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Refinement Quotes

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Refinement Quotes

“Manners or etiquette ('accessibility, affability, politeness, refinement, propriety, courtesy, and ingratiating and captivating behavior') call for no large measure of moral determination and cannot, therefore, be reckoned as virtues. Even though manners are no virtues, they are a means of developing virtue.... The more we refine the crude elements in our nature, the more we improve our humanity and the more capable it grows of feeling the driving force of virtuous principles.”

MeanFeelingsHumanityLanguageForceGrowsMoralPrinciplesVirtueSocietyCommunicationBehaviorElementsCapableDeterminationDrivingMannersDevelopingVirtuousCourtesyEtiquettePolitenessCrudeRefinementProprietyDriving ForceAccessibilityCaptivating
Author:Immanuel Kant
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“The furnace of affliction produces refinement in states as well as individuals. And the new Governments we are assuming in every part will require a purification from our vices, and an augmentation of our virtues, or there will be no blessings.”

WellsStatesGovernmentIndividualVirtueProduceBlessingAssumingVicesAfflictionRefinementPurificationFurnacesNew Government
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement; a sanded floor and whitewashed walls and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside; or a grimy palace amid the same with a regiment of housemaids always working to smear the dirt together so that it may be unnoticed; which, think you, is the most refined, the most fit for a gentleman of those two dwellings?”

ThinkingMayTwoTogetherWaterTreeWallFitFoundationGreenMiserySimplicityGentlemanDirtPalacesDwellingRefinedRefinementUnnoticedAlways WorkingMeadGreen TreesHousemaids
Book:Delphi Complete Works of William Morris (Illustrated)
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“All technical refinements discourage me. Perfect photography, larger screens, hi-fi sound, all make it possible for mediocrities slavishly to reproduce nature; and this reproduction bores me. What interests me is the interpretation of life by an artist. The personality of the film maker interests me more than the copy of an object.”

FilmArtistSoundInterestPerfectObjectsPersonalityPhotographyScreensInterpretationCopiesMakersMediocrityBoresDiscouragingReproductionRefinement
Author:Jean Renoir
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“You can reach a situation where things of intelligence and refinement and culture can be considered elite, and things that are crass and ignorant can be considered to be real and of the people. And when you begin to have the mass of populus striving for something that's not worth striving for, then tremendous amounts of energy go into...the maintenance of that which is worthless.”

PeopleRealCultureEnergySituationAmountMassStriveIgnorantBeing RealElitesWorthlessMaintenanceRefinementCrass
Author:Wynton Marsalis
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“Mozart in his music was probably the most reasonable of the world's great composers. It is the happy balance between flight and control, between sensibility and self-discipline, simplicity and sophistication of style that is his particular province... Mozart tapped once again the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breath-taking rightness that has never since been duplicated.”

WorldSelfStyleParticularSourceBalanceDisciplineFlowBreathsSimplicityFlightReasonableComposerSensibilitySelf DisciplineSpontaneityProvincesRefinementSophistication
Author:Aaron Copland
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“It is important to remember that value investing is not a perfect science. It is an, with an ongoing need for judgment, refinement, patience, and reflection. It requires endless curiosity, the relentless pursuit of additional information, the raising of questions, and the search for answers. It necessitates dealing with imperfect information - knowing you will never know everything and that that must not prevent you from acting. It requires a precarious balance between conviction, steadfastness in the face of adversity, and doubt - keeping in mind the possibility that you could be wrong.”

KnowsNeedsMindImportantRememberFacesValuesAnswersPerfectActingKnowingDoubtInformationPossibilityBalanceJudgmentReflectionAdversityCuriosityInvestingConvictionPursuitEndlessImperfectOngoingRelentlessRefinementPrecariousSteadfastnessFacing AdversityRelentless Pursuit
Author:Seth Klarman
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“I think my first impression (of Bix Beiderbecke) was the lasting one. I remember very clearly thinking, 'Where, what planet, did this guy come from? Is he from outer space?' I'd never heard anything like the way he played-not in Chicago, no place. The tone-he had this wonderful, ringing cornet tone. He could have played in a symphony orchestra with that tone. But also the intervals he played, the figures-whatever the hell he did. There was a refinement about his playing. You know, in those days I played a little trumpet, and I could play all the solos from his records, by heart.”

ThinkingKnowsWayFirstsHeartLittlesPlayRememberGuySpaceHellRecordsWonderfulHeardFiguresPlanetsImpressionToneLastingChicagoSoloThis GuyOrchestraSymphonyTrumpetsIntervalsRefinementOuter SpaceFirst ImpressionSymphony Orchestras
Author:Benny Goodman
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“Who has reached the extreme limits of scale with the same infallible precision, equally guarded against the false refinement of artificial elegance and the roughness of spurious force? Who has better known how to breathe anguish and dread into the purest and most exquisite forms?”

FormForceKnownLimitsExtremesBreatheScalesArtificialDreadAnguishEleganceExquisitePrecisionRefinementInfallibleGuardedRoughness
Book:Charles Gounod: His Life and His Works
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“Have you ever noticed how few sitting places you find in private gardens? How seldom the versatility and importance of benches is considered? True gardeners, with their peerless taste, dexterity and inspired planting, never stop . . . To sit is almost an offence, a sign of depravity and an outrage towards every felicitous refinement that has gone into making a garden.”

GoneTasteSittingGardenImportanceInspiredPrivacyGardenerOutrageBenchesRefinementOffenceDepravityVersatilityDexterity
Author:Mirabel Osler
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“Conventional sports have undergone an evolution in training methods during the last fifty years. Curiosity and the inherent improvement brought about by competition have driven this evolution to a state of high refinement such that today's athletes have a very specialized approach to training at the elite levels.”

