Alexander the Great
Military Leader, King
"I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity."
Obscurity quotes
Obscurity
122 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
George Eliot
Novelist, Poet, Journalist
"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
Aldous Huxley
Novelist, Essayist
"I'm afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery."
Seth Godin
Author, Entrepreneur
"Piracy is not the problem, obscurity is."
Blaise Pascal
Mathematician, Physicist, Philosopher
"There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition"
Quote collection
Obscurity quotes (page 1 of 7)
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"Avoid an unusual and unfamiliar word just as you would a reef."
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"Well has he lived who has lived well in obscurity."
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"Obscurity is dispelled by augmenting the light of discernment, not by attacking the darkness."
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"Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality."
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"He who has lived obscurely and quietly has lived well."
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"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen."
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"When we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility."
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"Obscurity and a competence—that is the life that is best worth living."
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"Life is an ordeal, albeit an exciting one, but I wouldn't trade it for the good old days of poverty and obscurity."
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"Learn to be pleased with everything, with wealth so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied."
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"Obscurity often brings safety."
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"Obscurity brings safety."
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"The mind's passion is all for singling out. Obscurity has another tale to tell."
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"It's up to the artist to use language that can be understood, not hide it in some private code. Most of these jokers don't even want to use language you and I know or can learn . . . they would rather sneer at us and be smug, because we 'fail' to see what they are driving at. If indeed they are driving at anything--obscurity is usually the refuge of incompetence."
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"Untruth being unacceptable to the mind of man, there is no other defence left for absurdity but obscurity."
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"For though we very truly hear that the kingdom of God will be filled with splendor, joy, happiness and glory, yet when these things are spoken of, they remain utterly remote from our perception, and as it were, wrapped in obscurities, until that day."
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"Why, oh why must one grow up, why must one inherit this heavy, numbing responsibility of living an undiscovered life? Out of the nothingness and the undifferentiated mass, to make something of herself! But what? In the obscurity and pathlessness to take a direction! But whither? How take even one step? And yet, how stand still? This was torment indeed, to inherit the responsibility of one’s own life."
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"All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability."
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"He that is pushing his predecessors into the gulf of obscurity, cannot but sometimes suspect, that he must himself sink in like manner, and, as he stands upon the same precipice, be swept away with the same violence."
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"Obscurity is the refuge of incompetence."
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