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Common Quotes

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Common Quotes

“Belief demands that you dispense with illusion after illusion, while contemporary common sense requires continual, fluffy pretending - pretending that might as well be systematic, it's so thoroughly incentivised by our culture.”

WellsMightCultureBeliefCommonDemandIllusionContemporaryCommon SensePretendingSystematicFluffy
Book:Unapologetic: Why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense
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“Zip codes might be great for sorting mail, but they should not determine the quality of a child s education or success in the future workforce," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. "With common standards and assessments, students, parents, and teachers will have a clear, consistent understanding of the skills necessary for students to succeed after high school and compete with peers across the state line and across the ocean.”

ShouldChildrenSaidStatesMightSchoolParentUnderstandingPresidentLinesCommonQualityClearTeacherWiseStudentsSucceedSkillsOceanStandardsHigh SchoolWestDetermineEducationalFormerCodeExcellentConsistentMailBobGovernorsPeersAlliancesVirginiaAssessmentWorkforceZipsSortingWest VirginiaParents And TeachersAfter High SchoolExcellent Education
Author:Bob Wise
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“I felt I was moving among two groups [literary intellectuals and scientists] comparable in intelligence, identical in race, not grossly different in social origin, earning about the same incomes, who had almost ceased to communicate at all, who in intellectual, moral and psychological climate had so little in common that instead of going from Burlington Hom or South Kensington to Chelsea, one might have crossed an ocean.”

LittlesTwoDifferentMightMovingScienceSocialFeltCommonRaceMoralGroupsSocietyOceanIntellectualScientistSouthClimateCommunicateIncomePsychologicalEarningIdenticalChelsea
Author:C.P. Snow
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“We had a large common domain, already added by the several States for the common benefit of all; purchase and war might make large additions to this common domain; hence the power over existing and future territories, with the stipulation to admit new States, was conferred.”

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Book:Speech of Hon. Robert Toombs: On the Crisis. Delivered Before the Georgia Legislature, December 7, 1860
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“Might it be the discovery of a distant civilization and our common cosmic origins that finally drives home the message of the bond among all humans. Whether we're born in San Francisco or Sudan or close to the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, we are the products of a billion-year lineage of wandering stardust. We, all of us, are what happens when a primordial mixture of hydrogen and helium evolves for so long that it begins to ask where it came from.”

WayYearsHumansHeartLongHomeMightHappensAsksBornCommonProductsCivilizationMessagesDiscoveryBillionsWanderEvolveCosmicGalaxyMixturesSan FranciscoStardustHydrogenMilky WayLineageSudanHelium
Author:Jill Tarter
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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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“You, your families, your friends and your countries are to be exterminated by the common decision of a few brutal but powerful men. To please these men, all the private affections, all the public hopes, all that has been achieved in art, and knowledge and thought and all that might be achieved hereafter is to be wiped out forever. Our ruined lifeless planet will continue for countless ages to circle aimlessly round the sun unredeemed by the joys and loves, the occasional wisdom and the power to create beauty which have given value to human life.”

MenHumansHas BeensArtCountryMightAgeJoyValuesGivenDecisionPowerfulCommonSunForeverPlanetsPleaseAnd LoveRoundsAffectionCirclesHuman LifeOur FamilyBrutalRuinedOccasionalHereafterLifelessPowerful Man
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“What has God given you? Moses had a stick, David had a slingshot, and Paul had a pen. Mother Teresa possessed a love for the poor; Billy Graham, a gift for preaching; and Joni Eareckson Tada, a disability. What did they have in common? A willingness to let God use whatever they had, even when it didn't seem very useful. If you will assess what you have to offer in terms of your time, your treasure, and your talents, you will have a better understanding of how you might uniquely serve.”

IfsUseSeemsMightMotherGivenUnderstandingTermPoorCommonTalentOffersLetting GoSticksTreasureWillingnessPensDisabilityPossessedPreachingMosesTeresaSlingshots
Book:The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World
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“If we could suppose a great multitude of men to consent to the observation of justice, and other laws of Nature, without a common Power to keep them all in awe; we might as well suppose all mankind to do the same; and then there neither would be nor need to be any civil government or commonwealth at all, because there would be Peace without subjection.”

IfsMenNeedsWellsGovernmentMightWould BeLawJusticeCommonMankindObservationAweMultitudesConsentLaws Of NatureCommonwealthSubjection
Book:Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
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“It's not right to respond to terrorism by terrorizing other people. And furthermore, it's not going to help. Then you might say, "Yes, it's terrorizing people, but it's worth doing because it will end terrorism." But how much common sense does it take to know that you cannot end terrorism by indiscriminately dropping bombs?”

