Ben Zimmer Quotes
Even though a definite article is supposed to bring something into focus, Donald Trump uses it in a very general way. It's seen by many observers as a kind of racial distancing. Often using that article seems unnecessary. [But] it is serving some function, which is to represent a group collectively rather than as individuals.

Quotes to Explore
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I am an optimist. I believe the future is bright. I think people who see life painted in dark colors are the ones who do not take ownership.
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One of the strange things about violent and authoritarian regimes is they don't like the glare of negative publicity.
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We just feel like history repeats itself. You ain't never going to see nothing brand new; you're only going to see when records are broken. And we're here to just set records and set trends and follow the footsteps that have been shown to us.
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Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.
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How can you think and hit at the same time?
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Every free day, every weekend, I am in a recording session. I'm very lucky to have such supportive people around me.
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I do expect a lot from myself, but it's also a balance of being... positive and also pushing yourself.
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I love hip-hop; I love Sleigh Bells. I also love classical music and musical theater.
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The concept of power we admire is power over someone else.
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It's nice to know that people are paying attention to you on the other side of the ball, but it's also kind of sad because you feel like you're a man that's being hunted down by some vicious animal. I feel they're going to come after me and do whatever they can to shut down the run, and that makes a difference with me in going out and doing my job.
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When two great saints meet, it's a humbling experience.
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Growing up, I always had two interests and two passions; one being public service and the other being the arts and acting.
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libraries are fascinating places: sometimes you feel you are under the canopy of a railway station, and when you read books about exotic places there's a feeling of travelling to distant lands
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There's an argument for saying that brave men deserve what they get, but it's a serious business forcing cowards to stand in harm's way.
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...And you're the only one who knows.
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The minute that you make the discussion in the room more well-rounded, multicultural, and of course having differences in gender, you're going to have a different approach.
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Even present-day fuels possess more than enough energy, if only we knew how to release and use it. Just as molecular energy is so freely used to-day, so atomic energy may bring interplantary travel within easy reach to-morrow.
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It's important to know what motivates you, not what motivates somebody else.
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...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.
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Even though a definite article is supposed to bring something into focus, Donald Trump uses it in a very general way. It's seen by many observers as a kind of racial distancing. Often using that article seems unnecessary. [But] it is serving some function, which is to represent a group collectively rather than as individuals.