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6cf9c55 "Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father. But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore. Are those real islands?' asked the young prince. Of course they are real islands,' said the man in evening dress. And those strange and troubling creatures?' They are all genuine and authentic princesses.' Then God must exist!' cried the prince. I am God,' replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow. The young prince returned home as quickly as he could. So you are back,' said the father, the king. I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God,' said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved. Neither real islands, nor real princesses, I have seen God,' said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved. Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God exist.' I saw them!' Tell me how God was dressed.' God was in full evening dress.' Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?' The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled. That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived.' At this, the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress. My father the king has told me who you are,' said the young prince indignantly. 'You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician.' The man on the shore smiled. It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them.' The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eyes. Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?' The king smiled, and rolled back his sleeves. Yes, my son, I am only a magician.' Then the man on the shore was God.' The man on the shore was another magician.' I must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic.' There is no truth beyond magic,' said the king. The prince was full of sadness. He said, 'I will kill myself.' The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses. suicide magic death god life philosophy John Fowles
2e68bdf If your life is worth thinking about,it is worth writing about. philosophy inspirational lifestyle Robin Sharma
9ca1fb7 "...he asked, "Where are you today, right now?" Eagerly, I started talking about myself. However, I noticed that I was still being sidetracked from getting answers to my questions. Still, I told him about my distant and recent past and about my inexplicable depressions. He listened patiently and intently, as if he had all the time in the world, until I finished several hours later. "Very well," he said. "But you still have not answered my question about where you are." "Yes I did, remember? I told you how I got to where I am today: by hard work." "Where are you?" "What do you mean, where am I?" "Where Are you?" he repeated softly. "I'm here." "Where is here?" "In this office, in this gas station!" I was getting impatient with this game. "Where is this gas station?" "In Berkeley?" "Where is Berkeley?" "In California?" "Where is California?" "In the United States?" "On a landmass, one of the continents in the Western Hemisphere. Socrates, I..." "Where are the continents? I sighed. "On the earth. Are we done yet?" "Where is the earth?" "In the solar system, third planet from the sun. The sun is a small star in the Milky Way galaxy, all right?" "Where is the Milky Way?" "Oh, brother, " I sighed impatiently, rolling my eyes. "In the universe." I sat back and crossed my arms with finality. "And where," Socrates smiled, "is the universe?" "The universe is well, there are theories about how it's shaped..." "That's not what I asked. Where is it?" "I don't know - how can I answer that?" "That is the point. You cannot answer it, and you never will. There is no knowing about it. You are ignorant of where the universe is, and thus, where you are. In fact, you have no knowledge of where anything is or of What anything is or how is came to be. Life is a mystery. "My ignorance is based on this understanding. Your understanding is based on ignorance. This is why I am a humorous fool, and you are a serious jackass." universe philosophy listening mystery Dan Millman
a37040b The trouble was that he was talking in philosophy but they were listening in gibberish. philosophy Terry Pratchett
472a599 Philosophy cannot be taught; it is the application of the sciences to truth. philosophy truth Alexandre Dumas
52ec8be Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, 'atheism' is a term that should not even exist. No one needs to identify himself as a 'non-astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist.' We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. humor philosophy elvis-presley religious-beliefs galaxy justification atheism atheist elvis obvious Sam Harris
585ffb6 I'm not superstitious. I'm a witch. Witches aren't superstitious. We are what people are superstitious of. philosophy Terry Pratchett
9de7c50 We're built of contradictions, all of us. It's those opposing forces that give us strength, like an arch, each block pressing the next. Give me a man whose parts are all aligned in agreement and I'll show you madness. We walk a narrow path, insanity to each side. A man without contradictions to balance him will soon veer off. strength philosophy Mark Lawrence
23d665e People should decide on the books' meanings for themselves. They'll find a story that attacks such things as cruelty, oppression, intolerance, unkindness, narrow-mindedness, and celebrates love, kindness, open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity, human intelligence. philosophy sci-fi Philip Pullman
f65a0ca There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will ACT like lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now. philosophy exploitation Daniel Quinn
35c858c You asked me how to get out of the finite dimensions when I feel like it. I certainly don't use logic when I do it. Logic's the first thing you have to get rid of. philosophy teddy meditation J.D. Salinger
7049494 The heart is like a woman, and the head is like a man, and although man is the head of woman, woman is the heart of man, and she turns man's head because she turns his heart. man marriage woman relationships christianity spirituality heart love philosophy inspirational woman-s-charm jesus-shock woman-s-character woman-s-strength catholicism theology Peter Kreeft
9f5f37d He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior. ancient-china ancient-chinese conquers philosophical philosophy inspirational chinese body training ancient fighting warrior self-realization self-improvement proverb Confucius
