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Mere Quotes

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Mere Quotes

“And above all, you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and panelling…the question should never be: ‘Do I like that kind of service?’ but ‘Are these doctrines true: Is holiness there? Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to move to this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike for this particular door-keeper?”

ShouldKindDoeMovingDoorsParticularPridePleaseTasteConscienceAskingMerePaintDuesDoctrineHolinessDislikeKeepersReluctanceTrue Ones
Book:Mere Christianity
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“In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.”

PeopleShouldCharacterAgeOrderMoralOpinionBreakDangerExampleAmountGeniusMarkMereDareTyrannyChiefsKneesCustomsConformityDesirableRefusalEccentricVigorReproachBreak ThroughStrength Of CharacterEccentricityMoral CourageNon Conformity
Book:Mill's On Liberty
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“I sometimes fancy," said Hilda, on whose susceptibility the scene always made a strong impression, "that Rome--mere Rome--will crowd everything else out of my heart.”

HeartMadeSaidSometimesStrongMy HeartSceneMereCrowdsImpressionFancyRomeSusceptibility
Book:Complete Novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Illustrated Edition): Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter with its Adaptation, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun, The Dolliver Romance, Septimius Felton, Grimshawe's Secret and Biography
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“The strain of constant adaptation to so many fearful events and discoveries is already too much to bear with sanity; one has to keep pretending to slip successfully into the new mould; a time will come when the tailored and camouflaged mind breaks beneath the burden; the stick insect in our brains no longer cares to resemble a twig on the same habitual human tree in the mere hope that it may survive extinction.”

MindHumansMayCareBrainBreakToo MuchTreeEventsBearsDiscoveryConstantSticksMereBurdenPretendingSanitySlipsFearfulStrainInsectsAdaptationExtinctionHabitualMouldTwigsTailored
Book:Towards Another Summer
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“The look of experience suited him, especially because somewhere deep in those eyes, there still lurked a dangerous invitation to play. He had a quality of masculine confidence that was a thousand times more potent than mere handsomeness. Perfect goodlooks could leave you cold, but this kind of sexy charisma went straight to your knees. -Haven Travis”

LooksKindStillsPlayEyePerfectQualityDangerousHavensColdThousandMereSexyKneesHandsomeMasculineInvitationsCharismaHandsomeness
Book:The Travis Family Series, Books 1-3: Blue-Eyed Devil, Smooth Taking Stranger and Sugar Daddy
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“I do believe I begin to grasp the nature of miracles! For would it be a miracle, if there was any reason for it? Miracles have nothing to do with reason. Miracles contradict reason, they strike clean across mere human deserts, and deliver and save where they will. If they made sense, they would not be miracles.”

IfsBelieveHumansMadeReasonMiracleCleanMereStrikesDesert
Book:Brother Cadfael: The Complete Chronicles
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“Children are living beings - more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love.”

PeopleWorldShouldChildrenSchoolSpiritDevelopmentHabitLessonsBuiltMental HealthMereShellsPersonal Love
Book:The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore: A miscellany
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“The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the colour perfectly harmonised; it is true to life. On the other hand, the intellectual attainments of the mere man of learning are like a large palette, full of all sorts of colours, which at most are systematically arranged, but devoid of harmony, connection and meaning.”

ThinkingMenHandsLightPaintingFineIntellectualConnectionsHarmonyMereToneColourShadeAttainmentTrue LifePalette
Book:The Art of Literature: a Series of Essays in Arthur Schopenhauer...
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“Those of us who write and study history are accustomed to its approximations and ambiguities. This is why we do not take literally the tenth-hand reports of frightened and illiterate peasants who claim to have seen miracles or to have had encounters with messiahs and prophets and redeemers who were, like them, mere humans. And this is also why we will never submit to dictation from those who display a fanatical belief in certainty and revelation.”

