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Subtlety Quotes

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Subtlety Quotes

“How rare it is to come across a piece of writing that is unambiguous, unqualified, and also unblurred by understatements or subtleties, and yet at the same time urbane and tolerant. It is a vice of the scientific method when applied to human affairs that it fosters hemming and hawing and a scrupulousness that easily degenerates into obscurity and meaninglessness.”

WritingHumansPiecesMethodAffairVicesObscuritySubtletyDegeneratesScientific MethodMeaninglessnessUnqualifiedUnderstatement
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“My friends are much more dangerous than my enemies. These latter - with infinite subtlety - spin webs to keep me out of places where I hate to go, - and tell stories of me to people whom it would be vanity and vexation to meet; - and they help me so much by their unconscious aid that I almost love them.”

PeopleHelpingStoriesWould BeHateEnemyDangerousMy FriendsI HateInfiniteAidsVanityUnconsciousHelp MeLatterSubtletyVexationAlmost Love
Book:The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn Including the Japanese Letters
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“The American capitalists are richer and stronger than their counterparts in other lands. They are also younger and more ignorant, and therefore more inclined to seek a rough settlement of difficulties without diplomatic subtlety and finesse. All that does not change the fact that American capitalism operates according to the same laws as the others, is confronted with the same fundamental problems, and is headed toward the same catastrophe.”

DoeFactsProblemLawLandCapitalismDifficultyStrongerFundamentalsIgnorantRoughCapitalistCatastropheSubtletySettlementDiplomaticCounterpartsFinesseAmerican Capitalism
Author:James P. Cannon
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“But the conceit of one's self and the conceit of one's hobby are hardly more prolific of eccentricity than the conceit of one's money. Avarice, the most hateful and wolfish of all the hard, cool, callous dispositions of selfishness, has its own peculiar caprices and crotchets. The ingenuities of its meanness defy all the calculations of reason, and reach the miraculous in subtlety.”

SelfHardReasonSelfishnessPeculiarHobbiesDispositionMiraculousHatefulConceitCalculationsAvariceIngenuitySubtletyMeannessEccentricityCapriceCallous
Book:Character and characteristic men
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“Above all things I entreat you to preserve your faith in Christ. It is my wealth in poverty, my joy in sorrow, my peace amid tumult. For all the evil I have committed, my gracious pardon; and for every effort, my exceeding great reward. I have found it to be so. I can smile with pity at the infidel whose vanity makes him dream that I should barter such a blessing for the few subtleties from the school of the cold-blooded sophists.”

ShouldI CanDreamSchoolJoyEvilFoundChristWealthEffortPovertyColdSorrowBlessingAll ThingsRewardsCommittedPityVanityPreservesPardonGraciousSubtletyInfidelTumultCold BloodedGreat Reward
Author:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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“Subtlety will sometimes give safety, no less than strength; and minuteness has sometimes escaped, where magnitude would have been crushed. The little animal that kills the boa is formidable chiefly from its insignificance, which is incompressible by the folds of its antagonist.”

GivingLittlesHas BeensSometimesAnimalSafetyFoldsCrushedMagnitudeSubtletyFormidableInsignificanceAntagonist
Book:Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think
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“I have often come across convinced adepts of Greek mythology who mock our faith under the pretext that we do not say anything else to those whom we instruct in divine things, but merely command them to believe. They accuse the apostles of ignorance, labelling them barbarians, because they do not have the subtlety of eloquence; and they say that the cult of martyrs is ridiculous, considering it completely absurd for the living to seek assistance from the dead.”

BelieveIgnoranceDivineConvincedMythologyRidiculousAbsurdCommandGreekConsideringGreek MythologySay AnythingCultAssistanceMartyrApostlesEloquenceMockBarbariansSubtletyPretextGreek Myth
Author:Theodoret
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“Spike Lee made such a difference in terms of black filmmakers, the subtleties - those authors, those writers who write from love, and those who write from that lofty position of superiority.I felt he took aspects of the black experience in America and held it up for us to see. He tried to put it in perspective. He did put it in perspective in his unique way.”

