Alan Macfarlane Quotes

We live in a glass-soaked civilization, but as for the bird in the Chinese proverb who finds it so difficult to discover air, the substance is almost invisible to us. To use a metaphor drawn from glass, it may be revealing for us to re-focus, to stop looking through glass, and let our eyes dwell on it for a moment to contemplate its wonder.

Alan Macfarlane

• Wonder
• Civilization
• Glass

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Quotes to Explore

• I hadn't learned to read by third grade, which wasn't unusual for some kids. I knew something was wrong because I couldn't see or understand the words the way the other kids did. I wasn't the least bit bothered - until I was sent back to the second-grade classroom for reading help after school.

  

  Barbara Corcoran
  • School
  • Kids
  • Help

• The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.

  

  Francesco Guicciardini
  • Always
  • Actions
  • Brainy

• I try to travel as much as I can... I'm always looking for a reason to.

  

  Imtiaz Ali
  • Travel
  • Try
  • Looking

• Of course I believe imaginative architecture can make a difference to people's lives, but I wish it was possible to divert some of the effort we put into ambitious museums and galleries into the basic architectural building blocks of society.

  

  Zaha Hadid
  • People
  • Believe
  • Society

• When I was younger, I used to pray that I would die before my mom. That's just how much my mom meant to me. I couldn't imagine being in this world without her. But then seeing cancer - seeing what it can do to somebody - as strong and as tough as she was, there was nothing she could do. Cancer is a dirty, dirty deal.

  

  Dak Prescott
  • Strong
  • Mom
  • Cancer

• Basically, my mother couldn't hold a tune and when I was a baby, a rather tactless baby, I would ask her not to sing... you can't get to sleep if someone is singing off key nearby.

  

  Vikram Seth
  • Mother
  • Sleep
  • Singing

• In order to defend the Chinese race, one must first defend the Confucian culture; and in order to defend the Confucian culture, one must first defend the State. This is because what preserves the race relies upon intelligence, which is in turn nurtured by Confucian education.

  

  Zhang Zhidong
  • Culture
  • Education
  • Chinese

• Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.

  

  Ramakrishna
  • Good
  • Reading
  • Religious

• I was in Asia and people asked me about being considered sex symbol. I don't know if that's good or not, because where I come from, sex isn't something you're allowed to talk about.

  

  Bai Ling
  • People
  • Good
  • Me

• You have the power to remind us all that human dignity is not just a universal aspiration, but a human right.

  

  Barack Obama
  • Power

• Virtue is not a mushroom, that springeth up of itself in one night when we are asleep, or regard it not; but a delicate plant, that groweth slowly and tenderly, needing much pains to cultivate it, much care to guard it, much time to mature it, in our untoward soil, in this world's unkindly weather.

  

  Isaac Barrow
  • Up
  • Time
  • World

• The greatest part of the job was... that was for nine years it was a pleasure to go to work.

  

  Jason Alexander
  • Work
  • Job

• If you follow a strict diet for a few months, flaunting six packs abs is no big deal.

  

  Akkineni Nagarjuna

• We will discover through our own experience that this precious mind of love is the real wish-granting jewel, because it fulfills the pure wishes of both ourself and all living beings.

  

  Kelsang Gyatso
  • Mind
  • Real
  • Experience

• A just laicism allows religious freedom. The state does not impose religion but rather gives space to religions with a responsibility toward civil society, and therefore it allows these religions to be factors in building up society.

  

  Pope Benedict XVI
  • Up
  • Society
  • Freedom

• When you see U2 or the Rolling Stones, after years of knowing each other, they don't have to look at each other to connect.

  

  Jerrod Carmichael

• In the studio, I do try to have a thought in my head, so that it's not like a blank stare.

  

  Cindy Crawford

• If we want our regulators to do better, we have to embrace a simple idea: regulation isn't an obstacle to thriving free markets; it's a vital part of them.

  

  James Surowiecki
  • Free
  • Simple

• I think you have to challenge yourself constantly. Otherwise, it's boring.

  

  Janet McTeer
  • Challenge

• When we look up at the night sky and wonder, 'Is there anyone else out there?' we're also asking who we are in relation to them.

  

  David Gerrold
  • Up
  • Night
  • Wonder

• You need the commitment of people that aren't worried about that next election, who are going to do the right thing and worry about the next generation. It's called political courage. And I can tell you, with me, you don't have to ask whether I have political courage.

  

  Jeff Fitzgerald
  • People
  • Political
  • Worry

• I think self-discipline is something, it's like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.

  

  Daniel Goldstein
  • Exercise
  • Discipline

• We live in a glass-soaked civilization, but as for the bird in the Chinese proverb who finds it so difficult to discover air, the substance is almost invisible to us. To use a metaphor drawn from glass, it may be revealing for us to re-focus, to stop looking through glass, and let our eyes dwell on it for a moment to contemplate its wonder.

  

  Alan Macfarlane
  • Wonder
  • Civilization
  • Glass