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Crass Quotes

“What is the value of sensitives? Look around: we live in a ugly and stupid world which could have been prevented if sensitives had been present, and had the power to influence things. That block-shaped, pressed concrete, ugly shopping mall? The princess would opine that no one could have any peace of mind with such hideous backgrounds, and demand something like a traditional building, with ornate spires and comfortable human spaces instead. Grating, two-note music ranting about copulation and projected sexual desire? No princess would want this crass gibberish around her, nor would she recognize music which neglected the finer parts of composition, melody, harmony, rhythm, and narrative. She would hire Schubert instead. Schools that treat students like livestock, jobs that are jails, marriages that are suicide pacts, and boring tract housing? Similarly, a princess would have no use for those, and perceive that these would be abusive to her so must be to others as well. As children, we made fun of the sensitivity of the princess. A pea, under twenty mattresses, really? The point — in the visual-metaphorical language of fable, religion, literature, and conspiracy theory — tells us that sensitivity is in fact needed, and it needs power to save the rest of us from what we do not yet perceive. In this story, the princess is simply a finer instrument. After twenty years, we might notice that we woke up tired in the mornings, and eventually investigate and find the pea, but she knew right away, intuitively and by the nature of her character. This is part of what makes an aristocrat.”

DecaySensitivityNobilityCrassUgliness Of LifeAristocrat
Author:Brett Stevens
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“All of us experience the sad effects of blind submission to consumerism. In the first place it represents crass materialism. At the same time it represents a radical dissatisfaction because one quickly learns that the more one possesses, the more one wants, while deeper aspirations remain unsatisfied and perhaps even stifled.”

WantFirstsEffectsBlindDeeperRadicalAspirationMaterialismConsumerismSubmissionDissatisfactionOverconsumptionUnsatisfiedCrass
Author:Pope John Paul II
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“What is noble, lyrical, tender in the upper level shown is also with the servants, scoundrels, and scamps, as in a distorting mirror. This contrast seems to me a most appealing musical theme--to show love in its noble and crude forms, romanticism and crass realism mixed as in everyday life.”

ShowsSeemsFormLevelsMirrorsEverydayMusicalNobleServantThemeContrastRealismEveryday LifeRomanticismCrudeLyricalScoundrelsCrass
Book:A Confidential Matter: The Letters of Richard Strauss and Stefan Zweig, 1931-1935
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“Modern man has no real "value" for the ocean. All he has is the most crass form of egoist, pragmatic value for it. He treats it as a "thing" in the worst possible sense, to exploit it for the "good" of man. The man who believes things are there only by chance cannot give things a real value. But for the Christian the value of a thing is not in itself autonomously, but because God made it.”

MenGivingBelieveMadeRealChristianFormValuesWaterChanceModernWorstHe ManOceanTreatsEnvironmentalMade ItExploitsPragmaticModern ManReal ValueCrass
Author:Francis Schaeffer
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“You can reach a situation where things of intelligence and refinement and culture can be considered elite, and things that are crass and ignorant can be considered to be real and of the people. And when you begin to have the mass of populus striving for something that's not worth striving for, then tremendous amounts of energy go into...the maintenance of that which is worthless.”

PeopleRealCultureEnergySituationAmountMassStriveIgnorantBeing RealElitesWorthlessMaintenanceRefinementCrass
Author:Wynton Marsalis
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“The Germans take quite a knock for the holocaust, but the Catholic church manages to push more people into death, disease, and degradation every year than the holocaust managed in its entire show. And it's thought rather crass to even mention the fact. It seems to me that as long as these Catholic bishops can show their face in public that we are in complicity with mass murder.”

PeopleYearsLongFactsShowsSeemsFacesChurchDiseaseMassMurderCatholicManageHolocaustCatholic ChurchBishopsDegradationComplicityCrass
Author:Terence McKenna
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“I think because of these big issues of life and death that maybe sex feels like a crass question. But for Christ sake, this is a book that is so interested in an elemental human condition. And one of the ideas about surrender is an erotic surrender, too. These folks are surrendered by destiny; they surrender to each other in certain moments, but there is a lot of erotic surrender.”