WritingHumansHandsBeliefStudyAtheismMiracleClaimsMereAtheistCertaintyProphetEncountersRevelationsReportsFrightenedDisplaySubmitAccustomedAmbiguityPeasantsMessiahIlliterateRedeemerApproximationDictation
Author:Christopher Hitchens
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“Who would condescend to strike down the mere things that he does not fear? Who would debase himself to be merely brave, like any common prizefighter? Who would stoop to be fearless--like a tree? Fight the thing that you fear. You remember the old tale of the English clergyman who gave the last rites to the brigand of Sicily, and how on his death-bed the great robber said, 'I can give you no money, but I can give you advice for a lifetime: your thumb on the blade, and strike upwards.' So I say to you, strike upwards, if you strike at the stars.”

IfsGivingDoeSaidI CanLastsRememberFightingStarsCommonTreeAdviceBedBraveMereLifetimeStrikesTalesFearlessBladesThumbsNo MoneyRiteRobbersStoopsClergymenDeath Bed
Book:The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in waking, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge which is of evil.”

MindHas BeensDreamNightEvilSecretVisionMysteryWords Of WisdomEternityMereGrayWakingThrillGlimpseVergeCognizant
Book:Complete Tales & Poems
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“We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentment and mortality.”

ThinkingIndividualSelf EsteemMereMiserableFlawsMortalityResentmentPray LoveEat Pray Love BookEat Pray And LoveBest Eat Pray LoveBali Eat Pray Love
Book:Eat Pray Love 10th-Anniversary Edition: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
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“A veil hangs between the two opposites, a mere slip of a thing that is transparent to warn us or comfort us. You hate now but look through this veil and see the possibility of love; you're sad now but look through to the other side and see happiness. Absolute composure to a complete mess - it happens so quickly, all in the blink of an eye.”

LooksTwoHappensEyeHateSidesLove YouPossibilityComfortOppositesAbsolutesMereMessSlipsVeilsTransparentBlinkComposureBlink Of An EyeTwo Opposites
Author:Cecelia Ahern
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“The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes- a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.”

MenWorldDoneCharacterAgeTodayChristianSpiritualLeftChurchLeaderDoubtDangerHeroPoliticianMessagesLowsMen And WomenMereNo DoubtHeroicPitchingBusiness LeadersDiplomatsChristian ChurchChurch Today
Author:Dallas Willard
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“I did not think I should be ever loved: do you indeed Love me so much as now you say you do? Ask of the sea-bird if it loves the sea, Ask of the roses if they love the rain, Ask of the little lark, that will not sing Till day break, if it loves to see the day: And yet, these are but empty images, Mere shadows of my love, which is a fire So great that all the waters of the main Can not avail to quench it.”

IfsThinkingShouldLittlesAsksWaterBreakFireSeaBirdShadowRainEmptyRoseMereCan NotQuenchLarksLove RainSea Birds
Book:The Duchess of Padua: Easyread Large Bold Edition
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“When I consider the narrow limits within which our active and inquiring faculties are confined; when I see how all our energies are wasted in providing for mere necessities, which again have no further end than to prolong a wretched existence; and then that all our satisfaction concerning certain subjects of investigation ends in nothing better than a passive resignation... when I consider all this... I am silent.”

EndsCertainEnergyExistenceSubjectsLimitsMereSilentSatisfactionActiveFacultyInvestigationProvidingPassiveWretchedConfinedResignationInquiring
Book:THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER (Literary Classics Series): Historical Romance Novel
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“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. But to sacrifice a hair of the head of your vision, a shade of its colour, in deference to some Headmaster with a silver pot in his hand or to some professor with a measuring-rod up his sleeve, is the most abject treachery, and the sacrifice of wealth and chastity which used to be said to be the greatest of human disasters, a mere flea-bite in comparison.”

