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Presumption Quotes

Browse 209 quotes about Presumption.

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Presumption Quotes

“Could Stephen have met men on equal terms, she would always have chosen them as her companions; she preferred them because of their blunt, open outlook, and with men she had much in common—sport for instance. But men found her too clever if she ventured to expand, and too dull if she suddenly subsided into shyness. In addition to this there was something about her that antagonized slightly, an unconscious presumption. Shy though she might be, they sensed this presumption; it annoyed them, it made them feel on the defensive. She was handsome but much too large and unyielding both in body and mind, and they liked clinging women. They were oak-trees, preferring the feminine ivy. It might cling rather close, it might finally strangle, it frequently did, and yet they preferred it, and this being so, they resented Stephen, suspecting something of the acorn about her.”

MenWomenGenderMasculinityFemininityShynessClevernessGender RolesPresumption
Book:The Well Of Loneliness
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“To Roland's relief, Jean de Joinville came to his aid. "Sire, this good knight wants only to preserve your life. Let us all ride together against the Egyptians." "If I ride against them alone, God will protect me," said Louis. A new figure pushed into the circle. He wore the white surcoat and red cross of a Templar over his mail. With a leap of his heart, Roland recognized Guido Bruchesi. Guido looked at him but did not acknowledge him. He went directly to the King. He spoke quietly but firmly. "Sire, what you have just said is presumption." "I do not see how that could be, brother Templar." But Louis took his foot out of the stirrup as Roland watched with growing hope. You can always catch Louis's attention with a religious argument, Roland thought, even on the battlefield. "Sire," said Guido, "Satan tempted our Seigneur Jesus, telling Him that if He cast Himself down from the mountaintop, angels would lift him up." Guido cast a sidelong look at Amalric. "You, Sire, are being tempted to ride alone against the whole Egyptian army, expecting God's protection. You are demanding a miracle. That is presumption." Louis was silent for a moment. "Perhaps you are right." Roland let out a long breath.”

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Book:All Things Are Lights
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“[...] non è effetto alcuna in natura, per minimo che e' sia, all'intera cognizion del quale possano arrivare i piú specolativi ingegni. Questa cosí vana prosunzione d'intendere il tutto non può aver principio da altro che dal non avere inteso mai nulla, perché, quando altri avesse esperimentato una volta sola a intender perfettamente una sola cosa ed avesse gustato veramente come è fatto il sapere, conoscerebbe come dell'infinità dell'altre conclusioni niuna ne intende.”

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Author:Galileo Galilei
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“Her smile was brittle. "Well, I know Kieran's achieving something if someone like you is willing to be in a relationship with him." "Someone like me?" She gestured to me from head to toe. "Respectable. Elegantly dressed, if a little flamboyant with color. Beautiful manners, well-spoken. Clearly you listened to your parents when they told you how to behave." I choked back a snort at the thought of my biological father being Mr. Manners. The sheer audacity of it. "Kieran probably hasn't told you about all the times we had to get him out of trouble," she continued. I blinked, confused. "No." She ticked off on her fingers as she spoke. "He skipped classes, he stole money out of my wallet, he crashed our cars more than once. Not to mention the drinking, my God. He couldn't hold his liquor at all. We were so ashamed." I held back my eye roll. It was like having a conversation with a steamroller. As she continued to list Kieran's crimes, I realized that she relished this monologue, all the ways he'd done them wrong. Like she never wanted him to grow up because then she'd have to stop being a martyr. "But anyway, that's all in the past. Finally, he's become who we always wanted him to be, and we can hold our heads up." The thought of being a source of pride to these snobby, plastic people made me want to drink ten flutes of prosecco, climb onto their dining room table, and do Amy Winehouse karaoke, Diane's advice about polish and presentation be damned. But all I needed to shock them was the truth. "I haven't seen my father in over twenty years," I began. "As far as I know he's still the lead singer of the second-best hair metal band in Spokane. My mother's salary was for keeping herself in clothes and boyfriends. Sometimes I had to break into my piggy bank so that I could by Cup O' Noodles at 7-Eleven for my brother and me. I've made a good life in spite of my parents, not because of them. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with your son. I knew he was a survivor, too. But thank you for the compliments. Now, if you'll excuse me.”

PresumptionComplex TraumaBad ParentingTruth BombChild TraumaBelittlement
Book:The Slowest Burn
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“Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189 Some there are who presume so far on their wits that they think themselves capable of measuring the whole nature of things by their intellect, in that they esteem all things true which they see, and false which they see not. Accordingly, in order that man's mind might be freed from this presumption, and seek the truth humbly, it was necessary that certain things far surpassing his intellect should be proposed to man by God.”

ThinkingMenShouldMindWholeMightCertainOrderCapableAll ThingsIntellectWitEsteemFoundersMeasuringPresumptionSurpassingCommemoration
Author:Thomas Aquinas
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“The vain presumption of understanding everything can have no other basis than never having understood anything. For anyone who had ever experienced just once the perfect understanding of one single thing, and had truly tasted how knowledge is accomplished, would recognize that of the infinity of other truths he understands nothing.”

