#quest

They (Romans) were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force - nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea - something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to... ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#men

Resolutely ignoring Banu's dark mutterings, steeling herself against the barrage of harsh words that questioned her motives, her upbringing, and her morality ↗

— Thrity Umrigar

#motives #questions #motivational

I feared my own kind more than anything the natural world could ever threaten me with. ↗

— Robin Hobb

#fear #fitz #mankind #nature #robin-hobb

But without doubts, without a standpoint reached through questionings, human beings can't acquire knowledge. ↗

— Ayaan Hirsi Ali

#knowledge #muslims #questioning-religion #religion #religion

Questions are great, but only if you know the answers. If you ask questions and the answers surprise you, you look silly. ↗

— Laurell K. Hamilton

#questions #anita-blake

I felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, but I continue to be a patriotic American. ↗

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#continue #felt #i #loyalty #might

Reporters used to ask me the same inane questions year-in and year-out, city-to-city, and it would drive me crazy. ↗

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#crazy #drive #me #questions #reporters

I really try at least to come back and answer the question as to whether that was really the best way to do that and was I really thinking straight and how did my opponents behave and how did the judges behave was needed. ↗

— Floyd Abrams

#back #behave #best #best way #come

The question at the end of the day was, the courts having found there was no defense, a producer about to go to jail, should CBS in effect tell the producer go to jail even though there is no law at all that we can use to get you out of jail? ↗

— Floyd Abrams

#cbs #courts #day #defense #effect

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague answer, such as, 'Poetry is the music of words,' or 'Poetry is the linguistic correction of disorder.' ↗

— A. R. Ammons

#ask #correction #disorder #expect #linguistic