Mean Quotes - Page 934

I find in my poetry and prose the rhythms and imagery of the best - I mean, when I'm at my best - of the good Southern black preachers. The lyricism of the spirituals and the directness of gospel songs and the mystery of blues are in my music or in my poetry and prose, or I missed everything.

My people couldn't have survived slavery without having hope that it would get better. And there's some songs from the 19th and 18th century that say [sings], "By and by, by and by, I will lay down, this heavy load." And I mean, so many songs that spoke of hope and understand it better by and by. Amazing songs. So that the slaves, just knowing that he, she, did not have the right legally to walk within one inch away from where the slave owner dictated, and yet the same person, wrote and sang with fervor, "If the lord wants somebody, here am I, send me." It's amazing.

The only way through pain…is to absorb, probe, understand exactly what it is and what it means. To close the door on pain is to miss the chance for growth.

Luck means the hardships and privations which you have not hesitated to endure, the long nights you have devoted to work. Luck means the appointments you have never failed to keep; the trains you have never failed to catch.

Brilliant strategy is the best route to desirable ends with available means.

Were studying in Philippians, and Im trying to figure out this passage, Paul says I want to know Christ. What does that mean? See, hes fascinated by Jesus. I think thats a desire Id like to have on my heart, to know more about Jesus.

I think there is, not in the sense that I enjoy it, but that it's an important question. It's the question, "Does the presence of pain mean God doesn't care? Does God not love me anymore?" I think that's a very common connection we tend to make.

I think we pray, we make a clear-headed decision, and then we quit being so mean to each other. We've got to stop that.

I certainly don't mean to leave the impression that anxiety can be waved away with a simple pep talk. In fact, for some, God's healing will include the help of therapy and/or medication. If that's the case, do not for a moment think that you're a second-class citizen of heaven. Ask God to lead you to a qualified counselor or physician who'll provide the treatment you need. This much is sure: It's not God's will that you lead a life of perpetual anxiety. It's not his will that you face every day with dread and trepidation.

I believe the Bible tells a story we recognize as true. I don't just mean it tells an accurate story - though it's telling that the Bible stands tall even after more than 2,000 years of secular criticism.

God uses every possible means to communicate with you.

Does the presence of pain mean the absence of God? I try to help people see that God uses pain, that pain is one of the ways God shapes us into the kind of beings He wants us to be for eternity.

Some of the more fatuous flag-waving Americans are in danger of forgetting that you can't extract gratitude as you would extract a tooth; that unless friendship is freely given, it means nothing and less than nothing.

If you mean by capitalism the God-given right of a few big corporations to make all the decisions that will affect millions of workers and consumers and to exclude everyone else from discussing and examining those decisions, then the unions are threatening capitalism.

A world technology means either a world government or world suicide.

China got the local currency, the yuan which is appreciating against the dollar which means that all these Chinese people have more purchasing power. And they're willing now to spend some money after saving, you know they provided America with savings for years. Now they're going to spend some money. So this means that they are willing to allow the dollar to weaken because it means that their currency, the yuan goes up, so they're actually in a winning situation.

I mean, it's fine when you're a kid and someone runs into the playground and goes, 'I've got this great game of pretend,' and you play... As an actor, getting to play, getting to use your imagination and be childish - it is weird but it's wonderful.

Also I don't want to refer to myself as Maximilian. You'd have to win an Oscar or become mind-numbingly wealthy or hit 50. It's like smoking a cigar, you know what I mean? You can't be a young guy and do it.

When I'm in the car sometimes it's like, 'Yeah, man, just put on the pop music.' You know what I mean? I don't want to listen to Tom Waits.

When you say a friend has a sense of humor do you mean that he makes you laugh, or that he can make you laugh?

The human race has today the means for annihilating itself--either in a fit of complete lunacy, i.e., in a big war...or by the careless handling of atomic technology, through a slow process of poisoning and of deterioration in its genetic structure.

I think, of the kind of erratic behavior that many of us feared once Trump came into office. And I think you're seeing evidence of that, even though, you know, some of the worst-case scenarios that we imagined have not yet, mercifully, come to pass. I mean, for example, he has not destroyed NATO. He has not launched a trade war with China. He has not lifted sanctions on Russia. In all those cases, in part, because his hands had been tied. And of course, it's only a year in, so he's still got time to go.

In some ways the most appalling thing of all, that Trump continues to question the fact of a very serious Russian attack on the core of our political system. I mean, I don't know how you get more reckless and dangerous than that. And you know, the president's first obligation is to defend the country. And in this respect, he doesn't seem to be interested in doing that.

I hardly ever go to showbiz parties, it's not my style. That doesn't mean to say I don't have a good time. I love hanging out with mates.

I really think it's extremely important for Americans to better understand China. And by better, I mean don't just read their lines. You've got to dig down to find out what's going on, and come over, see China.