Bernard DeVoto on individuality
Bernard DeVoto26 quotes“The trouble with the sacred Individual is that he has no significance, except as he can acquire it from others, from the social whole.”
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More from Bernard DeVoto
The water of life was given to us to make us see for a while that we are more nearly men and women, more nearly kind and gentle and generous, pleasanter and stronger than without its vision there is any evidence we are.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The dawn of knowledge is usually the false dawn.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto A novelist has mad a fictional representation of life. I doing so, he has revealed to us more significance, it may be, than he could find in life itself.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The heart wakens from coma and its dyspnea ends. Its strengthening pulse is to cross over into campground, to believe that the world has not been altogether lost or, if lost, then not altogether in vain.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The skillful man is, within the function of his skill, a different psychological organization. . . . A tennis player or a watchmaker or an airplane pilot is an automatism but he is also criticism and wisdom.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto When evening quickens in the street, comes a pause in the day’s occupation that is known as the cocktail hour. It marks the lifeward turn.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The parks preserve it permanently in the inheritance of the American citizens.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The trouble with Reason is that it becomes meaningless at the exact point where it refuses to act.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto New England is a finished place. Its destiny is that of Florence or Venice, not Milan while the American empire careens onward toward its unpredicted end. . . .
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The rat stops gnawing in the wood, the dungeon walls withdraw, the weight is lifted your pulse steadies and the sun has found your heart, the day was not bad, the season has not been bad, there is sense and even promise in going on.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto Art is man determined to die sane.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto It is the first American section to be finished to achieve stability in the conditions of its life. It is the first old civilization, the first permanent civilization in America.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto You can no more keep a martini in the refrigerator than you can keep a kiss there. The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory; it is one of the happiest marriages on earth and one of the shortest-lived.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The achieved West had given the United States something that no people had ever had before, an internal, domestic empire.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto History abhors determinism but cannot tolerate chance.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto The mind has its own logic but does not often let others in on it.
Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVoto
Original quotes
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More on individuality
The curiosity of the neighbors about you, is a tribute to your individuality, and you should encourage it
Quentin CrispQuentin Crisp The Pentagon isn’t a place that champions individuality and innovation.
Aimee MullinsAimee Mullins The writer in western civilization has become not a voice of his tribe, but of his individuality. This is a very narrow-minded situation.
Aharon AppelfeldAharon Appelfeld What is the use for a man to have at his disposal a large field of action, if within himself he remains confine to the narrow limits of his individuality.
Afrikan SpirAfrikan Spir Whoever has recognized the vainglory of individuality will not attach any store (“n’attachera aucun prix à”, Fr.) to fame.
Afrikan SpirAfrikan Spir The more a man is successful in getting out (or coming out) from his own individuality, of his egoist self, and to control (or dominate) the instincts of his physical nature.
Afrikan SpirAfrikan Spir They define themselves through hard work and individuality.
Adrienne BailonAdrienne Bailon I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison
