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Derision Quotes

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Derision Quotes

“The better print journalists allow us to consider the meaning, for ourselves and our country, of what might otherwise seem to be isolated bits of information. But while anyone can repost an article, researching and writing is hard work that requires time and money. Before you deride the "mainstream media," note that it is no longer the mainstream. It is derision that is the mainstream and easy, and actual journalism that is edgy and difficult.”

MediaJournalismMeaningMainstream MediaJournalistsDerision
Book:On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
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“It is [Simon] Wessely’s often-unconcealed “derision” directed towards people with ME -- a disease from which people die and which appears on Coroners’ death certificates as the cause of death -- which arouses such anger, an anger that is not confined to patients in the UK but encompasses medical scientists in other countries whose decision-makers have come under Wessely’s thrall.”

ControversyAuthoritarianismCfsChronic Fatigue SyndromeMyalgic EncephalomyelitisMe CfsDerisionAuthority And AttitudeSimon WesselyHate Campaign
Author:Michael Hanlon
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“Alas! the very attempt could not fail to encounter the ridicule of the mob, the obloquy of the sensual, and the sneers of the unfeeling. The advocate of mercy would incur the reproach of misanthropy, and be traduced as a wild unsocial animal, who had formed a nefarious design to curtail the comforts of human life (7).—Good God! and is compassion then so great a crime? Is it so heinous an offence against society, to respect in other animals that principle of life which they have received, no less than man himself, at the hand of Nature? O, mother of every living thing! O, thou eternal fountain of beneficence; shall I then be persecuted as a monster, for having listened to thy sacred voice? to that voice of mercy which speaks from the bottom of my heart; while other men, with impunity, torment and massacre the unoffending animals, while they fill the air with the cries of innocence, and deluge thy maternal bosom with the blood of the most amiable of thy creatures.”

CompassionEmpathyKillingIndifferenceSympathyAnimalsApathyRidiculeVegetarianismDerision
Book:The Cry of Nature; Or, an Appeal to Mercy and to Justice, on Behalf of the Persecuted Animals
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“Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War; will be impressed by all the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision.”

MeanBookWarSchoolEducationEnemyHistoryStruggleTeacherWrittenInfluenceSubjectsYouthFitGiving UpRegardSurrenderVersionsCivil WarHeroicImpressedVeteranTraitorSchool TeachersConfederateGallantDerision
Author:Patrick Cleburne
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“As a graduate student at Columbia University, I remember the a priori derision of my distinguished stratigraphy professor toward a visiting Australian drifter [a supporter of the theory of continental drift]. Today my own students would dismiss with even more derision anyone who denied the evident truth of continental drift - a prophetic madman is at least amusing; a superannuated fuddy-duddy is merely pitiful.”

TodayRememberMy OwnStudentsTheoryUniversityProfessorsDeniedGraduatesEvidentSupporterDistinguishedAustralianAmusingVisitingMadmenPropheticColumbiaPitifulGraduate StudentsContinentalDerisionDriftersColumbia University
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
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“Most of us agree that the United Nations is the vanguard of a foreign invasion and must be driven from our shores. Liberalism - Progressivism - all forms of left wing collectivism, are equally alien to the Founders' America and must be extirpated, root and branch, laughter and derision being the most effective weapons. Look at the way they have reduced Hillary Clinton to an insignificant greasy spot on the pages of history, turned Albert Gore into an object of merriment, and are accomplishing the same for Barry and Micky Obama.”

WayLooksAmericaFormLeftNationsUnitedObjectsWeaponsPagesLaughterRootsAgreeWingsClintonDrivenSpotsAliensBranchesLiberalismShoreFoundersUnited NationsInsignificantInvasionGoreCollectivismLeft WingProgressivismMerrimentDerisionVanguardRoots And Branches
Author:L. Neil Smith
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“The Southern newspapers, with their advertisements of negro sales and personal descriptions of fugitive slaves, supply details of misery that it would be difficult for imagination to exceed. Scorn, derision, insult, menace - the handcuff, the last - the tearing away of children from parents, of husbands from wives - the weary trudging in droves along the common highways, the labor of body, the despair of mind, the sickness of heart - these are the realities which belong to the system, and form the rule, rather that the exception, in the slave's experience.”

