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Principles Quotes

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Principles Quotes

“We must recognise the essential underlaying savagery in the animal called man, and return to older and sounder principles of national life and defense. We must realise that man's nature will remain the same so long as he remains man; that civilisation is but a slight coverlet beneath which the dominant beast sleeps lightly and ever ready to awake.”

MenLongSleepAnimalPrinciplesReadyReturnEssentialsRemainsDefenseAwakeBeastRealisingDominantRecogniseCivilisationSavagerySounder
Book:Delphi Complete Works of H. P. Lovecraft (Illustrated)
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“An idea is growing in foreign policy circles in Washington ... that there is no turning back. We are stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan for 25 to 40 years, we are embedded in our prideful unilateralism, and nothing can return us to more traditional American values and principles of action. The hubristic creators of this "inevitability" planned it this way. ... Their failures in Iraq have not stopped the fanatic, power-hungry neoconservatives. ... The hard-liners who dominate this administration ... have led us to eternal conflict with Muslims.”

WayYearsIdeasWarHardActionReligionValuesPrinciplesPowerGrowingPolicyReturnConflictEternalIraqCreatorCirclesStuckHungryTraditionalAdministrationAfghanistanForeign PolicyFanaticsEmbeddedInevitabilityAmerican ValuesNo Turning BackPower HungryUnilateralism
Author:Georgie Anne Geyer
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“I tremble for our world, where, in the smallest ways, we find it impossible, as Marshall Hodgson enjoined, to find room for the other in our minds. If we cannot accommodate a viewpoint in a friend without resorting to unkindness, how can we hope to heal the terrible problems of our planet? I no longer think that any principle or opinion is worth anything if it makes you unkind or intolerant.”

IfsThinkingWorldWayMindProblemRoomsOpinionPrinciplesImpossiblePlanetsTerribleHealOur WorldSmallestOur PlanetViewpointsAccommodateUnkindUnkindness
Book:The Spiral Staircase
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“Society today is no longer in revolt against particular laws which it finds alien, unjust, and imposed, but against law as such, against the principle of law. And yet we must not regard this revolt as entirely negative. The energy that rejects many obsolete laws is an entirely positive impulse for renewal of life and law.”

TodayLawEnergyPrinciplesParticularNegativeRegardAliensImpulseRejectsUnjustRenewalRevoltObsoleteSociety TodayRenewal Of Life
Book:Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays
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“To think out a problem is not unlike drawing a caricature. You have to exaggerate the salient point and leave out that which is not typical. "To illustrate a principle ," says Bagehot , "you must exaggerate much and you must omit much." As to the quantity of absolute truth in a thought : it seems to me the more comprehensive and unobjectionable a thought becomes, the more clumsy and unexciting it gets. I like half-truths of a certain kind they are interesting and they stimulate.”

ThinkingKindProblemSeemsCertainInterestingHalfPrinciplesAbsolutesDrawingQuantityTypicalComprehensiveClumsyCaricaturesAbsolute TruthHalf Truth
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“History is the same thing over and over again.”

QualityPrinciplesHistoryLittle BitMadnessInnovationInsanityBoredomDifferent ThingsSanityExpectingAgain And AgainLinkedSlogansSkepticalAbsolutely NothingMind BlowingCreativity And InnovationHealth And FitnessSame MistakesBusiness InnovationFitness MotivationalCrazy ThingsInnovation And BusinessNarcoticsMasqueradeFeeling SorryMadness And SanityIdeas And InnovationInsanity And SanityMind OpeningBores YouHealth FitnessMadness And InsanitySpecial TalentsOpening Your MindGreat ResultsInspirational Health And FitnessThinking DifferentlyLove Life InspirationalKnowledge ExperienceFilm ActingDefinition Of InsanityI Love My ParentsThinking The SameSame ThinkingSaying The Same Thing Over And OverLessons Of The PastTemporary InsanityLeast ExpectingExpecting Things
Author:Woody Allen
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“Is it stupidity or is it moral cowardice which leads men to continue professing a creed that makes self-sacrifice a cardinal principle, while they urge the sacrificing of others, even to the death, when they trespass against us? Is it blindness, or is it an insance inconsistency, which makes them regard as most admirable the bearing of evil for the benefit of others, while they lavish admiration on those who, out of revenge, inflict great evils in return for small ones suffered? Surely our barbarian code of right needs revision, and our barbarian standard of honour should be somewhat changed.”

