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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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

  

  Cindy Crawford

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

  

  Janet McTeer
  • Challenge

• '8 Mile' is so revered, it's like, everywhere I go, somebody's talking about it.

  

  Omar Benson Miller

• Being a good host offsets the deprivation and loneliness of my youth.

  

  Alan Ladd
  • Good

• I was always into comic books and horror stories and a huge consumer of pop culture. And then I worked for awhile for 'The Village Voice'.

  Colson Whitehead
  • Culture

• We hunger for connection to a larger community.

  

  David Shields
  • Community
  • Connection

• I don't mind putting my heart out there for the audience, and for the country music fans... to be vulnerable with them... that's my job as an artist.

  

  Tyler Farr
  • Music
  • Country
  • Mind

• I am attached to an incredible script called 'Wonder Drug,' about the DES drug disaster. It's a female-based drama, and I am so proud to be a part of because hopefully it will help evoke change - not only in our industry, but in the battle again corruption in big pharma.

  

  Alysia Reiner
  • Help
  • Proud
  • Wonder

• Most people are searching for a path to success that is both easy and certain. Most paths are neither.

  

  Seth Godin
  • Success
  • Easy
  • Certain

• Tender is the nightFor a broken heartWho will dry your eyesWhen it falls apart

  

  Victoria Legrand Beach House
  • Broken

• Well, my view before was a Western view, and I certainly understand marriage equality and civil rights, equal rights for all, but having visited developing nations and some of the poorest nations in the world, I realize how deep it goes and how much work really needs to be done to create equality for all.

  

  Jason Mraz
  • World
  • Work
  • Done

• A people unused to restraint must be led, they will not be drove.

  

  George Washington
  • People
  • Restraint

• 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