Quotes about naming
page 51

Erving Goffman photo
Robert Boyle photo
Annie Besant photo

“There is a Path which leads to that which is known as Initiation, and through Initiation to the Perfecting of Man; a Path which is recognized in all the great religions, and the chief features of which are described in similar terms in every one of the great faiths of the world. You may read of it in the Roman Catholic teachings as divided into three parts: (1) The Path of Purification or Purgation; (2) the Path of Illumination; and (3) the Path of Union with Divinity. You find it among the Mussulmans in the Sufi — the mystic — teachings of Islam, where it is known under the names of the Way, the Truth and the Life. You find it further eastward still in the great faith of Buddhism, divided into subdivisions, though these can be classified under the broader outline. It is similarly divided in Hinduism; for in both those great religions, in which the study of psychology, of the human mind and the human constitution, has played so great a part, you find a more definite subdivision. But really it matters not to which faith you turn; it matters not which particular set of names you choose as best attracting or expressing your own ideas; the Path is but one; its divisions are always the same; from time immemorial that Path has stretched from the life of the world to the life of the Divine.”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man (1923)

Joe Biden photo

“You get a tax break for a racehorse, why in God's name couldn't we provide an $8,000 tax credit for everybody who has childcare costs? It would put 720 million women back in the workforce. It would increase the GDP, to sound like a wonk here, by about eight-tenths of one percent. It would grow the economy.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

17 September 2019
Biden vows tax credit will put '720 million women' back in workforce
Joseph Wulfsohn
Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-gaffe-put-720-million-women-in-workforce
2010s, 2019

Joe Biden photo

“In another January, on New Year′s Day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation. When he put pen to paper, the president said, and I quote, “if my name ever goes down into history, it′ll be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.”“My whole soul is in it.””

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause.<p>Uniting to fight the foes we face, anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness. With unity, we can do great things, important things.
2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Whoopi Goldberg photo
John Cooper Clarke photo
Sufyan al-Thawri photo

“every generation deserves at least 5 movies named "Spider Man 2"”

Dril Twitter user

[ Link to tweet https://twitter.com/dril/status/1250346754194591744]
Tweets by year, 2020

“The sworn secret is out. Pope Francis named me auxiliary bishop and I am waking up to what it means. Put a few prayers in for me. I will need them and be grateful.”

Gregory J. Studerus (1948) Roman Catholic priest

Hudson pastor becomes a bishop https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/02/hudson-pastor-to-become-a-bishop-faith-matters.html (Februay 27, 2020)

Arthur Keith photo

“From what we know of living anthropoids, we may infer that the chief mental activities of the group will be three in number—namely, those concerning with mating, maternity, and social behaviour. Each group will be attached to a territory and maintain its isolation.”

Arthur Keith (1866–1955) anatomy, anthropology, geologist

[A New Theory of Human Evolution, 1949, 207, Philosophical Library, https://books.google.com/books?id=DP9RAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=philosophy] (originally publisher in 1948)

Leigh Brackett photo
Leopold II of Belgium photo

“I have only one goal and one desire, namely to give myself a practical instruction, to get to know the world and its inhabitants. There will come times when this knowledge will be of use to me.”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

https://klara.be/leopold-ii-aflevering-1-0 Prince Leopold II on his second wedding trip in a letter to his father Leopold I of Belgium in 1854.

Matthew Stover photo
Daniel Kash photo

“I’m just one of those guys you know. I lived in England for eight years, I lived in America and I live in Canada. It’s sort of Canadian syndrome. There’s a whole bunch of British actors like that too, where you go, "I think I know that guy, I’ve seen him a million times but I have no idea what his name is."”

Daniel Kash (1959) Canadian actor

It’s that kind of thing, I don’t know if that will ever change but that is what my life is.
Interview: Daniel Kash Talks Mama, Aliens and Defiance https://www.gamesradar.com/interview-daniel-kash-talks-mama-aliens-and-defiance/ (June 14, 2013)

Jimmy Carter photo

“My name is Jimmy Carter, and I’m running for President.
It’s been a long time since I said those words the first time, and now I’ve come here after seeing our great country to accept your nomination.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Pre-Presidency, First Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech (1976)

David Cay Johnston photo

“Trump started a faux university named for himself that taught nothing of value and collapsed in scandal.”

