“[T]here is no greater sign of innate misery than a love of teasing.”
Anthony Powell A Dance to the Music of Time
At Lady Molly's (1957), ch. 1.
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951-1975)
“Teasing is very often a sign of inner misery.”
Source: Arguably: Selected Essays
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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Christopher Hitchens305
British American author and journalist 1949–2011Related quotes
“It is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
Umberto Eco book Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language
[I] Signs, 1.2.2
Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language (1984)
Context: The sign is a gesture produced with the intention of communicating, that is, in order to transmit one's representation or inner state to another being. The existence of a certain rule (a code) enabling both the sender and the addressee to understand the manifestation in the same way must, of course, be presupposed if the transmission is to be successful; in this sense, navy flags, street signs, signboards, trademarks, labels, emblems, coats of arms, and letters are taken to be signs.<!-- Dictionaries and cultivated language must at this point agree and take as signs also words, that is, the elements of verbal language. In all the cases examined here, the relationship between the and that for which it stands seems to be less adventurous than for the first category.
“Often a sign of expertise is noticing what doesn't happen.”
Malcolm Gladwell book Blink
Source: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
Writing (1990).
Context: Once or twice I have tried to talk to film people about my ugly heroine. I explain to them the extraordinary psychological fascination of the medieval legend of the Loathly Damsel, whose splendour of spirit is confined within a hideous body, and she becomes beautiful only when she is understood and loved. I advise you not to talk to resolutely Hollywood minds about the Loathly Damsel. Their eyes glaze, and their cigars go out, and behind the lenses of their horn-rimmed spectacles I see the dominating symbol of their inner life: it is a dollar sign.
“A sign of a celebrity is often that his name is worth more than his services.”
Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American historian
Source: The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961), p. 220.
“It is terrible bad luck. Owls are often augurs of death, Mr. Flattery. There is no surer sign.”
Sean Russell (1952) author
“Not even the cessation of breathing?” the viscount asked, but neither Tristam nor Beacham laughed.
Source: World Without End (1995), Chapter 39 (p. 557)
“It's often a bad sign when people defend themselves against charges which haven't been made.”
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist
Source: Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left