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Shame Quotes

Browse 2566 quotes about Shame.

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Shame Quotes

“We have made men proud of most vices, but not of cowardice. Whenever we have almost succeeded in doing so, God permits a war or an earthquake or some other calamity, and at once courage becomes so obviously lovely and important even in human eyes that all our work is undone, and there is still at least one vice of which they feel genuine shame. The danger of inducing cowardice in our patients, therefore, is lest we produce real self-knowledge and self-loathing, with consequent repentance and humility.”

MenFeelsHumansMadeStillsImportantWarRealSelfEyeDangerProduceHumilityProudShamePatientVicesLovelyGenuineRepentancePermitCowardiceSelf KnowledgeCalamityEarthquakesUndoneLoathingSelf LoathingReal SelfHuman Eyes
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“In the short summer night she learned so much. She would have thought a woman would have died of shame... She felt, now, she had come to the real bedrock of her nature, and was essentially shameless. She was her sensual self, naked an unashamed. She felt a triumph, almost a vainglory. So! That was how it was! That was life! That was how onself really was! There was nothing left to disguise or be ashamed of. She shared her ultimate nakedness with a man, another being.”

MenRealSelfNightLeftFeltSummerUltimateDiedShameNakedSensualTriumphAshamedDisguiseShamelessBedrockSummer NightsShort Summer
Author:D. H. Lawrence
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“I hold my peace, sir? no; No, I will speak as liberal as the north; Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.”

MenSpeakHeavenCryDevilShame
Book:The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustr. of various commentators; to which are added An essay on the chronological order of his plays; an essay relative to Shakspeare and Jonson; a dissertation on the three parts of King Henry vi; an historical account of the English stage; and notes. By E. Malone. 10 vols. [in 11 pt.].
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“Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is around us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to gaurd us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence, and God waits ony a speration of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward.”

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Author:Charlotte Bronte
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“There are no words and there is no singing, but the music has a voice. It is an old voice and a deep voice, like the stump of a sweet cigar or a shoe with a hole. It is a voice that has lived and lives, with sorrow and shame, ecstasy and bliss, joy and pain, redemption and damnation. It is a voice with love and without love. I like the voice, and though I can't talk to it, I like the way it talks to me. It says it is all the same, Young Man. Take it and let it be.”

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Book:A Million Little Pieces
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“I believe in humanity - not just you or Mother, but all mankind. Do I sound like a preacher or a cheap politician making a pretty speech? This is not what I intend to do... I believe in life, that it is sweet and that, for all its occasional bitterness, we-man, that is-are headed toward something better - fulfillment. There is much shame, however, and so much hypocrisy around us and these inhibit our fulfillment as human beings.”

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Author:F. Sionil José
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“She regretted having taken his hand, she wanted to get away from there as soon as possible, to hide her shame, never again to see that man who had witnessed all that was most sordid in her, and who nevertheless continued to treat her with such tenderness. But again she remembered Mari's words: She didn't need to explain her life to anyone, not even to the young man standing before her.”

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Author:Paulo Coelho
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“Theirs is the banner in my hand. And I wish I had the power to tell them that the despair of their hearts was not to be final, and their night was not without hope. For the battle they lost can never be lost. For that which they died to save can never perish. Through all the darkness, through all the shame of which men are capable, the spirit of man will remain alive on this earth. It may sleep, but it will awaken. It may wear chains, but it will break through. And man will go on. Man, not men. ~Equality 7-2521 (as Prometheus), pgs 103-104”

MenHeartMayHandsEarthSpiritNightLostWishSleepBreakDarknessAliveGoes OnBattleDespairCapableDiedShameFinalsChainsBreak ThroughBannerWithout HopePrometheus
Book:Anthem
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“Why should we girls not have the same privileges as men? Why do we police ourselves so stringently- whittling each other down with cutting remarks or holding ourselves back from greatness with a harness woven of fear and shame and longing? If we do not deem ourselves worthy first, how shall we ever ask for more?”

IfsMenShouldFirstsGirlAsksCuttingGreatnessPoliceShameLongingPrivilegeWorthyRemarksWovenHarnessWhittling
Book:The Gemma Doyle Trilogy
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“It's a shame for women's history to be all about men--first boys, then other boys, then men men men. It reminds me of the way our school history textbooks were all about wars and elections, one war after another, with the dull periods of peace skimmed over whenever they occurred. (Our teachers deplored this and added extra units about social history and protest movements, but that was still the message of the books.)”

MenWayFirstsStillsBookWarSchoolSocialBoysTeacherMovementPeriodsMessagesShameElectionExtrasDullProtestUnitsTextbooksSocial HistoryHistory TextbooksProtest MovementsSchool History
Author:Elizabeth Kostova
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“O shame to men! Devil with devil damned Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational, though under hope Of heavenly grace: and God proclaiming peace, Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: As if (which might induce us to accord) Man had not hellish foes enough besides, That day and night for his destruction wait.”

