Unpropitious Quotes & Sayings

What was this passion that attacked women for knitting under the most unpropitious conditions? A woman did not look her best knitting; the absorption, the glassy eyes, the restless, busy fingers! One needed the agility of a wild cat, and the will-power of a Napoleon to manage to knit in a crowded tube, but women managed it! If they succeeded in obtaining a seat, out came a miserable little strip of shrimp pink and click, click went the pins! — Agatha Christie

I have never met a woman who works who doesn't feel guilty. I mean we all deny it like crazy but deep down there is always that voice saying you should be at home. — Kristin Scott Thomas

She had not told her mother about Denys, but she had a suspicion that Mrs. Shannon knew all about it nevertheless. It was unlike her not to want to satisfy her curiosity when she came upon her daughter sobbing in various parts of the house. She had asked no questions; she had simply donned the role of the heavily understanding mother, and had done a lot of shoulder-patting and given Mary an expensive evening dress from the shop. Mary had no idea how she knew, but was certain that if she had not known she would never have rested until she did. — Monica Dickens

There is no temper more unpropitious to interest than desultory application and unlimited inquiry, by which the desires are held in a perpetual equipoise, and the mind fluctuates between different purposes without determination. — Samuel Johnson

Our society's almost doctrinal emphasis upon deductive reasoning, convergent thinking and selective retention perversely excludes divergent thinking, approximation and, importantly, guessing. If we are truly to understand the adolescent mind and develop effective ways to minimize the effects of risk-taking behaviour, we really need to understand these processes and engage with them. There is no logic involved with drug-taking and gambling. Adults can learn, too; understanding these mechanisms will also allow us to encourage creativity and value the spontaneity so characteristic of the adolescent mind. — Tony Little

I used to do a lot of casual photography - back in the olden times when one used film - but it had fallen by the wayside over the years. — Kara Swisher

CHAPTER XVII OLIVER'S DESTINY, CONTINUING UNPROPITIOUS, BRINGS A GREAT MAN TO LONDON TO INJURE HIS REPUTATION — Charles Dickens

Cease the bickering! I am indulging the exotic whims of a beautiful princess and must not be distracted. — Jack Vance

Is this not pathetic, Odd, what some ill-educated fool has done? I take solace in reminding myself that 'art is long and critics are the insects of a day.'" "Shakespeare?" I asked. "No. Randall Jarrell. A wonderful poet, now all but forgotten because modern universities teach nothing but self-esteem and toe-sucking. — Dean Koontz

It is beyond us to divine how any people could have bred cobs of corn from such a thin and unpropitious plant - or even thought to try. Hoping to settle the matter once and for all, food scientists from around the world convened in 1969 at a conference on the origin of corn at the University of Illinois, but the debates grew so vituperative and bitter, and at times so personal, that the conference broke up in confusion and no papers from it were ever published. — Bill Bryson

Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States. They are to be the same who exercise the right in every State of electing the corresponding branch of the legislature of the State. — James Madison

If there have been mute inglorious Miltons in rural villages, presumably there have been unrealized Washingtons born in unpropitious times. — Barbara W. Tuchman

There is only the fight to recover what has been lost And found and lost again and again: and now under conditions That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss. For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business." - T. S. Eliot, from "East Coker — Kristin Hannah

The world rests on principles. — Henry David Thoreau

How do you know all this?" Delara asked.
"I'm the Prism," Gavin said. "Five minutes."
"You can't treat us like this. We aren't slaves to take your orders. What will you do if we don't let you go?" Klytos Blue asked.
Turning cold eyes on the little man, Gavin said, "I'll kill you and piss on your corpse." He meant it.
Klytos Blue's mouth dropped open. His wasn't the only one. — Brent Weeks

When you least expect it, life may propose something to you. Something you might not necessarily be looking for, but without a doubt has the ability to offer your life some form of enrichment. — Scott Hildreth

We've become a superficial nation obsessed with fluff. Americans may be hard-pressed to name their two senators or find Afghanistan on a map, but they know everything about the loopy Kardashians and Brad and what's-her-name. I worry about our country's future when critical issues take a backseat to the inane utterings of illiterate athletes and celebrity twits. — Congressman X