Quotes about matter (6767 quotes, page 67)

“Where the self is conceived as prior to its ends, independent of the roles it may occupy at any given time, reputation cannot be a matter of honor in the traditional sense. For the unencumbered self, not honor but dignity is the basis of respect―the dignity that consists in the capacity of persons as autonomous agents to choose their ends for themselves. Unlike honor, which ties respect for persons to the roles they inhabit, dignity resides in a self antecedent to social institutions, and so is invulnerable to injury by insult alone. For selves such as these, reputation matters, not intrinsically, as a matter of honor, but only instrumentally, as a business asset for example.”

Michael J. Sandel (1953) American political philosopher

Chap. 3. Religious Liberty and Freedom of Speech
Democracy's Discontent (1996)

Personality , Business , Sense , Time

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.”

Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993) British actress

Happiness , Life , Happy , Life

“To me it is always the people rather than the places that matter.”

Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003) British explorer

Source: Desert, Marsh and Mountain (1979), p. 122.

People

“Generals are, as a matter of course, allowed to be far more idiotic than ordinary human beings are permitted to be.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Our Federal Union (1975), p. 248
General sources

“I think that as long as somebody feels passion and there’s passion behind the words, it doesn’t really matter how loud or soft they are, they’ll reach you.”

Alisen Down (1976) Canadian actress

Source: 12 Monkeys: Alisen Down On Why We Love Olivia https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/12-monkeys-alisen-down-on-why-we-love-olivia/ (July 6, 2018)

Thinking , Passion , Feeling

“The question to ask believers is this: “Does it really matter whether what you believe about God is true—or don’t you care?””

Jerry Coyne (1949) American biologist

If it does matter, then you must justify your beliefs; if it doesn’t, then you must justify belief itself.
Source: Faith vs. Fact (2015), p. 63

God , Question

“Elegance is not a matter of good taste. Every culture has its own idea of beauty, which is often completely different from ours.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), About Elegance

Beauty , Idea

“No matter how various the subject matter I write on, I was a science-fiction writer first and it is as a science-fiction writer that I want to be identified.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

In Joy Still Felt (1980), pp. 286-287
General sources

Science

“It doesn't matter how much you think and wish, doing is what matters.”

Vladimer Botsvadze

Thinking

“It is a matter of disillusion to young male Americans otherwise informed, to discover that the French are a moral people — judged, that is, by American country-club standards.”

John Steinbeck book The Short Reign of Pippin IV

The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957)

Country , People

“They learn nothing, for they’re convinced they know everything that matters.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The Margarets (2007), Chapter 24, “I Am M’urgi/On B’Yurngrad” (p. 196)

Learning

“It is hard to have patience with people who say 'There is no death' or 'Death doesn't matter.”

Clive Staples Lewis book A Grief Observed

There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn't matter.
A Grief Observed (1961)

Patience , People , Death

“We must negotiate from unity and strength and stay firm on matters of principle and flexible on matters of procedure.”

Walter Reuther (1907–1970) Labor union leader

Address before the Berlin Freedom Rally, West Berlin, Germany, May 1, 1959, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 280
1950s, Address before the Berlin Freedom Rally (1959)

“Just write. Just write. Just write. [...]
When we are in the heart of writing it doesn't matter where we are. We can write anyplace.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Write anyplace". p.110, 111
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

Heart

“If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it. No hard feelings.”

Elon Musk (1971) South African-born American entrepreneur

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/elon-musk-warns-ai-could-create-immortal-dictator-in-documentary.html
Context: If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it. No hard feelings. It’s just like, if we’re building a road and an anthill just happens to be in the way, we don’t hate ants, we’re just building a road, and so, goodbye anthill.

Thinking , Way , Feeling

“You might be surprised to find this out, but sweets were a big problem for me when I was younger. It didn't matter what it was, I couldn't walk past it without buying it. Now I've cut sweets out. It actually took me several years to get to this point. Now I don't really like sweets anymore.”

Robert Lewandowski (1988) Polish association football player

"Lewandowski exclusive, pt II: 'We're stronger now'" https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/noblmd09-fc-bayern-muenchen-robert-lewandowski-exclusive-interview.jsp (2016)

Past , Problem

“No matter how good a system may be, it is of no use if the people do not want it. I believe that the intrinsic function of politics is to carry out the public will, if only on a probational basis, and to make sure it works well.”

