Merely Quotes

Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself.

So too, in forming a constitution, or in enacting rules of procedure, or making canons, the people do not merely passively assent, but actively cooperate. They have, in all these matters, the same authority as the clergy.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

Many critics of the Palestinians, especially those in Congress, think the current calm is merely the eye of the storm. That's why the House of Representatives approved a foreign aid package last week that forbade the direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority .

I often wish... that I could rid the world of the tyranny of facts. What are facts but compromises? A fact merely marks the point where we have agreed to let investigation cease.

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.

The world is blessed most by men who do things, and not by those who merely talk about them.

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans.

There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.

Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled.

Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.

In rating ease of description as very important, we are essentially asserting a belief in quantitative knowledge - a belief that most of the key questions in our world sooner or later demand answers to 'by how much?' rather than merely to 'in which direction?'

There is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.

Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations.

Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.

Chicago seems a big city instead of merely a large place.

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

The point I am making is that in the more primitive forms of society the individual is merely a unit; in more developed forms of society he is an independent personality.

What we imagine is order is merely the prevailing form of chaos.

I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy.

Luck is merely an illusion, trusted by the ignorant and chased by the foolish.

We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the postive affirmation of peace.

In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.

I don't think you need to dumb down to a child, you merely have to be clear, you know?

If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences.

Violence is hidden within democratic structures because they are not radically democratic - Western democracy is merely a domestic convenience of consumerism.

Not a tenth of us who are in business are doing as well as we could if we merely followed the principles that were known to our grandfathers.

The Roman Code was merely an enunciation in words of the existing customs of the Roman people.

Thinking about the universe has now been handed over to specialists. The rest of us merely read about it.