Decisive Moments Quotes

I am courageous at the decisive moment. But I need a good deal of start-up time, and I try to take as much as possible into consideration beforehand. ~ Angela Merkel

Photographs offer more than decisive moments. They are not alone, they add and subtract and change with time. They are metaphors for our lives ... Even a static photograph can change in the blink of a day or decade. ~ Edmundo Desnoes

She was in that highly-wrought state when the reasoning powers act with great rapidity: the state a man is in before a battle or a struggle, in danger, and at the decisive moments of life - those moments when a man shows once and for all what he is worth, that his past was not lived in vain but was a preparation for these moments. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Knowledge above the average can be crammed into the average man, but it remains dead, and in the last analysis sterile knowledge. The result is a man who may be a living dictionary but nevertheless falls down miserably in all special situations and decisive moments in life. ~ Adolf Hitler

I'm a big fan of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the French photographer who had that whole "decisive moment" approach to taking pictures, of having multiple elements line up within the frame. ~ Nick Zinner

I believe that, through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us, which can mold us, but which can also be affected by us. A balance must be established between these two worlds - the one inside us and the one outside us. ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

This communication alone, by the comparison of the antagonisms, rivalries, movements which give birth to decisive moments, permits the evolution of the soul, whereby a man realizes himself on earth. It is impossible to be concerned with anything else in art. ~ Robert Delaunay

History, which is a simple whore, has no decisive moments but is a proliferation of instants, brief interludes that vie with one another in monstrousness. ~ Roberto Bolano

We tend to think that people's true nature comes out at decisive moments, when the going gets tough, when they're pushed to the limit. The moment for heroes and saints. And yet, strange though it may seem, at such moments, human behavior is usually neither exemplary nor encouraging. The group who elbow their way to the head of the line where the concert tickets are being handed out; the spectators who flee the burning theater, trampling over the weaker members of the audience . . . ~ Rafael Chirbes

Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant. We photographers deal in things that are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth that can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory. The writer has time to reflect. He can accept and reject, accept again; and before committing his thoughts to paper he is able to tie the several relevant elements together. There is also a period when his brain "forgets," and his subconscious works on classifying his thoughts. But for photographers, what has gone is gone forever. ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

The very metaphor Paul chooses for this decisive moment in his argument shows that what he has in mind is not the unmaking of creation or simply its steady development, but the drastic and dramatic birth of new creation from the womb of the old. ~ N. T. Wright

The decisive moment in the defeat of upper class, capital-S, Society may have come when, in newspapers all over the nation, what used to be call the Society page was replaced by the Style section. ~ Joseph Epstein

One never gets to know a person's character better than by watching his behavior during decisive moments ... It is always only danger which forces the most deeply hidden strengths and abilities of a human being to come forth. ~ Stefan Zweig

All true competitors in any field and walk of life take adversity and are strengthened from it. They develop a reputation of determination and toughness that wins more decisive moments in life than winning shots.
Bobby Blair was one tough player. Playing him was like going into a phone booth with an angry bobcat. His massive talent was only surpassed by his courage to hit the big shots under the most pressure. No one ever looked forward to playing him. It was going to be pain and suffering if you wanted to go the distance it took to beat him. ~ Luke Jensen

The act of creation, making anything, is an alteration. We cannot eliminate the medium or ourselves from the process, and both are limited. We create decisive moments by devoting our time and attention to specific things. This is the greatest gift we can give anyone or anything - pieces of our life. ~ John Paul Caponigro

A mysterious intersection of chance and attention that goes well beyond the existential surrealism of the 'decisive moment'. ~ Lee Friedlander

Running makes you an athlete in all areas of life ... trained in the basics, prepared for whatever comes, ready to fill each hour and deal with the decisive moment. ~ George A. Sheehan

In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a Leitmotiv. ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Like all of us sinners, General Betrishchev was endowed with many virtues and many defects. Both the one and the other were scattered through him in a sort of picturesque disorder. Self-sacrifice, magnanimity in decisive moments, courage, intelligence
and with all that, a generous mixture of self-love, ambition, vanity, petty personal ticklishness, and a good many of those things which a man simply cannot do without. ~ Nikolai Gogol

