“In Afghanistan you are not rebuilding, you are building. There is very limited infrastructure and extreme terrain, with deserts in the south and mountains so high in some areas that helicopters don't even fly well at a certain altitude because the air becomes so thin. The country has a serious problem of illiteracy, especially after so many years of war and Taliban rule.” YearsWellsWarCountryProblemCertainAirBuildingSeriousMountainAreasSouthExtremesDesertAfghanistanInfrastructureTalibanRebuildingHelicoptersTerrainIlliteracy Author:David Petraeus
“In the States, the movement's actually gotten much much much stronger. There really was no climate movement so to speak before that - I think because everybody assumed that reasonable heads would prevail and do the right thing - and why would you need to have a huge movement in order to cause our leaders to deal with the most serious problem that they face. In a rational world you wouldn't. They would deal with it.” ThinkingWorldNeedsStatesProblemFacesOrderSpeakCausesDealsLeaderMovementSeriousHugeStrongerClimateRationalRight ThingReasonable Author:Bill McKibben
“If we are not serious about facts and what's true and what's not. And particularly in an age of social media where so many people are getting their information in sound bites and snippets off their phones, if we can't discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems.” PeopleIfsFactsProblemAgeSocialSoundMediaInformationSeriousArgumentPhonesSocial MediaPropagandaBitesSound Bites Author:Barack Obama
“The government would assert that individuals who are aware of serious wrongdoing in the intelligence community should bring their concerns to the people most responsible for that wrongdoing, and rely on those people to correct the problems that those people themselves authorized.” PeopleShouldProblemGovernmentIndividualCommunitySeriousConcernResponsibleRelyWrongdoingIntelligence Community Author:Edward Snowden
“The real problem is deflation. That is the opposite of inflation but equally serious to the borrower.” RealProblemSeriousOppositesInflationReal ProblemsBorrowersDeflation Author:Jack Kemp
“I have friends who go [Tokyo] frequently on business, and it sounds interesting. I've heard that they have for the first time serious drug problems.” FirstsProblemSoundInterestingHeardSeriousDrugFirst TimeTokyo Author:William Gibson
“I had, like any other young novelist, started out by believing the difficult thing was to get published and that, once you managed that, well, your financial problems were over. I discovered, like any other serious novelist, that actually they had only just begun.” BelieveWellsProblemYoungDifficultSeriousFinancialNovelistsDifficult ThingsFinancial Problems Author:Mordecai Richler
“Europe is slow to react, it is lagging behind in competitiveness, there are problems with demography, population, serious problems with security, internal security and military capabilities.” ProblemBehindsSecurityMilitarySeriousEuropePopulationInternalsCapabilityCompetitivenessDemography Author:Viktor Orban
“The light bulb going off in my head was a fear that in this pivotal moment in history, when America faces so many serious problems, when the middle class and working class of this country are being decimated, that there were not voices out there representing the tens of millions of people who needed a voice. And the idea of going through a campaign where there is not a serious discussion about the most important issues facing America, where there are not voices out there representing people who are hurting - that seemed to me unacceptable.” PeopleImportantIdeasCountryMomentsProblemLightAmericaFacesVoiceHurtClassMillionsIssuesMiddleSeriousNeededCampaignsDiscussionMiddle ClassWorking ClassRepresentingBulbsImportant IssuesLight BulbPivotalPivotal Moments Author:Bernie Sanders
“There's a problem of terrorism in the world. There's always been terrorism. There will be terrorism. You have to deal with it surgically. You have to deal with it in a serious way.” WorldWayProblemDealsSeriousTerrorism Author:Robert Scheer
“Until we have a serious discussion, this problem [racism] will continue to occur.” ProblemSeriousRacismDiscussion Author:Ilyasah Shabazz
“I think we realized the depth of frustration through the current political process. So we said, "OK, we know there's a serious problem here, we know we need to work on it," and now it's "Oh, we need to work on it a lot faster."” ThinkingKnowsNeedsSaidProblemPoliticalProcessSeriousDepthCurrentsFasterFrustration Author:Reid Hoffman
