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There may well be a few extremists out there somewhere calling for a militant, women-only utopia, but why should this be the definition of 'feminist' when it's already the definition of 'silly'?
Meghan DaumMy definition of cool is finding your own definition of cool and not necessarily taking your lead from what other people tell you or from what you might read from magazines or see on TV.
Wentworth MillerIn this statement, my Scipio, I build on your own admirable definition, that there can be no community, properly so called, unless it be regulated by a combination of rights. And by this definition it appears that a multitude of men may be just as tyrannical as a single despot and indeed this is the most odious of all tyrannies, since no monster can be more barbarous than the mob, which assumes the name and mask of the people.
Marcus Tullius CiceroThe definition of public art to me means everything and means nothing because for me, all art is public. Art has to be public by definition and in a way It has to be accessible to any audience not just a work in a museum or an art gallery.
Emi FontanaNow that's a concept that's always fascinated me: the real world. Only a very specific subset of people use the term, have you noticed? To me, it seems self-evident that everyone lives in the real world - we all breathe real oxygen, eat real food, the earth under our feet feels equally solid to all of us. But clearly these people have a far more tightly circumscribed definition of reality, one that I find deeply mysterious, and an almost pathologically intense need to bring others into line with that definition.
Tana FrenchHaving been brought up with a definition of faith as adherence to a set of beliefs, I have more and more begun to turn instead toward a definition of faith as openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be.
Barbara Brown TaylorEven if it's a definition that feels oppressive to us, that oppression can be inspiring because it helps us push up against something while we're writing. Or if it's a definition that we want to defend and uphold, we are given a sense of the boundaries within which we can work.
John D'AgataThere are at least two distinct meanings of 'hot': there is the, like, normal human definition which is that 'this individual seems suitable for mating'. And then there's the weird, culturally constructed definition of 'hot' which means, 'that individual is malnourished and has probably had plastic bags inserted into her breasts'. Like, I think if you went back to the 18th century and asked a 15-year-old boy, 'Would you like to marry a woman who has had plastic bags needlessly inserted into her breasts?' that 15-year-old boy would probably be like ... 'What's plastic?'
John GreenMy definition of God: God is not only the alpha, the omega, he is friend, he's a confidant, he is a buddy. He is a lover of my soul. That's my definition of God.
DeVon FranklinI profess no belief in God, which by definition is true, especially if we take the accepted definition of God. But to be an atheist is to also have a belief, and have a system, and I don't know that I like that either.
George Carlin[Cities] are not like suburbs, only denser. They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers.
Jane JacobsBooks can accommodate the proximity of computers but it doesn't seem to work the other way around. Computers now literally drive out books from the place that should, by definition, be books' own home: the library.
Larry McMurtryWhat is the definition of procrastination? It means: I can feel within my Energy sensor that this action is not in perfect alignment at this time.
Esther HicksWe can all be geniuses because one definition of genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains.
Knute RockneLying is, almost by definition, a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. It is both a failure of understanding and an unwillingness to be understood. To lie is to recoil from relationship.
Sam HarrisLove is the direct opposite of hate. By definition it's something you can't feel for more than a few minutes at a time, so what's all this bullshit about loving somebody for the rest of your life?
Judith Perelman RossnerThe definition of S & M is letting someone hurt you that you know would never hurt you.
Madonna CicconeFrom last night's All Together Now, a Celebration of Service: There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others.
George H. W. BushObviously, I believe that to pursue the American Dream is not only futile but self-destructive because ultimately it destroys everything and everyone involved with it. By definition it must, because it nurtures everything except those things that are important: integrity, ethics, truth, our very heart and soul. Why? The reason is simple: because Life/life is giving, not getting.
Hubert Selby, Jr.Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.
Gore VidalNo-one has held back. They have put some definition around the numbers and now we have to wait for the reality.
Joseph StanislawThe historian is, by definition, absolutely incapable of observing the facts which he examines.
Marc BlochIf you want a definition of what a coward is, itโs needing to push a whole class of people down so that you can walk on top of them.
Andrea DworkinIf you're happy, that's probably the most important thing. Everyone probably has their own definition of success, for me it's happiness. Do I enjoy what I'm doing? Do I enjoy the people I'm with? Do I enjoy my life?
Michael DellThe definition of a modern approach to war is the acknowledgement of individual lives lost.
Maya LinAging on camera is just very hard. I love my age. I feel good about myself but high definition television is not kind. You don't even look like yourself in high-def. It just makes every little line on your face more exaggerated so it ends up aging you. It's like you're watching yourself seven years older.