Chun Doo-hwan (1931–2021) Korean politician and army general

1987

People

“He that is willing to tolerate any religion, or discrepant way of religion, besides his own, unless it be in matters merely indifferent, either doubts of his own, or is not sincere in it.”

Nathaniel Ward (1578–1652) Puritan clergyman and pamphleteer in England and Massachusetts

In 1647, as quoted in "Free Speech and Its Present Crisis" https://www.city-journal.org/free-speech-crisis (2018), by Allen C. Guelzo, City Journal

Religion , Indifference , Sincerity , Way

“Do not anticipate matters before their time that you may regret. Do not live just with wishes that your hearts may be hard. Be merciful to the weak and ask for mercy from God by being merciful yourselves!”

Muhammad al-Taqi (811–835) ninth of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'ism

[Baqir Sharīf al-Qurashi, The life of Imam Muhammad al-Jawad, Wonderful Maxims and Arts, 2005]

God , Time , Heart

“When I was young, the idea of “world cinema” didn’t exist. We would watch any films that we could find in the cinemas. Today, some of those films have become accessible again on streaming platforms. In a way, it doesn’t matter as much where they exist as long as people have access to them.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"5 Questions for Wong Kar Wai" in Notebook Feature (19 March 2021) https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/5-questions-for-wong-kar-wai

People , Way , World , Idea

“[N]othing gains weight but by the addition of matter, nor loses it but by its subtraction—so inseparably are matter and weight united, as has been shewn above in the sixth essay.”

John Rey (1583–1645) French chemist

Art. XI. A Translation of Rey's Essays on the Calcination of Metals, &c. (1822), Essay XV. Air dimishes in weight in three ways. The balance is deceitful, the means of remedying that.

“Any social democrat, no matter their intentions, will always find it easier to move to the right than to the left. ON one side lie guarantees of stability from powerful interests, on the other capital strikes and stubborn resistance.”

Bhaskar Sunkara (1989) American writer

Source: The Socialist Manifesto (2019), p.221

Lie

“I'm extremely gratified that people have heard and are taking ownership of Black Lives Matter. People now know that in their respective industries and countries, they have the responsibility to ensure that Black people are respected, protected and affirmed.”

Opal Tometi (1984) Nigerian–American writer, strategist and community organizer

Source: Black Lives Matter Was Always Designed to Be a Global Movement, Vice] (7 July 2020)

Country , People

“I think if you're meant to do something, no matter what, you'll always get there and I think you'll find your path, no matter what.”

Alessia Cara (1996) Canadian singer

Interview with Universal Music Korea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI68Ue0sPfo (October 2018)

Thinking

“Communism is nothing but a grotesque distortion of true Socialist thought. We and we alone could become the genuine Socialists in Germany, or for that matter, in Europe.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

Source: Letter to Count E. Von Reventlow (mid 1920s), quoted in Joseph Goebbels: A Biography https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.185382/2015.185382.Joseph-Goebbels_djvu.txt, Curt Riess, Hollis and Carter, London (1949) p. 37

Communication

“The lie that crossed our minds that African Gods are small Gods, thank our Gods that they were not refered to as Satan but rather Gods. The truth of the matter is that we have many Gods unlike the colonizer -Edy kasawuli”

Edykasawuli7

God , Truth , Lie

“Wealth won’t give you satisfaction, creating a good product that’s well received by users is what matters most.”

Ma Huateng (1971) Chinese internet entrepreneur

"TC Disrupt Beijing: A Fireside Chat With Tencent CEO Pony Ma" in Techcrunch (31 October 2011) https://techcrunch.com/2011/10/30/tc-disrupt-beijing-a-fireside-chat-with-tencent-ceo-pony-ma/

Wealth

“We are fighting to make sure that no country, neither today nor tomorrow, is denied funding based on an arbitrary and non-transparent mechanism. This is a matter of fundamental trust on which the European law is based.”

Mateusz Morawiecki (1968) Prime Minister of Poland

"In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine" https://www.gov.pl/web/iceland/interview-with-polish-prime-minister-mateusz-morawiecki-in-frankfurter-allgemeine (3 December 2020)

Law , Country , Fight

“But no one, no matter how intelligent, could make good inferences from bad data.”

Charles Sheffield book Transcendence

Source: The Heritage Universe, Transcendence (1992), Chapter 11 (p. 126)

Intelligence