David Cay Johnston (1948) Investigative journalist and author

It's Even Worse Than You Think (2018)

Sören Kierkegaard photo
Felix Adler photo
William Ewart Gladstone photo

“I am not slow to claim the name of Scotchman, and undoubtedly, even if I were slow to claim it, there is the fact staring me in the face that not a drop of blood runs in my veins except what is derived from a Scottish ancestry.”

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in Dundee (29 October 1890), quoted in The Times (30 october 1890), p. 4
1890s

William Stanley Jevons photo
Dustin Colquitt photo

“I think God put me in this position as a punter and in professional football because He wants something out of me to be able to share with other people, as a Christian, I think God has given me that platform to say, "Hey, I've allowed you to do a lot of things and I need you to speak My name."”

Dustin Colquitt (1982) American football punter

He always finds a way to put His people in situations where they can spread His Word and spread His name.
'I Want Them to See the Power of God': These 3 Christians Are up for NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2019/february/i-want-them-to-see-the-power-of-god-these-3-christians-are-up-for-nfl-rsquo-s-walter-payton-man-of-the-year-award (May 19, 2019)

Thomas Jefferson photo
Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“This year, I've had about half a dozen legislators tell me women really don't belong in the legislature, and they just can't vote for a bill with a woman's name on it.”

Beverly White (1928–2021) American politician

As quoted in The Daily Utah Chronicle https://archive.ph/ukNVj (December 5, 1979)

Paul Simon photo

“When I was a little boy, (when I was just a boy)
And the devil would call my name (when I was just a boy)
I'd say "Now who do,
Who do you think you're fooling?"”

Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer

Loves Me Like a Rock
Song lyrics, There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)

Arthur C. Clarke photo

“That’s what I think they’re doing, eating themselves alive. They murder in the name of God and blindly destroy the very ecosystem that sustains them.”

“People are people.” Bert shrugged.
“What you’re really saying is that people are animals,” Crane replied. “And I say to you, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can make a civilization, a real civilization, built on real understanding of ourselves and our universe.”
Source: 1990s, Richter 10 (1996), Chapter 20, “Shimani-Gashi” (p. 362)

“Seeing our creation’s name in print made us feel like minor gods; we had summoned into existence a human being, or at least the illusion of one.”

Tim Wirkus American science fiction writer

Source: The Infinite Future (2018), Part 1: Translator’s Note to the Reader by Daniel Laszlo, Chapter 16 (p. 188)

Prevale photo

“Seduction and attraction carry your name. You are my obsession, you are in the world to be my greatest passion.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: ​(it) Seduzione ed attrazione portano il tuo nome. Tu sei la mia ossessione, sei al mondo per essere la mia più grande passione.
Source: prevale.net

Bowinn Ma photo

“My English name is Bowinn Ma, but in Chinese, it’s Ma Bo Wen. Ma literally translates as “horse,” which is the family name, and Bo Wen literally translates to “plentiful script.” But what it means can be roughly translated as “ocean of knowledge” or “broad scholar.””

Bowinn Ma (1985) Canadian politician

It means someone who has a broad understanding of many things and someone who has the wisdom to use this knowledge in a good way. It represents what my parents and grandparents had hoped I would become as an adult. In English, my name is just a name, a series of sounds used to identify me. But in my traditional language, those two simple syllables are a culmination of all of the hopes and dreams that my family have had of me since my birth — aspirations that could never truly be translated properly across cultures in as succinct a way.
British Columbia Legislative Hansard, March 12, 2018: INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
Meaning of Name

Joe Armstrong photo

“Documents are full of paragraphs. But the paragraphs don't have name. So, we can't talk about the paragraphs.”