IfsMenWarEnoughMightEarthNightWaitingGraceCreaturesDevilDestructionHatredShameRationalFirmHeavenlyDisagreeStrifeFoeAccordDay And NightEnmityProclaimingParadise Lost Book 2
Book:Paradise Lost (Kastan Edition)
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“I am not going to say you are right because I could not take it if you smirked." "I do not smirk," Vikirnoff claimed. "Yes, you do. And I detest that after all these centuries, you are making sense. Frankly, its scary." "It is only that you are not making sense sunce you acquired a lifemate. I hope that does not happen to all men. It would be a shame." "Your sense of humor is not improving," Nicolae pointed out dryly. "I do not have a sense of humor." Vikirnoff answered. "I had not noticed," Nicolae teased.”

IfsMenDoeHappensWould BeCenturyShameScaryMake SenseSense Of HumorImprovingDetestSmirk
Author:Christine Feehan
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“"But when you hear men talking," said Cornelia, "all they ever do is speak ill of women. 'And I don't quite know how they've managed to make this law in their favor, or who exactly it was who gave them a greater license to sin than is allowed to us; and if the fault is common to both sexes (as they can hardly deny), why should the blame not be as well?”

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Author:Moderata Fonte
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“I would never normally approach a woman in this way, but I couldn't help but notice that you have the eyes of a lady I was once desperately in love with. " "What a shame to love only once," she said, showing her white teeth in a wicked smile. "I've heard some men can manage twice or even more." I ignored her gibe. "I am only a fool once. Never will I love again.”

MenWaySaidHelpingEyeWhiteHeardFoolApproachShameTeethManageWickedIgnoredLove AgainWhite Teeth
Book:The Wise Man's Fear: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two
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“A man's character is like his house. If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin. If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn't do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin. A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth.”

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Book:Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers
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“It's a shame you left without a word, you know. She was just beginning to trust you before that. Before you got angry. Before you ran off. Just like every other man in her life. Lusting after her, full of sweet words, then just walking away. Leaving her alone. Good thing she's used to it by now, isn't it? Otherwise you might have hurt her. Otherwise you just might have broken that poor girl's heart”

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Author:Patrick Rothfuss
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“Homophobia and the closet are allies. Like an unhealthy co-dependent relationship they need each other to survive. One plays the victim living in fear and shame while the other plays the persecutor policing what is ‘normal’. The only way to dismantle homophobia is for every gay man and lesbian in the world to come out and live authentic lives. Once they realise how normal we are and see themselves in us….the controversy is over.”

MenWorldWayNeedsPlayGayNormalShameVictimDependentRealisingAlliesClosetsControversyUnhealthyHomophobiaGay MenAuthentic LifeLiving In Fear
Author:Anthony Venn-Brown
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“There is no shame in loving. If your septons say there is, your seven gods must be demons. In the isles we know better. Our gods gave us legs to run with, noses to smell with, hands to touch and feel. What mad cruel god would give a man eyes and tell him he must forever keep them shut, and never look at all the beauty in the world? Only a monster god, a demon of the darkness.”

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Author:George R. R. Martin
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“The cruelest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his teeth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend or a vile calumniator. And how many loves have perished because, from pride, or spite, or diffidence, or that unmanly shame which withholds a man from daring to betray emotion, a lover, at the critical point of the relation, has but hung his head and held his tongue?”

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Book:The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson: Novels, Short Stories, Poems, Plays, Memoirs, Travel Sketches, Letters and Essays (Illustrated Edition): The Entire Opus of Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, containing Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, Catriona and A Child's Garden of Verses
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“There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgement. When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom- freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse. Herein undoubtedly lies part of the attractiveness of a mass movement”

MenLyingHateIndividualLosesDoubtMovementMassMurderShameIndependenceExtremesTyrannyCrueltyJudgementTortureTyrantsBetrayVagueBullyRemorseDecencyHesitationStirringAttractivenessRuthlessnessIndividual Independence
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: recklessness, which leads to destruction; cowardice, which leads to capture; a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; a delicacy of honour, which is sensitive to shame; over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.”

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Book:The Art of War
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“Ashamed of the many frailties they feel within, all men endeavor to hide themselves, their ugly nakedness, from each other, and wrapping up the true motives of their hearts in the specious cloak of sociableness, and their concern for the public good, they are in hopes of concealing their filthy appetites and the deformity of their desires.”

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Author:Bernard de Mandeville
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“Nothing more unqualified the man to act with prudence than a misfortune that is attended with shame and guilt.”

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Book:The works of D. Jonathan Swift ...: To which is prefixed, the doctor's life, with remarks on his writings, from the Earl of Orrery and others, not to be found in any former edition of his works.Dublin printed
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