Ephemeral Quotes 

Substance is enduring, form is ephemeral. Preserve substance; modify form; know the difference .
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To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervour , to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach , the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.


— Pablo Casals, in CONCERTS AT SAINT THOMAS - Saint Thomas Church

Tags: strip, human, nature, divine, attributes, clear, inform, ordinary, activities

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We wallow in nostalgia but manage to get it all wrong. True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories [...] but American-style nostalgia is about as ephemeral as copyrighted déjà vu.

florence king

— "Déjà Views", in Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye (1989), p. 112

Tags: We, wallow, nostalgia, manage, wrong, True, composition, disjointed, memories

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"So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories." "There’s a very basic human, non-verbal aspect to our need to make music and use it as part of our human expression. It doesn’t have to do with body movements, it doesn't have to do with articulation of a language, but with something spiritual."

john williams

— John Williams, quoted from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial CD liner notes

Tags: what, we, quickly, forgotten, ourselves, gratifying, something, you, done

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Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.


— Denis Diderot, in Quotes about Patriotism, p.4

Tags: Patriotism, motive, scarcely, outlasts, threat, society, aroused

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He must teach himself that the basest of all things isto be afraid and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop foranything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomedlove and honour and pityand compassion and sacrifice.


— 1950  Nobel prize acceptance speech.

Tags: teach, himself, basest, things, isto, afraid, teaching, forget, forever

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It was Sophie ( Sophie Arp Tauber, woman artist and later Arp’s wife) who, by the example of her work and her life, both of them bathed in clarity, showed me the right way. In her world, the high and the low, the light and the dark, the eternal and the ephemeral, are balanced in prefect equilibrium.

hans arp

— in 'Unsern täglichen Traum', Hans Arp; p. 76; as quoted in “Arp”, ed. Serge Fauchereau, Ediciones Poligrafa, S. A., Barcelona 1988, p. 11

Tags: Sophie, Arp, Tauber, woman, artist, wife, who, example, work

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Lay your sleeping head, my love Human on my faithless arm; Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave Proves the child ephemeral; But in my arms till break of day Let the living creature lie: Mortal, guilty, but to me The entirely beautiful.

wystan hugh auden

— Lay your sleeping head, my love (1937) Lines 1-2, Written January 1937; also known as Lullaby.

Tags: Lay, sleeping, head, love, Human, faithless, arm, Time, fevers

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Nietzsche … argues that all that passes in the life of a society is ephemeral and banausic except for the presence of great personalities, of men like Goethe … who seem to forge their own destinies, who seem to move unhampered by those burdens of existence which keep most men from rising above the vicissitudes of their daily toil.

john carroll

— p. 93 (Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974))

Tags: Nietzsche, argues, passes, life, society, presence, great, personalities, men

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Maeterlinck says that compared with ordinary truths mystic truths have strange privileges they can neither age nor die. Beauty is eternal and ugliness, thank God, is ephemeral. Can there be any question as to which should attract the poet?

florence earle coates

— The New York Times (10 December 1916) From "Godlessness Mars Most Contemporary Poetry."

Tags: compared, ordinary, truths, mystic, strange, privileges, can, age, die

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Nietzsche said the newspaper had replaced the prayer in the life of the modern bourgeois , meaning that the busy, the cheap, the ephemeral, had usurped all that remained of the eternal in his daily life.

Allan Bloom

— Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: 1988), p. 59

Tags: Nietzsche, newspaper, replaced, prayer, life, modern, bourgeois, meaning, busy

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Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral. You can never see your own face, only a reflection, not the face itself.


— "Looking For Your Own Face" as translated by Coleman Barks in The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia

Tags: face, infinite, You, can, never, see, own, reflection

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Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

Denis Diderot

— Denis Diderot, Observations on the Drawing Up of Laws (written in 1774 for Catherine the Great; published 1921).

Tags: Patriotism, motive, scarcely, outlasts, threat, society, aroused

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Let you sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm; Time and fever burns away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children and the grave Proves the child ephemeral; But in my arms till break of day Let the living creature lie: Mortal , guilty , but to me The entirely beautiful .


