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Circumstances Quotes

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Circumstances Quotes

“What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can't move, with no hope of rescue. Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer.”

IfsHas BeensSeemsMovingGivenChallengesCircumstancesLuckyCurrentsStuckGiantsFinding YourselfCracksRescueNo HopeLucky YouBouldersHitchhikers Guide
Book:The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts
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“The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...it is a positive attitude we choose to express. It is not a gift delivered to our door each morning, nor does it come through the window. And it is certain that our circumstances are not the things that make us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never laugh again.”

IfsDoeMatterCertainChoicesWaitingAttitudeMorningLaughingDoorsCircumstancesWindowPursuitPositive AttitudeJoyfulPursuit Of Happiness
Book:Laugh Again Hope Again: Two Books to Inspire a Joy-Filled Life
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“If a night-moth were to concentrate its will on flying to a star or some equally unattainable object, it wouldn't succeed. Only, it wouldn't even try in the first place. A moth confines its search to what has sense and value for it, what it needs, what is indispensable to its life... if I imagined that I wanted under all circumstances to get to the North Pole, then to achieve it I would have to desire it strongly enough that my whole being was ruled by it. But if I were to decide to will that the pastor should stop wearing his glasses, it would be useless. That would be making a game of it.”

IfsNeedsShouldTryingFirstsEnoughWholeWould BeWantedDesireNightValuesGamesStarsAchieveObjectsCircumstancesSucceedGlassesFlyingUselessPastorIndispensableUnattainableMothsNorth Pole
Author:Hermann Hesse
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“Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.”

IfsMindMayReasonUseExpressionArmsCircumstancesDegreesGainsDeterminationUncertaintyIncessantly
Book:On War: Vom Kriege: fog of war
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“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”

IfsNeedsGivingShouldI CanSoulSelfBornAliveCircumstancesSellsDelightTreasureMy SoulBlissSelf RespectInward
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“I can easily believe it. Women of that class have great opportunities, and if they are intelligent may be well worth listening to. Such varieites of human nature as they are in the habit of witnessing! And it is not merely in its follies, that they are read; for they see it occasionally under every circumstance that can be most interesting or affecting. What instances must pass before them of ardent, disinterested, self-denying attachment, of heroism, fortitude, patience, resignation-- of all the sacrifices that ennoble us most. A sick chamber may often furnish the worth of volumes.”

IfsBelieveHumansWellsMayI CanSelfOpportunityInterestingClassSacrificeHuman NatureListeningHabitCircumstancesSickIntelligentInstanceFollyAttachmentHeroismVolumeFortitudeChamberMost InterestingResignationArdentGreat OpportunityDisinterestedAnne Elliot
Author:Jane Austen
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“There's something about sober living and sober thinking, about facing long afternoons without the numbing distraction of anesthesia that disabuses you of the belief in the externals, shows you that strength and hope come not from circumstances or the acquisition of things, but from the simple accumulation of active experience, from gritting the teeth and checking the items off the list, one by one, even if it's painful and you're afraid.”

IfsThinkingLongShowsBeliefSimpleCircumstancesPainfulActiveListsTeethDistractionAfternoonSoberItemsAccumulationAcquisitionNumbingAnesthesiaStrength And Hope
Book:Drinking: A Love Story
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“If we examine every stage of our lives, we find that from our first breath to our last we are under the constraint of circumstances. And yet we still possess the greatest of all freedoms, the power of developing our innermost selves in harmony with the moral order of the universe, and so winning peace of heart whatever obstacles we meet.”

IfsFirstsHeartStillsSelfLastsOrderUniverseWinningMoralOur LivesStageCircumstancesHarmonyBreathsObstaclesDevelopingConstraintsPeace Of Heart
Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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“She tried to be calm, and leave things to take their course; and tried to dwell much on this argument of rational dependence – “Surely, if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long. We are not boy and girl, to be captiously irritable, misled by every moment’s inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness.” And yet, a few minutes afterwards, she felt as if their being in company with each other, under their present circumstances, could only be exposing them to inadvertencies and misconstructions of the most mischievous kind.”

