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Symbolic Quotes

Browse 378 quotes about Symbolic.

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Symbolic Quotes

“I am a believer in angels, though not the picture-book kind with wings and harps. Such angelic accoutrements seem as nonsensical to me as devils sporting horns and carrying pitchforks. To me, angel wings are merely symbolic of their role as divine messengers.”

KindBookSeemsRolesDivineDevilAngelWingsBelieverHornsSymbolicMessengersAngelicHarpsPicture BooksNonsensicalPitchforksAngel Wings
Book:The Christmas Box: 20th Anniversary Edition
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“Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic - purely symbolic - move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.”

RealMovingLawCrimeWeaponsGunUltimatePassingPassingsPreparationRegulationJustificationGun ControlAssaultSymbolicBansRight To Bear ArmsBearing ArmsFounding Fathers GunHandgunsAssault WeaponsHandgun BanGun BanGun CrimeAssault Weapons Ban
Author:Charles Krauthammer
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“Becoming a vegetarian is not merely a symbolic gesture. Nor is it an attempt to isolate oneself from the ugly realities of the world, to keep oneself pure and so without responsibility for the cruelty and carnage all around. Becoming a vegetarian is a highly practical and effective step one can take toward ending both the killing of nonhuman animals and the infliction of suffering on them.”

WorldRealitySufferingAnimalResponsibilityStepsBecomingPurePhilosophicalKillingOneselfUglyPracticalsCrueltyVegetarianGesturesSymbolicCarnageInfliction
Book:Animal liberation: a new ethics for our treatment of animals
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“With almost no time to decide, they [your loved ones] gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the capitol from attack. They saved God knows how many lives. They saved the terrorists from claiming the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government. And they did it as citizens. They allowed us to survive as a country that could fight terror and still maintain liberty and still welcome people from all over the world from every religion and race and culture as long as they shared our values, because ­ordinary people given no time at all to decide did the right thing.”

PeopleKnowsWorldLongStillsCountryGovernmentValuesCultureFightingGivenPowerfulRaceLibertyKnow HowVictoryOrdinaryTerrorSavedTerroristWelcomeRight ThingLoved OnesOrdinary PeopleGod KnowsSymbolicSeptember 11CapitolAmerican GovernmentSmashingRemembrance For 9 11
Author:William J. Clinton
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“The protection of human rights to promote the dignity of the individual is too important a matter for symbolic gestures alone. It is only through the pursuit of practical and effective efforts to promote human rights that we show our real commitment to the welfare of individuals and society.”

HumansImportantRealMatterShowsIndividualEffortRightsCommitmentDignityHuman RightsProtectionPursuitPracticalsWelfareGesturesSymbolicIndividuals And Society
Author:Alexander Downer
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“Here above the farms and ranches of the Great Plains aviation lives up to the promise that inspired dreamers through the ages. Here you are truly separate from the earth, at least for a little while, removed from the cares and concerns that occupy you on the ground. This separation from the earth is more than symbolic, more than a physical removal - it has an emotional dimension as tangible as the wood, fabric, and steel that has transported you aloft.”

LittlesCareAgeEarthEmotionalPromiseConcernInspiredWoodsSeparationFlightDimensionsAviationFarmsDreamerFabricSteelSymbolicTangibleRemovalCare And Concern
Author:Stephen Coonts
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“The symbolic display seen by the abductees is identical to the type of initiation ritual or astral voyage that is imbedded in the [occult] traditions of every culture...the structure of abduction stories is identical to that of occult initiation rituals...the UFO beings of today belong to the same class of manifestation as the [occult] entities that were described in centuries past.”

StoriesTodayPastCultureClassCenturyTypeTraditionStructureManifestationRitualDisplayEntityIdenticalSymbolicUfoVoyagesOccultInitiationAbduction
Author:Jacques Vallee
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“I wanted to write a play about double nature ... one that wouldn't be symbolic or metaphorical or any of that stuff. I just wanted to give a taste of what it feels like to be two-sided. It's a real thing, double nature. I think we're split in a much more devastating way than psychology can ever reveal. It's not so cute. Not some little thing we can get over. It's something we've got to live with”

ThinkingWayGivingFeelsWritingLittlesTwoRealPlayWantedStuffPsychologyTasteCuteOver ItLittle ThingsSplitsGet OverSymbolicReal ThingsMetaphorical
Author:Sam Shepard
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“I leave pansies, the symbolic flower of freethought, in memory of the Great Agnostic, Robert Ingersoll, who stood for equality, education, progress, free ideas and free lives, against the superstition and bigotry of religious dogma. We need men like him today more than ever. His writing still inspires us and challenges the 'better angels' of our nature, when people open their hearts and minds to his simple, honest humanity. Thank goodness he was here.”