MenNeedsShouldSelfEvilMoralPrinciplesSacrificeChangedReturnBenefitsStandardsRegardStupidityRevengeCodeUrgesAdmirationHonourCowardiceCreedsBlindnessAdmirableSelf SacrificeBarbariansCardinalsRevisionInconsistency
Book:Works: The study of sociology
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“I know of nothing more terrible than the poor creatures who have learned too much. Instead of the sound powerful judgement which would probably have grown up if they had learned nothing, their thoughts creep timidly and hypnotically after words, principles and formulae, constantly by the same paths. What they have acquired is a spider's web of thoughts too weak to furnish sure supports, but complicated enough to provide confusion.”

IfsKnowsEnoughSoundPoorPowerfulPrinciplesSupportPathToo MuchTerribleCreaturesWeakComplicatedConfusionJudgementSpidersCreeps
Book:Popular Scientific Lectures
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“Economic analysis is the first principle of Marxism. Professors who were genuine leftists would have challenged the entire economics-driven machinery of American academe the wasteful multidepartmental structure, the divisive pedantry of overspecialization, the cronyism and sycophancy in recruitment and promotion, the boondoggling ostentation of pointless conferences, the exploitation of graduate students and part-time teachers, the subservience of faculty to overpaid administrators, the mediocrity and folly of the ruling cliques of the Modern Language Association.”

FirstsLanguagePrinciplesTeacherEconomicModernStudentsEconomicsStructureDrivenGenuineAnalysisFollyFacultyProfessorsMediocrityAssociationGraduatesExploitationRulingConferencesMachineryPromotionMarxismPointlessLeftistsAdministratorsPart TimeCliqueRecruitmentGraduate StudentsPedantryOstentationSubservienceCronyismModern Languages
Book:Vamps & Tramps: New Essays
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“Our design, not respecting arts, but philosophy, and our subject, not manual, but natural powers, we consider chiefly those things which relate to gravity, levity, elastic force, the resistance of fluids, and the like forces, whether attractive or impulsive; and therefore we offer this work as mathematical principles of philosophy; for all the difficulty of philosophy seems to consist in this from the phenomena of motions to investigate the forces of nature, and then from these forces to demonstrate the other phenomena.”

ArtPhilosophySeemsForceNaturalPrinciplesSubjectsDesignOffersDifficultyResistanceMathematicalRelateAttractiveGravityFluidManualsForces Of NatureImpulsiveLevity
Book:Newton's Principia: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
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“Do not the Rays of Light which fall upon Bodies, and are reflected or refracted, begin to bend before they arrive at the Bodies; and are they not reflected, refracted, and inflected, by one and the same Principle, acting variously in various Circumstances?”

BodyLightFallActingPrinciplesCircumstancesVariousRaysRays Of Light
Book:Opticks: A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light
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“By consequence I hold that no one ever did, or can do, anything for "society."... Comte invented the term altruism as an antonym for egoism, and it found its way at once into everyone's mouth, although it is utterly devoid of meaning, since it points to nothing that ever existed in mankind; This hybrid or rather this degenerate form of hedonism served powerfully to invest collectivism's principles with a specious moral sanction, and collectivists naturally made the most of it.”

WayMadeFormFoundTermCan DoMoralPrinciplesMankindMouthsConsequenceAltruismSanctionsEgoismCollectivismDegeneratesHybridHedonism
Author:Albert J. Nock
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“I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL. In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and justify my position by formulating a definition of MAGICK and setting forth its main principles in such a way that ALL may understand instantly that their souls, their lives, in every relation with every other human being and every circumstance, depend upon MAGICK and the right comprehension and right application thereof.”

WorldWayHumansMayBookSoulHuman BeingsPrinciplesPositionDependsCircumstancesEssentialsRelationDefinitionsSettingFactorsSettingsJustifyApplicationComprehensionPresenting
Book:Magick: In Theory and Practice
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“We should go to the masses and learn from them, synthesize their experience into better, articulated principles and methods, then do propaganda among the masses, and call upon them to put these principles and methods into practice so as to solve their problems and help them achieve liberation and happiness.”

ShouldHelpingProblemPrinciplesPracticeAchieveMassMethodSolveLiberationPropaganda
Book:Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (The Little Red Book) & Other Works
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“Today millions of people are living who will never do it again. Millions are being born for the first time - and millions are doing nothing because it's the best offer they've had this week. It is for these people and many others that the Surprise Party is conceived and desecrated, founded upon the principle that everybody is just as good as anybody else, even though they aren't quite so smart.”