IfsHeartKindLongMomentsGirlCoursesFeltSidesCompanyBoysMinutesCircumstancesArgumentConstantCalmRationalAttachmentDependenceExposingBoy And GirlMisledMischievous
Book:The Jane Austen Library: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, Watsons, Sanditon
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“Stealing, of course, is a crime, and a very impolite thing to do. But like most impolite things, it is excusable under certain circumstances. Stealing is not excusable if, for instance, you are in a museum and you decide that a certain painting would look better in your house, and you simply grab the painting and take it there. But if you were very, very hungry, and you had no way of obtaining money, it would be excusable to grab the painting, take it to your house, and eat it.”

IfsWayLooksWould BeCertainCoursesHouseCrimePaintingCircumstancesStealingHungryInstanceThings To DoMuseumsObtaining
Author:Daniel Handler
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“Autobiography, if there really is such a thing, is like asking a rabbit to tell us what he looks like hopping through the grasses of the field. How would he know? If we want to hear about the field on the other hand, no one is in a better circumstance to tell us-so long as we keep in mind that we are missing all those things the rabbit was in no position to observe.”

IfsKnowsWantMindLooksLongHandsMissingFieldsPositionCircumstancesAskingGrassAutobiographyRabbitsHopping
Author:Arthur Golden
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“I won't get killed,' Rose protested. Is that a promise?' Fish asked dryly, stirring his tea. 'If you break your word, I'll never believe you again.' Rose shook her head at him. 'How can you even taste your tea if you put that much sugar in it?' Don't change the subject. I don't want to be responsible for depriving the world of Rose Brier. Under no circumstances are you allowed to help us do anything more dangerous than...change the oil in my car.”

IfsWorldWantBelieveHelpingBreakSubjectsDangerousCarCircumstancesPromiseTasteResponsibleRoseFishesOilTeaSugarBeing ResponsibleStirringYou AgainDon't ChangeDepriving
Author:Regina Doman
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“Whether or not belive in Fate comes down to one thing: who you blame when something goes wrong. Do you think it's your fault - that if you'd tried better, worked harder, it wouldn't have happened? Or do you just chalk it up to circumstance? I know poeple who'll hear about the people who died, and will say that it was God's will. I know people who'll say it was bad luck. And then there's my personal favorite: They were just in the wrong place at hte wrong time. Then again, you could say the same thing about me, couldn't you?”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsFateHappenedOne ThingCircumstancesHarderDiedBlameLuckFaultsGods WillBad LuckBeliveWrong TimeChalk
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“Hindsight, I think, is a useless tool. We, each of us, are at a place in our lives because of innumerable circumstances, and we, each of us, have a responsibility (if we do not like where we are) to move along life's road, to find a better path if this one does not suit, or to walk happily along this one if it is indeed our life's way. Changing even the bad things that have gone before would fundamentally change who we are, and whether or not that would be a good thing, I believe, it is impossible to predict. So I take my past experiences... and try to regret nothing. -Drizzt Do'urden”

IfsThinkingWayTryingBelieveDoeWould BePastMovingI BelieveWalksResponsibilityGonePathOur LivesImpossibleRegretCircumstancesToolsGood ThingsSuitsUselessWho We AreBad ThingsMy PastHindsightPast ExperiencesDrizztRegret NothingDrizzt Do Urden
Author:R. A. Salvatore
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“People are all exactly alike. There's no such thing as a race and barely such a thing as an ethnic group. If we were dogs, we'd be the same breed. George Bush and an Australian Aborigine have fewer differences than a Lhasa apso and a toy fox terrier. A Japanese raised in Riyadh would be an Arab. A Zulu raised in New Rochelle would be an orthodontist. People are all the same, though their circumstances differ terribly.”

PeopleIfsWould BeDifferencesRaceGroupsDogCircumstancesRaisedFewerToysFoxesAustralianEthnic GroupsTerriersRiyadh
Author:P. J. O'Rourke
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“That only a few, under any circumstances, protest against the injustice of long-established laws and customs, does not disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction of the many, if real only proves their apathy and deeper degradation.”

IfsLongDoeRealFactsLawCircumstancesProveEmpathyInjusticeSatisfactionDeeperOppressionProtestCustomsApathyDegradation
Book:Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences, 1815-1897
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“Did I do and say these things? Yes, I did. Are there any mitigating circumstances? Not really, unless any circumstances {in other words, context) can be regarded as mitigating. And before you judge, although you have probably already done so, go away and write down the four worst things you have done to a partner, even if - especially if - your partner doesn't know about them. Don't dress things up, or try to explain them; just write them down, in a list, in the plainest language possible. Finished? Ok, so who's the arsehole now?”

