Mean quotes

Mean

28K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

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Mean quotes (page 197 of 1399)

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau Philosopher, Writer, Composer
Mean

"Our passions are the chief means of self-preservation; to try to destroy them is therefore as absurd as it is useless; this would be to overcome nature, to reshape God's handiwork. If God bade man annihilate the passions he has given him, God would bid him be and not be; He would contradict himself. He has never given such a foolish commandment, there is nothing like it written on the heart of man, and what God will have a man do, He does not leave to the words of another man. He speaks Himself; His words are written in the secret heart."

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Jean-Paul Sartre Philosopher, Writer
Mean

"What do you want to do with the [Communist] Party? A racing stable? What good is it to sharpen a knife every day if you never useit for slicing? A party is never more than a means. There is only one objective: power."

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Jerry Reed Musician, Songwriter, Actor
Mean

"I mean, it's pretty hard to fight and hate and be angry when you're making music, isn't it?"

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Jerry West Basketball Player
Mean

"The marketing of players has created untold wealth for many sports stars. You can't blame them or the company that covets the relationship with them, but that doesn't mean the player is good."

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Jiddu Krishnamurti Philosopher, Speaker
Mean

"To be whole, nonfragmented in action, in life, in every kind of relationship, that is the very essence of sanity. Sanity means to be whole, healthy and holy."

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Jiddu Krishnamurti Philosopher, Speaker
Mean

"To concentrate implies bringing all your energy to focus on a certain point; but thought wanders away... Whereas attention has no control, no concentration. It is complete attention, which means giving all your energy, the energy of the brain, your heart, everything, to attending."

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Jim Jordan Politician
Mean

"For me, I think being a conservative means you are focused on all four key principles: strong defense, lower taxes, less spending, and defending traditional American values."

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Jim Morrison Musician, Poet
Mean

"I like any reaction I can get with my music. Just anything to get people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk, stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing something."

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Jimi Hendrix Musician, Guitarist
Mean

"To be with the others, you have to have your hair short and wear ties. So we're trying to make a third world happen, you know what I mean?"

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Jo Brand Comedian, Writer
Mean

"I wouldn't say I was organised at all. I just have to prioritise. Is it more important for them to be organised, or to have their dinner, do you know what I mean?"

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Jo Brand Comedian, Writer
Mean

"Some men are deeply likable but have attitudes I don't like. Does that mean I should completely dismiss them? It's like saying: if someone votes Tory can you like them? And, yes, I can. I have friends who vote Tory, and I'm appalled, but that's not to say they're not great people in so many other ways. We have a tendency to oversimplify things."

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Joe Dante Film Director
Mean

"I mean, movies are all geared to be basically under 25, and they're all tentpoles, explosions, excitement and all that - they take advantage of the big screen, which is great."

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Mean

"After all, poets shouldn't be their own interpreters and shouldn't carefully dissect their poems into everyday prose; that would mean the end of being poets. Poets send their creations into the world, it is up to the reader, the aesthetician, and the critic to determine what they wanted to say with their creations."

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Mean

"To be sure, a good work of art can and will have moral consequences, but to demand of the artists moral intentions, means ruiningtheir craft."

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Mean

"To appear at church every Sunday; to look down upon, and let himself be looked at for an hour by the congregation, is the best means of becoming popular which can be recommended to a young sovereign."

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John Adams Founding Father, Politician
Mean

"The people "have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge- I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers.""

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John Adams Founding Father, Politician
Mean

"As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington."

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John Adams Founding Father, Politician
Mean

"By my physical constitution I am but an ordinary man ... Yet some great events, some cutting expressions, some mean hypocracies, have at times thrown this assemblage of sloth, sleep, and littleness into rage like a lion."

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