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Common Quotes

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Common Quotes

“O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, even our brothers, the animals, to whom Thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us. We must remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to thee in song, has been a groan of pain. May we realize that they live, not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee and that they love the sweetness of life.”

MenShouldMayHas BeensHomeEarthPainPastRememberSongVoiceRealizingAnimalCommonGoneBrotherCreaturesShould HaveShameCrueltyTheeSweetnessFellowshipLiving ThingsRuthlessDominionSweetness Of Life
Author:Saint Basil
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“Every man, however hopeless his pretensions may appear, has some project by which he hopes to rise to reputation; some art by which he imagines that the attention of the world will be attracted; some quality, good or bad, which discriminates him from the common herd of mortals, and by which others may be persuaded to love, or compelled to fear him.”

MenWorldMayArtCommonAttentionQualityImagineFameProjectsEvery ManReputationMortalsHopelessImagine ThatCompelledHerdsPretension
Author:Samuel Johnson
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“My career as a critic still lay in the future but unconsciously I may have been preparing for it. They were not easy companions, these intellectuals I was now getting to know. They were overbearing and arrogant, excessively competitive; they lacked magnanimity and often they lacked common courtesy. But they were intellectually energetic and - this particularly attracted me - they were proof against cant.”

KnowsMayHas BeensStillsEasyCommonCareersLaysCriticsIntellectProofCompanionArrogantPreparingCantCourtesyEnergeticMagnanimityOverbearingCommon Courtesy
Book:The Beginning of the Journey: The Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling
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“Since I move about with you, eat like you, and talk with you, you are deluded in the belief that this is but an instance of common humanity. Be warned against this mistake. I am also deluding you by My singing with you, talking with you, and engaging Myself in activities with you. But, any movement, My Divinity may be revealed to you; you have to be ready, prepared for that moment.”

MayMomentsMovingHumanityBeliefCommonMistakeTalkingMovementReadyLike YouActivitySingingPreparedInstanceDivinityThat MomentEngagingDeludedCommon Humanity
Author:Sathya Sai Baba
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“Sincere thought, real free thought, ready, in the name of superhuman authority or of humble common sense, to question the basis of what is officially taught and generally accepted, is less and less likely to thrive. It is, we repeat, by far easier to enslave a literate people than an illiterate one, strange as this may seem at first sight. And the enslavement is more likely to be lasting.”

PeopleFirstsMayRealSeemsNamesCommonTaughtStrangeReadyEasierAuthoritySightBasesHumbleAcceptedCommon SenseRepeatsThriveLastingSincereIlliterateEnslavementSuperhumanFree Thought
Book:The Lightning and the Sun
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“Democratic Rep. Charles Schumer of New York made a plea to Livingston, the incoming speaker. These new hearings, these new subpoenas wave a red flag that common sense and common wisdom are not welcome here, .. Mr. Livingston, this may be the first and most important task you will ever face as speaker. Lead us out of this abyss.”

FirstsMayMadeImportantFacesCommonNew YorkRedTasksDemocraticWaveHearingCommon SenseWelcomeFlagsSpeakersAbyssRed FlagsSubpoenas
Author:Charles Schumer
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“However we may flatter ourselves to the contrary, our friends think no higher of us than the world do. They see us through the jaundiced or distrustful eyes of others. They may know better, but their feelings are governed by popular prejudice. Nay, they are more shy of us (when under a cloud) than even strangers; for we involve them in a common disgrace, or compel them to embroil themselves in continual quarrels and disputes in our defense.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldMayFeelingsEyeCommonHigherPrejudiceCloudsStrangerDefenseContraryShyDisputesQuarrelsDisgrace
Book:Liber Amoris and Related Writings
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“A common obstruction to a vital intimate relationship is what I call the assumption of clairvoyance. You imagine, perhaps unconsciously, that your partner or friend is somehow magically psychic when it comes to you -\-\ so much so that he or she should unfailingly intuit exactly what you need, even if you don't ask for it. This fantasy may seem romantic, but it can undermine the most promising alliances. To counteract any tendencies you might have to indulge in the assumption of clairvoyance, practice stating your desires aloud.”

