Subtlety Quotes

Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.
Leonardo da Vinci

Nature, Beautiful, Simple

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.
Isaac Asimov

Reputation, Obvious, Pays

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
Francis Bacon

Nature, Times, Greater

Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.
Oliver Cromwell

Integrity, May, Deceive

The difference between stupid and intelligent people - and this is true whether or not they are well-educated - is that intelligent people can handle subtlety.
Neal Stephenson

Stupid, True, Between

Sexiness, particularly in movies, is the chess game in the 'Thomas Crown Affair'. It's, it's, I don't know, but Faye Dunaway comes up a lot in that thinking. It's the subtlety of sexiness. The moment you try to be sexy, then it's not.
Daniel Craig

Movies, Sexy, Game

I appreciate subtlety. I have never enjoyed a kiss in front of the camera. There's nothing to it except not getting your lipstick smeared.
Hedy Lamarr

Nothing, Kiss, Getting

Menswear is about subtlety. It's about good style and good taste.
Alexander McQueen

Good, Style, Taste

What I was going for in the first two albums I didn't necessarily achieve. Because I was young and because it was my first time out. And the second album was such a 'quickie' sort of 'Let's just get it over with!' But the kind of music I make, there's a lot of subtlety in it. And I think it takes a couple of listens to actually really get it.
Norah Jones

Music, Time, Two

I like songs with a lot of heart and feeling and subtlety.
Norah Jones

Heart, Feeling, Songs

As with real reading, the ability to comprehend subtlety and complexity comes only with time and a lot of experience. If you don't adequately acquire those skills, moving out into the real world of real people can actually become quite scary.
Jeffrey Kluger

Time, Experience, Moving

Pantomime is a big thing in the cultural calendar of my country, you know. So subtlety's not my forte.
Alan Cumming

Country, Big, Cultural

I often begin movies with music in my head; it's a very important dimension to me. Not just the music itself, but how to use music in film: when and how and subtlety. I don't like to be too sweet in my stories, and I like the abrasive clang, the contrasting of sounds and cultures.
Mira Nair

Music, Movies, Important

In movies, there are some things the French do that Americans are increasingly incapable of doing. One is honoring the complexities of youth. It's a quiet, difficult undertaking, requiring subtlety in a filmmaker and perception and patience from us.
Wesley Morris

Patience, Movies, Difficult

Symbolism perhaps is a bit in your face, and I've tried my best to control that as best I can as I've grown older and thought that one could approach something with a little more subtlety.
John Schlesinger

Best, Control, Thought

Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety.
Mary Wesley

Change, Men, Game

Because I write very simply, but inside the simplicity, there's a lot of subtlety. That's what I'm proud of.
Ben Folds

Proud, Write, Simply

There's the conventional wisdom, of which I have none, where you get a record deal, you get a publicist, you get a campaign, and you do the tour, but none of that adds up to things like nuance and subtlety and dynamic.
Chris Robinson

Wisdom, Deal, Tour

I've learned by watching films that inspired me and people who inspired me like Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I love old school acting. I love subtlety, and I also love being spontaneous, and that's really what works for me.
Alex Pettyfer

Love, School, Learned

I love the subtlety and tonal range of the acoustic guitar.
Dan Fogelberg

Love, Guitar, Acoustic

I think the players, I put in the book for example that we should go back to wood rackets, probably they laughed at me, I'm a dinosaur, but I think that you see these great players, have even more variety and you see more strategy, there'd be more subtlety.
John McEnroe

Great, Book, Put

There was a subtlety about Peggy Lee. It was powerful. There was a valuable use of space. Everything was not cluttered. Her voice was out front and was the key instrument.
Rita Coolidge

Powerful, Everything, Her

Simplicity is the outcome of technical subtlety. It is the goal, not the starting point.
Maurice Saatchi

Goal, Point, Simplicity

French is, in many ways, more difficult for an English-speaking person to sing. It is so full of complex and trying vowels. It requires the utmost subtlety.
Alma Gluck

Person, Trying, Difficult

One of the biggest problems in literature is the lack of subtlety.
Mo Yan

Problems, Literature, Lack

An action movie should, like any other, follow the narrative traditions of literature. That means there should be subtlety, a slow build and a gradual bringing together of all the separate threads of the plot. To see all of it coming together slowly is very rewarding for the audience.
Shane Black

Together, Means, Action

It's not a country of articulate people, sophisticated people. There's too little subtlety. Men and women don't enjoy each other very much in Australia. I don't find very many men sexy in Australia. Of course, I'm married and out of it, but still.
Judy Davis

Women, Men, Sexy

Spirit of place! It is for this we travel, to surprise its subtlety; and where it is a strong and dominant angel, that place, seen once, abides entire in the memory with all its own accidents, its habits, its breath, its name.
Alice Meynell

Travel, Strong, Place

My idol was Jack Benny and he was the master of subtlety and timing.
Don Knotts

Master, Idol, Timing

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