PeopleKnowsDoeEndsHelpingMightCommonTerrorismCommon SenseBombsDroppingDropping Bombs
Book:Terrorism and War
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“Libertarians have always battled the age-old scourge of war. They understood that war brought death and destruction on a grand scale, disrupted family and economic life, and put more power in the hands of the ruling class - which might explain why the rulers did not always share the popular sentiment for peace. Free men and women, of course, have often had to defend their own societies against foreign threats; but throughout history, war has usually been the common enemy of peaceful, productive people on all sides of the conflict.”

PeopleMenWarHandsMightAgeCoursesSidesCommonEnemyClassShareEconomicConflictUnderstoodMen And WomenDestructionThreatLibertarianScalesPeacefulProductiveSentimentsRulersRulingFree ManScourgeCommon Enemy
Book:The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom
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“Today one might be tempted to say that patriotism is the last refuge of the tribal religion dedicated to the worship of German, French, English and Russian Gods of Battles. Surely such a religion has nothing in common with the religion which counsels for the disciple non-resistance, unstinted forgiveness, and the elimination of all rancor?”

MightTodayLastsCommonBattleWorshipResistanceDedicatedRefugeDiscipleTemptedEliminationRancor
Author:Joseph Alexander Leighton
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“There are crimes which no one would commit as an individual which he willingly and bravely commits when acting in the name of his society, because he has been (too easily) convinced that evil is entirely different when it is done 'for the common good.'...one might point to the way in which racial hatreds and even persecution are admitted by people who consider themselves, and perhaps in some sense are, kind, tolerant, civilized and even humane.”

PeopleWayKindHas BeensDifferentDoneMightEvilNamesIndividualCommonActingCrimeHatredConvincedCommitCivilizedPersecutionHumaneCommon Good
Author:Thomas Merton
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“It has become a common feeling, I believe, as we have watched our heroes falling over the years, that our own small stone of activism, which might not seem to measure up to the rugged boulders of heroism we have so admired, is a paltry offering toward the building of an edifice of hope. Many who believe this choose to withhold their offerings out of shame. This is the tragedy of the world. For we can do nothing substantial toward changing our course on the planet, a destructive one, without rousing ourselves, individual by individual, and bringing our small, imperfect stones to the pile.”

WorldYearsBelieveFeelingsSeemsMightFallCoursesIndividualI BelieveCan DoCommonBuildingPlanetsHeroStonesTragedyShameActivismDestructiveImperfectOfferingHeroismEdificeRuggedBoulders
Book:Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism
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“Nature seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her blessings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to their mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the nations of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one another and be united together by their common interest.”

WorldKindDifferentSeemsMightEyeCareTogetherNationsInterestUnitedCommonTakenMankindParticularBlessingRegionsMutualCommerceGlobesTrafficDependenceIntercourseCommon Interests
Book:The Works of Joseph Addison: The Spectator, no. 1-314
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“There is a kind of grandeur and respect which the meanest and most insignificant part of mankind endeavor to procure in the little circle of their friends and acquaintance. The poorest mechanic, nay, the man who lives upon common alms, gets him his set of admirers, and delights in that superiority which he enjoys over those who are in some respects beneath him. This ambition, which is natural to the soul of man, might, methinks, receive a very happy turn; and, if it were rightly directed, contribute as much to a person's advantage, as it generally does to his uneasiness and disquiet.”

IfsMenKindLittlesPersonsDoeSoulMightTurnsEnjoyNaturalCommonMankindHe ManAmbitionAdvantageDelightCirclesEndeavorSuperiorityVery HappyMechanicInsignificantAcquaintanceGrandeurPoorestAdmirerAlmsUneasiness
Book:The spectator
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“If the souls of lives were voiced in music, there are some that none but a great organ could express, others the clash of a full orchestra, a few to which nought but the refined and exquisite sadness of a violin could do justice. Many might be likened unto common pianos, jangling and out of tune, and some to the feeble piping of a penny whistle, and mine could be told with a couple of nails in a rusty tin-pot.”

IfsSoulMightJusticeCommonSadnessMinesCouplePianoTunesPotOrgansNailsOrchestraExquisitePenniesViolinClashRefinedTin
Book:My Brilliant Career
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“In the whole course of our work at the theatre we have been, I may say, drenched with advice by friendly people who for years gave us the reasons why we did not succeed... All their advice, or at least some of it, might have been good if we had wanted to make money, to make a common place of amusement.”

PeopleIfsYearsMayHas BeensReasonWholeMightWantedCoursesCommonAdviceSucceedTheatreMaking MoneyReason WhyFriendlyMight Have BeenAmusement
Book:The Collected Plays: The tragedies and tragic-comedies
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“Fancy has an extensive influence in morals. Some of the most powerful and dangerous feelings in nature, as those of ambition and envy, derive their principal nourishment from a cause apparently so trivial. Its effect on the common affairs of life is greater than might be supposed. Naked reality would scarcely keep the world in motion.”

