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Unfamiliar Quotes

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Unfamiliar Quotes

“There is an anaesthetic of familiarity, a sedative of ordinariness which dulls the senses and hides the wonder of existence. For those of us not gifted in poetry, it is at least worth while from time to time making an effort to shake off the anaesthetic. What is the best way of countering the sluggish habitutation brought about by our gradual crawl from babyhood? We can't actually fly to another planet. But we can recapture that sense of having just tumbled out to life on a new world by looking at our own world in unfamiliar ways.”

WorldWayEffortExistenceWonderPlanetsEvolutionSensesBest WayShakesNew WorldGiftedFamiliarityUnfamiliarSluggishOrdinarinessBabyhood
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“Who shall blame him? Who will not secretly rejoice when the hero puts his armour off, and halts by the window and gazes at his wife and son, who, very distant at first, gradually come closer and closer, till lips and book and head are clearly before him, though still lovely and unfamiliar from the intensity of his isolation and the waste of ages and the perishing of the stars, and finally putting his pipe in his pocket and bending his magnificent head before her—who will blame him if he does homage to the beauty of the world?”

IfsWorldFirstsDoeStillsBookAgeStarsWifeSonHeroWasteWindowBlameLipsLovelyIsolationPocketsIntensityRejoiceMagnificentPipeHaltUnfamiliarHomageBendingArmourPerishingBeauty Of The WorldWife And Son
Book:To the Lighthouse
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“In a split second of eternity, everything is changed, transfigured. A few bars of music, rising from an unfamiliar place, a touch of perfection in the flow of human dealings - I lean my head slowly to one side, reflect on the camellia on the moss on the temple, reflect on a cup of tea, while outside the wind is rustling foliage, the forward rush of life is crystalized in a brilliant jewel of a moment that knows neither projects nor future, human destiny is rescued from the pale succession of days, glows with light at last and, surpassing time, warms my tranquil heart.”

KnowsHumansHeartMomentsLightLastsLife IsSidesDestinyChangedWindProjectsFlowPerfectionEternityBrilliantBarsCupsTeaRisingTemplesSplitsPaleJewelsSuccessionUnfamiliarTranquilMossCups Of TeaDealingsSurpassingFoliageCamellias
Author:Muriel Barbery
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“When you have been with your partner for so many years, they become the glove compartment map that you've worn dog-eared and white-creased, the trail you recogonize so well you could draw it by heart and for this very reason keep it with you on journeys at all times. And yet, when you least expect it, one day you open your eyes and there is an unfamiliar turnoff, a vantage point taht wasn't there before, and you have to stop and wonder if maybe this landmark isn't new at all, but rather something you have missed all along.”

IfsYearsWellsHeartHas BeensReasonEyeWhiteWonderJourneyDogOne DayDrawsPartnersAll TimeMapsWornTrailsGlovesUnfamiliarLandmarksVantage Point
Author:Jodi Picoult
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“We say 'forest' but this word is made of the unknown, the unfamiliar, the unencompassed. The earth. Clods of dirt. Pebbles. On a clear day you rest among ordinary, everyday things that have been familiar to you since childhood, grass, bushes, a dog (or a cat), a chair, but that changes when you realize that every object is an enormous army, an inexhaustible swarm.”

Has BeensMadeEarthRealizingClearChildhoodDogObjectsOrdinaryCatArmyEverydayEnormousForestsFamiliarGrassChairsDirtUnfamiliarPebblesSwarmsEveryday ThingsClear Day
Book:Cosmos: A Novel
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“We want to climb in with you,' Dermot said. 'We'll all sleep better.' That seemed incredibly weird and creepy to me - or maybe I only thought it should have. I was simply too tired to argue. I climbed in the bed. Claude got in on one side of me, Dermot on the other. Just when I was thinking, I would never be able to sleep, that this situation was too odd and too wrong, I felt a kind of blissful relaxation roll through my body, a kind of unfamiliar comfort. I was with family. I was with blood. And I slept.”

ThinkingWantShouldKindSaidBodyAbleFeltSidesSleepSituationBloodComfortBedShould HaveTiredArguingOddClimbsRelaxationCreepyUnfamiliar
Book:Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel
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“and in that recurring dream, I found myself trapped in some sort of gigantic game of which I was unfamiliar with the rules; lost in a labyrinthine town of dark and damp, criss-crossing streets, ambiguous characters of uncertain authority having no idea of why I was there nor what I had to do, and where the first sign of the beginning of understanding was the wish to die.”

FirstsIdeasCharacterDreamDiesFoundGamesLostWishUnderstandingDarkStreetsAuthorityTownsNo IdeaTrappedUncertainCrossingsUnfamiliarAmbiguousDampRecurringWish To DieCrossing The StreetRecurring Dreams
Author:Franz Kafka
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“The Sisters vanished entirely then, and Aunt Harriet was standing over Tessa, her face flushed with fever as it had been during the terrible illness that had killed her. She looked at Tessa with great sadness. "I tried," she said. "I tried to love you. But it isn't easy to love a child that isn't human in the least...." "Not human?" said an unfamiliar female voice. "Well, if she isn't human, Enoch, what is she?" The voice sharpened in impatience. "What do you mean, you don't know? Everyone's something. This girl can't be nothing at all.”

IfsKnowsHumansWellsMeanChildrenSaidFacesGirlEasyVoiceSadnessLove YouTerribleFemaleStandingIllnessAuntImpatienceFeverUnfamiliarThis GirlFemale Voice
Book:The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
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“She looked up from closing it to find Jace watching her through hooded eyes. “And one last thing,” he said. He reached over and pulled the sparking pins out of her hair, so that it fell in warm heavy curls down her neck. The sensation of hair tickling her bare skin was unfamiliar and oddly pleasant. “Much better,” he said, and she thought this time that maybe his voice was uneven too.”

SaidEyeLastsVoiceHairSkinsHeavyWarmPleasantNecksSensationsJaceClosingPinsUnfamiliarCurlsTicklingSparkingBare Skin
Author:Cassandra Clare
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“To those humans in whom I have faith; I wish suffering, being forsaken, sickness, maltreatment, humiliation. I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, and the misery of the vanquished. I have no pity for them because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures' . . . Remember, the passion for destruction is also a creative passion.”

ShouldHumansSelfTodayRememberSufferingPassionWishCreativeProveDestructionMiseryProfoundEndurePityTortureSicknessContemptHave FaithHumiliationUnfamiliarMistrustForsakenCreative Passion
Author:Richard Linklater
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“Its time we woke up,” pursued Gerald, still inwardly urged to unfamiliar speech. “Women are pretty much people, seems to me. I know they dress like fools - but who’s to blame for that? We invent all those idiotic hats of theirs, and design their crazy fashions, and what’s more, if a woman is courageous enough to wear common-sense clothes - and shoes - which of us wants to dance with her?”

PeopleIfsKnowsWantStillsEnoughSeemsCommonCrazyFashionDesignFoolSpeechClothesDressesBlameShoesCommon SenseHatsCourageousPursuedUnfamiliarIdioticClothes And Shoes
Book:The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings
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“Trust me, it's paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.”

IfsKnowsMindHurtFailingGenerationsHavensMinesRefuseCirclesHungryWelcomeBeachParadiseGlobesWorth ItIt HurtsPoliteInvitationsTrust MeTravel WritingUnfamiliarGreat Travel
Author:Alex Garland
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“If, on thinking this, I look up to see if reality can quench my thirst, I see inexpressive facades, inexpressive faces, inexpressive gestures. Stones, bodies, ideas - all dead. All movements are one great standstill. Nothing means anything to me, not because it's unfamiliar but because I don't know what it is. The world has slipped away. And in the bottom of my soul - as the only reality of this moment - there's an intense and invisible grief, a sadness like the sound of someone crying in a dark room.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWorldLooksMeanIdeasSoulMomentsBodyRealityFacesSoundDarkRoomsGriefSadnessCryMovementStonesBottomInvisibleIntenseMy SoulLook UpGesturesThirstUnfamiliarFacadeQuenchDark RoomStandstill
Author:Fernando Pessoa
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“The triumph of the written word is often attained when the writer achieves union and trust with the reader, who then becomes ready to be drawn into unfamiliar territory, walking in borrowed literary shoes so to speak, toward a deeper understanding of self or society, or of foreign peoples, cultures, and situations.”

