“The reproach that superficial people formulate against Manet, that whereas once he painted ugliness, now he paints vulgarity, falls harmlessly to the ground, when we recognize the fact that he paints the truth.” PeopleFactsFallCriticsPaintSuperficialUglinessReproachVulgarity Author:Stephane Mallarme
“I also came to see that liberalism's superficial optimism concerning human nature caused it to overlook the fact that reason is darkened by sin. The more I thought about human nature the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin causes us to use our minds to rationalize our actions. Liberalism failed to see that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man's defensive ways of thinking. Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.” ThinkingMenWayMindHumansLittlesReasonFactsUseActionCausesSinSawsHuman NatureOptimismInstrumentsLiberalismTragicJustifySuperficialInclinationOur ActionsWay Of ThinkingDistortionRationalizePurifying Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“I don't think victory over death... is anything so superficial as a person fulfilling their normal span of life. It can be twofold; a victory over death by the man who faces it for himself without fear, and a victory by those who, loving him, know that death is but a little thing compared with the fact that he lived and was the kind of person he was.” ThinkingKnowsMenKindLittlesPersonsFactsFacesHe ManVictoryNormalLittle ThingsFulfillingSuperficialLoving Him Book:Selected letters of Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain, 1920-1935 Source: Selected letters of Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain, 1920-1935
“There are numerous layers to truth, and the simple and superficial statement of facts cannot satisfy the writer.” FactsSimpleStatementsLayersSuperficial Author:Gao Xingjian
“I think in fact that unless there is an organic link between the subjective impressions of the author and his objective representation of reality, he will not achieve even superficial credibility, let alone authenticity and inner truth.” ThinkingFactsRealityAchieveImpressionObjectivesAuthenticityLinksRepresentationSuperficialSubjectiveCredibilitySuperficiality Author:Andrei Tarkovsky
“The most superficial fact regarding the 'Discourses,' the fact that the number of its chapters equals the number of books of Livy's 'History,' compelled us to start a chain of tentative reasoning which brings us suddenly face to face with the only New Testament quotation that ever appears in Machiavelli's two books and with an enormous blasphemy.” TwoBookFactsFacesNumbersEnormousChainsReasoningChaptersQuotationsSuperficialTestamentDiscourseCompelledNew TestamentFace To FaceBlasphemy Author:Leo Strauss