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Specifics Quotes

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Specifics Quotes

“Properly told, stories are able to operate on two levels. On the surface, they deal with particulars involving a range of facts related to a given time and place, a local culture and a social group--and it is these specifics that tend to bore us whenever they lie outside of our own experience. But then, a layer beneath the particulars, the universals are hidden: the psychological, social and political themes that transcend the stories' temporal and geographical settings and are founded on unvarying fundamentals of human nature.”

StoriesHuman NatureStorytellingSpecificsUniversalism
Book:The News: A User's Manual
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“The fourth paradigm forces us at every point to discern between the creationally valid and the sinfully perverse and thus confronts us with a never-ending task which requires not only competence but also spiritual discernment. Yet this is precisely the task which we must assume, even at the risk of being vague on specifics. The alternative is to compromise basic themes of authentic Christianity.”

SpiritualCultureForceChristianityRiskTasksAssumingCompromiseAlternativesThemeFourthVagueCompetenceDiscernmentParadigmNever EndingSpecificsAuthentic Christianity
Author:Albert M. Wolters
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“If you'd like to meet some fully realized characters while learning some specifics of Zimbabwe's postcolonial struggles, as I did, you're likely to come away with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. If you're willing to settle for first-rate writing and provocative meditations on memory, corruption and loss, they are all here in abundance.”

IfsWritingFirstsCharacterFeelingsMemoriesLossStruggleMeditationWillingRateCorruptionSettlingAbundanceVagueDissatisfactionProvocativeZimbabweSpecifics
Author:Jabari Asim
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“Arnold was on the 'Today' show today, he was a little light on specifics. He said he could solve California's $38 billion budget deficit, without cutting spending or raising taxes because there was a third way. What is it? Let's just say it involves a robot going back in time to convince Gray Davis to go into dentistry.”

WayLittlesSaidShowsLightTodayCuttingTaxesThirdsSolveSpendingBillionsBudgetsCaliforniaConvinceGrayRobotsDeficitBack In TimeSpecificsGo Back In TimeDentistryRaising TaxesBudget Deficit
Author:Bill Maher
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“That was cool, getting to work with Ryan Gosling. I knew he was going to be a huge star after I saw him in that Showtime thing that he did when he was really young [The Believer]. I think the most fun thing about that was I'd never seen somebody that had so many questions about the specifics of everything: where you ate, how much you ate, how much you drank. He's very special.”

ThinkingYoungFunStarsSawsSpecialHugeBelieverDrankFun ThingsSpecificsShowtime
Author:Sherilyn Fenn
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“You make adjustments according to the specifics of the character.It's something I feel like a lot of my comedic heroes have always done. It's not even necessarily vulnerability, always, but it's an earnestness, a genuine desire to actually do the right thing, but then still make really misguided, stupid decisions along the way.”

WayFeelsStillsDoneCharacterDesireDecisionStupidHeroGenuineRight ThingVulnerabilityAdjustmentComedicMisguidedEarnestnessSpecificsStupid Decision
Author:Ed Helms
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“Well, it was interesting because when I was going to do it the first time in my head was Leonardo DiCaprio [for Chris] and Marlon Brando was going to play the character that Hal Holbrook eventually played. But then when it wasn't to be and there was no promise that it ever would be I think some part of me didn't want to attach specifics to it anymore - actors or anything else - because I wanted to see it made that much more badly.”

ThinkingWantFirstsWellsMadePlayCharacterWould BeWantedActorsInterestingPromiseFirst TimeLeonardoBrandoSpecifics
Author:Sean Penn
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“Whether it's your own material or somebody else's material, it's essential that you identify with it thoroughly. It's like you want to archive it; you want to freeze it in time in terms of your perspective on it, then move on, because folk music is that volatile and comments not only on overall human concerns but also on the specifics.”

WantHumansMovingTermMaterialsLike YouPerspectiveEssentialsMusic IsConcernFolksCommentFreezeFolk MusicArchivesSpecifics
Author:Paul Stookey
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“To go into more specifics regarding actors, whether they're from Korea or the U.S., all actors know if they are loved by the director. When they feel that love from the director, they respond by giving a great performance on camera. Also, everyone on set - the crew, the actors - they were aware of the film's message and its broad theme, so these big issues were never discussed on set.”

IfsKnowsGivingFeelsBigsFilmActorsIssuesDirectorsMessagesPerformancesCamerasThemeBroadsCrewKoreaSpecificsGreat Performance
Author:Kim Jee-woon
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“I think it's why we're able to look at with comic book stories or origin stories, why is it that we can keep retelling these stories over and over? And hopefully it's because it hits something so universal and so primal inside of us that we actually yearn for that same story over and over. But toned and different form, and updated and modernized, and I can go into the specifics.”

