Mean quotes
28K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"The French use cooking as a means of self-expression, and this meal perfectly represented the personality of a cook who had spent the morning resting her unwashed chin on the edge of a tureen, pondering whether she should end her life immediately by plunging her head into her abominable soup."
"I now know that things I always thought I could depend on can crash in an instant. Because of the love that I have been shown, I now know what it means to be 'beloved.' I now know that no breath is to be taken for granted."
"Usually when I ask people to reach into my velvety pouch it means something different."
"Laughter means sympathy."
"No man at bottom means injustice; it is always for some obscure distorted image of a right that he contends: an obscure image diffracted, exaggerated, in the wonderfulest way by natural dimness and selfishness; getting tenfold more diffracted by exasperation of contest, till at length it become all but irrecognis-able."
"We have chosen Mahomet not as the most eminent Prophet; but as the one we are freest to speak of. He is by no means the truest of Prophets; but I do esteem him a true one."
"The eye of the intellect "sees in all objects what it brought with it the means of seeing.""
"United States, your banner wears Two emblems--one of fame; Alas! the other that it bears Reminds us of your shame. Your banner's constellation types White freedom with its stars, But what's the meaning of the stripes? They mean your negroes' scars."
"Maturity is accepting the responsibility and totally understanding what responsibility means. So when we say, accept the responsibility for your attitude, we mean (1) become aware of how you think and how you feel; and (2) if there is any negativity, or if it is simply not as you want to feel then change it to make it right."
"People are born in a certain place, and in a certain society. I don't mean to sound like a determinist, but to think we're entirely free to do whatever we want betrays a certain class perspective. For most people who have to work for a living, and work at jobs under conditions they may not like, it's just not simple when it comes to freedom."
"I don't plan on selling out. I mean, it's nice to get a dinner reservation ahead of other people, but when it comes down to it, the most important thing to me is the actual work."
"I don't feel the need to brand myself in that way [social media]. But as a means to share information and raise awareness of things, I think these social-networking platforms are unprecedented."
"I wouldn't say I'm a serial monogamist ... I mean, I went through periods of time when I was, ah, single. But when I'm in a relationship, I'm in a relationship."
"I think predictability is built into any good novel in some way - you begin reading Anna Karenina and you know pretty much what's going to happen at the end. But that doesn't mean you know what's going to happen in the middle. For me, it's that sense of what happens in the middle that's important."
"In real life nothing means anything. Stuff happens and there just is no structure."
"I believe in karma... that means i can do bad things to you all day long and assume you deserve it."
"Scientists often invent words to fill the holes in their understanding.These words are meant as conveniences until real understanding can be found. ... Words such as dimension and field and infinity ... are not descriptions of reality, yet we accept them as such because everyone is sure someone else knows what the words mean."
"What does it mean to be yourself?” he asked. “If it means to do what you think you ought to do, then you’re doing that already. If it means to act like you’re exempt from society’s influence, that’s the worst advice in the world; you would probably stop bathing and wearing clothes. The advice to ‘be yourself’ is obviously nonsense. But our brains accept this tripe as wisdom because it is more comfortable to believe we have a strategy for life than to believe we have no idea how to behave."
"Just because no one has ever gotten better from Spasmodic Dysphonia before doesn't mean I can't be the first."
"I mean, there's obviously only one Leo [DiCaprio] but I look at guys like Mark Wahlberg and Tom Cruise and think I'd like to have that type of career... that would be really great if I could have that."
