Personal Quotes
More Personal Quotes
Strange as it may seem to our Western egoism , the prospect of sharing in the general, impersonal immortality of the human soul kindles in the Sufi an enthusiasm as deep and triumphant as that of the most ardent believer in a personal life continuing beyond the grave. Jalaluddin, after describing the evolution of man in the material world and anticipating his further growth in the spiritual universe , utters a heartfelt prayer for what? for self-annihilation in the ocean of the Godhead .
— Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, in The Mystics of Islam (1914) edited by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, p. 124
I was a mere tourist with no part whatever in this great conflict; but it was my rare privilege, through an unusual train of circumstances, to witness the moving scenes that I have resolved to describe. In these pages I give only my personal impressions; so my readers should not look here for specific details, nor for information on strategic matters; these things have their place in other writings.
henry dunant— p. 16; As quoted in The Independent, Friday, 22 February 2002
An entrepreneur is very enthusiastic and dances to a different drum beat, but never considers success as something which equates to personal wealth.
— Dame Anita Roddick (1942–2007), British businesswoman. From her interview with Martyn Lewis, as recorded in his book, Reflections on Success (1997)
It's true that everything has its personal Legend, but one day that personal Legend will be realized. So each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new personal Legend, until, someday, the Soul of the World becomes one thing only.
paulo coelho— p. 156 (The Alchemist (1988))
Each individual work serves as an expression of our most personal state of mind at that particular moment and of the inescapable, imperative need for release by means of an appropriate act of creation: in the rhythm, form, colour and mood of a picture.
Lyonel Feininger— 1917 Letter to Paul Westheim, quoted in Wolf-Dieter Dube The Expressionists (1972).
The process has now run full circle: Preaching originates in personal counseling; preaching is personal counseling on a group basis; personal counseling originates in preaching. personal counseling imparts to the preacher a practical familiarity with human nature which he would not otherwise obtain.
harry emerson fosdick— As quoted in Preaching as Counseling : The Unique Method of Harry Emerson Fosdick (1966) by Edmund Holt Linn
We must all begin to question the experts. They have not really been right. No abundance of material goods can compensate for the death of individuality and personal creativity.
coretta scott king— Harvard class day address (1968); published in the July 1, 1968, issue of Harvard Alumni Bulletin
— As quoted in International Education Vol. 1, p. 26
The problem facing our people here in America is bigger than all other personal or organizational differences. Therefore as leaders, we must stop worrying about the threat we seem to think we pose to each other's personal prestige; and concentrate our united efforts towards solving the unending hurt that is being done daily to our people here in America.
malcolm (malcolm little) x— p. 21 (Speech in Detroit, Michigan (April 12, 1964))
Libertarians believe the answer to America's political problems is the same commitment to freedom that earned America its greatness: a free-market economy and the abundance and prosperity it brings; a dedication to civil liberties and personal freedom that marks this country above all others; and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade as prescribed by America's founders.
— The Libertarian Party: A Short History (2000) by Libertarian Party
If you do not believe in a personal God, the question: 'What is the purpose of life?' is unaskable and unanswerable.
— J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter to Camilla Unwin (20 May 1969). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981), Letter 310.
"We tried to make our characters as human and empathetic as possible. Instead of merely emphasizing their super feats, we attempted to make their personal life and personal problems as realistic and as interesting as possible. We wanted to make them seem like real people whom the reader would like to spend time with and want to know better.
stan lee— Huffington Post, 28 March 2012
Artificial flight may be defined as that form of aviation in which a man flies at will in any direction by means of an apparatus attached to his body, the use of which requires personal skill. Artificial flight by a single individual is the proper beginning for all species of artificial flight, as the necessary conditions can most easily be fulfilled when man flies individually.
otto lilienthal— Variant translation: Artificial flight may be defined as that form of aviation in which a man flies at will in any direction, by means of an apparatus attached to his body, the use of which requires the dexterity of the user.
I'm not unmindful of a man's seeming need for faith; I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniel's. But to me religion is a deeply personal thing in which man and God go it alone together, without the witch doctor in the middle.
frank sinatra— Also quoted in Frank Sinatra, My Father (1986) by Nancy Sinatra, p. 201
There was little public sympathy for T?j? in Japan in the post-war period. His responsibility for the war, his oppressive regime, and his failure to commit suicide turned him into a notorious figure. Later revelations about his personal integrity, impeccable family life, devotion to duty, and loyalty to the emperor somewhat improved his image.