“Thanks to the European Union, Ireland has a much more open climate of discussion and debate, as you can see in the media. It means that we are a more questioning society, perhaps more honestly prepared to address serious issues and problems, more open to the idea that different viewpoints should be heard and respected.” ShouldMeanIdeasDifferentProblemIssuesHeardMediaSeriousUnionsPreparedClimateHonestlyDebateThanksDiscussionAddressesIrelandQuestioningEuropean UnionViewpointsSerious Issues Author:Mary Robinson
“One woman I interviewed, Amanda Ghost, said, "Let's not bullshit, there are no women at the top of the music business, and that is a serious problem." And I said, "Yes!" And I didn't shy away from saying that. But I still don't want to be in the firing line. I'm not clever or witty or brave enough to get into the political nitty-gritty with it.” WantSaidStillsEnoughProblemPoliticalLinesSeriousBraveWittyCleverGhostShyBullshitMusic BusinessOne WomanFiringAmanda Author:Laura Marling
“For me, the most serious problem is how America became so vulnerable to the assertion of blatant falsehoods that drive policy and are not corrected by the so-called immune system of democracy, a free press and a free democratic discourse.” ProblemAmericaDemocracyPolicySeriousPressesDemocraticVulnerableFalsehoodDiscourseImmuneAssertionImmune SystemFree Press Author:Al Gore
“The real problem is the total capitulation of German social democracy to capitalism, reflected and symbolized by actual extreme center coalition governments in Germany, which have been in power for a long time and still are even as we speak. That is the real problem: that there is no serious opposition in Germany at all. And the Left party is divided.” LongHas BeensStillsRealProblemGovernmentLeftSpeakSocialPartyDemocracySeriousLong TimeCapitalismExtremesGermanyOppositionDividedCoalitionsReal ProblemsSocial DemocracyCapitulation Author:Tariq Ali
“In the field of medicine, if you're sick you need a doctor. A doctor has already studied how to deal with your ailments, and human beings are imperfect. There any many ailments of the psyche and the soul that need to be treated, and the serious murshid, or spiritual master, is also really a doctor of the soul: a person who can heal the wounds of the soul in the same way as a medical doctor takes care of our physical problems.” IfsWayNeedsHumansPersonsSoulProblemCareSpiritualHuman BeingsDealsFieldsSeriousMastersDoctorsSickMedicineTake CareMedicalWoundsHealTreatedImperfectAilmentsSpiritual MastersMedical Doctor Author:Seyyed Hossein Nasr
“Quebec's financial situation is serious. In terms of intensity, we're close to matching 1982 and 1997. We won't do the same things this time, but the problems we face today are about as pressing.” ProblemTodayFacesTermSituationSeriousFinancialIntensityMatchingQuebec Author:Philippe Couillard
“The problem with Antigone is that she stood up to the despot Creon, but in such a way that she ended up dying. So she bought her defiance with her death. The real question I ended up asking was, "What would it mean for Antigone to have stood up to Creon and lived?" And the only way she could have lived is if she had had a serious social movement with her. If she arrived with a social movement to take down the despot, maybe it would have taken 18 days only, like in Egypt. It's really important to be able to re-situate one's rage and destitution in the context of a social movement.” IfsWayMeanImportantRealProblemAbleSocialTakenDyingMovementSeriousAskingRageEgyptDefianceStood UpSocial MovementsDespotsReal QuestionsAntigone Author:Judith Butler
“I don't have any problem with the United States acting on behalf of its own interests. That's what big powers do; that's what all countries do. I would just like to see us analyze in a serious way what really is in our interest. Sometimes we intervene in foreign countries in ways that seem successful at first. In the end, however, we wind up with unpredicted consequences that make us regret those operations.” WayFirstsEndsCountrySometimesStatesProblemBigsSeemsInterestUnitedActingUnited StatesSuccessfulSeriousWindRegretConsequenceOperationsBehalfForeign Countries Author:Stephen Kinzer
“Whether low-income people are dealing with access to veteran's benefits, or a protective order to guard against domestic violence, or a way to guard against the loss of their home due to foreclosure and unscrupulous behavior by mortgage providers, there's no way they can afford a lawyer. And that's a serious problem. Because that erodes respect for law, it erodes the prospects for justice.” PeopleProblemHomeJusticeLossViolenceSeriousBehaviorLawyerDomestic ViolenceMortgage Author:Martha Minow
