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Quotes About Pretensions

The first lesson that a healthy Christian theocracy would have to learn is to be deeply suspicious of their own lofty pretensions.
~ Douglas Wilson
I'm a writer. I'm moonlighting on television. I never made any pretensions to that. As much as I like being on 'Real Sports,' I have been a writer since I was a little boy, and that's still my first love.
~ Frank Deford
The Republic is to parties what the tree is to parasites; the parties are the vermin of the nations, and it is important not to forget that it is with the various pretensions of these political religionaires that we must march by jerks of revolutions in insurrections, and insurrections in state of siege, to lead periodically to the burial of the dead, and to the payment of revolutionary bills which are the bonuses granted by the imbecility of all to the audacity of a few.
~ ANSELME BELLEGARRIGUE
It strikes Werner just then as wondrously futile to build splendid buildings, to make music, to sing songs, to print huge books full of colorful birds in the face of the seismic, engulfing indifference of the world—what pretensions humans have! Why bother to make music when the silence and wind are so much larger? Why light lamps when the darkness will inevitably snuff them?
~ Anthony Doerr
wondrously futile to build splendid buildings, to make music, to sing songs, to print huge books full of colorful birds in the face of the seismic, engulfing indifference of the world—what pretensions humans have! Why bother to make music when the silence and wind are so much larger? Why light lamps when the darkness will inevitably snuff them?
~ Anthony Doerr
A man who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the publick to whom he appeals, must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions.
~ Samuel Johnson
Just as poor Mr Wyerley, and others we both know, profane and ridicule Scripture; and all to evidence their pretensions to the same pernicious talent, and to have it thought that they are too wise to be good.
~ Samuel Richardson
Another advantage I gained in my new master was, he made no pretensions to, or profession of, religion; and this, in my opinion, was truly a great advantage.
~ Frederick Douglass
Muitas vezes, o restaurante original tem um conceito simples e fácil de perceber: um bar com bons pratos, um restaurante rústico italiano básico, ou um sítio pequeno, notório pela falta de pretensões. Mas o sucesso faz com que se sintam invulneráveis.
~ Anthony Bourdain
Reflect that you could have written the book so much better yourself, if only you had the time and the inclination for the task; and that the literate won't be listening, if you're speaking on air, or doing more than glance at your review, if it appears in print; and go right ahead! There will be no reprisals. If the author is young and struggling, he won't dare to expose your pretensions; and if he is well established he won't think it worth while to do so.
~ Georgette Heyer
Although he was a limited mathematician with no pretensions to scientific greatness, Crelle was a broadminded man, in fact a great man.
~ Eric Temple Bell
It may be debated as to whether the antichrist is seen as a superhuman figure (in Revelation "Mr. 666" is seen as having divine pretensions but actually being quite human, being the emperor), but it is quite clear in 2 John that the antichrists are false teachers who are contemporaries of our author.
~ Ben Witherington III
What encouragement the apostle holds out to us. O my friends, that we might leave all our pretensions, and come to the truth in our own hearts.
~ Elias Hicks
Split atoms if you wish, but splitting an infinitive--and getting away with it--is far nobler. Lance boils if you wish, but pricking pretensions is often cleaner and always more fun." "Then why are Mom and
~ Greg Bear
The world is a collective madhouse, its inhabitants are merely faking sanity. It is critical to becoming aware of these aberrations, for pretensions can be the enemy of love.
~ John Astin
The pretensioms of the other side may be even better grounded then ours. That is a matter of indifference. For it is not justification that turns the scale, but the stronger and more deeply realized will to power.
~ Ernst Junger
Demolishing pretensions, especially worthy ones, is a hallmark of the baby boom.
~ P. J. O'Rourke
the pretensions of anarchism in its individualist variants have always been laughable
~ Guy Debord
I expect nothing of man, and disown the race. The only folly is expecting what is never attained; man is most contemptible when compared with his own pretensions. It is better to laugh at man from outside the universe, than to weep for him within.
~ H. P. Lovecraft
I am, indeed, against all proselyters, whether they be on my side or on some other side. What moves nine-tenths of them, I believe, is simply the certainty of the result that I have just mentioned. Their lofty pretensions are all tosh. The thing they yearn for is the satisfaction of making someone unhappy: that yearning is almost as universal among them as thirst is in dry Congressmen.
~ H.L. Mencken
When intimacy followed love in Italy there were no longer any vain pretensions between two lovers.
~ Stendhal
We were at the White House a couple of weeks ago, the man says, they had a state dinner for Prince Charles and Camilla. Listen, those royals are just the finest people, no pretensions to them whatsoever. You can talk to Prince Charles about anything. Billy nods. There's a silence. Just in time he asks, What did you talk about? Hunting, the man answers.
~ Ben Fountain
They're innocent movies, and they're fun movies and there were no pretensions about 'em.
~ Alex Winter
In walking, far from any vehicle or machine, from any mediation, I am replaying the earthly human condition, embodying once again man's inborn, essential destitution. That is why humility is not humiliating: it just makes vain pretensions fall away, and thus nudges us towards authenticity.
~ Frédéric Gros