Agnes Martin (1912–2004) American artist
In 'Beauty Is the Mystery of Life', 1989; a lecture by Agnes Martin, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1989. Printed in Agnes Martin, eds. Morris and Bell, pp. 158–59
1980 - 2000
“Signs cannot be represented, in a spy’s report, so damningly as words.”
— Stendhal, book The Red and the Black
Les signes ne peuvent pas figurer, dans un rapport d'espion, aussi avantageusement que des paroles.
Vol. I, ch. XXVII
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) (1830)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "Signs cannot be represented, in a spy’s report, so damningly as words." by Stendhal?
Stendhal50
French writer 1783–1842Related quotes
Juliet Marillier book Wildwood Dancing
Variant: If a man has to say trust me, Gogu conveyed, it's a sure sign you cannot. Trust him, that is. Trust is a thing you know without words.
Source: Wildwood Dancing
“Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.”
Litterae autem sunt indices rerum, signa verborum, quibus tanta vis est, ut nobis dicta absentium sine voce loquantur. Verba enim per oculos non per aures introducunt.
Isidore of Seville book Etymologiae
Bk. 1, ch. 3, sect. 1; p. 96.
Etymologiae
Michael Kurland book Ten Little Wizards
He turned to Lord Peter with a sudden realization. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
”That’s all right, Your Highness,” Lord Peter said. “It’s a common reaction. Their spies are dirty, filthy scum, not fit to wipe your boots on, while our spies are noble gentlemen doing dangerous work for the love of King and Country. Would that it were so, Your Highness, but I’m afraid that sometimes the desired image is at fault—in both directions.”
Source: Ten Little Wizards (1988), Chapter 4 (p. 33)
Jasper Johns (1930) American artist
Watchman. Somewhere here, there is the question of "seeing clearly". Seeing what? According to what?
Book A (sketchbook), c 1965: as quoted in Jasper Johns, Writings, sketchbook Notes, Interviews, ed. Kirk Varnedoe, Moma New York, 1996, p. 60
1960s
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Centennial Oration (4 July 1876) http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/centennial_oration.html <br class="br">Context: p>One hundred years ago, our fathers retired the gods from politics.The Declaration of Independence is the grandest, the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever signed by the representatives of a people. It is the embodiment of physical and moral courage and of political wisdom.</p
Barbara Walters (1929) American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality
How to Talk With Practically Anybody About Practically Anything (1970), p. 136.