Hideki Tojo— Professor Ben-Ami Shillony, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in The Oxford Companion to World War II (1995)
Without a belief in personal immortality, religion surely is like an arch resting on one pillar, like a bridge ending in an abyss.
— Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, Volume I: Essays on the Science of Religion (1867), p. 45.
A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures.
john f. kennedy
personal dignity is to be measured with the yardstick of one’s conscience, not with that of other people’s judgement.
Fausto Cercignani— Quotes We Cherish: Quotations from Fausto Cercignani, by Brian Morris (2014, p. 13).
Literature is not an abstract science, to which exact definitions can be applied.It is an Art rather, the success of which depends on personal persuasiveness, on the author's skill to give as on ours to receive.
— 1913 Inaugural lecture as Professor of English at Cambridge University.
That is how I would have acted before my accident, but now my personal history had become unimportant. It had stopped being history and was once more becoming a legend, a search, an adventure, a journey into and away from myself. I was once more in a time which the things around me were changing and that is how I wanted it to be for the rest of my days.
paulo coelho— p. 272 (The Zahir (2005))
My philosophy of life is that the meek shall inherit nothing but debasement, frustration and ignoble deaths; that there is security in personal strength; that you can fight City Hall and win; that any action is better than no action, even if it's the wrong action; that you never reach glory or self-fulfillment unless you're willing to risk everything, dare anything, put yourself dead on the line every time; and that once one becomes strong or rich or potent or powerful it is the responsibility of the strong to help the weak become strong.
harlan ellison— The Harlan Ellison Hornbook, (9 August 1973)
That pastor effects the most in the end who comes into closest personal contact with his charge. No amount of organizing, no skill in creating machinery and manipulating "committees" is a substitute for this. Who feels the power of a tear in the eye of a committee?
john hall— P. 413. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
How nauseating in view of all this to see Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, reduce this to a game of scrabble . . . to a matter of finding the right words. We now know that Fianna Fáil ministers see nothing wrong with a Minister for Finance taking large amounts of money for personal use from business interests as long as there is no proof that any specific favours were done.
joe higgins— Irish Independent
A gross but deflated old man, of cringing manners, inarticulate in speech and with the hygiene habits of a pig, and could not conceive how a man so utterly devoid of self respect could ever have been selected as a personal physician by anyone who had even a limited possibility of choice.
theodor morell— Hugh Trevor-Roper interviewed Morell in 1945
The artist may rightly venture the opinion that he does not convey ideas, does not preach, nor that he intents to convert people by using mass communication techniques... Better than handing out all kinds of wise advice, he could show life itself; he could awake forces lying dormant in everybody, he could launch an invitation to create direct and personal experiences.
antoni tàpies— p. 30 (In: Tàpies, Werke auf Papier 1943 – 2003, 2004)
I can truly say — and this in virtue of the whole structure of my thought — that I now feel more indissolubly bound to the hierarchical Church and to the Christ of the Gospel than ever before in my life. Never has Christ seemed to me more real, more personal or more immense.
pierre teilhard de chardin— Letter from Cape Town to Father General, Jean-Baptiste Janssens (12 October 1951)
Only in the theatre was it possible to see the performers and to be warmed by their personal charm, to respond to their efforts and to feel their response to the applause and appreciative laughter of the audience. It had an intimate quality; audience and actors conspired to make a little oasis of happiness and mirth within the walls of the theatre. Try as we will, we cannot be intimate with a shadow on a screen, nor a voice from a box.
Robertson Davies— Lew Fields (1941)
It is sufficiently evident from many circumstances, that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ did not establish itself without much opposition, especially from the unlearned among the Christians, who thought that it savoured of Polytheism , that it was introduced by those who had had a philosophical education, and was by degrees adopted by others, on account of its covering the great offence of the cross , by exalting the personal dignity of our Saviour.
joseph priestley— Part I : The History of Opinions Relating to Jesus Christ, § IV : Of the Difficulty with which the Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ was Established.
It is no longer open to doubt that the liberty of the press, and of speech, is within the liberty safeguarded by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from invasion by state action. It was found impossible to conclude that this essential personal liberty of the citizen was left unprotected by the general guaranty of fundamental rights of person and property.
— Charles Evans Hughes, (Near v. Minnesota, 1931).