WritingHumansLongSaidMatterHandsAgeUsedWishHoursWealthVisionSacrificeHairMereDisasterUsed To BeColourComparisonSilverPotShadeProfessorsBitesSleevesChastityMeasuringTreacheryFleasDeferenceHeadmasters
Book:A room of one's own and other essays
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“A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

MenHumansLightPurposePassionUnderstandingExistenceDarknessOvercomingMereSolePsychologistHuman ExistenceKindlesSynchronicityMemories Dreams ReflectionsInfernoDarkness To Light
Author:Carl Jung
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“The students we saw were all bright, attractive, and polite, and the teachers all seemed to be smart and dedicated, and I began to appreciate the benefits of a private school education. If only I'd had the opportunity to attend a place like this, who knows what I might have become? Perhaps instead of a mere blood-spatter analyst who slunk away at night to kill without conscience, I could have become a doctor, or a physicist, or even a senator who slunk away at night to kill without conscience. It was terribly sad to think of all my wasted potential.”

IfsThinkingKnowsMightSchoolNightOpportunitySawsTeacherBloodStudentsBenefitsSmartConscienceAppreciateDoctorsMereAttractiveDedicatedSenatorsPolitePhysicistBeing SmartAnalystsSchool EducationPrivate School
Book:Dexter Is Delicious: Dexter Morgan (5)
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“I am a Stormdancer! Mere metal is nothing compared with the power of a storm." Kade made his voice boom and spread his arms wide. His eyes sparked with humor. "I. Am. Invincible." "Until a happy wind blows," I said. "Curse those sunny days." "The bane of your existence." "The scourge of society." "The downfall of decency." "And boring, too. Nothing like a good gale to put a spring in your step." Kade grinned.”

MadeSaidEyeVoiceExistenceStepsWindArmsSpringMereBlowBoringSpreadStormWideCurseHis EyesMetalsDecencySunnyInvincibleDownfallGaleBaneScourgeSunny DaySpring In Your Step
Book:Storm Glass
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“Humans! They lived in a world where the grass continued to be green and the sun rose every day and flowers regularly turned into fruit, and what impressed them? Weeping statues. And wine made out of water! A mere quantum-mechanistic tunnel effect, that'd happen anyway if you were prepared to wait zillions of years. As if the turning of sunlight into wine, by means of vines and grapes and time and enzymes, wasn't a thousand times more impressive and happened all the time.”

IfsWorldYearsHumansMeanMadeHappensWaitingWaterSunHappenedEffectsFlowerThousandGreenWineRoseMerePreparedFruitGrassSunlightQuantumImpressedStatuesImpressiveWeepingTunnelsGrapesVinesSmall GodsEnzymes
Book:Seriously Funny: The Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett
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“There is much pain that is quite noiseless; and vibrations that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the roar of hurrying existence. There are glances of hatred that stab and raise no cry of murder; robberies that leave man or woman for ever beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer --committed to no sound except that of low moans in the night, seen in no writing except that made on the face by the slow months of suppressed anguish and early morning tears. Many an inherited sorrow that has marred a life has been breathed into no human ear.”

MenWritingHumansHas BeensMadePainFacesJoyNightPeaceSoundSecretExistenceMorningCryTearsMonthsSorrowLowsHatredEarsMurderRaisesMereCommittedAgonyGlancesAnguishVibrationsEarly MorningRobberySufferersHurryingNo PainPeace And JoyKept SecretsLife Is Pain
Author:George Eliot
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“‎A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another; and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the dominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, an aristocracy, or a majority of the existing generation; in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by a natural tendency to one over the body.”

PeopleMindStatesBodyGovernmentNaturalEducationSuccessfulGenerationsPleaseMajorityMereCastsTendenciesProportionEfficientDominantAristocracyDespotismMonarchsSchooledMouldSchool SystemSchools And EducationSchool EducationGeneral EducationEducation And FreedomGovernment Education
Book:On Liberty
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“I reminded myself: when a book lies unopened it might contain anything in the world, anything imaginable. It therefore, in that pregnant moment before opening, contains everything. Every possibility, both perfect and putrid. Surely such mysteries are the most enticing things You grant us in this mortal mere -- the fruit in the garden, too, was like this. Unknown, and therefore infinite. Eve and her mate swallowed eternity, every possible thing, and made the world between them.”

WorldMadeBookMomentsMightLyingPerfectMysteryPossibilityGardenEternityInfiniteMereFruitOpeningMortalsGrantsMatesPregnantEnticing
Author:Catherynne M. Valente
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