#ann

Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#cannot #civil #common #conceived #consent

Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#conditioned #contingent #divine #divine nature #exist

So long as a man imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long as he is determined not to do it; and consequently so long as it is impossible to him that he should do it. ↗

— Baruch Spinoza

#consequently #determined #him #imagines #impossible

I always wanted to be a dentist from the time I was in high school, and I was accepted to dental school in the spring of 1972. I was planning to go, but after the Olympics there were other opportunities. ↗

— Mark Spitz

#after #always #dental #dentist #go

I seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted. ↗

— Og Mandino

#constantly #graces #i #improve #manners

When governments become large, voters cannot exercise close oversight, otherwise known as political power. ↗

— Maggie Gallagher

#become #cannot #close #exercise #governments

I could start a war in 30 seconds. But some countries spend 100 years trying to find peace. Just like good manners, peace has to be learned. ↗

— Sylvester Stallone

#could #countries #find #good #good manners

If you do not think about your future, you cannot have one. ↗

— John Galsworthy

#cannot #future #think #you #your

There's a lot of things that go on when you're on tour that cannot be controlled. I'm not even talking about myself, but of course there's sexual activity and drugs, fighting and language; it is certainly not a place to raise a family. ↗

— Peter Steele

#activity #cannot #certainly #controlled #course

It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#always #detest #egotism #failure #feeling