Personally, my daughter's wedding gave me a tremendous pleasure. And the wedding was a radiant event and I enjoyed it. I was afraid I'd cry. I'm given to crying at odd times, and I was very much afraid of the emotionalism of that moment, but I didn't even come close to crying. ~ Rod Serling

I own my past, it hasn't been grande'
But it's had some pretty great moments.
I own my movements of now, it isn't what I've dreamt, but I'm closer than I was before.
I own my future, it is going to test me,
But I trust I have the strength to pull through.
Life isn't what happens to us, but what we choose to become. ~ Nikki Rowe

Try pausing right before and right after undertaking a new action, even something simple like putting a key in a lock to open a door. Such pauses take a brief moment, yet they have the effect of decompressing time and centering you. ~ David Steindl-Rast

Selah Moments: those times we lean into God's presence, hear His voice, and willingly receive the golden nuggets of truth-revelation He gifts us with. ~ Jo Ann Fore

The stars are like letters that inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky. Everything in the world is full of signs. All events are coordinated. All things depend on each other. Everything breathes together. ~ Plotinus

For all those moments in your life when you absolutely think you can't...think again. ~ Scott Schafer

Why, I ... I still like you." Nerves fluttered in her chest, but she kept her tone light. "Do you like me?"
A few moments passed in silence. She would have counted them in heartbeats, but her foolish heart had become a most unreliable timepiece. It gave three pounding beats in a flurry, then none at all.
Just when she'd begun to despair, he turned his head, catching her in a passionate, openmouthed kiss. He put both arms around her, fisting his hands in the fabric of her dress, lifting her up and against his chest. So that her body recalled every inch of his, every second of their blissful lovemaking. The now-familiar ache returned - that sweet, hollow pang of desire that only deepened as his tongue flickered over hers. In a matter of seconds, he had her gasping. Needing. Damp.
Then he set her back on her toes. Pressed his brow to hers and released a deep, resonant sigh. And just before turning to leave, he spoke a single word.
He said, "No. ~ Tessa Dare

These are the moments for which we live. ~ Joyce Carol Oates

What they need, above all, is to sincerely connect with a source of useful and relevant information. These moments represent incredible opportunities for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry to help and be of service. ~ Scott Weintraub

Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck
in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle. ~ Earl Blumenauer

We can choose this moment of crisis to ask and answer the big questions of society's evolution - like, what do we want to be when we grow up? ~ Paul Gilding

If you have to speculate if someone loves you and wants to be with you, chances are they don't. It's not that complicated. Love, in most cases, betrays the one feeling it. Don't waste moments waiting and wondering. Don't throw away your time dreaming of someone that doesn't want you. No one is that amazing, certainly not the one who would pass you up. ~ Donna Lynn Hope

I know that there is a reason for everything. Perhaps at the moment that an event occurs we have neither the insight or the foresight to comprehend the reason, but with time and patience it will come to light. ~ Brian Weiss

Only those capable of envisaging utopia will be fit for the decisive battle, that of recovering all the humanity we have lost.
~ Ernesto Sabato

With an absurd oversimplification, the 'invention' of the calculus is sometimes ascribed to two men, Newton and Leibniz. In reality, the calculus is the product of a long evolution that was neither initiated nor terminated by Newton and Leibniz, but in which both played a decisive part. ~ Richard Courant

Through a portrait, we can potentially see everything - the history and depth of a person's life, as well as evidence of a primal universal presence. I have dedicated my life and creative energy to capturing these transcendent moments in which a connection is made between the subject, the photographer, and the viewer. ~ Joyce Tenneson

Ah! Books don't come all that often, at least not my way. Andre Malraux's The Psychology of Art was one of them. It was published just after the war. It was too expensive to buy but I located a copy of this luminous book in the Manchester Art Gallery; and i had to make several journeys by motor-cycle, often through sleet and snow until I had finished it. From time to time I wanted to get up on the table to proclaim its truth to all around me, or slap my next-desk neighbour over the back and say, 'There you are; just get hold of that!' Once I nearly did but just in time I noticed he was reading a text on the structure of plastics. By now, of course, I know that some people can get as much aesthetic pleasure out of contemplating the formula for a long molecule as others do from beholding a mural by Piero della Francesca. Technologists have their Ah! Moments too! ~ Vernon Sproxton

