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Half Measures Quotes

Browse 21 quotes about Half Measures.

Half Measures Quotes

“Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.”

KnowsMenHumansProblemLife IsDiesFightingEvilJusticePerfectHalfWillingSolutionsAbsolutesFinalsAffairToleranceCompromiseManifestationRejectionEtcGood LifeImperfectionInherentEquityNihilismNot PerfectFree ManLoatheInsistenceApproximationHuman ProblemsLesser EvilJustice EqualityHalf Measures
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“If my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?”

IfsMeanLittlesJusticeHalfLet MeCupsPintsHalf Measures
Book:The Narrative of Sojourner Truth (Unabridged): Including her famous Speech Ain't I a Woman? (Inspiring Memoir of One Incredible Woman)
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“I am a stranger to half measures. With life I am on the attack, restlessly ferreting out each pleasure, foraging for answers, wringing from it even the pain. I ransack life, hunt it down. I am the hungry peasants storming the palace gates. I will have my share. No matter how it tastes.”

MatterPainAnswersPleasureHalfShareTasteStrangerHungryGatesIntensityAggressionHuntsPalacesPeasantsForagingHalf Measures
Book:Migrations of the Heart: An Autobiography
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“That there is a continuous link from humans to gorillas, with the intermediate species merely long dead, is beyond the understanding of speciesists. Tie the label Homo sapiens even to a tiny piece of insensible embryonic tissue, and its life suddenly leaps to infinite, incomputable value.... Self-styled pro-lifers, and others that indulge in footling debates about exactly when in its development a foetus becomes human, exhibit the same discontinuous mentality. Human, to the discontinuous mind, is an absolutist concept. There can be no half measures. And from this flows much evil.”

MindHumansLongSelfValuesEvilUnderstandingHalfPiecesAtheismDevelopmentConceptsFlowInfiniteSpeciesPositive AtheismTinyDebateLabelsTiesLeapLinksMentalityIndulgeExhibitsHomo SapiensTissuesIndulge InGorillasInsensibleHalf Measures
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“One cannot ignore half of life for the purposes of science, and then claim that the results of science give a full and adequate picture of the meaning of life. All discussions of 'life' which begin with a description of man's place on a speck of matter in space, in an endless evolutionary scale, are bound to be half-measures, because they leave out most of the experiences which are important to use as human beings.”

MenGivingHumansImportantMatterUsePurposeHuman BeingsSpaceResultsHalfClaimsBoundsScalesEndlessDiscussionMeaning Of LifeDescriptionAdequateBeing MeSpecksBeing MeanHalf Measures
Author:Colin Wilson
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“The war is not going well and it is time to say why. It has been fought with half-measures. It has been fought with an eye on the wishes of our "coalition partners." It has been fought to assuage the Arab "street." It has been fought to satisfy the diplomats rather than the generals... Why have we not loosed the B-52s and the B-2s to carpet-bomb Taliban positions? And why are we giving the Taliban sanctuary in their cities? We could drop leaflets giving civilians 48 hours to evacuate, after which the cities become legitimate military targets.”

GivingWellsHas BeensWarEyeWishHoursCitiesHalfStreetsMilitaryPositionPartnersBombsTargetCarpetCiviliansSanctuaryTalibanCoalitionsDiplomats48 HoursHalf Measures
Author:Charles Krauthammer
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“The essence of liberalism is negotiation, a cautious half measure, in the hope that the definitive dispute, the decisive bloody battle, can be transformed into a parliamentary debate and permit the decision to be suspended forever in an everlasting discussion.”

DecisionHalfForeverBattleEssenceDebateDiscussionLiberalismPermitTransformedBloodyNegotiationEverlastingDisputesCautiousSuspendedParliamentaryHalf Measures
Book:Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty
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“I can at once refute the statement that the people of the West object to conservation of oil resources. They know that there is a limit to oil supplies and that the time will come when they and the Nation will need this oil much more than it is needed now. There are no half measures in conservation of oil.”

PeopleKnowsNeedsI CanNationsHalfObjectsNeededLimitsResourcesWestConservativeOilStatementsConservationSuppliesHalf Measures
Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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