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Author:Ruby Dee
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“I've always had a desire to be provocative and to make people think, but it wouldn't be any challenge for me just to be shocking. That is where it begins for me, not where it stops. And I could be much more shocking. I think I've adopted a sense of subtlety. I don't sit around wondering how I can make myself even stranger to the world. I've simply evolved into the monster I created, and I'm quite happy with it.”

PeopleThinkingWorldI CanDesireChallengesWonderStrangerMonstersShockingAdoptedSubtletyProvocative
Author:Marilyn Manson
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“In professional wrestling, I think that they want you to be bigger than life. It's almost like an over-acting type thing - whereas on the big screen, you're 35 feet and they've got a close-up of you to put it on the screen in the movie house. At 35 feet, it's more subtlety than the overboard drama that we do in pro wrestling.”

ThinkingWantBigsHouseActingFeetTypeDramaBiggerScreensWrestlingSubtletyOverboardBig ScreenPro WrestlingBigger Than LifeProfessional Wrestling
Author:Kevin Nash
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“Mrs. Lammle's manner changed under the poor silly girl's embraces, and she turned extremely pale: directing one appealing look, first to Mrs. Boffin, and then to Mr. Boffin. Both understood her instantly, with a more delicate subtlety than much better educated people, whose perception came less directly from the heart, could have brought to bear upon the case.”

PeopleFirstsLooksHeartCharacterGirlInterestingPoorCasesChangedBearsPerceptionUnderstoodEmbraceSillyEducatedDelicatePaleSubtletyInteresting CharactersSilly Girl
Book:Our Mutual Friend
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“In spite of the fact that religion looks backward to revealed truth while science looks forward to new vistas and discoveries, both activities produce a sense of awe and a curious mixture of humility and arrogance in their practitioners. All great scientists are inspired by the subtlety and beauty of the natural world that they are seeking to understand. Each new subatomic particle, every unexpected object, produces delight and wonderment. In constructing their theories, physicists are frequently guided by arcane concepts of elegance in the belief that the universe is intrinsically beautiful.”

WorldLooksFactsBeautifulScienceReligionUniverseBeliefNaturalObjectsProduceHumilityTheoryActivityConceptsDiscoveryScientistInspiredDelightSeekingCuriousArroganceAweSpiteUnexpectedPhysicistEleganceMixturesParticlesNatural WorldSubtletyVistasGreat ScientistArcaneSubatomic Particles
Author:Paul Davies
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“Parents are led to believe that they must be consistent, that is, always respond to the same issue the same way. Consistency is good up to a point but your child also needs to understand context and subtlety . . . much of adult life is governed by context: what is appropriate in one setting is not appropriate in another; the way something is said may be more important than what is said. . . .”

WayNeedsBelieveMayChildrenSaidImportantLife IsParentIssuesAdultsOur ChildrenSettingSettingsYour ChildrenConsistentAppropriateConsistencySubtlety
Author:Stanley Greenspan
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“Do not be despondent when fighting against the incorporeal enemy, but even in the midst of your afflictions and oppression praise the Lord, Who has found you worthy to suffer for Him, by struggling against the subtlety of the serpent, and to be wounded for Him at every hour; for had you not lived piously, and endeavored to become united to God, the enemy would not have attacked and tormented you.”

ChristianSufferingFightingFoundHoursUnitedLordEnemyStrugglePraiseWorthyOppressionMidstWoundedAfflictionSubtletySerpentFound YouDespondentPraise The Lord
Author:John of Kronstadt
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“The dogmatism of science has become a new orthodoxy, disseminated by the Media and a State educational system with a thoroughness and subtlety far exceeding anything of the kind achieved by the Inquisition; to the point that to believe today in a miraculous happening like the Virgin Birth is to appear a kind of imbecile.”

BelieveKindStatesTodayMediaBirthHappeningsEducationalVirginsMiraculousOrthodoxySubtletyEducational SystemInquisitionDogmatismImbecilesVirgin BirthThoroughness
Book:Vintage Muggeridge: religion and society
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