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Difficult Quotes

“Our hopes of avoiding the fate which threatens must...[be to make]adjustments that will be needed if we are to recover and surpass our former standards...and only if every one of us is ready to individually obey the necessities of readjustment shall we be able to get through a difficult period as free men who can choose their own way of life. Let a uniform minimum be secured to everybody by all means; but let us admit at the same time that with this assurance of a basic minimum all claims for a privileged security for particular classes must lapse.”

IfsMenWayMeanAbleDifficultClassFateSecurityParticularReadyNeededPeriodsStandardsClaimsFormerUniformsMinimumPrivilegedAvoidingAssuranceAdjustmentFree ManSecuredLapses
Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
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“Our assaults on the ecosystem are so powerful, so numerous, so finely interconnected, that although the damage they do is clear, it is very difficult to discover how it was done. By which weapon? In whose hand? Are we driving the ecosphere to destruction simply by our growing numbers? By our greedy accumulation of wealth? Or are the machines which we have built to gain this wealth-the magnificent technology that now feeds us out of neat packages, that clothes us in man-made fibers, that surrounds us with new chemical creations-at fault?”

MenMadeDoneHandsDifficultWealthPowerfulNumbersTechnologyClearGrowingCreationClothesWeaponsGainsBuiltDestructionMachinesFaultsEnvironmentalDrivingDamageSurroundChemicalsMagnificentAssaultGreedyPackagesAccumulationNeatEcosystemsFiberInterconnected
Author:Barry Commoner
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“A mob is usually a creature of very mysterious existence, particularly in a large city. Where it comes from, or whither it goes, few men can tell. Assembling and dispersing with equal suddenness, it is as difficult to follow to its various sources as the sea itself; nor does the parallel stop here, for the ocean is not more fickle and uncertain, more terrible when roused, more unreasonable or more cruel.”

MenDoeDifficultCitiesExistenceSeaSourceTerribleCreaturesEqualOceanVariousMysteriousUncertainParallelsUnreasonableFickleAssemblingLarge Cities
Book:Charles Dickens's works. Charles Dickens ed. [18 vols. of a 21 vol. set. Wanting A child's history of England; Christmas stories; The mystery of Edwin Drood].
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“All that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is fatal. Outside of that single fatality of death, everything, joy or happiness, is liberty. A world remains of which man is the sole master. What bound him was the illusion of another world. The outcome of his thought, ceasing to be renunciatory, flowers in images. It frolics-\-\-in myths, to be sure, but myths with no other depth than that of human suffering and, like it, inexhaustible. Not the divine fable that amuses and blinds, but the terrestrial face, gesture, and drama in which are summed up a difficult wisdom and an ephemeral passion.”

MenWorldHumansFacesJoySufferingPassionDifficultLibertyFateDivineFlowerMastersDramaIllusionRemainsDepthBoundsMythOutcomesGesturesSoleMe AloneAnother WorldFablesEphemeralHuman SufferingFatalityAll That Remains
Author:Albert Camus
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“Men may be very learned, and yet very miserable; it is easy to be a deep geometrician, or a sublime astronomer, but very difficult to be a good man. I esteem, therefore, the traveller who instructs the heart, but despise him who only indulges the imagination. A man who leaves home to mend himself and others, is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.”

MenHeartMayCountryHomeEasyDifficultImaginationBlindCuriosityPhilosopherEsteemMiserableImpulseGood ManDespiseSublimeIndulgeTravellerAstronomersVagabonds
Book:The works of Oliver Goldsmith. 2: Enquiry into the present state of polite learning; The citizen of the world
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“Love is something difficult and it is more difficult than other things because in other conflicts nature herself enjoins men to collect themselves, to take themselves firmly in the hand with all their strength, while in the heightening of love the impulse is to give oneself wholly away.”

