Soft Negative Imperative

Famous quotes containing the words soft, negative and/or imperative:

    The soft engravings which adorn the annuals give no idea of a stream in such a wilderness as this.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The negative cautions of science are never popular. If the experimentalist would not commit himself, the social philosopher, the preacher, and the pedagogue tried the harder to give a short- cut answer.
    Margaret Mead (1901–1978)

    Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.
    Mary Arrigo (20th century)