Joe Armstrong (1950–2019) British computer scientist

A Few Improvement to Erlang

Mateusz Morawiecki photo

“We cannot accept turning perpetrators and those responsible for committing cruel crimes against both innocent people and invaded countries into victims. Together - in the name of those who perished and for the good of our common future - we must preserve the truth.”

Mateusz Morawiecki (1968) Prime Minister of Poland

"Statement by the Prime minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki" https://www.gov.pl/web/diplomacy/statement-by-the-prime-minister-of-poland-mateusz-morawiecki (29 December 2019)

“One form of insanity bears the name curiosity.”

Source: The Heritage Universe, Convergence (1997), Chapter 18 (p. 433)

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Danez Smith photo

“Naming is important. In many black cultures you learn the importance of giving the right name or not naming things…”

Danez Smith American poet

On the importance of naming in “INTERVIEW WITH DANEZ SMITH” http://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/interview-danez-smith/ in The White Review (June 2018)

Frithjof Schuon photo
Claudia Kim photo

“I personally love auditioning. It's not just about that part: it's about getting to meet new people and really introducing myself to them - getting my name out there more than getting just that project.”

Claudia Kim (1985) South Korean actress

As quoted in "Discovery: Claudia Kim" in Interview Magazine (11 May 2015) https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/discovery-claudia-kim

Joshua Greene photo

“Utilitarianism is a great idea with an awful name. It is, in my opinion, the most underrated and misunderstood idea in all of moral and political philosophy.”

Joshua Greene (1974) American psychologist

Joshua Greene, Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them (2013), p. 106

Aubrey Thomas de Vere photo

“A warrior has no honor, no dignity, no family, no name, no country; he has only life to be lived, and under these circumstances, his only tie to his fellow men is his controlled folly.”

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from A Separate Reality (Chapter 6)

Robert A. Heinlein photo
Buchi Emecheta photo
Buchi Emecheta photo

“Being a woman writer, I would be deceiving myself if I said I write completely through the eye of a man. There’s nothing bad in it, but that does not make me a feminist writer. I hate that name. The tag is from the Western world – like we are called the Third World.”

Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) author

Speaking on her writing not as a feminist [as quoted in "Zikoko" https://www.zikoko.com/life/oldies/9-thought-provoking-quotes-from-the-literary-icon-buchi-emecheta/).

“I do not have the name recognition that some of the candidates have out there, so every day that goes by before that occurs is a day that is a missed opportunity to work on that.”

Dave Schatz (1963) American politician

Source: Missouri Senate leader Dave Schatz mulls entry into 2022 U.S. Senate race https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-leader-dave-schatz-mulls-entry-into-2022-senate-race/ (1 April 2021)

Tanith Lee photo
Bob Dylan photo

“Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's naming.’
For the loser now will be later to win”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Source: Song lyrics, The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964), The Times They Are A-Changin

“My name, as you may have guessed, is Theodore. I come from a strange stock. The members of my family were mostly epileptics, vegetarians, stutterers, triplets, nailbiters. But we've always been happy.”

Brother Theodore (1906–2001) German-American monologuist and comedian

[David Lefkowitz, https://www.playbill.com/article/stand-up-tragedy-brother-theodore-gottlieb-dead-at-94-com-95915, Stand-Up Tragedy: 'Brother' Theodore Gottlieb Dead at 94, Playbill, April 6, 2001, February 3, 2021]

Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie photo
Ahmed Rashid photo

“I think to some degree, all politics is personal. It would be naïve of me to say I wrote a book just about immigrants and there's nothing political about it. As has been pointed out to me in the past, it's political to have the last name that I have. There's nothing that's not political…”

Cristina Henríquez (1977) American writer

Source: On the indirect relationship between literature and politics in “Cristina Henriquez Talks 'The Book of Unknown Americans,' POC vs. MFA, and Compassion” https://www.bustle.com/articles/27838-cristina-henriquez-talks-the-book-of-unknown-americans-poc-vs-mfa-and-compassion in Bustle (2014 Jun 13)

Tracey Ullman photo

“My real name is Trace Ullman, but I added the 'y.'”

Tracey Ullman (1959) English-born actress, comedian, singer, dancer, screenwriter, producer, director, author and businesswoman

Source: On the subject of her name in Look in TV Annual (Independent Television Books Ltd, 1984)
Context: My mother said it was spelled the American way, but I don't think she can spell! I always wanted a middle name. My mum used to tell me it was Mary but I never believed her. I looked on my birth certificate and I didn't have one, just Trace Ullman.

Olaf Scholz photo

“Most of the citizens of this country certainly wished that the next health minister would be a specialist, really good at what he does, and that his name would be Karl Lauterbach — and it will be.”

Olaf Scholz (1958) German politician, federal minister of finance and vice chancellor

Source: Olaf Scholz cited in: " Epidemiologist Karl Lauterbach to be German health minister https://www.politico.eu/article/epidemiologist-karl-lauterbach-germany-health-minister-olaf-scholz/" in Politico, 6 December 2021.

“Loving and hating were so close, two sides of a coin whose name was Need.”

Barbara Hambly (1951) American fiction writer

Source: The Rainbow Abyss (1991), Chapter 9 (p. 153)

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor photo
Charlton Heston photo

“I’m told it’s very difficult to escape death once he adds your name to his list.”

Jim C. Hines (1974) American writer

Source: The Goblin Quest Series, Goblin War (2008), Chapter 16 (p. 301)

“Volcanic ash, despite the name, is dense as rock and can cause significant damage to structures, power lines and communications. It is also toxic because it contains chemicals such as sulfur, chlorine or fluorine, and it can therefore affect water supplies.”

Marco Brenna researcher, ORCID id # 0000-0001-6096-6999

Source: Marco Brenna (2022) cited in: " Force ‘astonishing’: volcanologist https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/force-%E2%80%98astonishing%E2%80%99-volcanologist" in Otago Daily Times, 17 January 2022.

Edgar Guest photo
Gilbert O'Sullivan photo

“I've been over and I've been under,
I've been through all kinds of hell.
Trouble was not only my middle name,
It was my first as well.
Through the years, all I've encountered,
I've just one thing to say:
"Hold on to what you got
and don't let it slip away."”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

I've been taken for far more rides
to places I've never been,
stabbed so many times in the back
I no longer feel a thing.
Oh, ask me what all this has taught me
and I'll tell you what I'll say:
"Hold on to what you got
and don't let it slip away.
Save it for a rainy day."
"Hold On To What You Got" (song)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Hold On To What You Got" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7YYinfmOUI (song on YouTube)
(+ Live performance in Japan, 1992. On YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nrmDG7frD4
Song lyrics

Edgar Guest photo
Gilbert O'Sullivan photo

“At the very mention of your name
I get shivers down my back and in my brain.
The parts that used to function normally
are now, as you can see,
acting very strange.
Oh, at the very mention of your name
I don't know why but if I were tied up in chains
I would somehow be released
all problems too would cease
my heart would never feel no pain.
At the very mention of your name.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"At The Very Mention Of Your Name" (song)
Song lyrics
Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "At The Very Mention Of Your Name" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNpIBp-wleI (song on YouTube. (Live performance in Japan, 1993.))

Michel Henry photo
Ricky Nelson photo
Vera Stanley Alder photo

“Those who seek to influence us always work on our individualities, either trying to stifle them with mass hypnotism or to spur them to life with such cries as 'Democracy!’ ... or fulfilment under some other name.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter I, Secrets Behind History

Prevale photo

“Elegance is woman: it bears your name.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) L'eleganza è donna: porta il tuo nome.
Source: prevale.net

John Ribat photo

“While we are saying that the Catholic Church is the mother church, then we have to be true to our name and embrace all.”

John Ribat (1957) cardinal

Source: Cardinal Ribat of PNG: putting the peripheries at the centre http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2016/11/18/cardinal_ribat_of_png_putting_the_peripheries_at_the_centre/en-1273170 (2016)

Eminem photo
Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye photo
Charles Lamb photo

“Atheists, or Deists only in the name,
By word or deed deny a God. They eat
Their daily bread, & draw the breath of heaven,
Without a thought or thanks; heav'n's roof to them
Is but a painted ceiling hung with lamps,
No more, that light them to their purposes.
They 'wander loose about.'”

