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Symbolism Quotes

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Symbolism Quotes

“A novel can educate to some extent, but first a novel has to entertain. That's the contract with the reader: you give me ten hours and I'll give you a reason to turn every page. I have a commitment to accessibility. I believe in plot. I want an English professor to understand the symbolism while at the same time I want the people I grew up with - who may not often read anything but the Sears catalog - to read my books.”

PeopleWantGivingFirstsBelieveMayBookReasonTurnsI BelieveHoursNovelGrewReaderTenGrew UpPagesCommitmentGive MeI Believe InPlotContractsProfessorsEducateSymbolismAccessibilitySears
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“And religious music and the sort of symbolism of it and everything. But I had this idea. Actually, I sort of dreamt it. I woke up - just before waking up one morning, I sort of dreamt this song or the idea of it and the first little bit of it. And I jumped out of bed and I thought, well, you're still asleep. You're going to forget this in a minute - you know, like you do when you've had a dream.”

KnowsFirstsWellsLittlesStillsIdeasDreamSongBitsReligiousForgetMorningMinutesLike YouBedLittle BitWake UpWakingSymbolismReligious Music
Author:Nick Lowe
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“God Bless America started to become an almost ritualistic incantation at the end of political speeches really with Ronald Reagan. It appears occasionally before, but it was not that common. And of course since it was a song that wasn't written by Irving Berlin until the 20th century (laughter), none of the 19th century presidents said God Bless America at the end of speeches, either. I think that the symbolism which suggests that everybody is religious and that even presidents who believe in church and state feel obliged to do this.”

ThinkingFeelsBelieveSaidEndsStatesAmericaPoliticalSongCoursesPresidentChurchReligiousCommonWrittenCenturySpeechLaughterBless20th CenturyObligedChurch And StateBerlin19th CenturySymbolismGod BlessGod Bless AmericaPolitical Speeches
Author:Susan Jacoby
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“Those young ones who want to try military jihad are facing a triple issue. First of all, they are missing the point when it comes to understanding what there is at stake from a political viewpoint. How come so many of them are going to Syria and so few to Palestine, even though, when it comes to symbolism, Palestine definitively wins.Then, it is essential to understand that it is not a religious matter. Finally, let's not forget about the recruiters behind their screens. Those ones are quite skillful and well-supported financially.”

WantTryingFirstsWellsMatterYoungPoliticalWinningUnderstandingReligiousForgetBehindsIssuesMilitaryMissingEssentialsScreensStakesSyriaPalestineSymbolismViewpointsSkillfulJihadPolitical ViewYoung Ones
Author:Tariq Ramadan
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“I think about the kinds of gardens that Queen Elizabeth put up. She made gardens in the shape of an "E," for Elizabeth, just one more way in which she used symbolism to solidify her reign: appearing as the Virgin Queen, for example, or wearing a dress embroidered with eyes and ears to indicate that she knew all that was going on in her castle; she had spies.”

ThinkingWayKindMadeEyeUsedExampleShapesGardenEarsDressesQueensJust OneReignVirginsSpyCastlesAppearingSymbolismQueen ElizabethWearing A Dress
Author:Martha Ronk
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“There's a depth to the nightmare, to the symbolism you can exploit, on an intellectual level, on a sexual level, on a primal, violent level, and I think all of those things together are just great. They're the spice and ingredients in the menu of the horror movie, and I think that's why we'll be around for a long time.”

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Author:Robert Englund
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“As I write in the book, I do not regret either of my votes for President [Barack] Obama, nor my support of him when he ran for the Senate before that. I get excited as I ever did when I see that black man on Air Force One. But I won't settle for symbolism, and our President's record should be open for analysis.”

MenShouldWritingBookForceBlackPresidentSupportRecordsAirRegretVoteExcitedBarackSettlingRanAnalysisSenateSymbolismPresident Barack ObamaAir ForceAir Force One
Author:Julianne Malveaux
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“[Winning the White House was an achievement], but as an African-American, [Barack Obama], I think the symbolism is in how he conducted himself. The symbolism was in - and this sounds really, really small, but it's actually big for African-Americans - the symbolism was not in being an embarrassment, but to being a figure that folks were actually proud of.”

