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Maxims Quotes

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Maxims Quotes

“Would that the simple maxim, that honesty is the best policy, might be laid to heart; that a sense of the true aim of life might elevate the tone of politics and trade till public and private honor become identical.”

HeartMightTruthSimpleHonestyPolicyHonorAimTradeToneMaximsIdenticalHonesty Is The Best PolicyAim Of Life
Book:At home and abroad: or, Things and thoughts in America and Europe. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller
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“Getting fired can produce a particularly bountiful payday for a CEO. Indeed, he can 'earn' more in that single day, while cleaning out his desk, than an American worker earns in a lifetime of cleaning toilets. Forget the old maxim about nothing succeeding like success: Today, in the executive suite, the all-too-prevalent rule is that nothing succeeds like failure.”

TodayForgetProduceSucceedLifetimeWorkersExecutivesDesksCeoCleaningMaximsToiletsCleanlinessAmerican WorkersGetting FiredPayday
Book:Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha
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“Possessed, as are all the fair daughters of Eve, of an hereditary propensity, transmitted to them undiminished through succeeding generations, to be 'soonmoved withtheslightesttouch of blame'; very little precept and practice will confirm them in the habit, and instruct them all the maxims, of self-justification.”

LittlesSelfPracticeGenerationsHabitSucceedDaughterFairsBlamePossessedJustificationMaximsPropensityHereditarySelf Justification
Author:Maria Edgeworth
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“It is a maxim, founded on the universal experience of mankind, that no nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its interest; and no prudent statesman or politician will venture to depart from it.”

PoliticsNationsInterestMankindPoliticianUniversalBoundsTrustedVentureMaximsStatesmenPrudent
Book:Correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to the American revolution. June, 1775, to July, 1776 (v. 3); July, 1776, to July, 1777 (v. 4); July, 1777, to July, 1778 (v. 5); July, 1778, to March, 1780 (v. 6); March, 1780, to April, 1781 (v. 7); April, 1781, to December, 1783 (v. 8)
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“I do not approve the maxim which desires a man to know a little of everything. Superficial knowledge, knowledge without principles, is almost always useless and sometimes harmful knowledge.”

KnowsMenLittlesSometimesDesirePrinciplesKnowledgeUselessSuperficialMaximsSuperficial Knowledge
Book:La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
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“The maxim that men are not to be praised before their death was invented by envy and too lightly adopted by philosophers. I, on the contrary, maintain that they ought to be praised in their lifetime if they merit it; but jealousy and calumny, roused against their virtue or their talent, labour to degrade them if any one ventures to bear testimony to them. It is unjust criticism that they should fear to hazard, not sincere praise.”

IfsMenShouldVirtueTalentBearsOughtCriticismPraiseLifetimePhilosopherEnvyContraryMeritLabourSincereVentureUnjustTestimonyAdoptedMaximsHazardsDegradeCalumnyUnjust Criticism
Author:Luc de Clapiers
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“From the earliest times man has been engaged in a search for general rules whereby to turn the order of natural phenomena to his own advantage, and in the long search he has scraped together a great hoard of such maxims, some of them golden and some of them mere dross. The true or golden rules constitute the body of applied science which we call the arts; the false are magic.”

MenLongHas BeensArtBodyTogetherOrderTurnsNaturalMagicAdvantageMereGoldenEngagedMaximsGolden RuleNatural PhenomenaDrossApplied Science
Author:James G. Frazer
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“Ladies are always of great use to the party they espouse, and never fail to win over numbers to it. Lovers, according to Sir William Petty's computation, make at least the third part of sensible men of the British nation; and it has been an uncontroverted maxim in all ages, that though a husband is sometimes a stubborn sort of a creature, a lover is always at the devotion of his mistress. By this means, it lies in the power of every fine woman, to secure at least half a dozen able-bodied men to his Majesty's service.”

MenMeanHas BeensSometimesUseAgeAbleLyingWinningNationsPartyNumbersHalfFailingFineLoversHusbandCreaturesThirdsBritishDevotionSecureSensibleDozenStubbornPettyMaximsMistressMajestyComputation
Book:The Freeholder. Swift's notes on the Free-holder. The Plebian, by Sir Richard Steele, with The Old whig, by Mr. Addison. The Lover
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“People always make this totally artificial distinction between what is commercial and what is good. They quote that maxim "Nobody ever lost money underestimating the public's taste" and I think that's very wrongheaded. I like to believe the audience is actually intelligent, because it's made up of other people like yourself.”

PeopleThinkingBelieveMadeLostAudienceLike YouTasteIntelligentDistinctionArtificialUnderestimateMaximsLike YourselfLost Money
Author:Douglas Adams
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“The task of the political philosopher can only be to influence public opinion, not to organize people for action. He will do so effectively only if he is not concerned with what is now politically possible but consistently defends the "general principles which are always the same." In this sense I doubt whether there can be such a thing as a conservative political philosophy. Conservatism may often be a useful practical maxim, but it does not give us any guiding principles which can influence long-range developments.”

PeopleIfsGivingMayLongDoePhilosophyActionPoliticalOpinionPrinciplesDoubtInfluenceDevelopmentConcernedTasksConservativePhilosopherPracticalsRangeConsistentlyOrganizeMaximsPublic OpinionConservatismPolitical PhilosophyOften IsGuiding PrinciplesConservative Political
Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
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“When the great religious and philosophical conceptions were alive, thinking people did not extol humility and brotherly love, justice and humanity because it was realistic to maintain such principles and odd and dangerous to deviate from them, or because these maxims were more in harmony with their supposedly free tastes than others. They held to such ideas because they saw in them elements of truth, because they connected them with the idea of logos, whether in the form of God or of a transcendental mind, or even of nature as an eternal principle.”

PeopleThinkingMindIdeasFormHumanityReligiousJusticePrinciplesSawsAliveDangerousHumilityTasteTruth IsElementsEternalHarmonyPhilosophicalConnectedOddConceptionRealisticMaximsTranscendentalLogosBrotherlyBrotherly LoveDeviateGreat Religious
Author:Max Horkheimer
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“When the Church obtained the direction of the civil power, she soon modified or abandoned the tolerant maxims she had formerly inculcated; and, in the course of a few years, restrictive laws were enacted, both against the Jews and against the heretics.”

YearsLawCoursesChurchAtheismJewPositive AtheismAbandonedMaximsHeretic
Book:History of the rise and influence of the spirit of rationalism in Europe
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“There's a very old recording maxim that goes, 'Distance makes depth.' I've used that a hell of a lot-whether it's tracking guitars or the whole band. People are used to close-miking amps, but I'd have a mic out around the back, as well, and then balance the two. Also, you shouldn't have to use EQ in the studio if the instruments sound right. You should be able to get the right tones simply with the science of microphone placement.”

PeopleIfsShouldWellsTwoWholeUseAbleUsedSoundHellBalanceBandInstrumentsDistanceDepthGuitarStudiosToneMaximsMicrophonesMicsTrackingPlacement
Author:Jimmy Page
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