— W. H. Auden, in A Book of Love Poetry, p.155

Tags: you, sleeping, head, love, Human, faithless, arm, Time, fever

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Always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe , blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew.


— Marcus Aurelius, in The thoughts of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, tr. by G. Long, p.103

Tags: observe, worthless, human, things, Pass, then, little, space, time

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As for theatre, there's ups and downs to everything. Theatre is ephemeral. But that is part of its charm because you can always say the production was better than it was.


— Clive Barker, in Author Interview Clive Barker

Tags: theatre, ups, downs, everything, charm, you, can, production, better

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When the ephemeral vision 's lure is past All, all, must face their Passion at the last. So touch my dying lip : so bridge that deep: So pledge my waking from the gift of sleep .


— Hilaire Belloc, in Dionysus: a case of vintage tales about wine, p.309

Tags: When, vision, lure, past, face, Passion, last, touch, dying

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If Greer were a bit more honest and had a bit more perspective, she'd have a useful message to relay to young women about the perils of confusing sexual autonomy with the real but ephemeral ability to manipulate men.

Laura Miller

— Brilliant Careers - "Germaine Greer" profile at Salon (22 June 1999).

Tags: useful, message, relay, young, women, perils, confusing, sexual, autonomy

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I somehow see what's beautiful In things that are ephemeral I am my only friend , am I? and Love is just a piece of time In the world In the world.


— She & Him, She And Him - I Thought I Saw Your Face Today tab

Tags: somehow, see, beautiful, things, friend, Love, piece, time, world

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Such songs belong to a group of sometimes ephemeral phenomena which might be called "subjective folklore ".


— Víctor Jara, Music on the move; The UNESCO Courier: a window ... - unesdoc

Tags: songs, belong, group, sometimes, phenomena, subjective, folklore

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One of the most ephemeral and important things is atmosphere and tone and it's very hard to put your finger on what creates that.


— Julia Leigh, in Interview: Sleeping Beauty Director Julia Leigh

Tags: One, most, important, things, atmosphere, tone, hard, finger, what

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No matter how ephemeral it is, a novel is something, while despair is nothing.


— Mario Vargas Llosa, in 8 Fiske WordPower: The Exclusive System to Learn, Not Just Memorize, Essential

Tags: matter, novel, something, while, despair, nothing

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To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.


— H. P. Lovecraft, in The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, p.15

Tags: trace, remote, immediate, eternal, past, present, infinite, finite, me

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They who think that it is accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators , and therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether.


— William H. Seward, in The Enduring Relevance of Robert E. Lee: The Ideological Warfare .., p.46

Tags: who, think, accidental, unnecessary, work, interested, fanatical, agitators, mistake

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How fleeting is the world ... Yet it survives It is ourselves that fade from it and our ephemeral lives.


— Angelus Silesius, in Messenger of the Heart: The Book of Angelus Silesius with Observations by ..., p.36

Tags: fleeting, world, Yet, survives, ourselves, fade, our, lives

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No, love is an ephemeral and illusive concept, it doesn't last; lust lasts.


— Khuswant Singh, on being asked, "Have you ever been in love? in India Today International, Volume 24, p.358

Tags: love, illusive, concept, last, lust, lasts

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So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories .


— John Williams, in Conducting Business: Unveiling the Mystery Behind the Maestro, p.110

Tags: what, we, quickly, forgotten, ourselves, gratifying, something, you, done

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Blithe spirits bringing a myriad colours to our gardens , magic , ephemeral wings - butterflies - with short life-spans of a week to a few ...


— Alfred de Zayas, in Aphorisms

Tags: Blithe, spirits, bringing, myriad, colours, our, gardens, magic, wings

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My flower is ephemeral, [the little prince said to himself], and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet , all alone!


— In The Streams and Rivers of Minnesota, p.4

Tags: flower, little, prince, himself, four, thorns, defend, herself, against

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Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet! We do not record them, said the geographer , because they are ephemeral.


— In Chapter 15 (Anonymous)

Tags: flower, most, beautiful, thing, planet, We, record

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