PeopleFirstsTodayBornPartyPrinciplesMillionsWeekOffersSmartFirst TimeSurpriseDoing NothingSurprise Party
Author:Gracie Allen
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“There are for man only two principles available for a mental grasp of reality, namely, those of teleology and causality. What cannot be brought under either of these categories is absolutely hidden to the human mind. An event not open to an interpretation by one of these two principles is for man inconceivable and mysterious. Change can be conceived as the outcome either of the operation of mechanistic causality or of purposeful behavior; for the human mind there is no third way available.”

MenWayMindHumansTwoReasonRealityTruthReligionPrinciplesKnowledgeLearningEventsBehaviorThirdsAvailableMysteriousOperationsOutcomesInterpretationHuman MindCategoriesExperimentationCausality
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“Our principle is: to prevent all command over man by his fellowmen, to, make state, government, laws, or whatsoever form of compulsion existing, a thing of the past, to establish full freedom for all. Anarchism means first and foremost freedom from all government.”

MenFirstsMeanStatesGovernmentPastFormLawPrinciplesCommandCompulsionAnarchismState Government
Book:The Social Monster: A Paper on Communism and Anarchism
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“In this world laws are written for the lofty aim of "the common good" and then acted out in life on the basis of the common greed. In this world irrationality clings to man like his shadow so that the right things get done for the wrong reasons - afterwards, we dredge up the right reasons for justification. It is a world not of angels but of angles, where men speak of moral principles but act on power principles; a world where we are always moral and our enemies always immoral; a world where "reconciliation" means that when one side gets the power and the other side gets reconciled to it.”

MenWorldMeanReasonDoneLawSpeakSidesCommonMoralEnemyPrinciplesWrittenThis WorldAngelShadowBasesAimGreedRight ThingJustificationAngleImmoralReconciliationLoftyCommon GoodIrrationalityMoral PrinciplesWrong ReasonsRules For Radicals
Author:Saul Alinsky
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“The slaving Poor are incapable of any Principles: Gentlemen may be converted to true Principles, by Time and Experience. The middling Rank of Men have Curiosity and Knowledge enough to form Principles, but not enough to form true ones, or correct any Prejudices that they may have imbib'd: And 'tis among the middling Rank, that Tory Principles do at present prevail most in England.”

MenMayEnoughFormPoorPrinciplesPrejudiceEnglandCuriosityGentlemanIncapableTrue Ones
Book:The philosophical works of David Hume
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“It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its corruption, given birth to polytheism and to all the various superstitions of the heathen world. Reason, when obvious, prevents these corruptions: When abstruse, it keeps the principles entirely from the knowledge of the vulgar, who are alone liable to corrupt any principle or opinion.”

WorldHumansHas BeensReasonGivenRaceOpinionPrinciplesImpossibleBirthObviousVariousCorruptionPrimariesHuman RaceReasoningSuperstitionsVulgarLiableTheismHeathenPolytheism
Book:The Natural History of Religion: Revision of Great Book
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“This absence of similarity among military questions naturally brings out the inability of memory to solve them; also the sterility of invariable forms, such as figures, geometrical drawings ( épures ), plans ( schémas ), etc. One only right solution imposes itself:;: namely, the application, varying according to circumstances, of fixed principles.”

FormMemoriesPrinciplesPlansMilitaryFiguresCircumstancesSolutionsSolveAbsenceDrawingFixedEtcApplicationInabilitySimilarity
Book:The Principles of War
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“There is a reason for the affected profession of " anarchist sympathies" among Tories and grandees, and of " libertarian principles" by Hobbesian yahoos of the right. Among the former, one sees the upholding of the view that a gentleman's business and property are his own, and none of the government's. Among the latter, a distaste for democracy, for taxation, and for the need to consult others about the planet.”

NeedsReasonGovernmentViewsPrinciplesDemocracyPlanetsPropertyLibertarianProfessionFormerGentlemanLatterAffectedTaxationAnarchistDistaste
Book:For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports
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“Today, on this day of possibility, we stand in the shadow of a lanky, raw-boned man with little formal education who once took the stage at Old Main and told the nation that if anyone did not believe the American principles of freedom and equality, that those principles were timeless and all-inclusive, they should go rip that page out of the Declaration of Independence.”

