Block quotes

Block

1.5K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

1.5K quotes
Mike Paul
Mike Paul Professional Athlete

"Trust, honesty, humility, transparency and accountability are the building blocks of a positive reputation. Trust is the foundation of any relationship."

Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck Statesman, Chancellor

"The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds prevailed... Therefore they sent their emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to open an abyss between the two sections of the Union."

C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis Writer, Scholar

"I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of suffering. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what make us perfect."

Martha Graham
Martha Graham Dancer, choreographer

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."

Explore further

Browse quotes that often appear alongside block — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

Quote collection

Block quotes (page 1 of 76)

Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Leader
Block

"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."

Read quote 124 likes
Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Leader
Block

"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress."

Read quote 111 likes
Robert Anton Wilson Author, Philosopher
Block

"Intelligence is the capacity to receive, decode and transmit information efficiently. Stupidity is blockage of this process at any point. Bigotry, ideologies etc. block the ability to receive; robotic reality-tunnels block the ability to decode or integrate new signals; censorship blocks transmission."

Read quote 102 likes
Elbert Hubbard Writer, Publisher
Block

"The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination."

Read quote 84 likes
Stuart Wilde Author, Speaker
Block

"Next, take a look at the quality of the people who surround you. Do these people back you emotionally, or not? If they don't back you, are they at least passive? If not, get rid of them. Sometimes it is hard to drop off your mates at the great bus stop of life. But remember, your energy will only rise in direct relationship to the number of things you are able to get rid of - not to the things you acquire. By getting rid of things, attitudes, encumbrances, and blocks of one kind or another, things fly."

Read quote 82 likes
Erich Fromm Psychologist, Philosopher
Block

"The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers."

Read quote 79 likes
Julia Child Chef, Author, Television Personality
Block

"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

Read quote 64 likes
Erma Bombeck Humorist, Writer
Block

"My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?"

Read quote 61 likes
Stuart Wilde Author, Speaker
Block

"If you deny yourself access to the child within because you're too serious, you also block your connection to the divine Light and your feminine self. Every creator who's any good uses their feminine side to create with.. Whether a scientist working on a hunch, a painter working on the interplay of colors, or a musician dealing with the juxtaposition of notes and chords."

Read quote 60 likes
Stephen Jay Gould Paleontologist, Evolutionary Biologist
Block

"Advocates for a single line of progress encounter their greatest stumbling block when they try to find a smooth link between the apparently disparate designs of the invertebrates and vertebrates."

Read quote 58 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Block

"Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army and calls it a war."

Read quote 54 likes
Laozi Philosopher
Block

"Those who know don't talk. Those who talk don't know. Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity. Be like the Tao. It can't be approached or withdrawn from, benefited or harmed, honored or brought into disgrace. It gives itself up continually. That is why it endures."

Read quote 53 likes
Nhat Hanh Zen Master, Author
Block

"If we are not empty, we become a block of matter. We cannot breathe, we cannot think. To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out. We cannot be alive if we are not empty. Emptiness is impermanence, it is change. We should not complain about impermanence, because without impermanence, nothing is possible."

Read quote 53 likes
Julia Child Chef, Author, Television Personality
Block

"Cassoulet, that best of bean feasts, is everyday fare for a peasant but ambrosia for a gastronome, though its ideal consumer is a 300-pound blocking back who has been splitting firewood nonstop for the last twelve hours on a subzero day in Manitoba."

Read quote 52 likes
Debbie Allen Actress, Choreographer, Director
Block

"Be true. Be beautiful. Be free. In the midst of segregation and racism Mamma raised us to be independent and free. We saw ourselves as citizens of the world, not of a block."

Read quote 51 likes
Stuart Wilde Author, Speaker
Block

"To make every little thing special is to grant a magical quality to your life. Once your life becomes charmed in such a way, whatever blocks you may have experienced in the past melt in the light of that inner energy pouring from your heart. From a businessman's point of view, this is beautiful, for everything you touch turns to gold. Further, it helps you to believe in yourself. In seeing worth all around, you make your every act an affirmation of your strength."

Read quote 51 likes
Russel Honore General
Block

"During the aftermath of Katrina, National Guard troops were positioned on every block to establish a sense of safety and source of help for the people in need. They did not leave communities until people were safe and sound."

Read quote 51 likes