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Homely Quotes

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Homely Quotes

“A homely face does not guarantee a homely character. Appearance is the body, character is the spirit, and the soul bears the most vital qualities.”

LooksSoulCharacterFeelingsBodySpiritForceAttitudeQualityCompassionBeautyAirJudgmentAspectEssenceBlindAppearanceAttractionGoodCharmCharmingDispositionOutlookFaceStanceMichael Bassey JohnsonLookFacadeFacialHomelyLife ForceQualitiesVitalGuaranteeSnugGood LookingBlindfoldGood LooksBad LooksMienMind Soul Spirit
Author:Michael Bassey Johnson
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“My new city [Seattle] and its hinterland felt deceptively homely. Their similar latitude gave them the angular light and lingering evenings I was used to. Their damp marine weather, blowing in from the southwest, came in the right direction. When the mountains are hidden under a low sky, one might almost imagine oneself to be in Britain.”

LightMightUsedFeltCitiesImagineSkyMountainLowsOneselfWeatherEveningBritainMarineRight DirectionSeattleDampLingeringHomelyLatitude
Book:Driving Home: An American Scrapbook
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“Robert Frost says in a piece of homely doggerel that he has hoped wisdom could be not only Attic but Laconic, Boeotian even - "at least not systematic"; but how systematically Frostian the worst of his later poems are! His good poems are the best refutation of, the most damning comment on, his bad: his Complete Poems have the air of being able to educate any faithful reader into tearing out a third of the pages, reading a third, and practically wearing out the rest.”

AbleReadingPiecesAirWorstReaderPagesThirdsFaithfulCommentEducateSystematicFrostHaving HopeAtticsHomelyRefutationLaconic
Author:Randall Jarrell
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“The selective instinct of the artist tells him when his language should be homely, and when it should be more elevated; and it is precisely in the imperceptible blending of the plain with the ornate that a great writer is distinguished. He uses the simplest phrases without triviality, and the grandest without a suggestion of grandiloquence.”

ShouldUseArtistLanguageInstinctPhrasesSuggestionsSimplestDistinguishedGreat WritersSelectiveTrivialityHomely
Book:The Principles of Success in Literature
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“Alas! What boots it with uncessant care To tend the homely slighted Shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless muse; Were it not better done as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights, and live laborious days; But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears, And slits the thin-spun life.”

ThinkingMindDoneUseCareLastsSpiritSportsClearHairFameFairsRaisesBlindTradeDelightNobleShadeBootsMuseAlasScornFuryShepherdsSpursInfirmitySpunSlitsHomelyThanklessSlightedShears
Author:John Milton
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“Recognizing that the world is governed by a minority, the sexually active, and that they hold sway of a huge majority of the nonsexual, those people too young or too old or too poor or too homely or sick or crazy or powerless to be able to afford sexual partners (or the luxury of systematic, sustained and shared introspection, so sexual in its own way). All advertisements and films and songs are addressed to sexuals, to their rash whims and finicky tastes.”

PeopleWorldWayAbleFilmYoungSongPoorCrazyHugeTasteSickMajorityActivePartnersLuxuryMinoritiesIntrospectionPowerlessRecognizingSexuallySystematicWhimAdvertisementsHomely
Author:Edmund White
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“But there are still many who continue to marvel at the wisdom of God in so planning the universe that big rivers run by great towns, and that death comes at the end of life instead of in the middle of it. Divest pleas ... of their semi-philosophic jargon, reduce his illustrations to homely similes, and he is marvelling at the wisdom of God who so planned things that the two extremities of a piece of wood should come at the ends instead of in the middle.”

ShouldStillsTwoEndsBigsRunningUniversePiecesAtheismMiddleRiversTownsWoodsPlanningSimileIllustrationEnd Of LifeJargonPhilosophicExtremityHomely
Author:Chapman Cohen
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“Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, And, even with something of a mother's mind, And no unworthy aim, The homely nurse doth all she can To make her foster child, her inmate man, Forget the glories he hath known And that imperial palace whence he came.”

MenMindKindChildrenEarthMotherNaturalForgetPleasureKnownGloryAimNurseYearningLapPalacesUnworthyFoster ChildrenInmatesHomely
Book:The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England, Now First Published with His Works ...
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“Quite the ugliest face I ever saw was that of a woman whom the world called beautiful. Through its silver veil the evil and ungentle passions looked out, hideous and hateful. On the other hand, there are faces which the multitude, at first glance, pronounce homely, unattractive and such as "Nature fashions by the gross," which I always recognize with a warm heart-thrill. Not for the world would I have one feature changed; they please me as they are; they are hallowed by kind memories, and are beautiful through their associations.”

WorldFirstsHeartKindHandsBeautifulFacesPassionEvilMemoriesSawsFashionChangedPleaseWarmFeaturesSilverAssociationMultitudesThrillGlancesVeilsGrossHatefulHideousUnattractiveHomelyPlease MeWarm Heart
Author:John Greenleaf Whittier
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“Beauties, when disposed to sleep, Should from the eye of keen inspector keep: The lovely nymph who would her swain surprise, May close her mouth, but not conceal her eyes; Sleep from the fairest face some beauty takes, And all the homely features homelier makes.”

ShouldMayEyeFacesSleepMouthsSurpriseLovelyFeaturesHer EyesHomelyInspectorsNymphs
Book:The poetical works of the Rev. George Crabbe: in eight volumes
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“Standing by the crib of one's own baby, with that world - old pang of compassion and protectiveness toward this so little creature that has all its course to run, the heart flies back in yearning and gratitude to those who felt just so toward one's self. Then for the first time one understands the homely succession of sacrifices and pains by which life is transmitted and fostered down the stumbling generations of men.”

MenWorldFirstsHeartLittlesSelfRunningPainLife IsCoursesFeltCompassionGenerationsSacrificeBabyGratitudeCreaturesFirst TimeStandingYearningSuccessionStumblingHomelyProtectiveness
Book:Mince Pie: Adventures on the Sunny Side of Grub Street
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“Management is a far more homely business than its would be scientists suggest, more closely allied to cookery than any other human activity. Like cooking, it rests on a degree of organisation and on adequate resources. But just as no two chefs run their kitchens the same way, so no two managements are the same.”

WayHumansTwoWould BeRunningActivityDegreesResourcesScientistManagementCookingKitchenChefAdequateOrganisationHuman ActivityCookeryHomely
Author:Robert Heller
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“To us, to the everyday teachers of everyday students, neither of whom is writing the book of the universe but who both have their fullest life only when they align themselves with its truths, working out our own commitment to and our own vision of agape, in however homely or personal a form, is a life long task that both guides us in our teaching endeavors and honors those endeavors at the same time.”

WritingLongBookFormUniverseVisionTeacherTeachingStudentsHonorCommitmentTasksEverydayWork OutGuidesEndeavorLong LifeHomelyAgape
Author:Marshall Gregory
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