MindHeartChildrenBodyRealityWould BeLastsFormParentDifficultImaginationCommonWifeHusbandDespairLaborSlaveryMiserySlaveDetailsNewspapersInsultSicknessDescriptionExceptionSouthernWearyHighwaysScornExceedMenaceAdvertisementsFugitiveParent ChildDerisionHusband Wife
Book:Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839
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“Why do so many ingenious theorists give fresh reasons every year for the decline of letter writing, and why do they assume, in derision of suffering humanity, that it has declined? They lament the lack of leisure, the lack of sentiment ... They talk of telegrams, and telephones, and postal cards, as if any discovery of science, any device of civilization, could eradicate from the human heart that passion for self-expression which is the impelling force of letters.”

IfsGivingWritingYearsHumansHeartSelfReasonSufferingHumanityPassionForceExpressionCivilizationDiscoveryLettersAssumingCardsDevicesSentimentsLeisureDeclineHuman HeartTelephonesSelf ExpressionIngeniousLamentTheoristsDerisionLetter WritingTelegrams
Author:Agnes Repplier
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“Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny should take a few pointers from the mutual-fund industry. All three are trying to pull off elaborate hoaxes. But while Santa and the bunny suffer the derision of eight year olds everywhere, actively-managed stock funds still have an ardent following among otherwise clear-thinking adults. This continued loyalty amazes me. Reams of statistics prove that most of the fund industry's stock pickers fail to beat the market.”

ThinkingShouldTryingYearsStillsSufferingThreeClearFailingIndustryProveBeatsAdultsInvestingFollowingEightLoyaltyFundMutualStatisticsEasterSantaSanta ClausArdentBunniesMutual FundDerisionHoaxesPointersClear ThinkingEaster Bunny
Author:Jonathan Clements
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“To make sure that my blasphemy is thoroughly expressed, I hereby state my opinion that the notion of a god is a basic superstition, that there is no evidence for the existence of any god(s), that devils, demons, angels and saints are myths, that there is no life after death, heaven nor hell, that the Pope is a dangerous, bigoted, medieval dinosaur, and that the Holy Ghost is a comic-book character worthy of laughter and derision.”

BookStatesCharacterHeavenExistenceOpinionHellDangerousHolyLaughterDevilEvidenceAngelNotionSaintWorthyMythGhostComicDemonSuperstitionsComic BookPopeMedievalAfter DeathHoly GhostDinosaursBlasphemyLife After DeathDerisionBook CharactersComic Book Characters
Author:James Randi
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“Can a controlled experiment explain why people like Kewpie dolls in one year, Beanie Babies in another, and American Girl dolls this year? Yet social scientists are asked to answer analogous questions. We economists and perhaps psychologists shouldn't overreact to the derision. That is, we shouldn't try to overlay a false sense of precision on our admittedly squooshy work.”

PeopleTryingYearsGirlSocialAnswersBabyScientistExperimentsControlledEconomistDollsPsychologistPrecisionDerision
Author:Robert J. Shiller
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“Being a victim doesn't take much. There are built-in excuses for failure. Built-in excuses for being miserable. Built-in excuses for being angry all the time. No reason to trying to be happy; it's not possible. You're a victim. Victim of what? Well, you're a victim of derision. Well, you're a victim of America. You're a victim of America's past, or you're a victim of religion. You're a victim of bigotry, of homophobia, whatever. You're a victim of something. The Democrats got one for you. If you want to be a victim, call 'em up.”

IfsWantTryingWellsReasonAmericaPastBuiltVictimAngryDemocratExcuseMiserableEmsNo ReasonBigotryHomophobiaDerisionTrying To Be Happy
Author:Rush Limbaugh
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“Why do you love the woman you're in love with? Because she is. And that, after all, is God's own definition of Himself; I am that I am. The girl is who she is. Some of her isness spills over and impregnates the entire universe. Objects and events cease to be mere representations of classes and become their own uniqueness; cease to be illustrations of verbal abstractions and become fully concrete. Then you stop being in love, and the universe collapses, with an almost audible squeak of derision, into its normal insignificance.”

GirlUniverseClassEventsObjectsNormalMereDefinitionsCeaseConcreteCollapseUniquenessRepresentationAbstractionBeing In LoveSpillsIllustrationInsignificanceDerision
Author:Aldous Huxley
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“For a time after my divorce everything began to seem profoundly ironic to me. I found myself thinking of other peoples' worries as sources of amusement and private derision which I thought about at night to make myself feel better.”

