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Usefulness Quotes

Browse 305 quotes about Usefulness.

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Usefulness Quotes

“By and large it is uniformly true in mathematics that there is a time lapse between a mathematical discovery and the moment when it is useful; and that this lapse of time can be anything from 30 to 100 years, in some cases even more; and that the whole system seems to function without any direction, without any reference to usefulness, and without any desire to do things which are useful.”

YearsWholeMomentsSeemsDesireCasesDiscoveryFunctionMathematicsMathematicalUsefulnessLapsesTime Lapse
Author:John von Neumann
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“Dimension stone, flint, rubble, burnt or unburnt brick, use them as you find them. For it is not every neighborhood or particular locality that can have a wall built of burnt brick like that at Babylon, where there was plenty of asphalt to take the place of lime and sand, and yet possibly each may be provided with materials of equal usefulness so that out of them a faultless wall may be built to last forever.”

MayUseLastsForeverParticularMaterialsWallEqualBuiltStonesPlentyDimensionsSandNeighborhoodBricksUsefulnessBabylonRubbleLimesLocalityAsphalt
Author:Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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“Dinocrates did not leave the king, but followed him into Egypt. There Alexander, observing a harbor rendered safe by nature, an excellent center for trade, cornfields throughout all Egypt, and the great usefulness of the mighty river Nile, ordered him to build the city of Alexandria, named after the king. This was how Dinocrates, recommended only by his good looks and dignified carriage, came to be so famous.”

LooksCitiesKingsSafeRiversTradeExcellentEgyptLooking GoodObservingHarborsUsefulnessCarriagesNileAlexandria
Author:Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
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“The man who works 52 weeks in the year does not do his best in any one week of the year, Daniel Guggenheim, onetime head of the greatest smelting and mining family in America, impressed upon me. Real recreation quickens aspiration. The true purpose of recreation is not merely to amuse, not merely to afford pleasure, not merely to kill time, but to increase our fitness, enhance our usefulness, spur achievement.”

MenYearsDoeRealAmericaPurposePleasureWeekHe ManAchievementIncreaseAspirationLeisureImpressedUsefulnessRecreationSpursMiningTrue Purpose
Author:B. C. Forbes
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“Whatever the country, capitalist or socialist, man was everywhere crushed by technology, made a stranger to his own work, imprisoned, forced into stupidity. The evil all arose from the fact that he had increased his needs rather than limited them; . . . As long as fresh needs continued to be created, so new frustrations would come into being. When had the decline begun? The day knowledge was preferred to wisdom and mere usefulness to beauty. . . . Only a moral revolution - not a social or political revolution - only a moral revolution would lead man back to his lost truth.”

MenNeedsLongMadeCountryFactsPoliticalEvilLostSocialLossMoralTechnologyRevolutionMereStrangerStupidityDisasterFrustrationCapitalistDeclineSocialistCrushedUsefulnessPolitical Revolution
Book:Les Belles Images
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“One of the duties which devolve upon women in the present interesting crisis, is to prepare themselves for more extensive usefulness, by making use of those religious and literary privileges and advantages that are within their reach, if they will only stretch out their hands and possess them.”

IfsUseHandsReligiousInterestingDutyAdvantageCrisisSlaveryPrivilegeUsefulness
Book:Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman: Addressed to Mary S. Parker
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“Many a woman shudders... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians.”

ArtFormLiteratureTerribleTasteMarriedIntellectualArmyFortunePatientNervousPhysiciansMartyrUsefulnessEclipsePropheticUnmarriedMarried WomenEarly Life
Author:Sarah Moore Grimke
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“Our age is one in which usefulness is thought to be the chief merit of nature; in which the attainment of power, the utilization of its resources is taken to be the chief purpose of man in God's creation. Man has indeed become primarily a tool-making animal, and the world is now a gigantic tool box for the satisfaction of his needs.”

MenWorldNeedsAgePurposeAnimalTakenCreationResourcesToolsEnvironmentalSatisfactionBoxesChiefsMeritStewardshipAttainmentUsefulnessGod's CreationUtilizationTool Boxes
Book:God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism
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“Let mine not be that saddest fate of all To live beyond my greater self; to see My faculties decaying, as the tree Stands stark and helpless while its green leaves fall... "She lives, but all her usefulness is past."”

SelfPastFallGreaterFateTreeMinesGreenAppreciationFacultyHelplessUsefulnessStarksSaddestGreen Leaves
Book:Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
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“One absolutely crucial change is that feminist film theory is today an academic subject to be studied and taught. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" was a political intervention, primarily influenced by the Women's Liberation Movement and, in my specific case, a Women's Liberation study group, in which we read Freud and realised the usefulness of psychoanalytic theory for a feminist project.”

TodayFilmPoliticalPleasureCasesStudyGroupsSubjectsMovementTaughtTheoryProjectsFeministLiberationNarrativeCinemaVisualsCrucialAcademicInterventionRealisedUsefulnessPsychoanalyticStudy Group
Author:Laura Mulvey
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“To be prosperous is not to be superior, and should form no barrier between men. Wealth out not to secure the prosperous the slightest consideration. The only distinctions which should be recognized are those of the soul, of strong principle, of incorruptible integrity, of usefulness, of cultivated intellect, of fidelity in seeking the truth.”

MenShouldSoulFormStrongWealthPrinciplesHonestyIntegritySeekingIntellectSuperiorsSecureDistinctionConsiderationBarriersProsperousFidelityUsefulness
Book:The Liberal Gospel: As Set Forth in the Writings of William Ellery Channing
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“Soothing touch, whether it be applied to a ruffled cat, a crying infant, or a frightened child, has a universally recognized power to ameliorate the signs of distress. How can it be that we overlook its usefulness on the jangled adult as well? What is it that leads us to assume that the stressed child merely needs “comforting,” while the stressed adult needs “medicine”?”

NeedsWellsChildrenCryAdultsCatMedicineAssumingFrightenedDistressInfantComfortingStressedUsefulnessSoothing
Author:Deane Juhan
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“I grew my mustache when I was nineteen in order to look older. I never shaved it off even though it overran its usefulness many, many years ago. Once you get started in television, people associate you with your physical appearance - and that includes the mustache. So I can't shave it off now. If I did, I'd have to answer too much mail.”

PeopleIfsYearsLooksI CanOrderAnswersToo MuchTelevisionGrewYears AgoAppearanceMailAssociatesUsefulnessNineteenMustachePhysical Appearance
Author:Walter Cronkite
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“The practice of medicine will be very much as you make it - to one a worry, a care, a perpetual annoyance; to another, a daily job and a life of as much happiness and usefulness as can well fall to the lot of man, because it is a life of self-sacrifice and of countless opportunities to comfort and help the weak-hearted, and to raise up those that fall.”

MenWellsSelfHelpingCareJobsFallOpportunityPracticeWorrySacrificeComfortWeakRaisesMedicinePerpetualHeartedUsefulnessSelf SacrificeAnnoyanceRaise UpPractice Of Medicine
Author:William Osler
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“Though freedom and wealth are both good things which most of us desire and though we often need both to obtain what we wish, they still remain different. Whether or not I am my own master and can follow my own choice and whether the possibilities from which I must choose are many or few are two entirely different questions. The courtier living in the lap of luxury but at the beck and call of his prince may be much less free than a poor peasant or artisan, less able to live his own life and to choose his own opportunities for usefulness.”

NeedsMayStillsTwoDifferentAbleDesireChoicesOpportunityWishWealthMy OwnPoorPossibilityMastersGood ThingsLuxuryLapPeasantsUsefulnessArtisansCourtiersBeck And Call
Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
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“When contemplating a shield that would protect America for incoming missiles, Democrats suddenly became hardheaded fiscal conservatives. For the first time in recorded history, liberals were concerned about the cost and usefulness of a government program. These people believe federally funded art therapy for the homeless will pay for itself. That you can take to the bank. But a shield to repel incoming nuclear missiles from American soil they said, was too expensive and wouldn't work.”

PeopleFirstsBelieveArtSaidGovernmentAmericaPayCostProtectFirst TimeConcernedProgramDemocratNuclearTherapySoilExpensiveContemplatingHomelessThey SaidShieldsMissilesUsefulnessGovernment ProgramsNuclear MissilesArt Therapy
Author:Ann Coulter
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“This present system by which industry is motivated exclusively by the quest for maximal profits - though it may have helped a great deal to develop, to industrialize our country so rapidly and so successfully - now it's clearly passed its usefulness. It is keeping us from achieving the ideal society that we should have. We say industry must produce to improve the quality of life for all our people.”

PeopleShouldMayCountryDealsQualityAchieveProduceIndustryIdealsShould HaveProfitOur CountryMotivatedQuestsQuality Of LifeUsefulnessIdeal Society
Author:Benjamin Spock
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“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.”

MenInspirationalMatterDoneNightPassionAttitudeRichWonderfulBedBenefitsIntellectualYogaEntrepreneurPositivityGreat ThingsPursueWellnessWhat MattersRichnessInventorVisionariesUsefulnessStudent SuccessCemeteryOwn BusinessBest JobBeing DoneDoingsSuccessful EntrepreneursBusiness InnovationBusiness WorldInnovation And BusinessReal JobsStanfordImportant JobsDifferent JobsThink DifferentMotivational JobStanford UniversitySuccess MantraAmazing JobDesign Work
Author:Steve Jobs
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“Empathy is a human trait. But lots of humans exercise some traits more energetically than others. By "the usefulness of empathy" I mean the way in which a progressive might claim that empathy is a crucial aspect of any benign political system, and the way a conservative might argue that not only is it not necessary, but it might not even be all that helpful, in that regard.”

WayHumansMeanMightPoliticalExerciseEmpathyAspectClaimsRegardConservativeArguingHelpfulProgressiveCrucialTraitsUsefulnessPolitical SystemsBenign
Author:Jim Shepard
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“Journalists don't sit down and think, "I'm now going to speak for the establishment." Of course not. But they internalize a whole set of assumptions, and one of the most potent assumptions is that the world should be seen in terms of its usefulness to the West, not humanity. This leads journalists to make a distinction between people who matter and people who don't matter.”

PeopleThinkingWorldShouldMatterWholeHumanityCoursesSpeakTermDown AndWestJournalistAssumptionDistinctionEstablishmentUsefulness
Author:John Pilger
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