YearsStatesTodayLastsSportsLevelsEvolutionApproachTrainingMethodCompetitionCuriosityAthleteDrivenImprovementFiftyElitesInherentConventionalRefinement
Author:Steve House
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“Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.”

MindBelieveMadeMistakeWorryImpossibleMankindCenturyChangedDevelopmentSixGainsAccomplishImprovementCrushNeglectPreferenceAttemptingRefinementInsistingBelivePersonal GainRoman Philosophers
Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero
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“Men towering high above such political pygmies, men of refinement, of culture, of ability, are jeered into silence as mollycoddles. It is absurd to claim that ours is the era of individualism. Ours is merely a more poignant repetition of the phenomenon of all history: every effort for progress, for enlightenment, for science, for religious, political, and economic liberty, emanates from the minority, and not from the mass. Today, as ever, the few are misunderstood, hounded, imprisoned, tortured, and killed.”

MenTodayPoliticalCultureReligiousAbilityEffortSilenceLibertyProgressEconomicMassEnlightenmentClaimsAbsurdErasMinoritiesPhenomenonIndividualismRepetitionMisunderstoodRefinementPoignantEmanate
Book:Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader
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“Do you dance, Mr. Darcy?" Darcy: "Not if I can help it!" Sir William: "What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing, after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished societies." Mr. Darcy: "Certainly, sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue amongst the less polished societies of the world; every savage can dance.”

PeopleIfsWorldFirstsI CanHelpingYoungAdvantageDancingSavagesCharmingAmusementPolishedRefinementVogueDarcy
Author:Jane Austen
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“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common - this is my symphony.”

ThinkingLifeInspirationalHeartMeanHardHappinessSpiritualStarsGrowsWealthCommonGrowing UpVirtueStudyRichFashionListeningRespectBirdSimplicityWorthyLuxuryOccasionsUnconsciousWealthySageEleganceSymphonyRespectableSimple LifeSimple ThingsBabeSimple LivingRefinementOpen HeartFrugalitySimplifying LifeSimplicity And EleganceSimple And Beautiful
Author:William Ellery Channing
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“In spite of all the refinements of civilization that conspired to make art--the dizzying perfection of the string quartet or the sprawling grandeur of Fragonard's canvases--beauty was savage. It was as dangerous and lawless as the earth had been eons before man had one single coherent thought in his head or wrote codes of conduct on tablets of clay. Beauty was a Savage Garden.”

MenArtEarthDangerousCivilizationGardenPerfectionCodeSpiteStringsSavagesClayGrandeurRefinementTabletsQuartetsString Quartets
Book:The vampire Lestat
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“There are many other little refinements too, Mr. Bohlen. You'll see them all when you study the plans carefully. For example, there's a trick that nearly every writer uses, of inserting at least one long, obscure word into each story. This makes the reader think that the man is very wise and clever. So I have the machine do the same thing. There'll be a whole stack of long words stored away just for this purpose." Where?" In the 'word-memory' section," he said, epexegetically.”

ThinkingMenLittlesLongSaidWholeStoriesUsePurposeMemoriesStudyWisePlansExampleReaderMachinesCleverTricksObscureSectionsRefinementVery WiseLong Words
Book:Collected Stories
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“He almost said to himself that he did not like her, before their conversation ended; he tried so hard to compensate himself for the mortified feeling, that while he looked upon her with an admiration he could not repress, she looked at him with proud indifference, taking him, he thought, for what, in his irritation, he told himself - was a great fellow, with not a grace or a refinement about him.”

SaidHardFeelingsGraceProudConversationFellowsIndifferenceAdmirationRefinementLike HerIrritation
Author:Elizabeth Gaskell
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“I am sure," cried Catherine, "I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should not I call it so?" "Very true," said Henry, "and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything. Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word.”

PeopleShouldMeanDoeSaidTwoBookYoungChoicesWalksNiceSubjectsDressesSentimentsCriedSay AnythingOne WordVery NiceRefinementDelicacyProprietyVery TrueYoung LadiesNice DayNeatnessCommendationNice Words
Author:Jane Austen
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“Past persons of Scottishness in contact with mastermind of supernatural persuasion in London, aka Agent Doom.’ Floote moved on to the third bit of paper. “ ‘Lady K says Agent Doom assisted depraved Plan of Action. May have all been his idea.’ Moving on to the last one, he read out, "Summer permits Scots to expose more knee than lady of refinement should have to withstand. Hairmuffs much admired. Yours etc., Puff Bonnet.”

ShouldMayPersonsIdeasActionLastsPastMovingBitsPlansPaperSummerShould HaveThirdsMovedLondonContactAgentsKneesEtcPermitPersuasionDoomRefinementMoved OnPuffDepravedScotsBonnetsMastermindAka
Author:Gail Carriger
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“For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.”

MenTryingHas BeensStatesLawForceCenturyCrimeClaimsConstantInstinctChecksPenaltiesPersistDeath PenaltyEquilibriumRefinement
Book:Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays
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“We had stretched out our arms to each other and supported something in our joined hands, but this thing we were holding was like a sort of gas that exists when you believe in its existence and disappears when you doubt. The task of supporting it seems simple at first glance, but actually requires an ultimate refinement of calculation and a consummate skill.”

FirstsBelieveHandsSeemsSimpleExistenceDoubtArmsSkillsTasksUltimateDisappearGasGlancesCalculationsRefinement
Book:Confessions of a Mask
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