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Obstinacy Quotes

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Obstinacy Quotes

“As soon as you direct such a question outward to your fellow man and not inward to yourself, you have set yourself on a judgment seat and thereby judged yourself. You have robbed yourself of what you had won by your own continence; you have taken one step forward but ten backward: and then you have reason to weep over your obstinacy, your failure to improve, and your pride.”

MenReasonStepsTakenPrideTenJudgmentDirectFellowsSeatsOver YouJudgedInwardFellow ManSteps ForwardAsceticismObstinacy
Author:Tito Colliander
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“A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the character of justice; his profusion, of liberality; his obstinacy, of firmness.”

CharacterLawNationsJusticeLibertyEqualBenefitsAssumingIgnorantCrueltyFlashArbitraryFirmnessDespotsObstinacyLiberality
Book:The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“In trying to explain our political paralysis, analysts cite President Obama's tactical missteps, the obstinacy of congressional Republicans, rising partisanship in Washington, and the Senate filibuster, which has devolved into a super-majority threshold for important legislation. These are large factors to be sure, but that list neglects what may be the biggest culprit of all: the childishness, ignorance, and growing incoherence of the public at large.”

TryingMayImportantPoliticalPresidentGrowingIgnoranceRepublicanMajorityListsFactorsRisingNeglectPresident ObamaSenateLegislationThresholdAnalystsParalysisPartisanshipCitingObstinacyTacticalCulpritChildishnessIncoherenceFilibuster
Author:Jacob Weisberg
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“At the moment we have a critical situation in Greece. Even as we speak, where there is an open attempt by the EU to destroy Syriza by splitting it. There is a German obstinacy and utter refusal to seriously consider an alternative. The reason isn't even a lack of money, because money swims around the EU coffers endlessly, and they could write off the debt tomorrow if they wanted. But they don't want to do so, because of the election of a left-wing government. They want to punish Syriza in public, to humiliate it so that this model doesn't go any further than Greece.”

IfsWantWritingReasonMomentsGovernmentWantedLeftSpeakSituationTomorrowModelsElectionWingsCriticalDebtAlternativesSwimGreeceRefusalLeft WingHumiliateSplittingObstinacy
Author:Tariq Ali
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“If each side had been frankly contending for its own real wish, they would all have kept within the bounds of reason and courtesy; but just because the contention is reversed and each side is fighting the other side’s battle, all the bitterness which really flows from thwarted self-righteousness and obstinacy and from the accumulated grudges of the last ten years is concealed from them by the nominal or official "Unselfishness" of what they are doing or, at least, held to be excused by it.”

IfsYearsRealSelfReasonLastsFightingWishSidesBattleTenFlowBoundsOfficialsRighteousnessBitternessCourtesyConcealedGrudgeContentionSelf RighteousnessUnselfishnessObstinacyContending
Book:The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast
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“You know Balbec so well - do you have friends in the area?' I have friends wherever there are companies of trees, wounded but not vanquished, which huddle together with touching obstinacy to implore an inclement and pitiless sky.' That is not what I meant,' interrupted my father, as obstinate as the trees and as pitiless as the sky.”

KnowsWellsTogetherFatherCompanyTreeSkyAreasTouchingWoundedInterruptedObstinateObstinacy
Book:In Search of Lost Time: The Way by Swann's
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“That the boat did not upset I simply state as a fact. Why it did not upset I am unable to offer any reason. I have often thought about the matter since, but I have never succeeded in arriving at any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon. Possibly the result may have been brought about by the natural obstinacy of all things in this world. The boat may possibly have come to the conclusion, judging from a cursory view of our behaviour, that we had come out for a morning's suicide, and had thereupon determined to disappoint us. That is the only suggestion I can offer.”

WorldMayHas BeensI CanMatterStatesReasonFactsNaturalResultsViewsMorningThis WorldJudgingOffersAll ThingsSuicideDeterminedConclusionBoatUpsetExplanationPhenomenonBehaviourSuggestionsDisappointArrivingObstinacy
Book:Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel
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“But I liked you from the moment I first heard your voice,” he said, “when I had no idea what you looked like. I thought it delicious, the way you bargained for me, as though I were an old rug. Then I loved the way you looked at me. Then I loved the way you ordered me about. I loved your patient and impatient ways of explaining things to me. I love the sound of your voice and the way you move. I love your courage and your kindness and your generosity and your obstinacy and your passion.” He paused. “You’re the genius. What do you think that means?”