ThinkingLooksI CanBookDifferentStoriesAbleFormUniversalHopefullyComicComic BookPrimalRetellingSpecifics
Author:Kimberly Peirce
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“When people say, well, they disapprove, I'd like to know what the specifics are, because sometimes - and the president [Barack Obama] has admitted this - they may not feel like he's really explaining and understanding the emotion behind some of these fears [about Iran]. And that's a perfectly legitimate question for people to ask. But if you look at the results of where we are, I think there are some things I agree with and some things I don't agree with, and I think that's absolutely fair game.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsFeelsWellsLooksMaySometimesAsksGamesUnderstandingPresidentResultsEmotionBehindsFairsAgreeBarackIranExplainingPresident Barack ObamaSpecificsFair Game
Author:Hillary Clinton
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“I think people are wrong to do it, to compare him to your way of wanting to do it. If you're passionate about it, do it and do it your way. It's not always going to be in front of the cameras after a football game - that was the way I did it. Somebody else has a different way, and that's [James] LeBron, and I know who he is. And I can't get into specifics, but it did upset me that people were calling him out for that because they were just wrong.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWayI CanDifferentGamesFrontsFootballCallingCamerasPassionateCompareUpsetDifferent WaysFootball GameSpecifics
Author:Andrew Hawkins
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“In arriving at the relevant theory about the specifics of our faculty of vision we will presumably use our eyes to gather relevant data. Based on such data we come to know about the optic nerve, the structure of our eyes, the rods and cones, etc., so as to explain how it is that vision gives us reliable access to the shapes and colors of objects around us. In reliably arriving at that theory we thus exercise the very faculty whose reliability is explained by the theory. There is no vice in this sort of circularity.”

KnowsGivingUseEyeVisionObjectsColorTheoryExerciseShapesStructureVicesAccessDataEtcFacultyNervesRelevantArrivingReliabilityConesSpecificsCircularity
Author:Ernest Sosa
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“You start with a generic body, but I think the first wall you hit with portraiture is comprised of history and storytelling and the nature of characters - whether they are historical or coming from literature or documentation. Those are the references we have to people, besides your family, and the intimacy of portraiture is in the specifics of individuals. For me, it came out of doing things about animals.”

PeopleThinkingFirstsCharacterBodyLiteratureIndividualAnimalWallHistoricalStorytellingIntimacyOur FamilyGenericPortraitureDocumentationSpecifics
Author:Kiki Smith
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“Campaigns are fun. Campaigns are police escorts, they're airplanes, they're crowds, they're balloons, they're bands, a lot of fun. You speak in vague generalities. You get applause for slogans. And then governing comes. And governing is tedious and it's difficult an it's time-consuming and it demands your attention. And policy isn't vague generalities. It's specifics and it's based on knowledge.”

SpeakFunDifficultAttentionPolicyBandDemandPoliceCrowdsCampaignsAirplaneVagueSlogansApplauseConsumingGoverningTediousBalloonsGeneralitiesTime ConsumingSpecifics
Author:Mark Shields
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“Personally I don't like labels: Brazil is huge and each part has its own specifics. Of course the climate influences how people dress, but even climate can be completely different in different parts of the country here. Like any other part of the world, jeans, T-shirt and sneakers are the uniform for kids in the big cities. As the streetwear scene evolves, people get more connected to global brands, thanks to Internet.”

PeopleWorldDifferentCountryBigsKidsCoursesCitiesInfluenceHugeInternetSceneDressesClimateConnectedThanksBrandsLabelsEvolveShirtsUniformsJeansT ShirtBrazilBig CitiesSneakersSpecifics
Author:Ricardo Nunes
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“I don't like the way most people think. It's imprecise. I find that when parents ask me questions, they ask very imprecise questions. They say, "My kid has behavioral problems at school." Well, I have to say, "What kind of problems? Is he hitting? Is he rude? Does he rock in class?" I need to narrow questions to specifics. I am very pragmatic and intellectual, not emotional. I do get great satisfaction when a parent says, "I read your book, and it really helped me."”

PeopleThinkingWayNeedsWellsKindDoeBookProblemKidsSchoolAsksParentClassRocksEmotionalIntellectualSatisfactionAsk MeHittingRudePragmaticSpecifics
Author:Temple Grandin
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