IfsNeedsShouldMaySeemsMightDesireAsksCommonPracticeFantasyImaginePartnersTendenciesIntimateAssumptionPsychicsIndulgeAlliancesIndulge InObstructionIntimate RelationshipsClairvoyance
Author:Rob Brezsny
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“Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the every-day news of the times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana, they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the burning suns of the latter; they are not the creature of climate, neither are they confined to the slaveholding or the non-slaveholding States. Alike they spring up among the pleasure-hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever then their cause may be, it is common to the whole country.”

MayCountryStatesWholeFormOrderCausesPleasureCommonSunLandMastersHabitCitizensCreaturesEternalNewsSpringAccountsEnglandSlaveClimateCommittedSnowFormerBurningLatterSouthernPeculiarSteadyHuntingConfinedOutrageLouisianaNew England
Book:Lincoln: Political Writings and Speeches
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“It may be expecting too much to expect most intellectuals to have common sense, when their whole life is based on their being uncommon -- that is, saying things that are different from what everyone else is saying. There is only so much genuine originality in anyone. After that, being uncommon means indulging in pointless eccentricities or clever attempts to mock or shock.”

MayMeanDifferentWholeLife IsCommonToo MuchWhole LifeCleverGenuineCommon SenseShockOriginalityExpectingPointlessMockUncommonEccentricityExpecting Too Much
Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
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“Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is the last. The acts of a nation may be triumphant by its good fortune; and its words mighty by the genius of a few of its children: but its art, only by the general gifts and common sympathies of the race.”

WritingMayChildrenArtTwoBookLastsThreeNationsCommonRaceGeniusUnderstoodFortuneDeedsAutobiographyGood FortuneTrustworthyManuscriptsTriumphantGreat Nations
Author:John Ruskin
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“Travel opens different eyes to different things, shows things we've never seen before, shows the world from entirely different angles. That's the power of drawing and the power of travel. They both make the familiar unfamiliar and vice versa. They show what we all have in common and what we may have missed thanks to preconceptions that may have marred our vision.”

WorldMayDifferentShowsEyeCommonVisionVicesDrawingFamiliarThanksDifferent ThingsAngleVice VersaUnfamiliarPreconceptionsDifferent Angles
Author:Danny Gregory
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“Although we may come from vastly different stories and very different walks of life, we are one people who possess common values and common ideals; who celebrate individual excellence but also share a recognition that together, we can accomplish great and wonderful things we can't accomplish alone.”

PeopleMayDifferentStoriesTogetherValuesIndividualWalksCommonWonderfulShareIdealsExcellenceAccomplishCelebrateRecognitionWonderful ThingsWalks Of LifeTogether We CanDifferent Walks Of Life
Author:Barack Obama
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“The time for the kingdom may be far off, but the task is plain: to retain our share in God in spite of peril and contempt. There is a war to wage against the vulgar, the glorification of the absurd, a war that is incessant, universal. Loyal to the presence of the ultimate in the common, we may be able to make it clear that man is more than man, that in doing the finite he may perceive the infinite .”

MenMayWarAbleCommonClearShareTasksUltimateUniversalInfiniteKingdomsAbsurdPerceiveSpiteContemptLoyalVulgarFinitePerilIncessantGlorification
Book:Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays
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“We must frankly confess, then, using our empirical common sense and ordinary practical prejudices, that in the world that actually is, the virtues of sympathy, charity, and non-resistance may be, and often have been, manifested in excess. ... You will agree to this in general, for in spite of the Gospel, in spite of Quakerism, in spite of Tolstoi, you believe in fighting fire with fire, in shooting down usurpers, locking up thieves, and freezing out vagabonds and swindlers.”

