Quotes about block
A collection of quotes on the topic of block, doing, use, likeness.
Quotes about block

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”

As translated by Richard Crawley (1951)
History of the Peloponnesian War

“I walked around the block twice, passed 200 people and failed to see a human being.”
Source: Tales of Ordinary Madness

Before his fight with Archie Moore (1962), as quoted in "Muhammad Ali was also great for civil rights" by Mark Wiedmer, in Times Free Press (17 January 2012) http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/jan/17/muhammad-ali-also-great-for-civil-rights/?print

As I Please (25 February 1944) http://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/eaip_01
"As I Please" (1943–1947)

http://www.popmonk.com/actors/leonardo-dicaprio/quotes-leonardo-dicaprio.htm

Quote, This time the struggle is for our freedom (1971)

"Notes on Nationalism" (1945)
Context: By "nationalism" I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled "good" or "bad." But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By "patriotism" I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.

Source: The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989), p. 239; this may be derived from a similar observation by Harlan Ellison which is sometimes misattributed to Zappa: "The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."

“Woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat.”

“Writer's block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they can have an excuse to drink alcohol.”


“A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist.”

“Immortality is like trying to carve your initials in a block of ice in the middle of July.”

2015, Remarks after the Umpqua Community College shooting (October 2015)

Grundrisse (1857-1858)
Source: Notebook I, The Chapter on Money, p. 76.

On First Principles, Bk. 4, ch. 2, par. 15
On First Principles

Interview published in Reason (1 July 1975)
1970s

2001 - 2010, Isa Genzken in conversation with Wolfgang Tillmans' (2003)

2016, Hajj hijacked by oppressors, Muslims should reconsider management of Hajj (September 2015)

Olive Gilbert & Sojourner Truth (1878), Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Bondswoman of Olden Time, page 303.

Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1999. Canto 5, Chapter 24, verse 3, purport. Vedabase http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/5/24/3
Quotes from Books: Loving God, Quotes from Books: Regression of Science

“Are you going to offer yourselves here to the weapons of the enemy, undefended, unavenged? Why is it then you have arms? And why have you undertaken an offensive war? You who are ever turbulent in peace, and laggard in war. What hopes have you in standing here? Do you expect that some god will protect you and bear you hence? A way is to be made with the sword. Come you, who wish to behold your homes, your parents, your wives, and your children; follow me in the way in which you shall see me lead you on. It is not a wall or rampart that blocks your path, but armed men like yourselves. Their equals in courage, you are their superiors by force of necessity, which is the last and greatest weapon.”
Vos telis hostium estis indefensi, inulti? quid igitur arma habetis, aut quid ultro bellum intulistis, in otio tumultuosi, in bello segnes? quid hic stantibus spei est? an deum aliquem protecturum uos rapturumque hinc putatis? ferro via facienda est. hac qua me praegressum uideritis, agite, qui uisuri domos parentes coniuges liberos estis, ite mecum. non murus nec uallum sed armati armatis obstant. virtute pares, necessitate, quae ultimum ac maximum telum est, superiores estis'.
Book IV, sec. 28
History of Rome

No known citation to Williams. Attributed in Quote Unquote (A Handbook of Quotations), 2005, MP Singh, Lotus Press.
The full quote is captured in a letter Tennessee wrote to Donald Windham and can be found on pages 57 and 58 of Tennessee WIlliams' Letters to Donald Windham. The quote is not misattributed.
Misattributed

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), XXIX Precepts of the Painter

Falsely attributed to Darwin, but actually from The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (1905) by Thomas Dixon, page 134 http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/c/11773-the-clansman-by-thomas-dixon?start=133.
Misattributed

Senate Votes to Block Expanded Background Checks for Gun Sales (17 April 2013) http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/17/senate-votes-block-expanded-background-checks-gun-sales
2013

Source: Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912), L. Coser, trans. (1961), pp. 88-92

Socrates, pp. 147–8
Eupalinos ou l'architecte (1921)

Introduction
The Wedge (1944)
Context: A man isn’t a block that remains stationary though the psychologists treat him so — and most take an insane pride in believing it. Consistency! He varies; Hamlet today, Caesar tomorrow; here, there, somewhere — if he is to retain his sanity, and why not?
The arts have a complex relation to society. The poet isn’t a fixed phenomenon, no more is his work.

26 August 1941, p. 91
Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943


“Cure for writer's block: blow something up(in the story)”

“writing about a writer's block is better than not writing at all”
Source: The Last Night of the Earth Poems

Source: On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy

“Beauty breeds beauty, truth triggers truth. The cure for writer's block is therefore to read.”
Source: The Humans

As quoted in The Life and Work of Martha Graham (1991) by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, <!-- de Mille precedes the Graham quotation with: "The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly, ... " -->
Context: There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
Source: Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart
Source: Roadkill

“Death: Do you never stop questioning?
Antonius Block: No. I never stop.”
Source: The Seventh Seal

Source: A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living

“Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.”

“Great," I said. "Another conference call. I havegot to start blocking your number.”
Source: Last Sacrifice

“Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego.”
The Tao of Who?
Source: The Tao of Pooh (1982)

“Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic.”

“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.”
“One question:do you want to hang ten or BE a ten?"-Massie Block”
Source: Massie
Part 1, Chapter 7.7; about the death of Travis's landlord, Ted Hockney
Watchers (1987)

24 February 2012, Cape Argus (p5), in response to the building of a toll plaza on Chapman’s Peak, South Africa.
Speaking & Features