ThinkingWayFirstsMeanSaidIdeasMomentsMovingPassionSoundVoiceKindnessHeardGeniusPatientGenerosityNo IdeaDeliciousExplainingImpatientObstinacyYour GenerosityExplaining ThingsI Liked You
Book:Mr. Impossible
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“The most savory grape, the one that produces the wines with best texture and aroma, the sweetest and most generous, doesn't grow in rich soil but in stony land; the plant, with a mother's obstinacy, overcomes obstacles to thrust its roots deep into the ground and take advantage of every drop of water. That, my grandmother explained to me, is how flavors are concentrated in the grape.”

MotherGrowsWaterRichLandProduceAdvantageRootsOvercomingWinePlantObstaclesGenerousSoilGrandmotherMy GrandmotherFlavorSweetestTextureThrustGrapesDrop Of WaterObstinacyAromaSavory
Author:Isabel Allende
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“Seas of blood have been shed for the sake of patriotism. One would expect the harm and irrationality of patriotism to be self-evident to everyone. But the surprising fact is that cultured and learned people not only do not notice the harm and stupidity of patriotism, they resist every unveiling of it with the greatest obstinacy and passion (with no rational grounds), and continue to praise it as beneficent and elevating.”

PeopleHas BeensSelfFactsPassionBloodSeaPraiseSakeStupidityHarmRationalPatriotismSurprisingShedEvidentIrrationalityObstinacyElevatingUnveiling
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favor. She imagines herself not only certain of accomplishing every adventure, but of obtaining those rewards which the accomplishment may deserve. She is not easily persuaded to believe that the force of merit can be resisted by obstinacy and avarice, or its luster darkened by envy and malignity.”

WorldBelieveMayCertainForceImagineYouthAdventureDeservePrejudiceRewardsEnvyFavorsAccomplishmentMeritVery HappyAvariceObtainingObstinacyLuster
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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“The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities-perhaps the only one-in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there. In most other fields of human endeavour there is change, but rarely progress ... And in most fields we do not even know how to evaluate change.”

KnowsHumansIdeasDreamScienceSpeakMistakeHistoryKnow HowLearningProgressFieldsActivityErrorsClarityIrresponsibleEvaluateEndeavourHuman ActivityHistory Of ScienceObstinacyLearning From Our Mistakes
Author:Karl Popper
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“These are the men who, without virtue, labour, or hazard, are growing rich, as their country is impoverished; they rejoice, when obstinacy or ambition adds another year to slaughter and devastation; and laugh, from their desks, at bravery and science, while they are adding figure to figure, and cipher to cipher, hoping for a new contract from a new armament, and computing the profits of a siege or tempest.”

MenYearsCountryCharacterLaughingVirtueRichGrowingHonestyFiguresHe ManIntegrityAmbitionBraveryAddProfitLabourContractsRejoiceDesksSlaughterHazardsTempestComputingDevastationArmamentSiegeObstinacyAnother YearCiphers
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D.: In Twelve Volumes
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“Everybody has a hard job. All real work is hard. My work happened also to be undoable. Morning after morning for 50 years, I faced the next page defenseless and unprepared. Writing for me was a feat of self-preservation. If I did not do it, I would die. So I did it. Obstinacy, not talent, saved my life.”

IfsWritingYearsRealSelfHardJobsDiesNextMorningHappenedTalentPagesSavedPreservationFeatsSelf PreservationUnpreparedDefenselessObstinacyReal WorkMorning After
Author:Philip Roth
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“Brutes find out where their talents lie; A bear will not attempt to fly, A foundered horse will oft debate Before he tries a five barred gate. A dog by instinct turns aside Who sees the ditch too deep and wide, But man we find the only creature Who, led by folly, combats nature; Who, when she loudly cries-Forbear! With obstinacy fixes there; And where the genius least inclines, Absurdly bends his whole designs.”

MenTryingWholeLyingTurnsFiveTalentDogCryDesignBearsGeniusCreaturesHorseInstinctWideDebateFollyGatesCombatBrutesInclineObstinacyToo Deep
Author:Jonathan Swift
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“At the back of it there lies the central citadel of obstinacy: I will not give up my right to myself--the thing God intends you to give up if ever you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.”

IfsGivingLyingJesusChristGiving UpJesus ChristDiscipleNot Giving UpDiscipleshipObstinacyCitadelsI Will Not Give Up
Book:Called of God: Extracts from My Utmost for His Highest on the Missionary Call
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