Definition of Dictate

Dictate

To tell or utter so that another may write down; to inspire; to compose; as, to dictate a letter to an amanuensis.

To say; to utter; to communicate authoritatively; to deliver (a command) to a subordinate; to declare with authority; to impose; as, to dictate the terms of a treaty; a general dictates orders to his troops.

To speak as a superior; to command; to impose conditions (on).

To compose literary works; to tell what shall be written or said by another.

A statement delivered with authority; an order; a command; an authoritative rule, principle, or maxim; a prescription; as, listen to the dictates of your conscience; the dictates of the gospel.

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Dictate Quotations

Man wants to live, but it is useless to hope that this desire will dictate all his actions.
Albert Camus

Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.
Douglas MacArthur

No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.
Ansel Adams

The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of political adolescents to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate the terms of a national election.
Gerald R. Ford

If we were living in ancient Rome or Greece, I would be considered sickly and unattractive. The times dictate that thin is better for some strange reason, which I think is foolish.
Gwyneth Paltrow

The soul is a very perfect judge of her own motions, if your mind doesn't dictate to her.
David Herbert Lawrence

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
Henry Van Dyke

The ideas dictate everything, you have to be true to that or you're dead.
David Lynch

Ego is the immediate dictate of human consciousness.
Max Planck

I don't dictate, you don't dictate to Stevie Wonder, not successfully.
Spike Lee

No emperor has the power to dictate to the heart.
Friedrich Schiller

The real scientist is ready to bear privation and, if need be, starvation rather than let anyone dictate to him which direction his work must take.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

I really feel like life will dictate itself. You should allow it to unfold as naturally as possible. Just go with the flow. When you're really desperate, you say a few prayers and hope for the best. That's the way I've always lived my life.
Shania Twain

There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now. To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that's not how I want to do things anymore. I'm thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory? It's a fight. But it's one I'm going to keep fighting.
Jeremy Lin

So writing a song is much harder than doing a classical piece for me, because in a classical piece, I can just let the mood dictate what's going to happen.
Glenn Danzig

You have to let the viewers come away with their own conclusions. If you dictate what they should think, you've lost it.
Maya Lin

We cannot have that relationship if we only dictate or threaten and condemn those who disagree.
Zbigniew Brzezinski

Growing up as an athlete, I started skating very young. My parents didn't know anything about the sport, so they went with the flow. I had two great coaches who gave great advice and gave guidelines for my parents. My parents let the coaches dictate what was going on on the ice.
Kristi Yamaguchi

We're all very sensitive that Jim has the shortest history with the band. He wants to be somewhat of a free agent. I'm just going to let time dictate how Jim's future evolves.
Thurston Moore

I posed nude to show my parents they couldn't dictate to me any more - that I control my life.
LaToya Jackson

The way that a handful of corporations in Los Angeles dictate how our stories are told creates a real poverty of imagination and it's a big problem.
Alex Cox

I maintain that the House is bound by the Constitution to receive the petitions; after which, it will take such method of deciding upon them as reason and principle shall dictate.
Caleb Cushing

It's kind of true that they just start making the same movie over and over again. It's also true that the times dictate what kind of movies get made and what kind are not. So I'm always looking for something that's a little fresh and something that I haven't seen before.
Thomas Jane

It's kind of like trying to make straight lines from curves, but involving shapes that sort of dictate what the curves are, if you like, and the difference between two separate pieces creates a third transitional piece if you like.
Sean Booth

The sincere teachers of their youth should be met, not with an intention to dictate to them, but to give additional force to their well-meant endeavours, and raise them to public esteem.
Joseph Lancaster

The radios are going to dictate. That's another fight. That's another story there. I wish they just let it be.
Bernie Worrell

I know many writers who first dictate passages, then polish what they have dictated. I speak, then I polish - occasionally I do windows.
Edward Koch

The truth is, I could no more dictate her nature than she could dictate mine. Kinsey's happy as she is and she doesn't need to be rescued, improved, or saved.
Sue Grafton

It's hard to go with a trend. As soon as it's out, everyone picks it up. It's important to stay true to yourself. Have fun with fashion instead of letting it dictate.
Estella Warren

In better times the religion of the tribe or state has nothing in common with the private and foreign superstitions or magical rites that savage terror may dictate to the individual.
William Robertson Smith

More Dictate Quotations

Dictate Translations

dictate in Dutch is dicteren
dictate in French is dictons, dictez, dictent, dicter
dictate in German is diktieren, diktiere
dictate in Italian is dettare
dictate in Latin is dicto
dictate in Portuguese is ordem
dictate in Spanish is dictar

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