WorldFeelingsRealityMightLife IsCausesPowerfulCommonMoralGreaterInfluenceEffectsDangerousAmbitionAffairEnvyNakedFancyMost PowerfulPrincipalNourishment
Book:Aphorisms and Reflections: A Miscellany of Thought and Opinion
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“Charles Murray, however, clearly believes that being able to cure fatal diseases is more important than some other things and that Rembrandt was a greater artist than your local sidewalk cartoon sketcher. Most people might regard this as obvious common sense but some of the intelligentsia may be seething with resentment at seeing their pet fetishes ignored.”

PeopleBelieveMayImportantMightAbleArtistCommonGreaterSeeingDiseaseRegardObviousLocalsCommon SenseCuresPetResentmentIgnoredCartoonSidewalkFetishSeething
Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
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“This fine young man had all the inclination to be a profligate of the first water, and only lacked the one good trait in the common catalogue of debauched vices - open-handedness - to be a notable vagabond. But there his griping and penurious habits stepped in; and as one poison will sometimes neutralise another, when wholesome remedies would not avail, so he was restrained by a bad passion from quaffing his full measure of evil, when virtue might have sought to hold him back in vain.”

MenFirstsSometimesMightYoungPassionEvilWaterCommonVirtueFineHabitWords Of WisdomVicesVainYoung ManPoisonTraitsRemedyInclinationNotableCataloguesVagabonds
Book:Children's Tales from Dickens – The Great Classics & The Wonderful Stories for Children (Illustrated Edition): Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Holiday Romance, The Old Curiosity Shop, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, Christmas Stories, A Child’s Dream of a Star…
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“If these Essays were worthy of being judged, it might fall out, in my opinion, that they would not find much favour, either with common and vulgar minds, or with uncommon and eminent ones: the former would not find enough in them, the latter would find too much; they might manage to live somewhere in the middle region.”

IfsMindEnoughMightFallCommonOpinionToo MuchMiddleJudgmentWorthyManageFormerLatterRegionsJudgedModerationFavourVulgarEssaysUncommonBeing Judged
Author:Michel de Montaigne
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“When a miser contents himself with giving nothing, and saving what he has got, and is in other respects guilty of no injustice, he is, perhaps, of all bad men the least injurious to society; the evil he does is properly nothing more than the omission of the good he might do. If, of all the vices, avarice is the most generally detested, it is the effect of an avidity common to all men; it is because men hate those from whom they can expect nothing. The greedy misers rail at sordid misers.”

IfsMenGivingDoeMightHateEvilCommonEffectsInjusticeVicesGuiltySavingGreedyAvariceRailBad ManMisersOmissionExpect Nothing
Author:Claude Adrien Helvetius
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“I'm interested in stories which insist on a dog fails-to-eat-dog kind of world. I hate misanthropy, want to believe that there's a possibility that we might all be redeemed, that hope deferred makes the soul sick, that our humanity is fragile, funny, common, crazy, full of the longing for love, the failure of love.”

WorldWantBelieveKindSoulStoriesMightHateHumanityCommonFailingCrazyDogPossibilitySickI HateLongingFragileRedeemedMisanthropy
Author:Anthony Minghella
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“It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can. A better system of education for the common people might preserve them long from such artificial inequalities as are prejudicial to society, by confounding the natural distinctions of right and wrong, virtue and vice.”

PeopleIfsShouldTryingLongStillsTwoMightAmericaThreeNaturalFreedomCommonLibertyMillionsVirtueImpossibleKingsHundredHorseAgreeVicesNobleExperimentsInequalityPreservesRisingDistinctionEmpiresArtificialHobbiesFreemanConfounding
Book:Works: with a life of the author
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“A reasonable being might think that he and I could find some common ground; have a cup of coffee and compare our Passengers, exchange trade talk and chitchat about dismemberment techniques. But no: Doakes wanted me dead. And I found it difficult to share his point of view.”

ThinkingMightWantedFoundDifficultViewsCommonShareTradePoint Of ViewTechniqueCoffeeCupsCompareReasonablePassengersCoffee CupCommon Ground
Book:Dearly Devoted Dexter
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“Believing that I was born for the service of mankind, and regarding the care of the commonwealth as a kind of common property which, like the air and the water, belongs to everybody, I set myself to consider in what way mankind might be best served, and what service I was myself best fitted by nature to perform.”

WayBelieveKindMightCareWaterBornCommonAirMankindPropertyCommonwealth
Book:The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon Including All His Occasional Works: Namely Letters, Speeches, Tracts, State Papers, Memorials, Devices and All Authentic Writings Not Already Printed Among His Philosophical, Literary, Or Professional Works
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