Lisa Edelstein[On suicide:] It's the only cause of death that can be used as a noun to describe the dead person. If you die of cancer you are not called 'a cancer.' If someone else shoots you, you are not referred to as 'a murder.' But if you shoot yourself, you are labeled as a suicide. Your death becomes your definition.
Joan WickershamWhile 45 of the 50 States have either a State constitutional amendment or a statute that preserves the current definition of marriage, left-wing activist judges and officials at the local levels have struck down State laws protecting marriage.
John BoehnerThe seeds of destruction lie in the definition of "chosen-ness" and can easily blossom into bigotry. It's not inevitable but it needs constant care to avoid.
Toni MorrisonA son or daughter in any human family is either born to or adopted by the parents. By definition, a child can't be both. But with God we're both born of Him and adopted by Him.
Jerry BridgesThe definition of happiness being very emotion-oriented - the problem is that there's too many quick and dirty ways to chase that in ways that end up being unhelpful to people. If you just have another martini or even more severe substances. But commercial culture and our media is constantly encouraging us to think that if we feel good we live well. We're only too happy to sell you goods and services from the dancing oivoids and the pill you can take, or the trips or the cars or the clothes or the women that you can get with - whatever that is that will give you the quick route to that.
Steven C. HayesMy favorite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence'.
Arthur C. ClarkeSuccess has a very narrow definition in professional athletics: medals and records, and pursuit of anything outside of that is looked down upon.
Lauren FleshmanThe impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants. The volatile essences which make literature cannot survive the clichรฉs of a long series of story conferences.
Raymond ChandlerA 5 yr. old's definition of nursery school: "A place where they teach children who hit, not to hit, and children who don't hit, to hit back."
James E. MyersMy definition of financial freedom is simple: it is the ability to live the lifestyle you desire without having to work or rely on anyone else for money.
T. Harv EkerIn those days, I did what was necessary for me to win. This included training with heavy weights: a precursor for injury. So if I could do it over again Iโd train with lighter weights, higher reps, no sets below 10 reps, with negatives slower than positives, and avoid injury. If I had done that, my physique wouldnโt have been quite as bulky, but with more definition and with less pain.
Frank ZaneHe had by now divested himself of schoolboy attitudes. He was unburdened by the desire to be a martyr or a hero. Any thoughts in that direction, Belgica effectively had quashed. Heroism in the corrupt sense of the age almost by definition, meant wanton self-sacrifice and bungling. For neither had he any taste. He wanted rational attainment; victory, but not at any price. No point upon the globe was worth the cost of a single life.
Roland HuntfordThe physical five oranges goes up the ladder to the picture of the five oranges which goes up to the representation of the five oranges as a numeral. This points in the direction of a definition of abstraction: when we abstract we voluntarily ignore details of a context, so that we can accomplish a goal.
Dan MeyerNever be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey FiersteinEvery good historian is almost by definition a revisionist. He looks at the accepted view of a particular historic episode or period with a very critical eye.
Paul JohnsonToday, however, anti-vaccine activists go out of their way to claim that they are not anti-vaccine; theyโre pro-vaccine. They just want vaccines to be safer. This is a much softer, less radical, more tolerable message, allowing them greater access to the media. However, because anti-vaccine activists today define safe as free from side effects such as autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, and blood clotsโconditions that arenโt caused by vaccinesโsafer vaccines, using their definition, can never be made.
Paul A. OffitDisagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension. Dissent (which come from the Latin, dis and sentire) means originally to feel apart from others. People who disagree have an argument, but people who dissent have a quarrel. People may disagree and both may count themselves in the majority. But a person who dissents is by definition in a minority. A liberal society thrives on disagreement but is killed by dissension. Disagreement is the life blood of democracy, dissension is its cancer.
Daniel J. BoorstinWe are living in a period in which many people have changed their mind about what the use of music is or could be for them. Something that doesn't speak or talk like a human being, that doesn't know its definition in the dictionary or its theory in the schools, that expresses itself simply by the fact of its vibrations. People paying attention to vibratory activity, not in reaction to a fixed ideal performance, but each time attentively to how it happens to be this time, not necessarily two times the same. A music that transports the listener to the moment where he is.
John CageI havent even been drinking, but, at all, but, you know, being a man, Ive got to say that weve got this guy in the White House who thinks he is a man, you know, who projects himself as a man because he has a certain masculinity, and he's a good old boy, and he used to drink, and he knows how to shoot a gun and how to drive a pickup truck, etcetera like that. Thats not the definition of a man, God Dammit!
Ed Harris