#refined

I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling. ↗

— Frances Burney

#behaviour #cannot #characters #history #i

The more refined one is, the more unhappy. ↗

— Anton Chekhov

#refined #unhappy

It seems unpleasantly refined to put things off till someone knows. ↗

— William Empson

#off #put #refined #seems #someone

The more refined and subtle our minds, the more vulnerable they are. ↗

— Paul Tournier

#more #our #refined #subtle #vulnerable

His daughter returned from her boarding school, improved in fashionable airs and expert in manufacturing fashionable toys; but, in her conversation, he sought in vain for that refined and fertile mind which he had fondly expected. ↗

— Emma Willard

#boarding #boarding school #conversation #daughter #expected

The artist's job, I think, is to be a conduit for mystery. To intuit it, and recognize that the story-germ has some inherent mystery in it, and sort of midwife that mystery into the story in such a way that it isn't damaged in the process, and may even get heightened or refined. ↗

— George Saunders

#conduit #damaged #even #get #heightened

This Englishwoman is so refined, She has no bosom and no behind. ↗

— Stevie Smith

#bosom #refined #she

Over the course of those 12 episodes we discarded what didn't work and kept what did and that refined it. ↗

— Dave Rowntree

#did #discarded #episodes #kept #over

The eye is the most refined of our senses, the one which communicates most directly with our mind, our consciousness. ↗

— Robert Delaunay

#consciousness #directly #eye #mind #most

The use of refined petroleum as fuel, which began in the 1850s, freed hundreds of millions of people from the toil of centuries, gave hundreds of millions more a life of ease and plenty, and, by allowing great cities to feed themselves from every corner of the world, multiplied the population of the earth fivefold. ↗

— James Buchan

#began #centuries #cities #corner #earth