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Function Quotes

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Function Quotes

“The thing I was beginning to figure out about Sam and Grace, the thing about Sam not being able to function without her, was that that sort of love only worked when you were sure both people would always be around for each other. If one half of the equation left, or died, or was slightly less perfect in their love, it became the most tragic, pathetic story invented, laughable in its absurdity. Without Grace, Sam was a joke without a punch line.”

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Author:Maggie Stiefvater
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“The surgeons are playing on the myth's double standard for the function of the body. A man's thigh is for walking, but a woman's is for walking and looking "beautiful." If women can walk but believe our limbs look wrong, we feel that our bodies cannot do what they are meant to do; we feel as genuinely deformed and disabled as the unwilling Victorian hypochondriac felt ill.”

IfsMenFeelsBelieveLooksBodyBeautifulFeltWalksWalkingStandardsFunctionIllMythLimbsDisabledUnwillingSurgeonsThighsVictorianDouble StandardFashion IndustryHypochondriacLooking Beautiful
Author:Naomi Wolf
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“There is only one thing a writer can write about: what is in front of his senses at the moment of writing... I am a recording instrument... I do not presume to impose "story" "plot" "continuity"... Insofar as I succeed in Direct recording of certain areas of psychic process I may have limited function... I am not an entertainer.”

WritingMayMomentsStoriesCertainProcessOne ThingFrontsSucceedAreasDirectFunctionInstrumentsSensesPlotPsychicsContinuityEntertainers
Book:Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader
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“I like to receive money for my work. But I can pass that up this time. I like to have people know my work is done by me. But I can pass that up. I like to have tenants made happy by my work. But that doesn't matter too much. The only thing that matters, my goal, my reward, my beginning, my end is the work itself. My work done my way. Peter, there's nothing in the world that you can offer me, except this. Offer me this and you can have anything I've got to give. My work done my way. A private, personal, selfish, egotistical motivation. That's the only way I function. That's all I am.”

PeopleKnowsWorldWayGivingMadeI CanEndsMatterDoneMotivationGoalToo MuchOffersFunctionRewardsSelfishMy WayPeterEgotisticalThings That MatterWork DoneTenantsOnly Thing That Matters
Book:The Fountainhead
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“Because beyond their practical function, all gestures have a meaning that exceeds the intention of those who make them; when people in bathing suits fling themselves into the water, it is joy itself that shows in the gesture, notwithstanding any sadness the divers may actually feel. When someone jumps into the water fully clothed, it is another thing entirely: the only person who jumps into the water fully clothed is a person trying to drown; and a person trying to drown does not dive headfirst; he lets himself fall: thus speaks the immemorial language of gestures.”

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Author:Milan Kundera
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“The degree to which a surviving parent copes is the most important indicator of the child's long-term adaptation. Kids whose surviving parents are unable to function effectively in the parenting role show more anxiety and depression, as well as sleep and health problems, than those whose parents have a strong support network and solid inner resources to rely on.”

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Book:Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss, 20th Anniversary Edition
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“I am a Prince," he replied, being rather dense. "It is the function of a Prince—value A—to kill monsters—value B—for the purpose of establishing order—value C—and maintaining a steady supply of maidens—value D. If one inserts the derivative of value A (Prince) into the equation y equals BC plus CD squared, and sets it equal to zero, giving the apex of the parabola, namely, the point of intersection between A (Prince) and B (Monster), one determines value E—a stable kingdom. It is all very complicated, and if you have a chart handy I can graph it for you.”

IfsGivingI CanPurposeValuesOrderEqualFunctionDetermineComplicatedMonstersKingdomsPlusZeroSteadyStableEquationsMaintainingCdsDenseMaidensHandyDerivativesIntersectionsInsertApexGraphsParabola
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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“To read fiction means to play a game by which we give sense to the immensity of things that happened, are happening, or will happen in the actual world. By reading narrative, we escape the anxiety that attacks us when we try to say something true about the world. This is the consoling function of narrative — the reason people tell stories, and have told stories from the beginning of time.”

PeopleWorldGivingTryingMeanReasonPlayStoriesHappensReadingGamesFictionHappenedAnxietyHappeningsFunctionNarrativeImmensityConsoling
Author:Umberto Eco
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“If the meaning of life has become doubtful, if one's relations to others and to oneself do not offer security, then fame is one means to silence one's doubts. It has a function to be compared with that of the Egyptian pyramids or the Christian faith in immortality: it elevates one's individual life from its limitations and instability to the plane of indestructability; if one's name is known to one's contemporaries and if one can hope that it will last for centuries, then one's life has meaning and significance by this very reflection of it in the judgments of others.”

IfsMeanChristianLastsNamesIndividualSilenceKnownDoubtCenturySecurityOffersFameJudgmentReflectionFunctionRelationOneselfLimitationPlanesImmortalityMeaning Of LifeSignificancePyramidsChristian FaithDoubtfulEgyptianInstabilityIndividual LifeJudgment Of OthersEgyptian Pyramids
Book:Escape from Freedom
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“What if all those strange and unexplainable bends in history were the result of supernatural interference? At which point I asked myself, what's the weirdest most eccentric historical phenomenon of them all? Answer:the Great British Empire. Clearly, one tiny little island could only conquer half the known world with supernatural aid. Those absurd Victorian manners and ridiculous fashions were obviously dictated by vampires. And, without a doubt, the British army regimental system functions on werewolf pack dynamics.”

