Merely Quotes

3319 Merely quotes by 1909 unique authors

Every reader finds himself. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without… — Marcel Proust
The bass player's function, along with the drums, is to be the engine that drives the car... everything else is merely colours. — Suzi Quatro
We are not angels, we are merely sophisticated apes. Yet we feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, craving transcendence and all the… — Vilayanur S. Ramachandran
Cultures are never merely intellectual constructs. They take form through the collective intelligence and memory, through a commonly held psychology and emotions, through spiritual and… — Tariq Ramadan
Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious. — Ramakrishna
The physicians of one class feel the patients and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave the room they simply ask the patient to… — Ramakrishna
These groups within a society can he distinguished according as to whether, like an army or an orchestra, they function as a single body; or… — Herbert Read
If the individual is a unit in a corporate mass, his life is not merely brutish and short, but dull and mechanical. — Herbert Read
The assumption is that the right kind of society is an organic being not merely analogous to an organic being, but actually a living structure… — Herbert Read
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… — Herbert Read
Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide. — Tom Robbins
Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often… — Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win… — Theodore Roosevelt
Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past. — Theodore Roosevelt
Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must… — Theodore Roosevelt
Why, for example, do the great writers use anticipation instead of surprise? Because surprise is merely an instrument of the unusual, whereas anticipation of a… — Roger Rosenblatt
Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common sense. — Helen Rowland
What a man calls his 'conscience' is merely the mental action that follows a sentimental reaction after too much wine or love. — Helen Rowland
The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his… — John Ruskin
Modern travelling is not travelling at all; it is merely being sent to a place, and very little different from becoming a parcel. — John Ruskin
Freedom is not won by merely overthrowing a tyrannical ruler or an oppressive regime. That is usually only the prelude to a new tyranny, a… — Jonathan Sacks
The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent. — Carl Sagan
One can be a brother only in something. Where there is no tie that binds men, men are not united but merely lined up. — Antoine de Saint-Exupery
One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being. — May Sarton

Who Wrote These Merely Quotes

1,909 authors contributed a total of 3,319 Merely Quotes, led by these top contributors: