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Impossibility Quotes

Browse 475 quotes about Impossibility.

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Impossibility Quotes

“An author, like any other so-called artist, is a man in whom the normal vanity of all men is so vastly exaggerated that he finds it a sheer impossibility to hold it in. His over-powering impulse is to gyrate before his fellow men, flapping his wings and emitting defiant yells. This being forbidden by the police of all civilized nations, he takes it out by putting his yells on paper. Such is the thing called self-expression.”

MenSelfArtistNationsExpressionNormalPaperPoliceFellowsWingsVanityImpulseCivilizedSheerForbiddenImpossibilityFellow ManSelf ExpressionExaggeratedFlappingCivilized Nations
Book:Mencken Chrestomathy
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“If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.”

PeopleIfsGivingMayWarGovernmentNationsCausesInterestJusticeAttitudeMaterialsPeriodsInjuryResolveEfficientImpossibilityAcquisitionHazardsNeutralityAnnoyanceProvocationNational DefenseFarewell Address
Book:Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States of America: Published in September, 1796
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“Unsatisfied desire is the characteristic feature of human life. That is the common fact out of which both pessimism and optimism are constructed. Dwell on the impossibility of ever getting a state of complete and permanent satisfaction with what you have, and you become a pessimist. Dwell on the opportunity for endless growth and conquest which this same fact makes possible, and you become an optimist.”

HumansStatesFactsDesireOpportunityGrowthCommonOptimismSatisfactionEndlessPermanentHuman LifeFeaturesCharacteristicsPessimismOptimistConquestImpossibilityPessimistUnsatisfiedOptimism In LifeOptimists And Pessimists
Author:William DeWitt Hyde
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“The Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki once stated, 'International cultural exchange is impossible - therefore we must try.' I agree with all my heart. The impossibility of seeing beyond one's own cultural context is a political act in the world and has the potential to break down the rigid assumptions surrounding us.”

WorldTryingHeartPoliticalBreakImpossibleSeeingMy HeartDirectorsAgreeInternationalAssumptionBreaking DownImpossibilityCultural Exchange
Book:And Then, You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World
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“Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling a potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple.”

IfsMindWholeEyeSpeakEffortPrinciplesImpossibleMachinesDifficultyInstrumentsUselessHis EyesDefectsImpossibilityPotatoesProposeEnglishmenAdmirablePeelingPineapples
Book:Scientific and Miscellaneous Papers
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“When we are children, we have a tranquil acceptance of mystery which is driven out of us later on, by curiosity and education and experience. But it is possible to find one's way back. With affection and respect, I disagree totally with Penelope Lively's conviction about the 'absolute impossibility of recovering a child's vision.' There _are_ ways, imperfect, partial, fleeting, of looking again at a mystery through the eyes we used to have. Children are not different animals. They are us, not yet wearing our heavy jacket of time.”

WayChildrenDifferentEyeUsedAnimalVisionMysteryAcceptanceAbsolutesCuriosityAffectionConvictionHeavyDrivenDisagreeImperfectFleetingImpossibilityJacketsLivelyTranquilThrough The EyesRecoveringDifferent Animals
Author:Susan Cooper
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“Because I have become such a solitary, and not in the Aristotelian sense: not a beast, not a god. Rather, a loner troubled by longings, incapable of finding a suitable language and despairing at the impossibility of composing messages in a playable key--as if I no longer understood the codes used by the estimable people who wanted to hear from me and would have so much to reply if only the impediments were taken away.”

PeopleIfsWantedUsedLanguageTakenKeysFindingsMessagesUnderstoodLongingCodeBeastSolitaryIncapableImpossibilitySuitableLonerComposingImpediments
Book:Saul Bellow: Letters
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“Complete and accurate surveillance as a means of control is probably a practical impossibility. What is much more likely is a loss of privacy and constant inconvenience as the wrong people gain access to information, as one wastes time convincing the inquisitors that one is in fact innocent, or as one struggles to untangle the errors of the errant machine.”