Beautiful writing is more than pretty prose. It creates resonance in readers' minds with parallels, reversals, and symbols. It conjures a story world that is unique, highly detailed, and brought alive by the characters that dwell there. It offers moments of breath-catching surprise, heart-gripping insight, revelation, and self-understanding. It engages the reader's mind with an urgent point, which we might call theme. ~ Donald Maass

One road to happiness is to cultivate curiosity about everything. Not only about people but about subjects, not only about the arts but about history and foreign customs. Not only about countries and cities, but about plants and animals. Not only about lichened rocks and curious markings on the bark of trees, but about stars and atoms. Not only about your friends but about that strange labyrinth we inhabit which we call ourselves. Then, if we do that, we will never suffer a moment's boredom ... ~ Gerald Brenan

Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. ~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Loving yourself isn't just about celebrating your accomplishments and nurturing your talents. Those things are nice, sure. But that's not how we know others love us. We know others love us when they see us with our face on the ground, crying and weak, feeling like we've got nothing to offer the world - and they smile, and they reach out, and they love us anyway. Loving yourself is what you do when you fail, when you don't know, when you screw up, when you forget, when you lose everything. Loving yourself is what you do when you can't approve of what you've done. Loving yourself is what you do when you're not sure if it's going to get better. Loving yourself is what you must do in those moments when you can't like yourself. Real love is when you reach out for no good reason at all, except to love. ~ Vironika Tugaleva

Much as I hate to break you two up…" Daciana coughed delicately from the doorway. "We have a visitor." She eyed my new outfit and grinned. "You look phenomenal. Very intimidating and 'Bringer of Death.'"

Thomas groaned as I stepped out of his grasp, then shot his sister a withering glare Aunt Amelia would have been proud of. "Bringer of Death is what the villagers will label me if you continue to ruin all of our clandestine moments, Daci. Go entertain your visitor on your own. ~ Kerri Maniscalco

The future was spun from moments like this. If she backed away, it might all unravel. ~ Alice Hoffman

Lost in thought, it took her several moments to realize that Jace had been saying something to her. When she blinked at him, she saw a wry grin spread across his face. "What?" she asked, ungraciously.
"I wish you'd stop desperately trying to get my attention like this," he said. "It's become embarrassing."
"Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt," she told him.
"I can't help it. I use my rapier wit to hide my inner pain."
"Your pain will be outer soon if you don't get out of traffic. Are you trying to get run over by a cab?"
"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "We could never get a cab that easily in this neighborhood. ~ Cassandra Clare

If there is moonlight outside, don't stay inside! If there is candle inside, don't stay outside! Moments of romanticism are too valuable to be missed! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Harry had not expected Hermione's anger to abate overnight, and was therefore unsurprised that she communicated mainly by dirty looks and pointed silences the next morning. Ron responded by maintaining an unnaturally somber demeanor in her presence as an outward sign of continuing remorse. In fact, when all three of them were together Harry felt like the only non-mourner at a poorly attended funeral. During those few moments he spent alone with Harry, however (collecting water and searching the undergrowth for mushrooms), Ron became shamelessly cheery. ~ J.K. Rowling

We can't blame our decision if something goes wrong in life. Decision is made exactly as per the capacity and capability of the moment's consciousness ~ Bhavik Sarkhedi

Our lives are composed of unexpected moments and unforgettable adventures. ~ Erin Forbes

The essence of saintliness is total acceptance of the present moment,
harmony with things as they happen. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Maybe there are moments between any two adults in love when the age of one of them dissolves before the other's eyes, when the first refuge of the soul at its creation is laid bare and skinless as a sunbeam through a window. Innocence and vulnerability, two unmeasurable quantities ... Perhaps that is the essence of the protection's intimacy, that it dwells in camouflage and justifies itself in stillness. ~ Marianne Wiggins

There's such a big buzz around boxing at the moment. Everything's happening and there's so much building up with a lot of young talent coming through. ~ Billy Joe Saunders

I like breakfast-time better than any other moment in the day. No dust has settled on one's mind then, and it presents a clear mirror to the rays of things. ~ George Eliot

What binds us to space-time is our rest mass, which prevents us from flying at the speed of light, when time stops and space loses meaning. In a world of light there are neither points nor moments of time; beings woven from light would live "nowhere" and "nowhen"; only poetry and mathematics are capable of speaking meaningfully about such things. ~ Yuri Manin