ScienceUnderstandingPerfectUnderstoodBasesVainAccomplishedInfinityPresumptionUnderstanding Everything
Book:Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican, Second Revised Edition
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“The birth of a new fact is always a wonderful thing to experience. It's dualistically called a "discovery" because of the presumption that it has an existence independent of anyone's awareness of it. When it comes along, it always has, at first, a low value. Then, depending on the value-looseness of the observer and the potential quality of the fact, its value increases, either slowly or rapidly, or the value wanes and the fact disappears.”

FirstsFactsValuesExistenceQualityWonderfulAwarenessBirthLowsDiscoveryIncreaseIndependentDisappearWonderful ThingsObserversPresumptionLooseness
Author:Robert M. Pirsig
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“Every woman knows what I'm talking about. It’s the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation just as it exercises men’s unsupported overconfidence.”

KnowsMenWorldWayDoeSelfHardYoungSilenceTalkingDoubtHeardStreetsFieldsExerciseTrainDareLimitationCrushYoung WomenHarassmentPresumptionSelf-doubtSpeaking UpOverconfidence
Author:Rebecca Solnit
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“Brethren, understand that the gospel is a gospel which brings a present salvation; and try to feel that it is not presumption, but simply out of the very fundamental principle of it, when you are not afraid to say, "I know that my Redeemer is yonder, and I know that He loves me.”

KnowsFeelsTryingPrinciplesFundamentalsSalvationNot AfraidBrethrenPresumptionRedeemerFundamental Principles
Book:MacLaren's Commentary- Expositions of Holy Scripture
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“Active liberty is particularly at risk when law restricts speech directly related to the shaping of public opinion, for example, speech that takes place in areas related to politics and policy-making by elected officials. That special risk justifies especially strong pro-speech judicial presumptions. It also justifies careful review whenever the speech in question seeks to shape public opinion, particularly if that opinion in turn will affect the political process and the kind of society in which we live.”

IfsKindLawPoliticalTurnsStrongProcessLibertyOpinionRiskSpecialPolicyExampleShapesSpeechAreasCarefulActiveRelatedOfficialsJustifyReviewsFreedom Of SpeechPublic OpinionJudicialPresumptionElected OfficialsLive FreePublic OfficialsPolicy Making
Author:Stephen Breyer
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“Another doctrine repugnant to Civill Society, is that whatsoever a man does against his Conscience, is Sinne ; and it dependeth on the presumption of making himself judge of Good and Evill. For a man's Conscience and his Judgement are the same thing, and as the Judgement, so also the Conscience may be erroneous.”

MenMayDoeJudgingConscienceDoctrineJudgementGood And EvilPresumptionLeviathan
Book:Leviathan: Top 100 Classic Novels
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“A wise man's kingdom is his own breast: or, if he ever looks farther, it will only be to the judgment of a select few, who are free from prejudices, and capable of examining his work. Nothing indeed can be a stronger presumption of falsehood than the approbation of the multitude; and Phocion, you know, always suspected himself of some blunder when he was attended with the applauses of the populace.”

IfsKnowsMenLooksWiseJudgmentCapablePrejudiceStrongerKingdomsBreastsFalsehoodMultitudesApplauseSelectExaminingBlundersPresumption
Book:The Letters of David Hume: 1727-1765
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“Our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner - no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.”

PeopleKindRealFactsFeelingsSinTakenMereCharityToleranceSpiteSinnerSuperiorityIndulgenceParodyPresumptionMerrimentDeep Feeling
Book:Christian Reflections
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“In the same way the eminence attaching to the mere possession of great wealth disappoints us nine times out of ten, especially if the wealth has been accumulated rapidly. For great wealth is accumulated rapidly by cunning or chance, or a mixture of the two. Cunning has nothing to do with high qualities; it is rather a presumption against them; while chance has nothing to do with them either. Therefore it is that men are always complaining after meeting So-and-so, that he seemed to be astonishingly stupid, though he made a million in ten years and started as a pauper.”

IfsMenWayYearsHas BeensMadeTwoPoliticsWealthChanceQualityMillionsEconomyStupidTenMeetingsMerePossessionComplainingNineLiberalismCunningMixturesDisappointPresumptionHigh QualityEminenceAlways Complaining
Author:Hilaire Belloc
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“Wherever the Industrial system has reached its second generation it is threatened by two mortal perils. The first is the demand by an organized proletariat for sustenance without relation to the product of its labor; a demand which threatens the very existence of PROFIT (on the necessary presumption of which Capitalism reposes). The second, and immediately graver danger is that of a revolt for the confiscation of the means of production.”

FirstsMeanTwoWisdomPoliticsExistenceEconomyGenerationsDangerProductsDemandCapitalismLaborRelationProfitProductionsMortalsOrganizedLiberalismThreatenedPerilRevoltReposePresumptionProletariatSustenance
Author:Hilaire Belloc
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“White hate crimes, white hate speech. I still try to claim I wasn't brought up to hate. But hate isn't the half of it. I grew up in the vast encircling presumption of whiteness - that primary quality of being which knows itself, its passions, only against an otherness that has to be dehumanized. I grew up in white silence that was utterly obsessional. Race was the theme whatever the topic.”

KnowsTryingStillsHatePassionWhiteRaceHalfSilenceQualityCrimeGrewSpeechGrew UpRacismClaimsPrimariesThemeTopicsHate CrimePresumptionWhitenessOthernessHate Speech
Author:Adrienne Rich
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