Acute Quotes
More Acute Quotes
Religion is far more acute than science, and if it only added judgement to insight, would be the greatest thing in the world.
— 1913-14 Maurice (published1971), ch.44.
Lords and Commons of England, consider what nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors: a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, subtle and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to.
john milton— 1644 Areopagitica: a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing.
A sensitive boy's humiliations may be very good fun for ordinary thick-skinned grown-ups; but to the boy himself theyareso acute, so ignominious, that he cannot confess themcannot but deny them passionately.
George Bernard Shaw— 1903 JohnTanner. Man and Superman, act1.
It was inevitable that as soon as we had enjoyed a few days of reasonable summer weather, the country would suffer an acute water shortage. It can rain for100 days, but if the sun shines on the 101st there will be hosepipe restrictions on the 102nd.
Auberon Alexander Waugh— Way of the World: The Forgotten Years: 1995-6 (1997)
No matter how we definetheterm,Canada has an acute shortage of rich people. 916
— 1985 Giving one reason why taxing the wealthy would not ensure the continuation of Canada's social programs, at the Canadian Economics Association, Montreal, 30 May.
The only other thing I've noticed is some kind of acute muscular spasm in my neck and left shoulder, and that's hardly entertaining, except maybe for the bit where the doctor rather brilliantly prescribed me diazepam so I necked some and walked very slowly around the Westfield shopping centre listening to Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme on repeat on an MP3 player, smiling eerily at shoppers.
charlie brooker— The Guardian 9 February 2009. [10]
Many Europeans, while admiring the strength and power of the American economy, undoubtedly feel that the system of social values which prevails in the United States, manifested in the acute problems evident in the inner cities and the level of violent crime, for example, leaves much to be desired.
paul ormerod— Chapter 10, Economics Revisited, p. 206
None speak of the bravery, the might, or the intellect of Jesus; but the devil is always imagined as a being of acute intellect, political cunning, and the fiercest courage. These universal and instinctive tendencies of the human mind reveal much.
lydia maria child— Source: Letters from New York, vol. 1, letter 34.
My own views on all matters of public revenue and public expenditure are conditioned by an acute appreciation of whose is the sacrifice that produces public revenue and to whom accrues the benefit of public spending.
john james cowperthwaite— March 24, 1966, page 216.
Every sound perceived by the acute ear in the rhythm of the world about us can be represented musically. Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear.
claude debussy— Statement of 1910, as quoted in Debussy on Music (1977) edited and translated by Françoise Lesure and Richard Langham Smith, p. 243
Becky Sharp's acute remark that it is not difficult to be virtuous on ten thousand a year, has its application to nations; and it is futile to expect a hungry and squalid population to be anything but violent and gross.
thomas henry huxley— "Joseph Priestley" (1874).
What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg— G 7 (Notebook G (1779-1783))
[Merton states that anomie represents] An acute disjunction between the cultural norms and goals and the socially structured capacities of members of the group to act in accord with them.
— p.162 (1957 edition) as cited in: John H. Scanzoni (1970) Opportunity and the family. p.55
Greece had to lose, her pure consciousness had to make our agony only more acute. We needed God loving us in our weakness and not in the glory of beatitude.
czesław miłosz— "To Raja Rao" (1969) (A poem written in English)
Actually there is little acute hatred of Germany left in this country, and even less, I should expect to find, in the army of occupation. Only the minority of sadists, who must have their "atrocities" from one source or another, take a keen interest in the hunting-down of war criminals and quislings.
george orwell— "Revenge is Sour", Tribune (9 November 1945)
A sort of egotistical self-evaluation is unavoidable in those joys in which erudition and art mingle and in which aesthetic pleasure may become more acute, but not remain as pure.
Marcel Proust— Preface (1910) to The Bible of Amiens by John Ruskin, translated by Proust (1904); from Marcel Proust: On Reading Ruskin, trans. Jean Autret and Philip J. Wolfe (Yale University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-300-04503-4), p. 53
As the antagonism between those who possess, and those who do not, is becoming more acute day after day, we can already foresee a moment when it will bring about ("entraînera", Fr.) severe (big, high, intense, - "grands", Fr.) disasters, if we do turn (direct, aim, - "dirige", Fr.) life in time the social life in new directions (or ways, - "dans des voies nouvelles", Fr.)
african spir— p. 46 (Words of a Sage : Selected thoughts of African Spir (1937))
If some really acute observer made as much of egotism as Freud has made of sex , people would forget a good deal about sex and find the explanation for everything in egotism.
wallace stevens— Letter (10 January 1936); as published in Letters of Wallace Stevens (1966) edited by Holly Stevens, (No. 339)
He had a sensation of anxiety and shame, a sensitivity acute beyond usefulness, as if the nervous system, flayed of its old hide of social usage, must record every touch of pain.
john updike— On Franz Kafka, quoted in report on Great Books discussion groups, New York Times (28 February 1985)
On the supposition that the world is to go on divided among aggressive sovereign states, with phases of war preparation known as peace and acute phases of more and more destructive war, it is quite a good move in the game. On the supposition that the world is growing up to an age of reason, and that a world of civilisation is attainable, it is a monstrous crime.
— On the British government's decision to build the Singapore Naval Base, in an article for the Westminster Gazette (13 October 1923)
Removing the threat of a world war a nuclear war is the most acute and urgent task of the present day. Mankind is confronted with a choice: we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilation.
— Final Document of the United Nations First Special Session on Disarmament, 1978.
The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtle, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humour and so little wit in their literature.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, speaking on April 23, 1832; Henry Nelson Coleridge (ed.) Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1905) p. 171.
Although the most acute judges of the witches and even the witches themselves, were convinced of the guilt of witchery, the guilt nevertheless was non-existent. It is thus with all guilt.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, in Walter Kaufmann, translator, The Portable Nietzsche (1954), p. 96-97.
Pointed axioms and acute replies fly loose about the world, and are assigned successively to those whom it may be the fashion to celebrate.
— Samuel Johnson. ‘Waller’, Lives of the Poets (1779-81)
Being heartbroken doesn’t mean you stop feeling. Just the opposite — it means you feel it all more. With your heart in fragments, every sensation is sharper, every emotion more acute. Your feelings are enhanced, like a blind man with an impeccable sense of smell, or a deaf woman whose eyes can perceive things a normal person would never recognize. The brokenhearted are the best empaths of all.
Julie Johnson— Erasing Faith (2014)
Although the most acute judges of the witches and even the witches themselves, were convinced of the guilt of witchery, the guilt nevertheless was non-existent. It is thus with all guilt.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, as quoted in The Portable Nietzsche (1954) translated by Walter Kaufmann, p. 96.
Despite conclusive evidence for the efficacy of clinical hypnosis in the management of many cancer related symptoms and particularly acute and chronic pain, hypnosis is currently under-utilized in these applications.
— Christina Liossi, Contemporary Hypnosis 2006 [ Hypnosis in cancer care
