Presumptive Quotes & Sayings

My contention is that especially young, recently trained engineers are in a position to recognize and to react on a presumptive anomaly: They are trained within the technological frame but have low enough inclusion to question the basic assumptions of that frame. — Wiebe E. Bijker

Colin could have been offended or irked by her presumptive attitude, but sharp women didn't threaten him. In fact, he enjoyed watching them work. And, of course, there was the fact that he'd married one. — Colleen Gleason

Post-Watergate morality, by which anything left private is taken as presumptive evidence of wrongdoing. — Charles Krauthammer

Principle I:;: Legal rights are presumptive rights. — William Ernest Hocking

It is incredibly presumptive for somebody who has not yet earned his party's nomination to start speculating about vice presidents. — George W. Bush

The newly formed Council all rose to their feet as I entered the room, but I immediately raised my hands. "Oh, God, please don't do that. I'm freaked out enough as it is."
One of the faeries, a huge man with emerald green wings, frowned at me. "But as heir presumptive to the Head of the Council, you're afforded a certain degree of respect."
"I can feel respected with you all sitting down. Honestly. — Rachel Hawkins

Self-righteousness and presumptive moral judgments pose a great danger in the political arena. To become convinced of the divine infallibility of one's personal predilections on a secular political issue is to play God, to assume to oneself the attributes of deity. It cultivates an arrogant intolerance of dissenting viewpoints and relegates one's political adversaries to the category of evil per se. — Jim Wright

It seems, though, that historically we have now reached a position in which Jews cannot legitimately be understood always and only as presumptive victims. — Judith Butler

Resource-poor schools in low-income neighborhoods often leave children with subpar language and critical-thinking skills. Those deficits will remain even if those children relocate to safe and prosperous neighborhoods later in life. To think of those school-conditioned speech patterns and belief systems as evidence of a "culture of poverty," the invention of poor families themselves, is to overlook the influence of broken cultural institutions through which low-income families pass. We — Matthew Desmond

For a good many years now I have practised at the bar; and, if that fact offers no guarantee of unimpeachable veracity it at least furnishes presumptive evidence of a fairly robust moral epidermis. I may not be believed; but the frankest scepticism will leave me undisturbed and unabashed. — R. Austin Freeman

I'm the heir apparent to the heir presumptive. — Princess Margaret

Readers have told me that their children have learned to read after years of struggle after starting to read Garfield's comic strip and many people who have moved to the United States have said that they, too, learned English by reading Garfield. — Jim Davis

I knowed a man in Paphlagonia who'd swallow a live snake every morning, when he got up. He used to say, he was certain of one thing, that nothing worse would happen to him all day. 'Course they made him eat a bowlful of hairy centipedes before they hung him, so maybe that claim was a bit presumptive. — Neil Gaiman

You may note the irony. In the context of the cab problem, the neglect of base-rate information is a cognitive flaw, a failure of Bayesian reasoning, and the reliance on causal base rates is desirable. Stereotyping the Green drivers improves the accuracy of judgment. In other contexts, however, such as hiring or profiling, there is a strong social norm against stereotyping, which is also embedded in the law. This is as it should be. In sensitive social contexts, we do not want to draw possibly erroneous conclusions about the individual from the statistics of the group. We consider it morally desirable for base rates to be treated as statistical facts about the group rather than as presumptive facts about individuals. In other words, we reject causal base rates. — Daniel Kahneman

I do not believe, as we shall presently see, that all our dogs have descended from any one wild species; but, in the case of some other domestic races, there is presumptive, or even strong, evidence in favour of this view. — Charles Darwin

Are you entitled to the fruits of your own labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend? — Ronald Reagan

Cultural pessimism is always fashionable, and since we are human, there are always grounds for it. It has the negative consequence of depressing the level of aspiration, the sense of the possible... it is easy to forget that there are always as good grounds for optimism as for pessimism--exactly the same grounds, in fact--that is, because we are human. We still have every potential for good we have ever had, and the same presumptive claim to respect, our own respect and one another's. We are still creatures of singular interest and value, agile of soul as we have always been and as we will continue to be even despite our errors and depredations, for as long as we abide on this earth. — Marilynne Robinson

Ideas of hope are deeply disturbing to a certain kind of presumptive progressive, one who is securely established one way or another ... Another part of the Puritan legacy is the belief that no one should have joy or abundance until everyone does, a belief that's austere at one end, in the deprivation it endorses, and fantastical in the other, since it awaits a universal utopia. Joy sneaks in anyway, abundance cascades forth uninvited ... Joy doesn't betray, but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated, and isolated, joy is a fine act of insurrection. — Rebecca Solnit

A whisper of selflessness echos boundlessly. — Aisha Mirza

Principle III:;: Presumptive rights are the conditions under which individual powers normally develop. — William Ernest Hocking

When we are dealing with concepts like freedom and equality, it is essential to use words accurately and in good faith. So the eighth commandment is: beware of those who seek to win an argument at the expense of the language. For the fact that they do is proof positive that their argument is false, and proof presumptive that they know it is. A man who deliberately inflicts violence on the language will almost certainly inflict violence on human beings if he acquires the power. Those who treasure the meaning of words will treasure truth, and those who bend words to their purposes are very likely in pursuit of anti-social ones. The correct and honourable use of words is the first and natural credential of civilized status. — Paul Johnson

