Attention quotes
2.5K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside attention — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"We celebrate peace. Yet we pay no attention to the ways of curing aggression in human beings. And when one sees in psychoanalysis hostility disappearing as people conquer their fears, one wonders if the cure is not there."
"This profession [photography] is deserving of attention and respect equal to that accorded painting, literature, music and architecture."
"The last peculiarity of consciousness to which attention is to be drawn in this first rough description of its stream is that it is always interested more in one part of its object than in another, and welcomes and rejects, or chooses, all the while it thinks."
"I have a short attention span."
"I'm calling for dialogue. I'm gathering attention for dialogue which is what you do in a struggle for power."
"Excessive attention to the minutiae of astrology is one of the superstitions which has hurt the Hindus very much."
"When the tech geeks talk, I pay close attention."
"TV spots are short. If you can't hold folks' attention for 20 seconds before revealing the brand, find another line of work."
"... a mysterious intersection of chance and attention that goes well beyond the existential surrealism of the 'decisive moment'."
"There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention."
"That's basically what the drive is: "I want to be famous, I want to be noticed, and I want to be approved of." That's basically what you're after. "Give me attention, give me applause, give me an audience. A. A. A. Straight As." That's all you're looking for."
"Far too often we see attention paid to the firearm and not the criminal."
"You glance at an e-mail. You give more attention to a real letter."
"I'm not doing this to be a pop star. I've had plenty of money and attention. I'm doing it for credibility."
"The first space walk, it's really got your attention. You know you're travelling eight times faster than a rifle bullet, and you're outside. Second space walk, you're a lot more relaxed, you're looking over your shoulder, admiring the view of Earth. What was funny about the third space walk was that mission control in Houston called and said, "Take a moment and enjoy the view"."
"We often fool ourselves that we are concentrating because we fix our attention on wavering objects."
"The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them."
"An amazing realization is in the present moment there is only what is, but there are no problems. And if your attention remains in the Now, you no longer inhabit a world of problems. Challenges you may still face, but they come to you in the space of Now."
"A short attention span makes all of your perceptions and relationships shallow and unsatisfying."
"We can learn not to keep situations or events alive in our minds, but to return our attention continuously to the pristine, timeless present moment rather than be caught up in mental movie making."