ThinkingFeelsSeemsNightFoundWorrySourceDivorceIronicFeel BetterAmusementDerisionThinking Of Others
Book:The Bascombe Novels: The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land
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“The temptation is to stay inside; to subside into the kind of recluse whom neighborhood children regard with derision and little awe; to let the hedges and weeds grow up, to allow the doors to rust shut, to lie on my bed in some gown-shaped garment and let my hair lengthens and spread out over the pillow and my fingernails to sprout into claws, while candle wax drips onto the carpet. But long ago I made a choice between classicism and romanticism. I prefer to be upright and contained—an urn in daylight.”

KindChildrenLittlesLongMadeLyingChoicesGrowsGrowing UpDoorsHairBedRegardSpreadTemptationAweNeighborhoodWeedCandleLong AgoCarpetPillowGarmentsRomanticismDaylightClawsRustGownsSproutsFingernailsRecluseDerisionClassicism
Author:Margaret Atwood
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“Half a dozen brats turned with expressions of derision, and Lyra threw her cigarette down, recognizing the cue for a fight. Everyone's daemon instantly became warlike: each child was accompanied by fangs, or claws, or bristling fur, and Pantalaimon, contemptuous of the limited imaginations of these gyptian daemons, became a dragon the size of a deer hound.”

ChildrenFightingImaginationHalfExpressionSizeDragonsDozenCigaretteRecognizingFurFangsDeerClawsHoundsBratDerisionContemptuous
Author:Philip Pullman
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“Yet, there was once a king worthy of that name. That king was Arthur. It is paramount disgrace of this evil generation that the name of that great king is no longer spoken aloud except in derision. Arthur! He was the fairest flower of our race, Cymry's most noble son, Lord of the Summer Realm, Pendragon of Britain. He wore God's favour like a purple robe. Hear then, if you will, the tale of a true king.”

IfsEvilNamesRaceLordGenerationsSonFlowerKingsSummerWorthyNobleTalesRealmsBritainFavourPurpleDisgraceRobesArthurParamountDerisionPendragon
Author:Stephen R. Lawhead
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“Why should you think that I should woo in scorn? Scorn and derision never come in tears: Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born, In their nativity all truth appears. How can these things in me seem scorn to you, Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?”

ThinkingShouldLooksSeemsBornTearsProveScornVowBadgesDerisionNativity
Book:The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: From the Text of Johnson, Stevens, and Reed; with Glossarial Notes, His Life, and a Critique on His Genius & Writings
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“Piracy is robbery with violence, often segueing into murder, rape and kidnapping. It is one of the most frightening crimes in the world. Using the same term to describe a twelve-year-old swapping music with friends, even thousands of songs, is evidence of a loss of perspective so astounding that it invites and deserves the derision it receives.”

WorldYearsSongTermLossViolenceCrimePerspectiveEvidenceDeserveMurderInvitesTwelveFrighteningRobberyKidnappingPiracyDerisionSwapping
Author:Nick Harkaway
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“I do not know much about Mohammed or Mohammedanism. I do not take the Koran to bed with me every night. But, if I did on some one particular night, there is one sense at least in which I know what I should not find there. I apprehend that I should not find the work abounding in strong encouragements to the worship of idols; that the praises of polytheism would not be loudly sung; that the character of Mohammed would not be subjected to anything resembling hatred and derision; and that the great modern doctrine of the unimportance of religion would not be needlessly emphasised.”

IfsKnowsShouldCharacterNightStrongModernParticularBedWorshipHatredEncouragementPraiseIslamDoctrineIdolsEvery NightDerisionPolytheism
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“In 1847 I gave an address at Newton, Mass., before a Teachers' Institute conducted by Horace Mann. My subject was grasshoppers. I passed around a large jar of these insects, and made every teacher take one and hold it while I was speaking. If any one dropped the insect, I stopped till he picked it up. This was at that time a great innovation, and excited much laughter and derision. There can be no true progress in the teaching of natural science until such methods become general.”

IfsMadeScienceNaturalTeacherProgressTeachingSubjectsMassLaughterInnovationMethodExcitedExcitementAddressesInsectsNewtonInstituteJarsNatural ScienceDerisionGrasshoppers
Author:Louis Agassiz
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