ThinkingBigsHouseWinningSoundWhiteFiguresProudAchievementFolksBarackAfrican AmericanWhite HouseEmbarrassmentSymbolism
Author:Ta-Nehisi Coates
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“When we were kids, you picked up a little paper and put it on a stick; and when you waved it back and forth, you understood the power of air underneath the wings. In that way, a child begins to understand abstraction, poetry, metaphor, symbolism. You play with the materials you have and use your imagination to make them into something else. That what's so sad about having everything on a little screen - it's not physical and dimensional, and that seems backward.”

WayChildrenLittlesPlayUseSeemsKidsImaginationAirMaterialsPaperUnderstoodWingsSticksMetaphorScreensAbstractionBack And ForthSymbolismSo Sad
Author:Julie Taymor
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“It's Nathaniel Hawthorne Month in English. Poor Nathaniel. Does he know what they've done to him? We're reading The Scarlet Letter one sentence at a time, tearing it up and chewing on its bones. It's all about SYMBOLISM, says Hairwoman. Every word chosen by Nathaniel, every comma, every paragraph break -- these were all done on purpose. To get a decent grade in her class, we have to figure out what he was really trying to say. Why couldn't he just say what he meant? Would they pin scarlet letters on his chest? B for blunt, S for straightforward?”

KnowsTryingDoeDonePurposeReadingPoorClassBreakFiguresMonthsLettersBonesSentencesChosenDecentGradesChestsPinsStraightforwardSymbolismParagraphBluntScarletChewingOne SentenceHawthorne
Author:Laurie Halse Anderson
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“Who cares what the color means? How do you know what he meant to say? I mean, did he leave another book called "Symbolism in My Books?" If he didn't, then you could just be making all of this up. Does anyone really think this guy sat down and stuck all kinds of hidden meanings into his story? It's just a story.... But I think you are making all of this symbolism stuff up. I don't believe any of it.”

IfsThinkingKnowsBelieveKindMeanDoeBookStoriesCareGuySpeakStuffColorDown AndDon't BelieveStuckAll KindsSatDo You KnowWho CaresThis GuySymbolismHidden Meaning
Author:Laurie Halse Anderson
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“We got through all of Genesis and part of Exodus before I left. One of the main things I learned from this exercise was not to begin a sentence with "And." When I pointed out that most sentences in the Bible began with "And," I was told that English had changed since the time of King James. In that case, I argued, why make us read the Bible? But it was in vain. Robert Graves at that time was very keen on the symbolism and mysticism in the Bible.”

LeftCasesChangedTaughtKingsSentencesGravesVainMysticismGenesisSymbolismExodus
Author:Stephen Hawking
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“The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death. There is a kind of gestalt-shift between the two positions which makes it hard to change, and hard to raise questions on the matter at all without becoming embattled.”

LifeKindTwoMatterHardPhilosophySeemsDeathPositionFoodBecomingEatingRaisesMeatVegetarianControversyShiftingSymbolismMeat EatingGestaltRaises Questions
Book:Animals and why They Matter
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“Americans have a taste for…rocking-chairs. A flippant critic might suggest that they select rocking-chairs so that, even when they are sitting down, they need not be sitting still. Something of this restlessness in the race may really be involved in the matter; but I think the deeper significance of the rocking-chair may still be found in the deeper symbolism of the rocking-horse. I think there is behind all this fresh and facile use of wood a certain spirit that is childish in the good sense of the word; something that is innocent, and easily pleased.”

ThinkingNeedsMayStillsMatterUseMightSpiritCertainFoundRaceBehindsInvolvedTasteSittingHorseCriticsDeeperWoodsInnocentChairsSignificanceSelectGood SenseSymbolismRestlessnessSitting DownSitting StillRocking ChairsFlippantRocking Horses
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“Nobody believes that the man who says, 'Look, lady, you wanted equality,' to explain why he won't give up his seat to a pregnant woman carrying three grocery bags, a briefcase, and a toddler is seized with the symbolism of idealism.”