WorldBelieveMayHas BeensFightingCommonVirtueFireOrdinaryPrejudiceAgreeCharityPracticalsResistanceCommon SenseShootingSpiteExcessThievesFreezingVagabondsSwindlersUsurpers
Book:The Varieties of Religious Experience
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“Among the idle rich, boredom is one of the most common causes of unhappiness. People who have difficulty in earning their living may suffer greatly, but they are not bored. Wealthy men and women become bored when they depend upon the theater for their enjoyment instead of making their own lives interesting.”

PeopleMenMaySufferingCausesWealthInterestingCommonRichDependsMen And WomenDifficultyTheaterBoredEnjoymentBoredomUnhappinessWealthyIdleEarning
Author:Andre Maurois
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“There is an inconvenience which attends all abstruse reasoning. that it may silence, without convincing an antagonist, and requires the same intense study to make us sensible of its force, that was at first requisite for its invention. When we leave our closet, and engage in the common affairs of life, its conclusions seem to vanish, like the phantoms of the night on the appearance of the morning; and 'tis difficult for us to retain even that conviction, which we had attain'd with difficulty.”

FirstsMaySeemsNightForceDifficultCommonSilenceMorningStudyDifficultyAffairConvictionAppearanceInventionIntenseConclusionReasoningSensibleClosetsConvincingPhantomsInconvenienceAntagonist
Book:A Treatise of Human Nature: Top Philosophy Collections
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“Let us not... contend about merit , but let us all be intent on forwarding the common enterprize , and equally enjoy any progress we may make towards succeeding in it; and above all, let us acknowledge the guidance of that Great Being, who has put a spirit in man, and whose inspiration giveth him understanding .”

MenMayInspirationSpiritEnjoyUnderstandingCommonProgressSucceedAcknowledgeGuidanceMerit
Book:Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air and Other Branches of Natural Philosophy, Connected with the Subject ...: Being the Former Six Volumes Abridged and Methodized, with Many Additions
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“Look at your [English] ladies of quality are they not forever parting with their husbands - forfeiting their reputations - and is their life aught but dissipation? In common genteel life, indeed, you may now and then meet with very fine girls - who have politeness, sense and conversation - but these are few - and then look at your trademen's daughters - what are they? poor creatures indeed! all pertness, imitation and folly.”

LooksMayGirlPoorCommonQualityForeverFineHusbandConversationCreaturesDaughterReputationFollyNow And ThenImitationPartingPolitenessDissipation
Author:Fanny Burney
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“A price decline is of no real importance to the bona fide investor unless it is either very substantial say, more than a third from cost or unless it reflects a known deterioration of consequence in the company's position. In a well-defined bear market many sound common stocks sell temporarily at extraordinary low prices. It is possible that the investor may then have a paper loss of fully 50 per cent on some of his holdings, without any convincing indication that the underlying values have been permanently affected.”

WellsMayHas BeensRealValuesSoundLossCommonCompanyKnownPositionBearsCostPaperLowsConsequenceThirdsImportanceSellsExtraordinaryDefinedAffectedInvestorsDeclineCentsConvincingIndicationDeterioration
Author:Benjamin Graham
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“To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the poor laws of England have been instituted; but it is to be feared that though they may have alleviated a little the intensity of individual misfortune, they have spread the general evil over a much larger surface.”

PeopleMayLittlesHas BeensLawEvilIndividualPoorCommonEnglandSpreadSurfaceMisfortunesIntensityRemedyDistress
Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated
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“Some of the beliefs and legends bequethed to us by Antquity are so universally and firmly established that we have become accustomed to consider them as being almost as ancient as humanity itself. Nevertheless we are tempted to inquire how far the fact that some of these beliefs and legends have so many features in common is due to chance, and wether the similarity between them may not point to the exestience of an ancient, totally unknown and unsuspected civilization of which all other traces have disappeared.”