IfsWorldLittlesAnswersResultsHalfKnownDoubtFashionStrangeFunctionArmyHistoricalBritishAidsTinyRidiculousAbsurdVampireConquerMannersIslandsEmpiresWhat IfPhenomenonPacksEccentricWerewolfInterferenceDynamicsVictorianBritish EmpireUnexplainableBritish Army
Author:Gail Carriger
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“Evidence indicates that cats were first tamed in Egypt. The Egyptians stored grain, which attracted rodents, which attracted cats. (No evidence that such a thing happened with the Mayans, though a number of wild cats are native to the area.) I don't think this is accurate. It is certainly not the whole story. Cats didn't start as mousers. Weasels and snakes and dogs are more efficient as rodent-control agents. I postulate that cats started as psychic companions, as Familiars, and have never deviated from this function.”

ThinkingFirstsWholeStoriesNumbersHappenedDogEvidenceAreasCatFunctionAgentsNativeCompanionEfficientAccurateGrainEgyptPsychicsSnakesTamedWeaselsRodentsMayans
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“If someone should ask, "how should an Opposition function?" the best answer would be, "in the manner of a traditional mother-in-law who watches the performance of household work by a daughter-in-law and follows her about with her comments.”

IfsShouldWould BeLawMotherAsksAnswersWatchesDaughterPerformancesFunctionTraditionalOppositionCommentHouseholdIn-lawsMother In LawDaughter In Law
Book:A Writer's Nightmare: Selected Essays, 1958-1988
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“We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.”

DoeStillsCharacterFeelingsPowerfulEmotionPrinciplesRecordsViolenceSeaBalanceJudgmentFunctionShipsRepeatsSpiteRoughCompassMaintainingVariationStrength Of Character
Book:On War
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“Revealingly, the central function of the Constitution as law--the supreme law--was to impose limitations not on the behavior of ordinary citizens but on the federal government. The government, and those who ran it, were not placed outside the law, but expressly targeted by it. Indeed, the Bill of Rights is little more than a description of the lines that the most powerful political officials are barred from crossing, even if they have the power to do so and even when the majority of citizens might wish them to do so.”

IfsLittlesGovernmentMightLawPoliticalWishLinesPowerfulRightsCitizensBehaviorOrdinaryFunctionConstitutionBillsMajoritySupremeLimitationRanOfficialsDescriptionMost PowerfulFederal GovernmentCrossingsBill Of RightsOrdinary Citizens
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“There are stories that are true, in which each individual's tale is unique and tragic, and the worst of the tragedy is that we have heard it before, and we cannot allow ourselves to feel it to deeply. We build a shell around it like an oyster dealing with a painful particle of grit, coating it with smooth pearl layers in order to cope. This is how we walk and talk and function, day in, day out, immune to others' pain and loss. If it were to touch us it would cripple us or make saints of us; but, for the most part, it does not touch us. We cannot allow it to.”

IfsFeelsDoeStoriesPainOrderIndividualLossWalksHeardWorstUniqueFunctionTragedySaintPainfulTalesTragicLayersShellsSmoothPearlsParticlesImmuneGritOystersCripplesAmerican GodsPain And Loss
Author:Neil Gaiman
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“Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.”

ShouldTryingHelpingGovernmentMotivationThreeIndividualNationsInterestLossEconomyPlayerSpecialMilitaryCrimeCitizensMoralityCostProtectFunctionPropertyIntentionActiveDefensePursuitPrimariesContractsGood IntentionsSpecial InterestsRefereeInefficiency
Author:Milton Friedman
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“She [Susanna] realized she was still hugging the wall. Pride propelled her two steps forward. As she advanced, something bleated at her, as though chastising her for trespassing. She stopped midstep and peered at it. "Did you know there's a lamb in here?" "Never mind it. That's dinner." She gave it a smile and a friendly pat. "Hullo, Dinner. Aren't you a sweet thing." "It's not his name, it's his...function.”

KnowsMindStillsTwoNamesStepsSweetWallPrideFunctionDinnerFriendlyHugLambsSteps ForwardDid You KnowSweet ThingsTrespassing
Author:Tessa Dare
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“How promising you are as a Student of the Game is a function of what you can pay attention to without running away. Nets and fences can be mirrors. And between the nets and fences, opponents are also mirrors. This is why the whole thing is scary. This why all opponents are scary and weaker opponents are especially scary. See yourself in your opponents. They will bring you to understand the Game. To accept the fact that the Game is about managed fear. That its object is to send from yourself what you hope will not return.”

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Book:Infinite Jest
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“...Desire, a function central to all human experience, is the desire for nothing nameable. And at the same time this desire lies at the origin of every variety of animation. If being were only what it is, there wouldn’t even be room to talk about it. Being comes into existence as an exact function of this lack.”

IfsHumansLyingDesireRoomsExistenceFunctionVarietyHuman ExperienceAnimationLacan
Book:The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book 2: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis 19541955
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“Many women don’t know what orgasm is. Many men don’t know was total orgasm is. Many only achieve a local orgasm, a genital orgasm; it is confined to the genitals. Just a small ripple in the genitals-and finished. It is not like possession when the whole body moves into a whirlpool and you are lost in the abyss. For a few moments time stops and the mind does not function. For a few moments you do not know who you are. Then it is a total orgasm.”

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Author:Rajneesh
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“Who doesn't have a dark place somewhere inside him that comes out sometimes when he's looking in a mirror? Dark and light, we are all made out of shadows like the shapes on a motion-picture screen. A lot of people think that the function of the projector is to throw light on the screen, just as the function of the story-teller is to stop fooling around and simply tell what happened, but the dark places must be there too, because without the dark places there would be no image and the figure on the screen would not exist.”

PeopleThinkingMadeSometimesStoriesLightWould BeDarkHappenedFiguresShapesShadowFunctionMirrorsScreensMotion PicturesDark PlacesFooling AroundProjectors
Author:MacDonald Harris
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