We didn't care if we were well-liked as long as the movies were good. We served the movie - that was our master at Miramax. In our second incarnation, the movie is still the master but we're getting the same results in more subtle ways. — Harvey Weinstein

I'm very good in math, and I'm a logical thinker. I don't get wrapped up in things or even wrapped up in myself. — Alan C. Greenberg

Didn't," Chris told him. "She was also sedated when last we spoke?" "Yes, she was." "I thought I saw her at her window that day." "Well, you're mistaken." "It could be. Perhaps so. I'm not sure." "Listen, why are you asking all this?" "Well, a clear — William Peter Blatty

In moments of spiritual crisis we naturally fall back upon what worked for us, or seemed to work, heretofore. Sometimes this shows up through the reassertion of our old values in belligerent, testy ways. Regression of any kind is just such a return to old presumptions, often after they have been shown to be insufficient for the complexity of larger questions. The virtue of the old presumptions is that they once worked, or seemed to work, and therein lies if not certainty, then nostalgia for a previous, presumptive security. In our private lives, we frequently fall back upon our old roles. — James Hollis

Success is no proof of virtue. In the case of a book, quick acclaim is presumptive evidence of a lack of substance and originality. — Walter Kaufmann

I get it, she's your rock. Your anchor in the storm. ~Bo~ — Lucian Bane

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear. — Florence Nightingale

The dogged effort to "denaturalize" gender in this text emerges, I think, from a strong desire both to counter the normative violence implied by ideal morphologies of sex and to uproot the pervasive assumptions about natural or presumptive heterosexuality that are informed by ordinary and academic discourses on sexuality. The writing of this denaturalization was not done simply out of a desire to play with language or prescribe theatrical antics in the place of "real" politics, as some critics have conjectured (as if theatre and politics are always distinct). It was done from a desire to live, to make life possible, and to rethink the possible as such. — Judith Butler

I've confromted enough assholes in my time. They never realize they're assholes. Not once. Whatever you say. — Sophie Kinsella

With a rush of feeling he felt that this must be happiness. As soon as the thought came to him, he fought it back, blaming the whiskey. The very idea was as dangerous as presumptive speech: happiness could not be sought or worried into being, or even fully grasped; it should be allowed its own slow pace so that it passes unnoticed, if it ever comes at all. — John McGahern

As presumptive heir to one of the largest Duchies in the Kingdom of the Mists, she could have easily grown up more spoiled than any human princess. Instead she grew into the sort of little girl who's always up a tree or down a hole, a magnet for mud, queen of worms and frogs and crawling things. — Seanan McGuire

Songs are usually unfit for whistling - indeed, whistling (except to the person doing it) is unbearable ... — Anne Bosworth Greene

A small knowledge of human nature will convince us, that, with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle ... Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest, or advantage, to the common good. It is vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account; the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure, change the constitution of man, before we can make it otherwise. No institution, not built on the presumptive truth of these maxims can succeed. — George Washington

Three explanations dominate speculation about what Obama is up to. The first is that he's trying to lay the groundwork for his successor, presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. The second is that he's trying to pad his legacy. The third is that he's trying to 'troll' or bait the GOP into debating his agenda rather than pursuing its own. All are plausible, and none necessarily contradicts the others. — Jonah Goldberg

We'll tell our secrets to the dark"-Adam
"Okay"-Mia
"So let's hear another of your irrational fears"-Adam
"I'm scared of losing you"-Mia
"I said 'irrational' fears. Because that's not gonna happen"-Adam
"It still scares me"- Mia — Gayle Forman

Without good-will, no man has any presumptive right, except the right or opportunity to change his will, so long as there is hope of it. — William Ernest Hocking

In 1995, Glaxo bought Burroughs Wellcome and became the presumptive leader in AIDS therapy. — Barton Gellman

To Renard's suspicious eye, Elizabeth's nebulous role at court had taken on a new and sinister signifiance. This unspoken Protestant heir presumptive was suddenly the greatest obstacle to Prince Philip's path to England and Renard had already resolved to dispose of her at his earliest conveneicne. Accordingly, he invited her to dance and tried his hand at a little subtle flattery. They manoevered delicately down the Hall, like two scorpions locked in mortal combat, but no matter how he tried, he could not get close enough to sting. — Susan Kay

No one wants to go back to a situation where, if you have a pre-existing medical condition, you, you can be deprived of coverage. No one wants to go back to a situation where, if you get seriously ill, you can get thrown off your insurance. Seniors don't want to go back to paying more for their prescription drugs. — David Axelrod

Every time someone takes a sip of Guinness, a part of straight marriage dies, — Bobby Jindal

What effect am I having on this world? I'm not sure yet. I have my worries, doubts and fears, but the way I'm trying to affect the world is with positive, right action. — Robert Gossett

Any number of roads can lead to the corner office, and some of them have nothing to do with leadership. — R. Albert Mohler Jr.