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Smugness Quotes

Browse 50 quotes about Smugness.

Smugness Quotes

“He (Lincoln) differed from fanatical moralists primarily in that he was always perplexed. No sooner did he believe he was doing God's will that he began to admit that God's purposes might be different from his own. In short, he never forgot the men's contrast between the absolute goodness of God and the faltering goodness of all who are in the finite predicament.”

HumilityWorshipHumorousArroganceSovereignty Of GodSmugness
Book:Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership
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“Real joy is becoming exceedingly rare among artists of any kind. And I have an idea that those who can and do communicate it are always people who have had a hard time. Then the joy has no smugness or self-righteousness in it, is inclusive not exclusive, and comes close to prayer.”

PeopleKindIdeasRealSelfHardJoyArtistPrayerBecomingCommunicateHard TimesRighteousnessExclusiveSelf RighteousnessReal JoySmugness
Book:Journal of a Solitude
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“Truth, acceptance of the truth, is a shattering experience. It shatters the binding shroud of culture trance. It rips apart smugness, arrogance, superiority, and self-importance. It requires acknowledgment of responsibility for the nature and quality of each of our own lives, our own inner lives as well as the life of the world. Truth, inwardly accepted, humbling truth, makes one vulnerable. You can't be right, self-righteous, and truthful at the same time.”

WorldWellsSelfTruthCultureQualityResponsibilityAcceptanceTruth IsImportanceAcceptedVulnerableArroganceRighteousTruthfulSuperiorityRipInner LifeBindingHumblingSelf RighteousTranceAcknowledgmentSelf-importanceShatteringShroudsSmugness
Book:Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-busting Border-crossing Loose Canons
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“Most animals show themselves sparingly. The grizzly bear is six to eight hundred pounds of smugness. It has no need to hide. If it were a person, it would laugh loudly in quiet restaurants, boastfully wear the wrong clothes for special occasions, and probably play hockey.”

IfsNeedsPersonsPlayShowsAnimalLaughingSpecialBearsQuietSixClothesHundredEightOccasionsRestaurantsPoundsHockeySpecial OccasionSmugnessGrizzliesGrizzly Bears
Book:Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters with Animals in the Wild
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“As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.”

MenHumansIdeasMightLife IsDifferencesAnimalPrinciplesDogTheoryCreaturesAdvantageCatSpeciesFishesExtremesSingersRacistConceptionBehaviourNaziSlaughterHuman AnimalIsaacSmugnessMight Is Right
Author:Sri Aurobindo
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“As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.”

MenMightAnimalPrinciplesTheoryCreaturesSpeciesFishesExtremesCrueltyRacistVeganAnimal RightsBehaviourNaziSlaughterAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyAnimal LifeSmugnessMight Is Right
Author:Isaac Bashevis Singer
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“Come on,” he droned, “I’ve been ordered to take you down to the bridge. Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction? ’Cos I don’t.” He turned and walked back to the hated door. “Er, excuse me,” said Ford following after him, “which government owns this ship?” Marvin ignored him. “You watch this door,” he muttered, “it’s about to open again. I can tell by the intolerable air of smugness it suddenly generates.”

SaidI CanGovernmentJobsAsksBrainWatchesDoorsAirPlanetsSizeSatisfactionFollowingExcuseShipsBridgesAsk MeHatedIgnoredHere I AmExcuse MeMarvinSmugnessJob Satisfaction
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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“Having a sister or a friend is like sitting at night in a lighted house. Those outside can watch you if they want, but you need not see them. You simply say, "Here are the perimeters of our attention. If you prowl around under the windows till the crickets go silent, we will pull the shades. If you wish us to suffer your envious curiosity, you must permit us not to notice it." Anyone with one solid human bond is that smug, and it is the smugness as much as the comfort and safety that lonely people covet and admire.”

PeopleIfsWantNeedsHumansNightSufferingHouseWishAttentionWatchesComfortSittingWindowLonelySafetySilentCuriosityAdmireShadePermitCricketEnviousLonely PeopleSmugnessPerimeter
Book:Housekeeping: A Novel
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“when someone speaks he looks at a mouth, not eyes and their colors, which, it seems to him, will always alter depending on the light of a room, the minute of the day. Mouths reveal insecurity or smugness or any other point on the spectrum of character. For him they are the most intricate aspect of faces. He's never sure what an eye reveals. but he can read how mouths darken into callousness, suggest tenderness. One can often misjudge an eye from its reaction to a simple beam of sunlight.”

LooksCharacterLightSeemsEyeFacesSpeakSimpleRoomsMinutesColorMouthsAspectReactionsInsecurityTendernessSunlightSpectrumBeamIntricateSmugnessCallousness
Author:Michael Ondaatje
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“We singer-songwriter people, we're used to getting up and doing our own thing in front of people, and we're it. We're the band, artist, writer, producer, front man. We're the whole thing. You develop, it's not smugness, but this self-reliance, that can limit your creativity. When you're willing and able to invite others into it, you wind up getting a piece of work that's bigger and better than anything you ever imagined it could be.”

PeopleMenWritingSelfWholeAbleUsedArtistCreativityPiecesFrontsWillingWindBandLimitsBiggerSingersProducersSongwritingInvitesSongwritersSelf RelianceRelianceSinger SongwritersBigger And BetterSmugness
Author:Andy Wilkinson
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“The world of the arts is by no means always comfortable, but neither is it likely ever to be boring. It is full of surprises, humor, traps for the unwary, and challenges to smugness. It is a world of moods as well as of revelation, of beliefs and fears, of unpleasant truth as well as of delicious fantasy. Perhaps it is arrogant to say that anyone who does not venture into this world is only half-interested in life. I say it, nonetheless.”

WorldWellsMeanDoeArtBeliefChallengesHalfFantasyThis WorldComfortableArt IsSurpriseBoringMoodRevelationsArrogantTrapsVentureDeliciousSmugness
Author:Russell Lynes
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“Each thing has its word, but the word has become a thing by itself. Why shouldn't I find it? Why can't a tree be called Pluplusch, and Pluplubasch when it has been raining? The word, the word, the word outside your domain, your stuffiness, this laughable impotence, your stupendous smugness, outside all the parrotry of your self-evident limitedness. The word, gentlemen, is a public concern of the first importance.”

FirstsHas BeensSelfTreeRainConcernImportanceGentlemanEvidentDomainImpotenceLaughableSmugness
Book:Flight Out of Time: A Dada Diary
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