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Book:Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties: Translations and Considerations
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“Sri Yukteswar used to poke gentle fun at the commonly inadequate conceptions of renunciation."A beggar cannot renounce wealth," Master would say. "If a man laments: 'My business has failed; my wife has left me; I will renounce all and enter a monastery,' to what worldly sacrifice is he referring? He did not renounce wealth and love; they renounced him!"Saints like Gandhi, on the other hand, have made not only tangible material sacrifices, but also the more difficult renunciation of selfish motive and private goal, merging their inmost being in the stream of humanity as a whole.”

IfsMenMadeWholeHandsUsedHumanityLeftFunDifficultGoalWealthWifeSacrificeMaterialsMastersAnd LoveSaintMy WifeSelfishGentleMotiveStreamsConceptionWorldlyTangibleBeggarInadequateRenounceReferringRenunciationLamentPokeMonasteriesMergingSelfish Motives
Book:Autobiography of a Yogi
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“In the days before machinery men and women who wanted to amuse themselves were compelled, in their humble way, to be artists. Now they sit still and permit professionals to entertain them by the aid of machinery. It is difficult to believe that general artistic culture can flourish in this atmosphere of passivity.”

MenWayBelieveStillsWantedArtistCultureDifficultMen And WomenHumbleAidsArtisticAtmospherePermitCompelledMachineryPassivity
Book:Complete Essays: 1930-1935
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“It is always disagreeable to take stands. It is always easier to compromise, always easier to let things go. To many women, and I am one of them, it is extraordinarily difficult to care about anything enough to cause disagreement or unpleasant feelings, but I have come to the conclusion that this must be done for a time until we can prove our strength and demand respect for our wishes. We cannot even be of real service in the coming campaign and speak as a united body of women unless we have the respect of men and show that when we express a wish, we are willing to stand by it.”

MenRealDoneEnoughShowsFeelingsBodyCareSpeakWishCausesDifficultUnitedWillingEasierDemandProveCampaignsConclusionCompromiseDisagreementDisagreeableLetting Things Go
Book:Love, Eleanor: Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Friends
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“In civilized life, where the happiness, and indeed almost the existence, of man depends so much upon the opinion of his fellow-men, he is constantly acting a studied part. The bold and peculiar traits of native character are refined away or softened down by the levelling influence of what is termed good-breeding, and he practises so many petty deceptions and affects so many generous sentiments for the purposes of popularity that it is difficult to distinguish his real from his artificial character.”

MenRealCharacterPurposeDifficultActingExistenceOpinionInfluenceDependsFellowsDeceptionGenerousNativeCivilizedSentimentsPeculiarArtificialTraitsPopularityPettyFellow ManRefinedBreedingPractiseGood Breeding
Book:The Complete Short Stories of Washington Irving: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveler, The Alhambra, Woolfert’s Roost & The Crayon Papers Collections (Illustrated): The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Old Christmas, The Voyage, Roscoe, The Widow’s Retinue, An Old Soldier, Mountjoy, Don Juan, Woolfert’s Roost, Tales of The Alhambra and many more
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“The reputation of a Don Juan gives to a man the most dangerous power. Wise virgins resist it, but foolish virgins frequently yield to the desire to take a celebrated lover from a rival - even from a friend. This emotion is a complex one, mad up of vanity, respect for another woman's taste, and the need to establish self-assurance by winning a difficult victory. Don Juan chose his first mistresses; later he was chosen.”

MenNeedsGivingFirstsSelfDesireWinningDifficultEmotionWiseDangerousLoversVictoryTasteMadComplexesFoolishChosenReputationVanityYieldVirginsAssuranceRivalsMistressDon JuanAnother WomanJuanSelf Assurance
Author:Andre Maurois
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“There is a note that comes into the human voice by which you may know real weariness. It comes when one has been trying with all his heart and soul to think his way along some difficult road of thought. Of a sudden he finds himself unable to go on. Something within him stops. A tiny explosion takes place. He bursts into words and talks, perhaps foolishly. Little side currents of his nature he didn't know were there run out and get themselves expressed. It is at such times that a man boasts, uses big words, makes a fool of himself in general.”