MayFactsAmericaHumanityBeliefChanceCommonMissingTerribleCivilizationAncientDuesFormerFeaturesLegendsNeverthelessSiteAccustomedTemptedSimilarityStanleyMiss America
Author:Frederick Soddy
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“Have you ever had a big idea or dream - something you wanted so bad ... but you were too scared to make it happen, or maybe you didn't really believe it could? Think of how often you've had someone you looked up to or viewed as successful - shoot one of your suggestions full of holes. Ideas and babies have a lot in common - they require a lot of nourishment to survive. A new idea, regardless of its size, may not be able to withstand a beating when you first give it birth.”

ThinkingGivingFirstsBelieveMayIdeasDreamBigsHappensAbleWantedCommonSuccessfulBabyBirthSizeScaredHolesNew IdeasSuggestionsNourishmentMake It HappenBig Ideas
Author:Bob Proctor
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“The task of an author is, either to teach what is not known, or to recommend known truths by his manner of adorning them; either to let new light in upon the mind, and open new scenes to the prospect, or to vary the dress and situation of common objects, so as to give them fresh grace and more powerful attractions, to spread such flowers over the regions through which the intellect has already made its progress, as may tempt it to return, and take a second view of things hastily passed over, or negligently regarded.”

GivingWritingMindMayMadeLightViewsPowerfulCommonSituationKnownTeachGraceProgressObjectsFlowerReturnSceneTasksDressesSpreadIntellectAttractionRegionsVary
Book:The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Together with his life, and notes on his Lives of the poets, by Sir John Hawkins, Knt. In eleven volumes ...
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“He that writes may be considered as a kind of general challenger, whom every one has a right to attack; since he quits the common rank of life, steps forward beyond the lists, and offers his merit to the public judgement. To commence author is to claim praise, and no man can justly aspire to honour, but at the hazard of disgrace.”

MenWritingKindMayCommonStepsOffersClaimsPraiseListsQuittingJudgementMeritHonourAspireDisgraceHazardsSteps Forward
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.: D., with an Essay on His Life and Genius
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“As every writer has his use, every writer ought to have his patrons; and since no man, however high he may now stand, can be certain that he shall not be soon thrown down from his elevation by criticism or caprice, the common interest of learning requires that her sons should cease from intestine hostilities, and, instead of sacrificing each other to malice and contempt, endeavour to avert persecution from the meanest of their fraternity.”

MenShouldWritingMayUseCertainInterestCommonSacrificeSonOughtCriticismCeaseThrownContemptPersecutionHostilityMaliceEndeavourFraternityElevationPatronCapriceCommon InterestsAvertIntestines
Book:The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Together with his life, and notes on his Lives of the poets, by Sir John Hawkins, Knt. In eleven volumes ...
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“If, when we compare two versions of a story, the second known to be a retelling of the first, and find that the second has more of a miraculous element, we may reasonably conclude we have legendary (or midrashic or whatever) embellishment. The tale has grown in the telling. This sort of comparison is common in extrabiblical research and no one holds that it cannot properly indicate legend formation there.”

IfsFirstsMayTwoStoriesReligionCommonKnownAtheismElementsResearchPositive AtheismTalesVersionsCompareComparisonLegendsMiraculousFormationLegendaryRetellingEmbellishment
Book:Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity
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“It is adverse to talent to be consorted and trained up with inferior minds and inferior companions, however high they may rank. The foal of the racer neither finds out his speed nor calls out his powers if pastured out with the common herd, that are destined for the collar and the yoke.”

IfsMindMayCommonTalentSpeedCompanionInferiorsDestinedHerdsCollarsAdverseYokeRacersFoals
Book:Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
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“Love may exist without jealousy, although this is rare: but jealousy may exist without love, and this is common; for jealousy can feed on that which is bitter no less than on that which is sweet, and is sustained by pride as often as by affection.”

MayCommonSweetPrideAffectionBitterJealousyWithout LoveLove JealousyLove And Jealousy
Book:Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron and the Tendencies of Don Juan
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“Economics anxiety may be even more common than the often identified 'math anxiety,' for unlike math, which has its personal uses, economics is seen as a mysterious set of forces manipulated from above.”

MayUseForceCommonAnxietyEconomicsMathMysterious
Book:Moving Beyond Words: Essays on Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender
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