Distinctions Quotes

A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking. Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together. If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing.

It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.

Drawing forceful distinctions and being civil are not mutually exclusive.

A knighthood would be a bit too much. An OBE or an MBE or whatever they are called, one of those would be more elegant.

I have more than 100 honorary Ph.D.s.

That is not something I embrace. I think there are real distinctions between the Koch brothers and us.

In many ways, Mitt Romney and I are very different. Different starts in life. Different paths to leadership. Different cultures.

The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another.

One of the real dilemmas we have in our country and around the world is that what works in politics is organization and conflict. That is, drawing the sharp distinctions. But in real life, what works is networks and cooperation. And we need victories in real life, so we've got to get back to networks and cooperation, not just conflict. But politics has always been about conflict, and in the coverage of politics, information dissemination tends to be organized around conflict as well.

A pin has a head, but has no hair

The thing really to be desired is the removing as much as possible arbitrary distinctions [titles and nobility], and leaving to talents and virtue the field of exertion unimpaired

All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions.

I, you, he, she, we In the garden of mystic lovers, these are not true distinctions.

All men will commence in their present rank and promotion will be open to all men alike, without any distinctions or qualifications, political or otherwise.

I will not allow mere names to make distinctions for me, but still see men in herds for all them.

To abolish all distinctions of party may not be practicable, perhaps not desirable, in a free government

We are a categorically obsessed culture, where we have to compartmentalize everything in reference to another thing, like, 'What does it sound like? Does it sound like this?'

Ambition has developed into a passion which drives women, as well as men, to great works - and small deeds. Formerly competitors in the race for men, they are now competing in the race for social tasks and distinctions.

I have always worried about who can read, who can't, who doesn't, and the great, life-altering consequences hidden within those distinctions.

The movie, if I recall, didn't have to do with the television show because there were concerns from everyone that they didn't want it to be like the TV show.

We will make no distinction between those who planned these acts and those who harbor them.

The whole philosophy of modern times is to dissolve distinctions between individuals and deal with them as large collections of people. It's essentially self-interested on the part of authority.

Hard distinctions make bad philosophy.

The first is called insuperable, the second inseparable, the third singular.

Again, most of the chief distinctions marked by economic terms are differences not of kind but of degree.