Quotessence
Home / Topics / Difficult Quotes

Difficult Quotes

Browse 8549 quotes about Difficult.

Related topics

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWayEasyWorldTryingMenWantWritingDifficult ThingsSometimesHardFeelsProblemKindBelieveYearsDifficult TimesMayFirstsHas BeensSituationNeedsPersonsLongGivingHumansWellsArtChallengesLooksMindMeanShouldStillsLittlesMadeDifferentMatterWould BeSeemsImportantRealFilmTwoChildrenCharacterImpossibleMomentsReasonTasksDoneJobsPlayBookFoundEndsCountryHelpingI CanDoeFactsIdeasEnoughFeelingsAbleSaidSimpleEasierDecisionLife IsSelfStatesUseHeartRunningWarCertainStoriesMightTogetherShowsActorsFacesWholeCircumstancesSpeakDifficult SituationsMovingProcessAcceptingArtistInspirationalLanguageRealityChoicesCoursesDealsmore

Difficult Quotes

“I confess to feeling continued ambivalence about political life, aware of its shortcomings and disappointments, but drawn back to it again and again because of its infinite promise. Justice can triumph, wrongs can be righted, and pain can be alleviated, if the right fix is found. The optimistic illusion that one can change the world is difficult to resist, especially when from time to time that illusion is sustained by even a hint of reality. Change does happen in the political process.”

IfsWorldDoeFeelingsRealityHappensPainPoliticalFoundPoliticsProcessDifficultJusticePromiseIllusionInfiniteDisappointmentOptimisticTriumphChanging The WorldAgain And AgainHintsShortcomingsPolitical LifeAmbivalence
Author:Madeleine M. Kunin
Create image

“Geometry is of much assistance in architecture, and in particular it teaches us the use of the rule and compasses, by which especially we acquire readiness in making plans for buildings in their grounds, and rightly apply the square, the level, and the plummet. By means of optics the light in buildings can be drawn from fixed quarters of the sky. Difficult questions involving symmetry are solved by means of geometrical theories and methods.”

MeanUseLightDifficultLevelsTeachPlansSkyBuildingParticularTheoryMethodArchitectureFixedAcquireSquaresQuartersAssistanceCompassGeometryInvolvingReadinessSymmetryOpticsDifficult Questions
Author:Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
Create image

“Many Westerners forget that when the Prophet spoke of four wives as the maximum allowable number, he had in mind a reduction to four as compared to the number then often prevailing; moreover, Mohammed specified that a man should acquire more than one wife only if he could treat them all with equal justice - obviously a difficult feat for even the most diligent man to achieve. In effect, then, the Prophet curtailed the number of wives.”

IfsMenShouldMindDifficultJusticeForgetNumbersFourWifeAchieveEffectsEqualTreatsProphetAcquireSpokesMaximumReductionPrevailingFeatsDiligentWesternersEqual Justice
Book:Maʼmūriyyat barȧ-yi vaṭanam
Create image

“Yugoslavia is, with Iran, the only country which under difficult, not to say agonising, circumstances stood up to Joseph Stalin. It was not easy to unite ethnic groups or to modernize a country like Yugoslavia, and it must be acknowledged that Marshal Tito achieved something extraordinary. May God grant that his successors be as capable as he.”

MayCountryEasyDifficultGroupsCircumstancesCapableExtraordinaryIranGrantsStood UpSuccessorsEthnic GroupsYugoslaviaTito
Author:Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
Create image

“Indeed, it is that ambiguity and ambivalence which often is so puzzling in women--the quality of shifting from child to woman, theseeming helplessness one moment and the utter self-reliance the next that baffle us, that seem most difficult to understand. These are the qualities that make her a mystery, the qualities that provoked Freud to complain, "What does a woman want?”

WantChildrenDoeSelfMomentsSeemsNextDifficultQualityMysteryComplainingSelf RelianceRelianceShiftingAmbiguityHelplessnessOften IsWomen WantProvokedAmbivalencePuzzling
Author:Lillian B. Rubin
Create image

“What are the characters that I discern most clearly in the so-called Anglo-Saxon type of man? I may answer at once that two stickout above all others. One is his curious and apparently incurable incompetence--his congenital inability to do any difficult thing easily and well, whether it be isolating a bacillus or writing a sonata. The other is his astounding susceptibility to fears and alarms--in short, his hereditary cowardice.... There is no record in history of any Anglo-Saxon nation entering upon any great war without allies.”

MenWritingWellsMayTwoWarCharacterNationsDifficultAnswersRecordsTypeCuriousAlliesCowardiceEnteringInabilityAlarmsDifficult ThingsIncompetenceGreat WarHereditaryAnglo SaxonSusceptibilitySonatas
Book:Mencken Chrestomathy
Create image

“I always felt, and I still feel, that the media doesn't belong in a public official's private life. It's a very difficult balance, because if you are elected to public office, people have a right to know a great deal about you, and the press has an absolute obligation to report all of that. But the reality is that there are times in which the reporting is really happening for almost voyeuristic reasons, in the gossip columns. Maybe half of it is wrong, and half of it is correct, and a lot of it is exaggerated. You've just got to get used to that if you're in public life.”

PeopleIfsKnowsFeelsStillsReasonRealityUsedFeltDifficultDealsHalfMediaBalanceOfficeHappeningsAbsolutesPressesObligationOfficialsReportsGossipPrivate LifeColumnsPublic LifeExaggeratedPublic OfficePublic Officials
Author:Rudy Giuliani
Create image

“There is nothing so necessary, but at the same time there is nothing more difficult (I know it by experience) for you young fellows, than to know how to behave yourselves prudently towards those whom you do not like. Your passions are warm, and your heads are light; you hate all those who oppose your views, either of ambition or love; and a rival, in either, is almost a synonymous term for any enemy.”

KnowsLightYoungHatePassionDifficultTermViewsEnemyKnow HowLike YouBehaviorAmbitionFellowsWarmBehaveRivalsRivalry
Author:Lord Chesterfield
Create image

“In early youth, if we find it difficult to control our feelings, so we find it difficult to vent them in the presence of others. On the spring side of twenty, if anything affects us, we rush to lock ourselves up in our room, or get away into the street or the fields; in our earlier years we are still the savages of nature, and we do as the poor brutes do. The wounded stag leaves the herd; and if there is anything on a dog's faithful heart, he slinks away into a corner.”

IfsYearsHeartStillsFeelingsDifficultSidesPoorRoomsStreetsDogFieldsYouthSolitudeSpringTwentiesCornersFaithfulGet AwayLocksSavagesWoundedBrutesHerdsStags
Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
Create image

“There are two options for any society: total prohibition as in a totalitarian state, or total license. Both avoid the ardours of decision. Both have the attraction of certainty. The difficult option is to decide where the line should be drawn and this, surely, is the responsiblity of any civilized and democratic country.”

ShouldTwoCountryStatesDifficultLinesDecisionDemocraticAttractionCertaintyCivilizedLicenseProhibitionTotalitarian StateDemocratic CountryTwo Options
Book:Time to Be in Earnest
Create image

“You can purchase the mind of Pascal for a crown. Pleasures even cheaper are sold to those who give themselves up to them. It is only luxuries and objects of caprice that are rare and difficult to obtain; unfortunately they are the only things that touch the curiosity and taste of ordinary men.”

MenGivingMindDifficultPleasureObjectsTasteOrdinaryCuriosityLuxuryCrownsCheaperOrdinary ManCapricePascal
Book:La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
Create image

“There are a few investment managers, of course, who are very good - though in the short run, it's difficult to determine whether a great record is due to luck or talent. Most advisors, however, are far better at generating high fees than they are at generating high returns. In truth, their core competence is salesmanship. Rather than listen to their siren songs, investors - large and small - should instead read Jack Bogle's The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.”

ShouldLittlesBookRunningSongCoursesDifficultCommonRecordsTalentReturnLuckInvestmentInvestingVery GoodDetermineDuesCoreCommon SenseManagersInvestorsCompetenceFeesSirensAdvisorsSalesmanshipSiren Song
Author:Warren Buffett
Create image

“Thinking is hard. Making value judgments is difficult. It places you at pure creation, because there are so many times you'll have to say, "I don't know. I just don't know." Yet still you'll have to decide. And so you'll have to choose. You'll have to make an arbitrary choice. Such a choice - a decision coming from no previous personal knowledge - is called pure creation. And the individual is aware, deeply aware, that in the making of such decisions is the Self created.”

ThinkingKnowsInspirationalStillsSelfHardValuesChoicesIndividualDifficultReligiousDecisionCreationPureJudgmentArbitraryPersonal Knowledge
Author:Neale Donald Walsch
Create image

“Sometimes we forge our own principles and sometimes we accept others' principles, or holistic packages of principles, such as religion and legal systems. While it isn't necessarily a bad thing to use others' principles - it's difficult to come up with your own, and often much wisdom has gone into those already created - adopting pre-packaged principles without much thought exposes you to the risk of inconsistency with your true values.”

LifeSometimesUseValuesDifficultGrowthAcceptingPrinciplesGoneRiskPersonal GrowthInvestingCome UpBad ThingsPackagesHolisticAdoptingInconsistencyLegal SystemTrue Value
Author:Ray Dalio
Create image

“In our days of prosperity it is more difficult to sustain a religious spirit than in times of adversity, because we are apt to forget that God who has bountifully given may also take away.”

MaySpiritReligionGivenDifficultWomenReligiousForgetAdversityProsperityTimes Of Adversity
Book:Records and Reflections: Selected from Her Writings During Half a Century, April 3rd, 1840 to April 3rd, 1890
Create image

“It is difficult to grasp the immensity and significance of the extreme reverence paid to the Goddess over a period of (at least) seven thousand years and over miles of land cutting across national boundaries and vast expanses of sea. Yet it is vital to do just that to fully comprehend the longevity as well as the widespread power and influence this religion once held.”

YearsWellsReligionDifficultWomenCuttingSeaInfluenceLandPeriodsThousandPaidSevenExtremesMilesBoundariesSignificanceReverenceGoddessLongevityThousand YearsImmensityExpanse
Author:Merlin Stone
Create image

“We believe that arithmetic as it has been taught in grade schools until quite recently has such a meagre intellectual content that the oft-noted reaction against the subject is not an unfortunate rebellion against a difficult subject, but a perfectly proper response to a preoccupation with triviality.”

BelieveHas BeensSchoolDifficultSubjectsTaughtIntellectualResponseReactionsGradesRebellionUnfortunatePreoccupationArithmeticTrivialityFormal EducationGrades In SchoolDifficult Subjects
Author:Lynn Steen
Create image

“We may exist in all universes, but 'hear' only one because of our limitations, the valve of our desires, our practical, physical needs. All is vibration, with nothing vibrating across no distance whatsoever. All is music. A universe, a world, is just one long difficult song. The difference between worlds is the difference between songs.”

WorldNeedsMayLongDesireSongUniverseDifficultDifferencesDistancePracticalsLimitationJust OneVibrationsValve
Author:Greg Bear
Create image

“If I want to live in a peaceful world, then it is up to me to make sure that I am a peaceful person. No matter how others behave, I keep peace in my heart. I declare peace in the midst of chaos or madness. I surround all difficult situations with peace and love.”

IfsWorldWantLoveHeartPersonsMatterPeaceDifficultSituationMy HeartAnd LoveMadnessChaosPeacefulBehaveMidstSurroundBehaviourPeace And LovePeaceful WorldDifficult SituationsPeace And QuietLive Love
Author:Louise Hay
Create image

“Vegetables contain more nutriment than an equal amount of dead flesh. This will sound a surprising and incredible statement to many people, because they have been brought up to believe that they cannot exist unless they defile themselves with flesh, and this delusion is so widely spread that it is difficult to awaken the average man from it.”

PeopleMenBelieveHas BeensDifficultSoundAmountEqualIncrediblesAverageSpreadFleshStatementsDelusionVegetablesSurprisingVegetarianismAverage Man
Book:Some Glimpses of Occultism: Ancient and Modern
Create image