PeopleMenNeedsWritingMindHeartStillsIdeasTodayHumanityChallengesReligiousMemoriesSimpleProgressHonestInspireFlowerGoodnessAngelBigotrySuperstitionsDogmaAgnosticHeart And MindSymbolicPansiesFree LifeReligious Dogma
Author:Bruce Springsteen
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“Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing.”

KnowsYearsWellsLittlesEndsSelfMatterGoneBitterDesperateWho We AreBirthdaySomedayCakeCandleWretchedPatheticSymbolicFlickerSelf WillAnother Year
Author:Jerry Seinfeld
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“Thunder is no longer the voice of an angry god... No river contains a spirit... no snake the embodiment of wisdom, no mountain cave the home of a great demon. No voices now speak to man from stones, plants and animals, nor does he speak to them thinking they can hear. His contact with nature has gone, and with it has gone the profound emotional energy that this symbolic connection supplied.”

ThinkingMenDoeHomeSpiritEnergySpeakVoiceAnimalGoneEmotionalMountainRiversStonesConnectionsAngryPlantProfoundContactDemonSnakesCavesThunderSymbolicEmbodimentPlants And AnimalsEmotional Energy
Author:Carl Jung
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“Cats and their owners are on a private, exclusive loop of affection. Thus cats have become symbolic of a community eschewed and a hyper-engagement with oneself. They represent the profound danger of growing so independent in New York that it's not merely that you don't need anyone - it's that you don't know how to need anyone.”

KnowsNeedsCommunityKnow HowGrowingDangerNew YorkCatIndependentProfoundOneselfAffectionOwnersEngagementExclusiveSymbolicLoopsHyper
Author:Sloane Crosley
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“On the rare occasions when our dreams succeed and achieve perfection - most dreams are bungled - the are symbolic chains of scene and images in place of a narrative poetic language; they circumscribe our experiences or expectations or situations with such poetic boldness and decisiveness that in the morning we are always amazed when we remember our dreams.”

DreamRememberLanguageSituationMorningAchieveSceneSucceedExpectationsPerfectionChainsOccasionsNarrativePoeticAmazedOur DreamsBoldnessSymbolicDecisivenessRare Occasion
Author:Friedrich Nietzsche
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“Iconic clothing has been secularized. . . . A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.”

MenHas BeensEyeHopeLosesBloodInformationRedDressesInnocentInnocenceAbstractColourSignificanceClothingsAggressionShedUniformsMagnificentCoatsSeductionSymbolicIconsIconicTactileBraidsHangersCoat HangersParasolsInnocent Eyes
Book:Shaking a Leg: Collected Writings
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“When one analyzes the pre-conscious step to concepts, one always finds ideas which consist of 'symbolic images.' The first step to thinking is a painted vision of these inner pictures whose origin cannot be reduced only and firstly to the sensual perception but which are produced by an 'instinct to imagining' and which are re-produced by different individuals independently, i.e. collectively... But the archaic image is also the necessary predisposition and the source of a scientific attitude. To a total recognition belong also those images out of which have grown the rational concepts.”

ThinkingFirstsIdeasDifferentIndividualAttitudeVisionStepsSourcePerceptionConsciousConceptsInstinctRationalRecognitionSensualFirst StepsSymbolic
Author:Wolfgang Pauli
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“The Olympic flag [] has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green and red []. This design is symbolic; it represents the five continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.”

WorldBlackWhiteUnitedFiveDesignSixRedBlueGreenRingsBackgroundsColourYellowFlagsContinentsCentreSymbolicPresent TimeOlympism
Author:Pierre de Coubertin
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“After fifteen years of facing them (pitchers) you don't really get over them. They're devious. They're the only players in the game allowed to cheat. They throw illegal pitches and they sneak foreign substances on the ball. They can inflict pain whenever they wish. And, they're the only ones on the diamond who have high ground. That's symbolic. You know what they tell you in a war - 'take the high ground first.'”

KnowsYearsFirstsWarPainGamesWishPlayerBallsSubstanceIllegalDiamondFifteenCheatGet OverSymbolicPitcherSneakFifteen YearsDeviousHigh Ground
Author:Richie Ashburn
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