Specious Quotes

34 quotes by 30 authors

Many statements about God are confidently made by theologians on grounds that today at least sound specious. Thomas Aquinas claimed to prove that God cannot… — Carl Sagan
Ashamed of the many frailties they feel within, all men endeavor to hide themselves, their ugly nakedness, from each other, and wrapping up the true… — Bernard de Mandeville
It's difficult for most people to imagine the creative process in tennis. Seemingly it's just an athletic matter of hitting the ball consistently well within… — Virginia Wade
Seriously, I do not know what to say of this book [ Absalom, Absalom!] except that it seem to point to the final blowup of… — Clifton Fadiman
The distinction between children and adults, while probably useful for some purposes, is at bottom a specious one, I feel. There are only individual egos,… — Niccolo Machiavelli
The ruin of the human heart is self-interest, which the American merchant calls self-service. We have become a self-service populace, and all our specious comforts… — Edward Dahlberg
None but those who have learned the art of subjecting their senses as well as reason to hypothetical systems can be persuaded by the most… — Samuel Johnson
Homeopathy may be defined as a specious mode of doing nothing. While it waits on the natural progress of disease and the restorative tendence of… — Jacob Bigelow
Our specious present as such is very short. We do, however, experience passing events; part of the process of the passage of events is directly… — George H. Mead
The best thing about writing has been the writer's life, the sense of being expressed, the ownership of the day, the entirely specious sense of… — Anthony Minghella
The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true.… — Robert K. Merton
But, historians, and even common sense, may inform us, that, however specious these ideas of perfect equality may seem, they are really, at bottom, impracticable;… — David Hume
We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation of… — David Hume
Since inequalities of privilege are greater than could possibly be defended rationally, the intelligence of privileged groups is usually applied to the task of inventing… — Reinhold Niebuhr
My best experience as a writer was working with Michael Ondaatje. He let me dismantle his novel, reimagine it, and still had dinner with me… — Anthony
When Eve upon the first of Men The apple press'd with specious cant, Oh! what a thousand pities then That Adam was not Adamant! — Thomas Hood
The vigour of government is essential to the security of liberty. . . . a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of… — Alexander Hamilton
Jargon is the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable; it gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to… — David Lehman
We must do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. — R. Buckminster Fuller
Conscience, as a mentor, the guide and compass of every act, leads ever to happiness. When the individual can stay alone with his or her… — William George Jordan

Who Wrote These Specious Quotes

30 authors contributed a total of 34 Specious Quotes, led by these top contributors: