Quotes

Jean Anouilh photo

“But one cannot weep for the entire world. It is beyond human strength. One must choose.”

Jean Anouilh (1910–1987) French playwright

On ne peut pleurer pour le monde entier : C'est au-delà des forces humaines. Il faut choisir !
Cecile or The School for Fathers http://books.google.com/books?id=MeWmNXPF2T0C&q="But+one+cannot+weep+for+the+entire+world+it+is+beyond+human+strength+One+must+choose"&pg=PA186#v=onepage (1954)

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam photo
A. J. Cronin photo

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its strength.”

A. J. Cronin (1896–1981) Scottish novelist and physician

As quoted in Today's Gift : Daily Meditations for Families (1985) by Hazelden Publishing, p. 11

Fausto Cercignani photo

“As long as his strength permits, the poor mortal must always climb new mountains.”

Fausto Cercignani (1941) Italian scholar, essayist and poet

Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni

Tacitus photo
Peter F. Hamilton photo

“The whole concept of salvation through belief offers strength to those who doubt themselves.”

Peter F. Hamilton (1960) English novelist

Athene, mother of Syrinx, resident of Eden habitat
The Night's Dawn Trilogy (1996-1999), The Neutronium Alchemist (1997)

“Man is weak and when he makes strength his profession he is even weaker.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

El hombre es débil y cuando ejerce la profesíon de fuerte es más débil.
Voces (1943)

John Steinbeck photo

“Faulkner, more than most men, was aware of human strength as well as of human weakness.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1962)
Context: Humanity has been passing through a gray and desolate time of confusion. My great predecessor, William Faulkner, speaking here, referred to it as a tragedy of universal fear so long sustained that there were no longer problems of the spirit, so that only the human heart in conflict with itself seemed worth writing about.
Faulkner, more than most men, was aware of human strength as well as of human weakness. He knew that the understanding and the resolution of fear are a large part of the writer's reason for being.
This is not new. The ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement.

Jesse Ventura photo

“Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.”

Jesse Ventura (1951) American politician and former professional wrestler

Interview in Playboy (November 1999)
Context: Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business. I live by the golden rule: Treat others as you'd want them to treat you. The religious right wants to tell people how to live.

David Bomberg photo

“An artist whose integrity sustains his strength to make no compromise with expediency is never degraded.”

David Bomberg (1890–1957) painter

David Bomberg "The Bomberg Papers", ed. Patrick Swift, X: A Quarterly Review, Vol 1, No 3, June 1960
Context: Speaking generally Art endevours to reveal what is true and needs to be free. All things said regarding Art are subject to contradiction. An artist whose integrity sustains his strength to make no compromise with expediency is never degraded. His life work will resemble the integrating character of the primaries in the Spectrum. At the beginning, of the middle period, and at the end… I approach drawing solely for structure. I am perhaps the most unpopular artist in England – and only because I am draughtsman first and painter second. Drawing demands a theory of approach, until good drawing becomes habit – it denies all rules. It requires high discipline… Drawing demands freedom, freedom demands liberty to expand in space – this is progress. By the extension of democracy – good draughtsmanship is – Democracy’s visual sign. To draw with integrity replaces bad habits with good, youth preserved from corruption. The hand works at high tension and organises as it simplifies, reducing to barest essentials, stripping all irrelevant matter obstructing the rapidly forming organisation which reveals the design. This is drawing.

Margaret Fuller photo

“Gathering strength, gaining breath, — naught can sever
Me from the Spirit of Life!”

Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) American feminist, poet, author, and activist

Dryad Song (1900)
Context: Chance cannot touch me! Time cannot hush me!
Fear, Hope, and Longing, at strife,
Sink as I rise, on, on, upward forever,
Gathering strength, gaining breath, — naught can sever
Me from the Spirit of Life!

Joel Barlow photo

“Strong in thy strength I bend no suppliant knee,
Invoke no miracle, no Muse but thee.”

Book I
The Columbiad (1807)
Context: Almighty Freedom! give my venturous song
The force, the charm that to thy voice belong;
Tis thine to shape my course, to light my way,
To nerve my country with the patriot lay,
To teach all men where all their interest lies,
How rulers may be just and nations wise:
Strong in thy strength I bend no suppliant knee,
Invoke no miracle, no Muse but thee.

Ben Carson photo

“You pray for yourselves and just ask God to guide you and to give you strength.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big (1996), p. 46

Robert Anton Wilson photo
Democritus photo

“Tis not in strength of body nor in gold that men find happiness, but in uprightness and in fulness of understanding.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

Kunti photo

“The wise have declared that a Kshatriya must be endued with physical strength, otherwise he is no Kshatriya.”

Kunti character from Indian epic Mahabharata

Pandu addressing Kunti for begetting more children.
The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section CXXIII

Mike Rosen photo

“Conservatives believe in peace through strength. Liberals believe in peace through cooperation and good will.”

Mike Rosen (1944) American political pundit

Rocky Mountain News column, 2000

Franklin D. Roosevelt photo

“The forests are the "lungs" of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States

1930s
Context: Forests require many years to mature; consequently the long point of view is necessary if the forests are to be maintained for the good of our country. He who would hold this long point of view must realize the need of subordinating immediate profits for the sake of the future public welfare. … A forest is not solely so many thousand board feet of lumber to be logged when market conditions make it profitable. It is an integral part of our natural land covering, and the most potent factor in maintaining Nature's delicate balance in the organic and inorganic worlds. In his struggle for selfish gain, man has often needlessly tipped the scales so that Nature's balance has been destroyed, and the public welfare has usually been on the short-weighted side. Such public necessities, therefore, must not be destroyed because there is profit for someone in their destruction. The preservation of the forests must be lifted above mere dollars and cents considerations. … The handling of our forests as a continuous, renewable resource means permanent employment and stability to our country life.
The forests are also needed for mitigating extreme climatic fluctuations, holding the soil on the slopes, retaining the moisture in the ground, and controlling the equable flow of water in our streams. The forests are the "lungs" of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. Truly, they make the country more livable.
There is a new awakening to the importance of the forests to the country, and if you foresters remain true to your ideals, the country may confidently trust its most precious heritage to your safe-keeping.

Thomas Jefferson photo

“We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to William Carmichael and William Short (1793)
1790s

Elias Canetti photo

“I repulse death with all my strength. If I accepted it, I would be a murderer.”

Elias Canetti (1905–1994) Bulgarian-born Swiss and British jewish modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and non-fiction writer

J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 142
Das Geheimherz der Uhr [The Secret Heart of the Clock] (1987)