SelfCultureSpeakUnderstandingSituationWrittenAchieveReadyReaderWalkingUnionsShoesDeeperTriumphTerritoryBorrowedUnfamiliarWritten WordDeeper UnderstandingUnfamiliar Territory
Author:Chinua Achebe
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“If I'm alone at home, I get increasingly restless, bothered by the idea that I'm missing some crucial encounter out there somewhere. But if I'm left by myself in someone else's place, I often find myself a nice sense of peace engulfing me. I love sinking into an unfamiliar sofa with whatever book happens to be lying nearby.”

IfsBookIdeasHomeHappensLyingLeftNiceMissingEncountersCrucialRestlessBotheredSinkingUnfamiliarSofasEngulfing
Book:Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall
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“Giving the tortoise a little wave, I kind of felt stupid afterward for doing so. It just stuck its head back in its green and brown shell. "That's a very interesting pet." "And those are very interesting shorts." His gaze dropped. "What are they?" Leaning forward his eyes narrowed and I stiffened. "Pizza slices?" Heat swamped my cheeks. "They're ice cream cones." "Huh. I like them." Straightening, his gaze drifted up me slowly, leaving an unfamiliar wake of heat behind. "A lot.”

GivingKindLittlesEyeFeltInterestingBehindsStupidGreenLeavingWaveStuckIceHeatHis EyesPetBrownCheeksShellsCreamIce CreamVery InterestingPizzaUnfamiliarShortsConesTortoisesIce Cream Cones
Author:J. Lynn
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“The measure of a man comes down to moments, spread out like dots of pain on the canvas on life. Everything you were, everything you'll someday be, resides in the small, seemingly ordinary choices of everyday life.....Each decision seems as insignificant as a left turn on an unfamiliar road when you have no destination in mind. But the decisions accumulate until you realize one day that they've made you the man that you are.”

MenMindMadeMomentsSeemsPainTurnsChoicesLeftRealizingDecisionOne DayOrdinaryEverydaySpreadSomedayDestinationCanvasEveryday LifeInsignificantTurn-onDotsUnfamiliarMeasure Of A Man
Author:Kristin Hannah
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“If the topic be highly abstract, show its nature by concrete examples. If it be unfamiliar, trace some point of analogy in it with the known. If it be inhuman, make it figure as part of a story. If it be difficult, couple its acquisition with some prospect of personal gain. Above all things, make sure that it shall run through certain inner changes, since no unvarying object can possibly hold the mental field for long.”

IfsLongPhilosophyStoriesShowsRunningCertainLiteratureWishDifficultInterestingSecretSubjectsFiguresExampleFieldsObjectsCoupleGainsAspectAll ThingsUnityEducationalWanderVarietyAbstractConcreteTopicsAcquisitionPupilsUnfamiliarPersonal Gain
Author:William James
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“The truly scientific mind is altogether unafraid of the new, and while having no mercy for ideas which have served their turn or shown their uselessness, it will not grudge to any unfamiliar conception its moment of full and friendly attention, hoping to expand rather than to minimize what small core of usefulness it may happen to contain.”

MindMayIdeasMomentsHappensTruthScienceTurnsAttentionMercyCoreFriendlyConceptionUsefulnessGrudgeUnfamiliarUnafraidUselessness
Author:Wilfred Trotter
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“The historian of science may be tempted to claim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them. Led by a new paradigm, scientists adopt new instruments and look in new places. even more important, during revolutions, scientists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well.”

IfsWorldWellsLooksMayImportantDifferentLightScienceCommunityObjectsPlanetsRevolutionScientistAccountsClaimsInstrumentsFamiliarTemptationChanging The WorldDifferent ThingsHistorianTemptedParadigmUnfamiliarNew Places
Author:Thomas Kuhn
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