Quotations about:
    detachment


Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.


Most persons have died before they expire — died to all earthly longings, so that the last breath is only, as it were, the locking of the doors of the already deserted mansion.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, ch. 11 (1859)
    (Source)

Sometimes misquoted as "Many persons ...."

The chapter originally appeared as "The Professor at the Breakfast-Table: What He Said, What He Heard, and What He Saw," Atlantic Monthly (Nov 1859).
 
Added on 19-Sep-22 | Last updated 19-Sep-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr.

I am not ready to die,
But I am learning to trust death
As I have trusted life.
I am moving
Toward a new freedom
Born of detachment,
And a sweeter grace —
Learning to let go.

May Sarton
May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“Gestalt at Sixty,” sec. 3 (1972)
    (Source)
 
Added on 14-Dec-21 | Last updated 14-Dec-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Sarton, May

In the face of evil, detachment is a dubious virtue.

Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934-2002) American journalist, essayist, memoirist
“Budapest, Winter 1989,” The Astonishing World (1992)
    (Source)
 
Added on 3-Aug-21 | Last updated 3-Aug-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Harrison, Barbara Grizzuti

The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.

Florynce "Flo" Kennedy (1916-2000) American lawyer, feminist, civil rights activist
(Attributed)
    (Source)

Quoted in Gloria Steinem, "The Verbal Karate of Florynce R. Kennedy, Esq.," Ms. (Mar 1973).

Full quote: "Some people say they won’t work 'inside the system' -- they’re 'waiting for the revolution.' Well, when the ramparts are open, honey, I'll be there. But until then, I'm going to go right on zapping the business and government delinquents, the jockocrats, the fetus fetishists, and all the other niggerizers any way I can. The biggest sin is sitting on your ass."
 
Added on 21-Jun-17 | Last updated 28-Aug-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Kennedy, Florynce

Emotion, whether of ridicule, anger, or sorrow, — whether raised at a puppet show, a funeral, or a battle, — is your grandest of levelers. The man who would be always superior should be always apathetic.

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
Devereux, Book 2, ch. 1 (1829)
 
Added on 22-Mar-16 | Last updated 18-Mar-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George

What’s wan man’s news is another man’s throubles.

[What’s one man’s news is another man’s troubles.]

Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) American humorist and journalist
“The News of a Week,” Observations by Mr. Dooley (1902)
 
Added on 26-Oct-11 | Last updated 4-Mar-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Dunne, Finley Peter

LEONATO: For there was never a philosopher
That could endure the toothache patiently.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 37ff (5.1.37-38) (1598)
    (Source)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 7-Feb-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Shakespeare, William