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist

They nothing see,
Themselves except, and creatures like themselves,
That liv'd short-sighted, impotent to save.
So on their dissolute spirits, soon or late,
Destruction cometh 'like an armed man,'
Or like a dream of murder in the night,
Withering their mortal faculties, & breaking
The bones of all their pride.
Living Without God In The World (1798)

Amantle Montsho photo

“To taste God’s air, the adrenaline rush on track, thousands of people all eyes on me, fans chanting a name not friendly to a foreign tongue, ‘It’s Amantle Moncho from Botswana!”

Amantle Montsho (1983) Motswana sprinter

https://southerntimesafrica.com/amantle-montsho-hangs-up-her-spikes/ Amantle Montsho hangs up her spikes, The Southern Times, 24 October 2021, Retrieved 16 November 2021
"Simply the Greatest" (2020)

Joe Biden photo

“As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?  When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2022, May 2022, Remarks on the School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas (24 May 2022)

Chris Hedges photo

“Democrat or Republican. It does not matter. War is the raison d’état of the state. Extravagant military expenditures are justified in the name of “national security.””

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

The nearly $40 billion allocated for Ukraine, most of it going into the hands of weapons manufacturers such as Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, is only the beginning. Military strategists, who say the war will be long and protracted, are talking about infusions of $4 or $5 billion in military aid a month to Ukraine. We face existential threats. But these do not count. The proposed budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in fiscal year 2023 is $10.675 billion. The proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is $11.881 billion. Ukraine alone gets more than double that amount. Pandemics and the climate emergency are afterthoughts. War is all that matters. This is a recipe for collective suicide.
2022, "No Way Out but War" (May 23, 2022)

Jami photo

“Were Women all like those whom here I name,
Woman to man I surely would prefer;
The Sun is feminine, nor deems it shame;
The Moon, though masculine, depends on her.”

Jami (1414–1492) Persian poet

Alluding to Rabia of Basra, Nafahat al-Uns, as quoted in A Literary History of Persia https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Literary_History_of_Persia/q_n1DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA299 by E. G. Browne, p. 299.

“I now knew what it was, but just because you can name a thing does not mean you understand it.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 145

Swami Sivananda photo

“A devotee sees only the Lord in all names and forms.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Conquest of Fear (c-1960)

Nicolas Cage photo
Mikhail Gorbachev photo
Thomas Jefferson photo

“Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

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

1800s, First Inaugural Address (1801)

Joe Biden photo

“My name is Joe Biden. I am Jill’s husband.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Commissioning Commemoration Ceremony of the USS Delaware (April 2, 2022) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/04/02/remarks-by-president-biden-and-first-lady-jill-biden-at-the-commissioning-commemoration-ceremony-of-the-uss-delaware/
2022, April 2022

“Credulity, sectarianism, and sloth are three natural tendencies of man. Too often he canonizes them under nobler names.”

Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) Jesuit theologian and cardinal

Source: Paradoxes of Faith (1987), Ch. II. "Christianity", p. 21

Emmanuel Macron photo

“In the political debate we often ask ourselves the question of our identity. But our identity is never built on narrow-mindedness, or on first names or crampedness.”

Emmanuel Macron (1977) 25th President of the French Republic

Macron lashes out at Zemmour: “Our identity is not built on narrow-mindedness" https://palnws.be/2021/09/macron-haalt-uit-naar-zemmour-onze-identiteit-is-niet-gebouwd-op-bekrompenheid/
2017, 2021

Vladimir Zhirinovsky photo

“All of humanity knows me. My name is in encyclopedias, in registers and databases. Books have been written; films recorded. I’m happy, I’m satisfied.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"Aging Rebel: Vladimir Zhirinovsky Is Enjoying Another Moment" in The Moscow Times https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2016/09/02/aging-rebel-vladimir-zhirinovsky-is-enjoying-another-moment-a55177 (2 September 2016)