PeopleMeanFactsLossLibertyStruggleInformationWasteGainsMachinesConstantErrorsLibertarianAccessPracticalsInnocentPrivacyWasting TimeAccurateLibertarianismImpossibilityConvincingSurveillanceInconvenienceAccess To Information
Book:Technological Man: The Myth and the Reality
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“In this life we have to make many choices. Some are very important choices. Some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices. Making perfect choices all of the time is not possible. It just doesn't happen. But it is possible to make good choices we can live with and grow from.”

LifeImportantHappensHappinessChoicesEvilGrowsGrowthPerfectImpossiblePossibilityGoodnessConsequencePerfectionImportanceDetermineThis LifeLive LifeGood And EvilUnhappinessImpossibilityOur ChoicesMaking ChoicesPursuit Of PerfectionGood ChoicesLife And ChoicesImportant ChoicesStruggle Between Good And EvilMaking Good Choices
Author:James E. Faust
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“Faith is not an art. Faith is not an achievement. Faith is not a good work of which some may boast while others can excuse themselves with a shrug of the shoulders for not being capable of it. It is a decisive insight of faith itself that all of us are incapable of faith in ourselves, whether we think of its preparation, beginning, continuation, or completion.”

ThinkingMayArtAchievementCapableRegardAtheistExcuseInsightBelieverShouldersPreparationGood WorkIncapableBoastImpossibilitySkepticCompletionContinuationUnbelievers
Author:Karl Barth
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“Instead of gambling on the eternal impossibility of the revolution and on the fascist return of a war-machine in general, why not think that a new type of revolution is in the course of becoming possible, and that all kinds of mutating, living machines conduct wars, are combined and trace out a plane of consistance which undermines the plane of organization of the World and the States?”

ThinkingWorldKindWarStatesCoursesRevolutionTypeReturnBecomingEternalMachinesOrganizationAll KindsPlanesGamblingWhy NotImpossibilityFascists
Book:Dialogues
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“Of course I constantly despair at my own incapacity, at the impossibility of ever accomplishing anything, of painting a valid, true picture or even knowing what such a thing ought to look like. But then I always have the hope that, if I persevere, it might one day happen. And this hope is nurtured every time something appears, a scattered, partial, initial hint of something which reminds me of what I long for, or which conveys a hint of it – although often enough I have been fooled by a momentary glimpse that then vanishes, leaving behind only the usual thing.”

IfsLooksLongHas BeensEnoughMightHappensCoursesMy OwnBehindsKnowingPaintingOughtOne DayDespairLeavingUsualGlimpseImpossibilityInitialsPersevereHintsFooledMomentaryIncapacityAccomplishing Anything
Book:Gerhard Richter: writings 1961-2007
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“The idea that we live in a post-modern culture is a myth. In fact a post-modern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unlivable. Nobody is a post-modernist when it comes to reading the labels on a medicine bottle versus a box of rat poison! You better believe that texts have objective meaning!”

BelieveIdeasFactsWould BeCultureReadingModernMedicineBoxesMythObjectivesLabelsPostsPoisonBottlesRatsVersusImpossibilityModern Culture
Author:William Lane Craig
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“I must be frank in my feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout our evangelical Christian circles -- the widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Saviour and that we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want to... The truth is that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scripture... Apart from obedience, there can be no salvation, for salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory impossibility.”

WantNeedsHumansLongSelfFeelingsChristianChristAcceptingLordTruth IsConceptsSacredSalvationAcceptedScriptureCirclesObedienceFrankImpossibilityContradictoryHeresyNotableSaviourEvangelicalSacred Scripture
Author:Aiden Wilson Tozer
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“The whole procedure [of shooting rockets into space] . . . presents difficulties of so fundamental a nature, that we are forced to dismiss the notion as essentially impracticable, in spite of the author's insistent appeal to put aside prejudice and to recollect the supposed impossibility of heavier-than-air flight before it was actually accomplished. An analogy such as this may be misleading, and we believe it to be so in this case.”

BelieveMayWholeSpaceCasesAirFutureDifficultyPrejudiceFundamentalsNotionFlightAppealsShootingAccomplishedSpiteAviationPredictionsImpossibilityProceduresRocketsMisleadAnalogies
Author:Richard van der Riet Woolley
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