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Ordinary Quotes

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Ordinary Quotes

“As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods.”

IfsThinkingMenShouldHandsAudienceAtheismStreetsOughtProveOrdinaryArgumentAddAtheistPhilosopherImpressionAgnosticAgnosticismOrdinary ManPhilosophicDescribe Myself
Book:Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68
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“I think Kwan intended to show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the sou. And the soul is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us toward knowing what is true....If people we love die, then they are lost only to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWorldSoulShowsRememberMovingDiesLostSecretKnowingOrdinaryHundredSensesEndlessShow MeLimitlessVastness
Author:Amy Tan
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“Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”

PeopleIfsHandsCommunitySimpleBuildingListeningHeroOrdinaryLeapTallBootsHeroismRescueBulletsOrdinary PeopleSuperpowerBruisedCapesTall Buildings
Book:Second Glance
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“The only ones who ever come here from your lands are the minstrels, and the lovers, and the mad. And you don't look like much of a minstrel, and you're— pardon me for saying so lad, but it's true— ordinary as cheese crumbs. So it's love if you ask me.”

IfsLooksAsksLandLoversOrdinaryMadAsk MeCheesePardonLadCrumbsPardon MeMinstrels
Book:Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess's Stardust: Being a Romance Within the Realms of Faerie
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“The city breathing, burning, living the life thy had preserved. Ten million lives and more. If something should happen to all that life - how terrible! Nita gulped for control as she remembered Fred's word of just this morning, an eternity ago. And this was what being a wizard was about. Keeping terrible things from happening, even when it hurts. Not just power, or control of what ordinary people couldn't control, or delight in being able to make strange things happen. Those were the side effects - not the reason, the purpose.”

PeopleIfsShouldReasonHappensAblePurposeSidesHurtCitiesMorningMillionsEffectsStrangeTerribleTenHappeningsOrdinaryEternityDelightThings HappenBurningBreathingLive LifeRememberedIt HurtsOrdinary PeopleWizardsTerrible ThingsStrange ThingsSide Effects
Author:Diane Duane
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“If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day, there would be enough for everybody, and no unemployment — assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, because they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure.”

IfsKnowsMenWellsLongIdeasEnoughPhilosophyFactsUseWould BeAmericaPoliticalCertainHoursPoorKnow HowFourSonAmountOrdinaryEconomicsOrganizationAssumingConvincedPunishmentShockDislikeSensibleLeisureUnemploymentModeratesGrimLong HoursIndignant
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“Oh, my dear, if you only knew how strange is the matter regarding which I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little of any one's belief, no matter how strange it may be. I have tried to keep an open mind, and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that make one doubt if they be mad or sane.”

IfsThinkingMindMayLittlesMatterBeliefLaughingDoubtStrangeOrdinaryMadExtraordinaryDearSaneI Have LearnedOpen MindStrange ThingsExtraordinary ThingsOrdinary ThingsKeep An Open MindIf Only You Knew
Book:Dracula
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“To read as if your life depended on it would mean to let into your reading your beliefs, the swirl of your dreamlife, the physical sensations of your ordinary carnal life; and simultaneously, to allow what you're reading to pierce routines, safe and impermeable, in which ordinary carnal life is tracked, charted, channeled. Then, what of the right answers, the so-called multiple-choice examination sheet with the number 2 pencil to mark one choice and one choice only?”

IfsMeanLife IsChoicesReadingBeliefAnswersNumbersSafeOrdinaryMarkSensationsMultipleSheetsPencilsExaminationPierceRight AnswersSwirlsMultiple ChoiceNumber 2
Author:Adrienne Rich
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“The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is so often just simply that little word - extra. And for me, I had always grown up with the belief that if someone succeeds it is because they are brilliant or talented or just better than me... and the more of these words I heard the smaller I always felt! But the truth is often very different... and for me to learn that ordinary me can achieve something extra-ordinary by giving that little bit extra, when everyone else gives up, meant the world to me and I really clung to it.”

