The barrenest of all mortals is the sentimentalist.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Love is an ocean of emotions entirely surrounded by expenses.
—Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (1864–1930) Scottish Whisky Distiller
Emotional intelligence, more than any other factor, more than I.Q. or expertise, accounts for 85% to 90% of success at work… I.Q. is a threshold competence. You need it, but it doesn’t make you a star. Emotional intelligence can.
—Warren Bennis (1925–2014) American Business Academic, Author
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Sensitiveness is closely allied to egotism. Indeed, excessive sensitiveness is only another name for morbid self-consciousness. The cure for it is to make more of our objects, and less of ourselves.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man’s heart.
—Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540) Italian Historian, Statesman
Are you not justified in feeling inferior, when you seek to cover it up with arrogance and insolence?
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
To increase your effectiveness, make your emotions subordinate to your commitments.
—Brian Koslow
There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Every time a resolve or fine glow of feeling evaporates without bearing fruit, it is worse than a chance lost; it works to hinder future emotions from taking the normal path of discharge.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
It may be true of all relationships, not only between fathers and sons, but between men and women. Nothing seems fixed. Everything is always changing. We seem to have very little control over our emotional life.
—Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Sentiment is the poetry of the imagination.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts, he does not hide; he exposes himself.
—Jeanne Moreau (1928–2017) French Stage, Screen Actor, Singer
When I repress my emotion my stomach keeps score.
—Enoch Powell (1912–98) English Conservative Politician, Scholar
If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves.
—Carl Sagan (1934–96) American Astronomer
The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
We know too much and feel too little. At least, we feel too little of those creative emotions from which a good life springs.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man’s value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man’s reason and his emotions.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
Regret is an odd emotion because it comes only upon reflection. Regret lacks immediacy, and so its power seldom influences events when it could do some good.
—Edward William O’Rourke (1917–99) American Roman Catholic Bishop
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
One’s suffering disappears when one lets oneself go, when one yields – even to sadness.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
It is very difficult to be wholly joyous or wholly sad on this earth. The comic, when it is human, soon takes upon itself a face of pain; and some of our grieves… have their source in weaknesses which must be recognized with smiling compassion as the common inheritance of us all.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
If one uses one’s intellect to become master over the unlimited emotions, it may produce a sorry and diversionary effect upon the intellect.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
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