MenGivingBelieveLooksWantedThreeGiving UpMannersSeatsBagsPregnantIdealismGroceriesSymbolismToddlerPregnant WomenBriefcasesWon't Give UpMiss Manners
Book:Common courtesy: in which Miss Manners solves the problem that baffled Mr. Jefferson
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“Halt regarded him. He loved Horace like a younger brother. Even like a second son, after Will. He admired his skill with a sword and his courage in battle. But sometimes, just sometimes, he felt an overwhelming desire to ram the young warrior's head against a convenient tree. "You have no sense of drama or symbolism, do you?" he asked. "Huh?" replied Horace, not quite understanding. Halt looked around for a convenient tree. Luckily for Horace, there were none in sight.”

SometimesYoungDesireFeltUnderstandingTreeSonBrotherDramaBattleSkillsSightWarriorOverwhelmingConvenientHaltSymbolismRamsYounger BrotherOverwhelming Desire
Author:John Flanagan
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“Symbols and emblems were everywhere. Buildings and pictures were designed to be read like books. Everything stood for something else; if you had the right dictionary, you could read Nature itself. It was hardly surprising to find philosophers using the symbolism of their time to interpret knowledge that came from a mysterious source.”

IfsBookBuildingSourcePhilosopherMysteriousSymbolsSurprisingDictionarySymbolismEmblems
Book:Northern lights
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“Scapegoating worked in practice while it still had religious powers behind it. You loaded the sins of the city on to the goat’s back and drove it out, and the city was cleansed. It worked because everyone knew how to read the ritual, including the gods. Then the gods died, and all of a sudden you had to cleanse the city without divine help. Real actions were demanded instead of symbolism The censor was born, in the Roman sense. Watchfulness became the watchword: the watchfulness of all over all. Purgation was replaced by the purge.”

StillsRealHelpingActionBornReligiousSinCitiesBehindsPracticeDivineDiedIncludingRitualReplacedLoadedGoatsSymbolismWatchfulnessDivine Help
Book:Disgrâce
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“I suppose even Dictators have their chummy moments, when they put their feet up and relax with the boys, but it was plain from the outset that if Roderick Spode had a sunnier side, he had not come with any idea of exhibiting it now. His manner was curt. One sensed the absence of the bonhomous note. ... Here he laid a hand on my shoulder, and I can't remember when I have experienced anything more unpleasant. Apart from what Jeeves would have called the symbolism of the action, he had a grip like the bite of a horse. "Did you say 'Oh yes?'" he asked. "Oh no," I assured him.”

IfsI CanIdeasMomentsHandsActionRememberSidesBoysFeetHorseNotesAbsenceShouldersRelaxBitesDictatorRemember WhenAssuredSymbolismJeeves
Author:P. G. Wodehouse
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“The fact that an African American sits in the White House at the helm of government in the United States of America on this 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation represents both phenomenal political symbolism and a victory of faith in democracy that should not be lost on any American.”

ShouldStatesFactsGovernmentAmericaPoliticalHouseLostWhiteUnitedUnited StatesDemocracyVictorySlaveryAfrican AmericanWhite HouseUnited States Of AmericaAbrahamPhenomenalSymbolismEmancipationProclamationHelmEmancipation Proclamation
Book:Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry
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“One of the reasons that metaphor and symbolism are important in books is because they are also important to life. Like, for example say you're in high school and you're a boy and you say to a girl: "Do you like anyone right now?" - that's not the question you're asking. The question you're asking is, "do you like me right now."”

ImportantBookRealReasonSchoolGirlBoysExampleRight NowHigh SchoolAskingMetaphorLike MeSymbolismDo You Like MeSay To A Girl
Author:John Green
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“Though I like the various forms of football in the world, I don't think they begin to compare with these two great Anglo-Saxon ball games for sophisticated elegance and symbolism. Baseball and cricket are beautiful and highly stylized medieval war substitutes, chess made flesh, a mixture of proud chivalry and base - in both senses - greed. With football we are back to the monotonous clashing armor of the brontosaurus.”

ThinkingWorldMadeTwoWarBeautifulFormGamesFootballProudBaseballBallsGreedVariousFleshChessSensesCompareSubstitutesSophisticatedCricketEleganceMixturesMedievalArmorSymbolismMonotonousChivalryBall GamesMedieval WarAnglo Saxon
Author:John Fowles
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