

Life Is Ultimate Active Contemplation Active Life

Book:An Anthology

Source: An Anthology

“Given her deafness, the auditory part of the brain, deprived of its usual input, had started to generate a spontaneous activity of its own, and this took the form of musical hallucinations, mostly musical memories from her earlier life. The brain needed to stay incessantly active, and if it was not getting its usual stimulation..., it would create its own stimulation in the form of hallucinations.”

Ifs Form Given Memories Brain Needed Activity Musical Active Usual Spontaneous Deprived Input Hallucinations Stimulation Incessantly Deafness Auditory

Book:Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Source: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

“I don't just want a better deal for Britain. I want a better deal for Europe too. So I speak as British prime minister with a positive vision for the future of the European Union. A future in which Britain wants, and should want, to play a committed and active part.”

Want Should Play Speak Deals Vision Europe Unions Committed British Active Ministers Britain Prime Prime Minister European Union

Author:David Cameron

“It appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised dust - ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the spark goes out, which kept it together. Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable - and life is more than a dream.”

Should Heart Moments Dream Together Life Is Joy Spirit Alive Impossible Ready Sorrow Spring Active Cease Dust Sparks Restless Snaps Organised Joys And Sorrows Restless Spirit

Book:Letters from Scandinavia

Source: Letters from Scandinavia

“This grace of God is a very great, strong, mighty and active thing. It does not lie asleep in the soul. Grace hears, leads, drives, draws, changes, works all in man, and lets itself be distinctly felt and experienced. It is hidden, but its works are evident.”

Men Doe Soul Lying Strong Felt Grace Draws Active Evident Grace Of God

Author:Martin Luther

“The Corporation would like to apologize for the preceding pages. Of course, it's not all right for girls to behave this way. Sexuality is not meant to be this way - an honest, consensual expression in which a girl might take an active role when she feels good and ready and not one minute before. No. Sexual desire is meant to sell soap. And cars. And beer. And religion.”

Source: Beauty Queens