ThinkingFeelsHumansBookIdeasMomentsBigsCertainSexChristDestinyIssuesConditionsSakeFolksSurrenderLife And DeathHuman ConditionEroticElementalsCrassThis Is A Book
Author:Chang-Rae Lee
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“Since populists never miss an opportunity to create a lot of noise about anti-Europe stance. However, the repercussions of the British referendum could quickly put a stop to such crass rabble-rousing, as it should soon become clear that the UK was better off inside the EU - economically, socially and in foreign policy terms.”

ShouldOpportunityTermClearMissingPolicyEuropeBritishNoiseForeign PolicyBetter OffStanceRepercussionsPopulistReferendumsCrass
Author:Jean-Claude Juncker
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“We're supposed to believe that oil had nothing to do with it, that if Iraq were exporting pickles or jelly and the center of world oil production were in the South Pacific that the United States would've liberated them anyway. It has nothing to do with the oil, what a crass idea. Anyone with their head screwed on knows that that can't be true.”

IfsKnowsWorldBelieveIdeasStatesUnitedUnited StatesSouthIraqProductionsOilBeing TrueLiberatedPacificJellyPicklesCrassExportingOil Production
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“I have not been able to discover whether there exists a precise French equivalent for the common Anglo-American expression 'killing time.' It's a very crass and breezy expression, when you ponder it for a moment, considering that time, after all, is killing us.”

MomentsAbleCommonExpressionKillingConsideringPreciseEnglish LanguagePonderingCrassTime To KillBreezy
Book:Love, Poverty and War: Journeys and Essays
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“Val, I'm on Bourbon—” “I will not venture down that street of crass iniquities and plebeian horror, Acheron. It is the cesspit of humanity. Don‟t even ask it.” Ash rolled his eyes at the Roman‟s arrogant tone. “I need you in the swamp.” Silence answered him. "We have a situation." “Where do you need me?”

NeedsEyeHumanityAsksSilenceSituationStreetsHorrorToneHis EyesArrogantAshesVentureNeed YouI Need YouSwampsIniquityBourbonCrassPlebeians
Author:Sherrilyn Kenyon
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“Gardening is not trivial. If you believe that it is, closely examine why you feel that way. You may discover that this attitude has been forced upon you by mass media and the crass culture it creates and maintains. The fact is, gardening is just the opposite - it is, or should be, a central, basic expression of human life.”

IfsWayFeelsShouldBelieveHumansMayHas BeensFactsCultureAttitudeMediaExpressionMassGardenOppositesHuman LifeGardeningIf You BelieveMass MediaCrass
Author:Andrew Weil
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“When I go to the cinema, I want to have a cinematic experience. Some people ignore the sound and you end up seeing something you might see on television and it doesn't explore the form. Sound is the other picture. When you show people a rough cut without the sound mix they are often really surprised. Sound creates a completely new world. With dialogue, people say a lot of things they don't mean. I like dialogue when it's used in a way when the body language says the complete opposite. But I love great dialogue I think expositional dialogue is quite crass and not like real life.”

PeopleThinkingWorldWayWantMeanRealEndsShowsBodyMightFormUsedLanguageSoundCuttingSeeingTelevisionOppositesReal LifeDialogueCinemaRoughNew WorldBody LanguageCinematicCrassComplete Opposites
Author:Lynne Ramsay
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“I despair of the Republic! Such dreariness, such whining sallow women, such utter absence of the amenities, such crass food, crass manners, crass landscape!! What a horror it is for a whole nation to be developing without the sense of beauty, and eating bananas for breakfast.”

WholeAmericaNationsBeautyHorrorDespairEatingAbsenceMannersDevelopingLandscapeBreakfastRepublicBananasWhiningAmenitiesCrass
Book:The letters of Edith Wharton
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“It is not OK in this culture to talk to friends about causes you believe in, much less to ask them to join in. It's OK to blast perfect strangers with crass messages every hour of the day, but it's a tinge embarrassing, it brings up some shyness, it seems an intrusion, it risks rejection to share real heartfelt commitments. It's easier to share our cynicism with strangers than our dreams with friends.”

BelieveRealDreamSeemsCultureAsksCausesHoursPerfectRiskShareFriendsEasierMessagesCommitmentStrangerRejectionCynicismEmbarrassingOur DreamsBlastShynessHeartfeltIntrusionCrassPerfect Strangers
Author:Donella Meadows
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