IfsMenShouldBelieveLittlesTodayNationsPrinciplesStagePossibilityPagesShadowIndependenceThis DayFormalTimelessDeclarationRipDeclaration Of IndependenceFormal EducationFreedom And Equality
Author:Barack Obama
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“Another fundamental principle taught by the Law of Moses is this: Wrong cannot be ascribed to God in any way whatever; all evils and afflictions as well as all kinds of happiness of man, whether they concern one individual or a community, are distributed according to justice; they are the result of strict judgement that admits no wrong whatever.”

MenWayWellsKindLawEvilIndividualCommunityJusticeResultsPrinciplesTaughtConcernFundamentalsAll KindsJudgementStrictAfflictionMosesFundamental Principles
Book:Guide for the perplexed
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“I find it expressed in various passages of Scripture that the fact that God knows things while in a state of possibility, when their existence belongs to the future, does not change the nature of the possible in any way; that nature remains unchanged; and the knowledge of the realisation of one of several possibilities does not yet effect that realisation. This is likewise one of the fundamental principles of the Law of Moses concerning which there is no doubt nor any dispute.”

KnowsWayDoeStatesFactsLawExistencePrinciplesDoubtEffectsPossibilityFundamentalsRemainsVariousScriptureNo DoubtPassagesDisputesGod KnowsMosesRealisationFundamental Principles
Author:Maimonides
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“It is not unreasonable to assume that the works of God, their existence and preceding non-existence, are the result of His wisdom, but we are unable to understand many of the ways of His Wisdom in His works. On this principle the whole Law of Moses is based; it begins with this principle: "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. i. 31); and it ends with this principle: "The Rock, perfect is His work" (Deut. xxxii. 4). Note it.”

WayMadeEndsWholeLawPerfectResultsExistencePrinciplesSawsRocksAssumingNotesVery GoodMosesUnreasonableNon Existence
Book:The Guide for the Perplexed
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“Great occasions rally great principles, and brace the mind to a lofty bearing, a bearing that is even above itself. But trials that make no occasion at all, leave it to show the goodness and beauty it has in its own disposition. And here precisely is the superhuman glory of Christ as a character, that He is just as perfect, exhibits just as great a spirit in little trials as in great ones.”

MindLittlesCharacterShowsSpiritChristPerfectPrinciplesGoodnessGloryTrialsOccasionsDispositionExhibitsLoftyGreat OnesSuperhumanBraces
Book:Nature and the Supernatural: As Together Constituting the One System of God
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“Let us admit that most of us writers feel an essential aversion to politics. By taking such a position, however, we accept the perverted principle of specialization, according to which some are paid to write about the horrors of the world and human responsibility and others to deal with those horrors and bear the human responsibility for them.”

WorldFeelsWritingHumansDealsResponsibilityAcceptingPrinciplesPositionBearsHorrorEssentialsPaidAversionSpecialization
Author:Vaclav Havel
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“I believe that during the intervention of NATO in Kosovo there is an element nobody can question: the air attacks, the bombs, are not caused by a material interest. Their character is exclusively humanitarian: What is at stake here are the principles, human rights which have priority above state sovereignty. This makes it legitimate to attack the Yugoslav Federation, although without the United Nations mandate.”

BelieveHumansStatesCharacterI BelieveNationsInterestUnitedPrinciplesRightsAirMaterialsElementsHuman RightsHumanitarianPrioritiesBombsStakesSovereigntyUnited NationsInterventionMandatesNatoFederationKosovo
Author:Vaclav Havel
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“Subsidiarity is the principle that government works best most responsibly and responsively when it is closest to the people it serves and the needs it addresses. Fiscal accountability is the principle that institutions collecting and disbursing taxes work most responsibly when they are transparent to those providing the money.”

PeopleNeedsGovernmentPrinciplesTaxesInstitutionsAddressesAccountabilityProvidingClosestTransparentCollectingGovernment Work
Book:Dark Age Ahead
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“The strength that we want is not a brute, unregulated strength; the beauty that we want is no mere surface beauty; but we want a beauty on the surface of life that is from the central force of principle within, as the beauty on the cheek of health is from the central force at the heart.”

WantHeartForcePrinciplesMereSurfaceCheeksBrutes
Book:Strength and beauty: A baccalaureate sermon, delivered at Williamstown, Ms. August 17, 1851
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