IfsWorldGivingLittlesDifferentBeliefFeltBitsDifferencesHeardAchieveTruth IsSucceedGiving UpLittle BitOrdinaryBrilliantExtras
Author:Bear Grylls
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“That odd capacity for destitution, as if by nature we ought to have so much more than nature gives us. As if we are shockingly unclothed when we lack the complacencies of ordinary life. In destitution, even of feeling or purpose, a human being is more hauntingly human and vulnerable to kindnesses because there is the sense that things should be otherwise, and then the thought of what is wanting and what alleviation would be, and how the soul could be put at ease, restored. At home. But the soul finds its own home if it ever has a home at all.”

IfsGivingShouldHumansSoulFeelingsHomeWould BePurposeHuman BeingsKindnessOughtOrdinaryCapacityVulnerableEaseOddComplacencyOrdinary Life
Author:Marilynne Robinson
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“So you actually need spectacles,” Leo finally said. “Of course I do,” Marks said crossly. “Why would I wear spectacles if I didn’t need them?” “I thought they might be part of your disguise.” “My disguise?” “Yes, Marks, disguise. A noun describing a means of concealing someone’s identity. Often used by clowns and spies. And now apparently governesses. Good God, can anything be ordinary for my family?”

IfsNeedsMeanSaidMightUsedCoursesIdentityOrdinaryMy FamilyMarkDisguiseSpyClownDescribingNounsGood GodSpectaclesConcealing
Author:Lisa Kleypas
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“In the ordinary jumble of my literary drawer, I sometimes find texts I wrote ten, fifteen, or even more years ago. And many of them seem to me written by a stranger: I simply do not recognize myself in them. There was a person who wrote them, and it was I. I experienced them, but it was in another life, from which I just woke up, as if from someone else's dream.”

IfsWritingYearsPersonsSometimesDreamSeemsWrittenTenOrdinaryYears AgoStrangerFifteenDrawersAnother Life
Author:Fernando Pessoa
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“If I could give you information of my life it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything.”

IfsGivingHas BeensHardDoneShowsWould BeAbilityPathInformationStrangeOrdinaryIf I Could
Author:Florence Nightingale
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“I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed, and that long knife would not be the end of Scudder if I could play the game in his place.”

PeopleIfsMenLongEndsPlayHateGamesOrdinaryI HateFellowsIf I CouldGood ManKnives
Book:JOHN BUCHAN Ultimate Collection: Spy Classics, Thrillers, Adventure Novels & Short Stories, Including Historical Works and Essays (Illustrated): Scottish Poems, World War I Books & Mystery Novels like Thirty-Nine Steps, Greenmantle, Huntingtower, No Man’s Land, Prester John and many more
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“I mean a man whose hopes and aims may sometimes lie (as most men's sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all if it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is of the kind I care for.”

IfsMenWayShouldTryingKindMayMeanSometimesEnoughCareSpiritLyingLevelsProveAmbitionOrdinaryAimDareGenerousOver ItAmbitiousI CareUsefulnessGood ServiceGenerous Spirit
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Illustrated)
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“When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.”

PeopleIfsWorldLooksEarthOrderJusticeAnswersPoorGraceHavensThis WorldWillingDespairHappeningsOrdinaryOptimisticDataOddsOrdinary PeoplePulsePessimisticSemblance
Author:Paul Hawken
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“We throw our parties; we abandon our families to live alone in Canada; we struggle to write books that do not change the world, despite our gifts and our unstinting efforts, our most extravagant hopes. We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep--it's as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out of windows or drown themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease or, if we're very fortunate, by time itself.”

IfsWorldWritingBookDiesSleepSimplePartyEffortStruggleOur LivesDiseaseOrdinaryWindowMajorityAccidentsDespiteFortunateOur FamilyChanging The WorldCanadaAbandonPillsExtravagant
Book:The Hours: A Novel
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“There are days when I am convinced that Heaven starts already, now, in this ordinary life just as it is, in all its incompleteness, yet, this is where Heaven starts.. see within yourself, if you can find it. I walked through the field in front of the house, lots of swallows flying, everywhere! Some very near me..it was magical. "We are already one, yet we know it not.”

IfsKnowsWisdomHouseHeavenFrontsFieldsOrdinaryConvincedFlyingOrdinary LifeIncompleteness
Author:Thomas Merton
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“By a man's finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser-knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt-cuff — By each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable. You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all.”

