Lin Yutang Quotes
Human history is not the product of the wise direction of human reason, but is shaped by the forces of emotion-our dreams, our pride, our greed, our fears, and our desire for revenge.
Quotes to Explore
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We must never forget that Black History is American History. The achievements of African Americans have contributed to our nation's greatness.
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Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know - and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance.
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I listen to KCRW in the car and Pandora radio, which I stream through the stereo from my iPhone. I've been listening to everything from Caribou to Conway Twitty. If I'm going on a longer car ride, I'll download some podcasts.
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There was a strange atmosphere on the set because we were filming in this large house, which was used for troubled children. You'd go in and find walls had been burnt down. The building was charged with this history and it stayed with us throughout the filming.
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The best revenge is to live on and prove yourself.
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As much as I don't want to admit it, my fans are the only ones that can hurt my feelings when they're not pleased with what I'm presenting. I want it to be perfect for them. I want them to have a different sense of pride in my music.
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Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included.
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There was no United States before slavery. I am sure somebody can make some sort of argument about modern French identity and slavery and North Africa, but there simply is no American history before black people.
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Radical thought has inspired many of the great political and social reform movements in American history, from ending slavery to establishing the minimum wage.
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History is the heavy traffic that prevents us from crossing the road. We wait, more or less patiently, for it to pause, so that we can get to the liquor store or the laundromat or the burger bar.
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The writing of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander.
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I really like all of the characters in 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt, especially Camilla, the one girl. I find her fascinating.
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I often wonder what I will be remembered in history for. Scholar? Military hero? Builder?
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Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.
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History laughs at both the victim and the aggressor.
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An anxious unrest, a fierce craving desire for gain has taken possession of the commercial world, and in instances no longer rare the most precious and permanent goods of human life have been madly sacrificed in the interests of momentary enrichment.
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I think if you come from a history of persecution you have to develop a sense of humour.
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In boxing, there are no bad guys or good guys. Just people trying to make a living and trying to live up to their pride and to try to become someone.
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I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people's right to know is cherished and guarded.
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To learn without thinking is labour in vain, to think without learning is desolation.
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I thought actors were artists and that artists had to be European.
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I don't care about what people might call my style. It's just like when people call my music 'jangly,' 'dream,' 'oceanside,' whatever - I don't care. I'm just wearing whatever I can scrap together.
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Human history is not the product of the wise direction of human reason, but is shaped by the forces of emotion-our dreams, our pride, our greed, our fears, and our desire for revenge.