IfsKnowsWritingTryingDoneLanguageFourWorstJudgingCircumstancesDressesFinishedListsPartnersGoing AwayWorst ThingsArseholes
Book:High Fidelity
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“No one can say if you are that person who, given good paint, good brushes, and a fine canvas, can produce something better than the factory man. That is, and has always been, beyond the realm of science. You do have the attitude of the dreamer about you. For that reason, I haven't the heart to argue anymore about this - it is a hopeless talk. And for a simple factory man like me, an effort must be abandoned once its hopelessness is exposed. Only the artist perseveres in such circumstances. (193)”

IfsMenHeartPersonsReasonArtistGivenSimpleEffortAttitudeHavensProduceFineCircumstancesPaintArguingLike MeRealmsHopelessExposedDreamerAbandonedFactoriesCanvasBrushesHopelessnessPersevereSomething Better
Author:David Wroblewski
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“She would have liked to know how he felt as to a meeting. Perhaps indifferent, if indifference could exist under such circumstances. He must be either indifferent or unwilling. Has he wished ever to see her again, he need not have waited till this time; he would have done what she could not but believe that in his place she should have done long ago, when events had been early giving him the indepencence which alone had been wanting.”

IfsKnowsNeedsGivingShouldBelieveLongDoneFeltKnow HowEventsCircumstancesShould HaveMeetingsIndifferenceLong AgoIndifferentUnwilling
Book:Persuasion: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“We can assume that most people, most of the time, are moral creatures. But imagine that this morality is like a gearshift that at times gets pushed into neutral. When that happens, morality is disengaged. If the car happens to be on an incline, car and driver move precipitously downhill. It is then the nature of the circumstances that determines outcomes, not the driver's skills or intentions.”

PeopleIfsHappensMovingMoralImagineCarCircumstancesMoralitySkillsCreaturesAssumingIntentionDetermineOutcomesDriversImagine ThatIncline
Author:Philip Zimbardo
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“Our lives are about development, mutation and the possibility of change; that is almost a definition of what life is: change... If you disable change, if you effectively stop time, if you prevent the possibility of the alteration of an individual's circumstances — and that must include at least the possibility that they alter for the worse — then you don't have life after death; you just have death.”

IfsLife IsIndividualOur LivesPossibilityDevelopmentCircumstancesDefinitionsAfter DeathLife After DeathAlterationsMutationStop TimePossibility Of Change
Book:Look To Windward
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“But nirvana is a radical transformation of how it feels to be alive: it feels as if everything were myself, or as if everything---including "my" thoughts and actions---were happening of itself. There are still efforts, choices, and decisions, but not the sense that "I make them"; they arise of themselves in relation to circumstances. This is therefore to feel life, not as an encounter between subject and object, but as a polarized field where the contest of opposites has become the play of opposites.”

IfsFeelsStillsPlayActionChoicesDecisionEffortAliveSubjectsFieldsObjectsCircumstancesHappeningsOppositesRelationTransformationIncludingAriseRadicalEncountersContestsMy ThoughtsThoughts And ActionsChoices And Decisions
Book:Psychotherapy East & West
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“Woe betide him, and her too, when it comes to things of consequence, when they are placed in circumstances requiring fortitude and strength of mind, if she have not resolution enough to resist idle interference ... It is the worst evil of too yielding and indecisive a character, that no influence over it can be depended on. You are never sure of a good impression being durable; everybody may sway it. Let those who would be happy be firm.”

IfsMindMayEnoughCharacterWould BeEvilInfluenceWorstCircumstancesConsequenceImpressionFirmOver ItResolutionIdleWoeFortitudeInterferenceStrength Of MindIndecisiveHim And Her
Author:Jane Austen
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“...to the glory of His name let me witness that in far away lands, in loneliness (deepest sometimes when it seems least so), in times of downheartedness and tiredness and sadness, always always He is near. He does comfort, if we let Him. Perhaps someone as weak and good-for-nothing as even I am may read this. Don't be afraid! Through all circumstances, outside, inside, He can keep me close.”

IfsMayDoeSometimesInspirationSeemsNamesSadnessLandLonelinessCircumstancesComfortGloryWeakLet MeWitnessFar AwayTiredness
Author:Amy Carmichael
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