IfsKnowsMenShouldBookShowsIndividualLanguageUnitedCasesToo MuchFailingExpressionCallingOrdinaryMethodFingersCreditTricksConclusionKneesShirtsBootsNailsCoatsEnlighteningThumbsCompetentSleevesCuffsStudy In ScarletInquirers
Author:Arthur Conan Doyle
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“There is a darkness in you. In all of us, probably. Beasts we keep chained. Ordinary men have to keep the chains strong, for if we let the beast loose then society will turn upon us with fiery vengeance. Kings though...well, who is there to turn upon them? So the chains are made of straw. It is the curse of kings, Helikaon, that they can become monsters. And they invariably do.”

IfsMenWellsMadeTurnsStrongDarknessKingsOrdinaryMonstersChainsCurseBeastVengeanceStrawsFieryOrdinary ManChained
Author:David Gemmell
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“His [Death] voice is cold at first, John. It seems unfeeling. But if you listen without fear, you find that when he speaks, the most ordinary words become poetry. When he stands close to you, your life becomes a song, a praise. When he touches you, your smallest talents become gold; the most ordinary loves break your heart with their beauty.”

IfsFirstsHeartSeemsSongSpeakVoiceBreakTalentColdOrdinaryGoldPraiseSmallestBreak Your HeartUnfeelingOrdinary Love
Author:Martine Leavitt
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“Satan frequently steals the will of God from us due to reasoning. The Lord may direct us to do a certain thing, but if it does not make sense - if it is not logical - we may be tempted to disregard it. What God leads a person to do does not always make logical sense to his mind. His spirit may affirm it and His mind reject it, especially if it would be out of the ordinary or unpleasant or if it would require personal sacrifice or discomfort.”

IfsMindMayPersonsDoeWould BeSpiritCertainLordSacrificeOrdinaryDirectDuesStealingGods WillMake SenseSatanReasoningRejectsLogicalTemptedDiscomfortDisregardPersonal Sacrifice
Book:Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle of Your Mind
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“A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent (which I cannot deny myself to be without being impious) will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.”

IfsMenInspiringForeverPiecesTalentTravelOrdinaryRemainsDenySuperiorsTime TravelTraveledFunny TravelTravel WritingGreat TravelInspiring TravelTravel The WorldTravel AdventureAdventure And TravelInspirational AdventureRoads TraveledAdventure And LifeFavorite PlacesInspirational Adventure Time
Author:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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“Revealingly, the central function of the Constitution as law--the supreme law--was to impose limitations not on the behavior of ordinary citizens but on the federal government. The government, and those who ran it, were not placed outside the law, but expressly targeted by it. Indeed, the Bill of Rights is little more than a description of the lines that the most powerful political officials are barred from crossing, even if they have the power to do so and even when the majority of citizens might wish them to do so.”

IfsLittlesGovernmentMightLawPoliticalWishLinesPowerfulRightsCitizensBehaviorOrdinaryFunctionConstitutionBillsMajoritySupremeLimitationRanOfficialsDescriptionMost PowerfulFederal GovernmentCrossingsBill Of RightsOrdinary Citizens
Author:Glenn Greenwald
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“Anyway, you can't leave her like that. You can't do that to the woman. She doesn't deserve it; nobody does. You don't belong to her and she doesn't belong to you, but you're both part of each other; if she got up and left now and walked away and you never saw each other again for the rest of your lives, and you lived an ordinary waking life for another fifty years, even so on your deathbed you would still know she was part of you.”

IfsKnowsYearsDoeStillsLeftSawsOrdinaryDeserveFiftyWakingRest Of Your LifeDeathbedWaking Life
Book:The bridge
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“If she were here I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off her. I would hold her so close she'd beg me to let her breathe. I'd kiss her so hard she'd plead for mercy. I'd unfasten her clothing and lie with her onthat hard bed, and what was between us would be as far above the ordinary congress between man and woman as the stars are above their pale reflections in the lake below.”

IfsMenHardHandsWould BeAbleLyingStarsBedKissingOrdinaryReflectionMen And WomenMercyCongressBreatheLakesClothingsPale
Book:Heir to Sevenwaters
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