“I think everybody who really wants to change things has to allow themselves to be angry in a constructive way, and you have to fully understand the thing you're trying to change. We really need to get serious about this now; there needs to be real, effective programs. I think there needs to be a little bit more strategy involved and a little more realism, to be pragmatic and realistic, looking at the way we as women contribute to the problem. Once the second half of the population stops doing it, it's going to end.” ThinkingTryingRealProblemSeriousProgramStrategyRealisticBeing RealPragmaticTrying To Change Author:Christina Ricci
“I'm not a big fan of psychoanalysis: I think if you have mental problems what you need are good pills. But I do think that if you have thinks that bother you, things that are unresolved, the more that you talk about them, write about them, the less serious they become.” IfsThinkingNeedsWritingProblemBigsFansSeriousBotherPillsPsychoanalysis Author:Stephen King
“Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa to that effect, which was then given effect in the Islamic Republic of Iran, so in the Islamic Republic of Iran, it's flexible enough to allow for sex changes, and it encourages sex changes. But if you want to change your religion in Iran, you've got some serious problems. There are other problems. You're allowed to change sex, but if you want to be a homosexual, theoretically at least, you face the death penalty. Quite how often these penalties are carried out is a moot point, but it's there on the statute books.” BookEnoughProblemSeriousIslamicHomosexualDeath Penalty Author:Sadakat Kadri
“The problem with natural language processing and the thing that really holds the technology back, is that when it crashes and burns, it's horrific. I think we would be in a position to really take a serious look at it, once two things happen. The interesting thing about a dialogue-choice system is that we've devoted so much into all kinds of other systems for processing, and dialogue choices use zero processing. So suddenly, if you want to have a great natural language processor, you need to dial down your graphics to make it work.” ThinkingKindProblemChoicesLanguageNaturalInterestingTechnologySeriousThings HappenDialogueAll KindsCrashHorrific Author:Greg Zeschuk
“Number one, we have to talk about mental illnesses. Number two, you can actually address things from a purer and honest direct line to what's been going on in your life and how you've been feeling and why you think the way you think. I do think there is a genetic predisposition for mental illness, for depression, for suicide, but I also think that lifestyle can change things. If you're an addict, if you drink and you're putting a depressant into your body, it's going to cause serious problems.” ThinkingFeelingsProblemHonestSeriousDrinkDirectSuicideIllnessLifestyleMental IllnessAddict Author:Mariel Hemingway
“Exposures, if they are mild, in the sense of barely just a small concentration, it's mostly an irritant, particularly the peroxides, that in that smoke would irritate the skin or even irritate the lungs. So, for the most time, it could be either just a little bit of a nuisance irritant, or if you get a really big whiff of it, particularly people who have, for example, reversible airways disease, like asthma or different types of hypersensitivity diseases, you could get a serious problem.” PeopleDifferentProblemSeriousSkinsConcentrationAsthma Author:Anthony S. Fauci
“Trump's dividing us. Yes, but people were already divided; Trump just expressed that division. And we have to find a way to, within a very heterogeneous party, even though we're the minority, we're a much more diverse party, of course, than the Republicans are. How do we talk about universal programs, have a universal message, and make sure we're talking about recent immigrants and non-immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, LGBT people, as well? To me, that is a serious problem.” PeopleProblemPartySeriousRepublicanProgramLgbtDiverseLatino Author:Michael Kazin
“What goes through one's head when Disney asked for 52 more shows? I remember seeing that in the supplemental features...When they first said "52" I literally laughed, I thought they were kidding. They said, "Well, how many do you think could do?" And I said, "Well, we've got 6 scripts in the works, so 6 obviously we could do. We did 13 last year, I think we could do 13 this year without a problem." I said, "If we really pushed it, I think we could do 18." And they said, "What about 52?" I started laughing but they were serious and eventually they did get the 52 episode order.” ThinkingProblemRememberLaughingSerious Author:Greg Weisman