ThinkingKnowsMenWayTryingHumansHeartMayLittlesHas BeensRealSoulUseBigsRunningDifficultSidesVoiceFoolGoes OnNotesCurrentsTinyBoastExplosionsHeart And SoulWearinessHuman Voice
Book:Triumph of the Egg and Other Stories
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“In the name of Israel's God, if every man would do right, and when he has done what he knows is right, then stops till he knows what next, there never would be a jar in the camp. And I defy the man to come forward that ever led so large a people in such difficult and trying circumstances, in so much peace, as I have led this people during this campaign, with the help of God and my brethren.”

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Author:Brigham Young
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“Compromise" is so often used in a bad sense that it is difficult to remember that properly it merely describes the process of reaching an agreement. Naturally there are certain subjects on which no man can compromise. For instance, there must be no compromise under any circumstances with official corruption, and of course no man should hesitate to say as much.”

MenShouldRememberUsedCertainCoursesProcessDifficultSubjectsCircumstancesCorruptionInstanceCompromiseOfficialsReachingAgreementNo Compromise
Book:The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses
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“You're a slave in your own country, White Man. Each year you get to keep less of the fruits of your labor; each year it gets more difficult to carry the burden the aliens have placed upon you; each year the cheap labor of aliens makes your future less secure; each year you retreat a few steps more into the world of slavery.”

MenWorldYearsCountryDifficultWhiteStepsFutureLaborSlaverySlaveFruitBurdenSecureAliensNationalismOur FutureBlack PeopleNaziRetreatWhite ManYour FutureCheaperCheap LaborBlack NationalismFruit Of LaborWhite Power
Author:George Lincoln Rockwell
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“I think when a man first discovers that two and two is four, there is 'beauty' in that; and we can see why. But if people stand and look at the moon and one says 'I think it's just beautiful tonight' and the other says 'The moon makes me feel awful' we are both 'clear'. A geometric shape - we know why we like it; and an unreasonable shape; it has a certain mystery that we recognize as real; but it is difficult to put these things in an objective way.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsMenWayFeelsFirstsLooksTwoRealBeautifulCertainDifficultClearFourMysteryShapesMoonObjectivesAwfulTonightUnreasonableGeometricGeometric Shapes
Author:William Baziotes
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“A man must first of all understand certain things. He has thousands of false ideas and false conceptions, chiefly about himself, and he must get rid of some of them before beginning to acquire anything new. Otherwise the new will be built on a wrong foundation and the result will be worse than before. To speak the truth is the most difficult thing in the world; one must study a great deal and for a long time in order to speak the truth. The wish alone is not enough. To speak the truth one must know what the truth is and what a lie is, and first of all in oneself. And this nobody wants to know.”

KnowsMenWorldWantFirstsLongIdeasEnoughLyingCertainOrderSpeakWishDifficultGrowthResultsDealsStudyTruth IsLong TimeBuiltFoundationOneselfAcquireConceptionDifficult ThingsSpeak The Truth
Author:G. I. Gurdjieff
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“He was not only the most brilliant strategist of all our generals, but he had a good political sense. A man of that quality was too difficult for Hitler to swallow for long. At conferences Manstein often differed from Hitler, in front of others, and would go so far as to declare that some of the ideas which Hitler put forward were nonsense.”

MenLongIdeasPoliticalDifficultQualityFrontsBrilliantNonsenseConferencesStrategistGood Political
Author:Erich von Manstein
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“I advised Chambers, and would advise every young man beginning to compose, to do it as fast as he can, to get a habit of having his mind to start promptly; it is so much more difficult to improve in speed than in accuracy.”

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Book:The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
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“It is not difficult to conceive, however, that for many reasons a man writes much better than he lives. For without entering into refined speculations, it may be shown much easier to design than to perform. A man proposes his schemes of life in a state of abstraction and disengagement, exempt from the enticements of hope, the solicitations of affection, the importunities of appetite, or the depressions of fear.”

MenWritingMayStatesReasonDifficultDesignEasierAffectionAppetiteSchemesEnteringAbstractionSpeculationProposeRefinedEnticementDisengagementSolicitation
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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