Imre Kertesz

No one in my family wrote. And there was no real introduction. I suppose I somehow blundered into it when I was about six or seven years old. I was asked what present I would like, and, without knowing why, I responded that I would like a journal. It was a beautiful journal - so beautiful that I didn't want to sully it.

Hungarian Author

Jenny Zhang

I hadn't ever worked with an 'editor' until I was 26 - although that could be partly chalked up to the MFA vs. NYC thing, where I came up through institutions that encouraged writers to write privately for a long, long time and not sully themselves with concerns about audience or the business side of writing.

Chinese Actress

Bojan Krkic

Those of us who have feeling, who are sensitive, who can be affected, need a good shield. Footballers are very young and they're exposed. Even at under-15s, players have Twitter and I'm sure they're already getting insults... it's ugly, it sullies society and football.

Spanish Athlete

Kevin Young

Blackface remains exoticist and offensive as a practice, not just because of its long tradition of being used to mock black selfhood, sexuality, and speech but because of its assertion that black people are merely white people sullied by dark skin.

Wayne Dyer

Never, and I mean never, allow anyone else's ideas of who you can or can't become sully your dream or pollute your imagination. This is your territory, and a 'Keep Out' sign is a great thing to erect at all entrances to your imagination.

American Psychologist

Andrea Seigel

Old-school viewers remain adamant that 'The Real World' has deteriorated, as if the original enterprise were some pristine experiment that got sullied as the conditions in the lab got sloppier.

American Novelist

Morley Safer

I think it has sullied his presidency. As brilliant a politician as Bill Clinton is, as magnetic a personality as he can be, there is one little screw loose somewhere.

Canadian Journalist

John Perry Barlow

But generally speaking, I felt to engage in the political process was to sully oneself to such a degree that whatever came out wasn't worth the trouble put in.

American Writer

Hilary Farr

Choose paintings, sculptures, realistic or abstract or animal images woven into fabrics, rather than a faux zebra rug or a sullied Lion's head on the wall.

British Designer

F. Sionil Jose

The Japanese covet important symbols - their heroic past as enshrined in Yasukuni, the Imperial family which has never been sullied by scandal.

Filipino Writer

Often used metaphorically to describe harming someone's reputation or good name.

Metaphorical Use

Suggests a lasting impact that's hard to erase or undo.

Irreversible Impact

Carries a strong negative tone, more than just 'damage' or 'spoil'.

Negative Connotation

Literally refers to the act of making something dirty.

Physical Smudging

Implies a visual change such that cleanliness or appearance is worsened.

Visual Impact

In a literal sense, what is sullied might be cleaned or washed.

Not Always Permanent

 unfortunately, I was harboring all this kind of awful experience and this pain inside of me, and it started to eat away at my psyche. And I was protecting the project from it, I realized. I was protecting it -- I didn't want this special, little group of photographs to get sullied in some way.

Ze Frank's web playroom

 sullied by the Restless peasants what's surprising about sumo is the sheer size of the wrestlers a traditional diet that includes choco lava a stew made from fatty meats cabbage eggs and bean sprouts helps them bulk up entering the

Sully

Metaphorical Use

Irreversible Impact

Negative Connotation

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