Mean quotes

Mean

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

28K quotes

Explore further

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

Quote collection

Mean quotes (page 242 of 1399)

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

George Orwell Writer, Journalist
Mean

"[What Hayek] does not see, or will not admit, [is] that a return to "free" competition means for the great mass of people a tyranny probably worse, because more irresponsible, than that of the State. The trouble with competitions is that somebody wins them. Professor Hayek denies that free capitalism necessarily leads to monopoly, but in practice that is where it has led, and since the vast majority of people would far rather have State regimentation than slumps and unemployment, the drift towards collectivism is bound to continue if popular opinion has any say in the matter."

Read quote 4 likes
George R. R. Martin Novelist, Screenwriter
Mean

"...and when you’ve known me longer, you’ll learn that I mean everything I say.” “Even the lies?” “Especially the lies."

Read quote 4 likes
Gilbert K. Chesterton Writer, Journalist
Mean

"Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is: what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problems of the modern novel is: what will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tales the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos."

Read quote 4 likes
Gore Vidal Writer, Essayist, Playwright
Mean

"You will be favourable to Burr, and so must fail because the American reader cannot bear a surprise. He knows that this is the greatest country on earth, Washington the greatest man that ever lived, Burr the wickedest, and evidence to the contrary is not admissible. That means no inconvenient facts, no new information. If you really want the reader's attention, you must flatter him. Make his prejudices your own. Tell him things he already knows. He will love your soundness."

Read quote 4 likes
Franz Kafka Writer
Mean

"One can disintegrate the world by means of very strong light. For weak eyes the world becomes solid, for still weaker eyes it seems to develop fists, for eyes weaker still it becomes shamefaced and smashes anyone who dares to gaze upon it."

Read quote 4 likes
Franz Kafka Writer
Mean

"Celibacy and suicide are a similar levels of understanding, suicide and a martyr's death not so by any means, perhaps marriage and a martyr's death."

Read quote 4 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Mean

"Death and genitals are things that frighten people, and when people are frightened, they develop means of concealment and aggression. It is common sense."

Read quote 4 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Mean

"In fact, by universal grammar I mean just that system of principles and structures that are the prerequisites for acquisition of language, and to which every language necessarily conforms."

Read quote 4 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Mean

"Why did the people think [Vietnam war] was fundamentally wrong and immoral? The guys who ran the polls, John E. Rielly, a professor at the University of Chicago, a liberal professor, he said what that means is that people thought too many Americans had being killed. Another possibility is they didn't like the fact that we were carrying out the worst crime since the Second World War. But that's so inconceivable that wasn't even offered as a possible reason."

Read quote 4 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Mean

"I was in Mexico City. It's a very pleasant city in many ways. It's vibrant, lively, pretty exciting society, but also depressing in other ways, and sometimes almost hopeless, you know. So it's a combination of vibrancy and, I wouldn't say despair, but hopelessness, you know. Doesn't have to be, but it is. I mean, there is almost no economy."

Read quote 4 likes
Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Mean

"[For business after WWII ] democracy means getting people to regard government as an alien force that's robbing them and oppressing them, not as their government. In a democracy it would be your government."

Read quote 4 likes
Leonardo da Vinci Artist, Scientist, Inventor
Mean

"A bird maintains itself in the air by imperceptible balancing, when near to the mountains or lofty ocean crags; it does this by means of the curves of the winds which as they strike against these projections, being forced to preserve their first impetus bend their straight course towards the sky with divers revolutions, at the beginning of which the birds come to a stop with their wings open, receiving underneath themselves the continual buffetings of the reflex courses of the winds."

Read quote 4 likes
James M. Cain Novelist
Mean

"A home is not a museum. It doesn't have to be furnished with Picasso paintings, or Sheraton suites, or Oriental rugs, or Chinese pottery. But it does have to be furnished with things that mean something to you."

Read quote 4 likes
Henry David Thoreau Writer, Philosopher
Mean

"Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice."

Read quote 4 likes
Henry David Thoreau Writer, Philosopher
Mean

"As for men, they will hardly fail one anywhere. I had more visitors while I lived in the woods than at any other period of my life; I mean that I had some."

Read quote 4 likes