da22e41 His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say, 'God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words, 'God can.' It remains true that all things are possible with God: the intrinsic impossibilities are not things but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God. philosophy theodicy theology C.S. Lewis
ed699f0 When you draw something it lives and when you photograph it it dies philosophy John Fowles
ea792db We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all. science philosophy Ludwig Wittgenstein
2c4d113 You become mature when you become the authority of your own life. spirituality philosophy mythology Joseph Campbell
e5476c3 So you think that money is the root of all evil? [...] Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? philosophy inspirational rand Ayn Rand
0d1e0a5 "Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding," Joseph exclaimed. "If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn't there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?" The master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said: "There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht - I can see that they already have begun." philosophy truth glass dogma game Hermann Hesse
9ce3504 "Our culture has filled our heads but emptied our hearts, stuffed our wallets but starved our wonder. It has fed our thirst for facts but not for meaning or mystery. It produces "nice" people, not heroes." heroes christianity spirituality philosophy culture-critique jesus-shock culture theology Peter Kreeft
59c387e You are a wonderful creation. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know. philosophy inspirational knowledge Oscar Wilde
b30bf1f We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love. christianity jesus spirituality god love philosophy inspirational excess-love saved-souls the-cross jesus-shock salvation cross saved theology christ sin Peter Kreeft
98242f1 I felt the taste of mortality in my mouth, and at that moment I understood that I was not going to live forever. It takes a long time to learn that, but when you finally do, everything changes inside you, you can never be the same again. I was seventeen years old, and all of a sudden, without the slightest flicker of a doubt, I understood that my life was my own, that it belonged to me and no one else. I'm talking about freedom, Fogg. A sense of despair that becomes so great, so crushing, so catastrophic, that you have no choice but to be liberated by it. That's the only choice, or else you crawl into a corner and die. self-determination freedom life philosophy Paul Auster
9528123 as soon as we renounce fiction and illusion, we lose reality itself; the moment we subtract fictions from reality, reality itself loses its discursive-logical consistency. fiction philosophy imaginary symbolic real ideology Slavoj Žižek
bb35b49 At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear. thoughts philosophy sunrise Norman Maclean
3a1fe7a Good-humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us. I maintain that one should always talk of philosophy with a smile. philosophy William James
a77cc2f How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads? philosophy Plato
a81d6aa Whatever one man does, it is as if all men did it. For that reason, it is not unfair that one disobedience in a garden should contaminate all humanity; for that reason it is not unjust that the crucifixion of a single Jew should be sufficient to save it. philosophy Jorge Luis Borges
bbc10c4 The premise of the Taker story is 'the world belongs to man'. ... The premise of the Leaver story is 'man belongs to the world'. philosophy Daniel Quinn
543e505 I do not think that tragedy is our natural fate and I do not live in chronic dread of disaster. It is no happiness, but suffering that I consider unnatural. It is not success, but calamity that I regard as the abnormal exception in Human Life. philosophy galt taggart objectivism ayn-rand Ayn Rand
7c2ee03 By the way, if you get mad at your Mac laptop and wonder who designed this demonic device, notice the manufacturer's icon on top: an apple with a bite out of it. christianity spirituality bible humor philosophy apple-computer-inc forbidden-fruit garden-of-eden macintosh original-sin jesus-shock old-testament laptop apple steve-jobs mac catholicism theology genesis sarcasm peter kreeft
2a92e89 In a traditional German toilet, the hole into which shit disappears after we flush is right at the front, so that shit is first laid out for us to sniff and inspect for traces of illness. In the typical French toilet, on the contrary, the hole is at the back, i.e. shit is supposed to disappear as quickly as possible. Finally, the American (Anglo-Saxon) toilet presents a synthesis, a mediation between these opposites: the toilet basin is full of water, so that the shit floats in it, visible, but not to be inspected. [...] It is clear that none of these versions can be accounted for in purely utilitarian terms: each involves a certain ideological perception of how the subject should relate to excrement. Hegel was among the first to see in the geographical triad of Germany, France and England an expression of three different existential attitudes: reflective thoroughness (German), revolutionary hastiness (French), utilitarian pragmatism (English). In political terms, this triad can be read as German conservatism, French revolutionary radicalism and English liberalism. [...] The point about toilets is that they enable us not only to discern this triad in the most intimate domain, but also to identify its underlying mechanism in the three different attitudes towards excremental excess: an ambiguous contemplative fascination; a wish to get rid of it as fast as possible; a pragmatic decision to treat it as ordinary and dispose of it in an appropriate way. It is easy for an academic at a round table to claim that we live in a post-ideological universe, but the moment he visits the lavatory after the heated discussion, he is again knee-deep in ideology. philosophy toilets ideology Slavoj Žižek
ddf4304 "The world's a puzzle; no need to make sense out of it." - Socrates" world philosophy puzzle Dan Millman
64a7f82 It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin. life philosophy pumpkin life-philosophy Alexander McCall Smith
dd07f1c True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self; but the point is not only to get out - you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand. happiness philosophy mindfulness Henry James
e43560c The longing for Paradise is man's longing not to be man. nature humanity life philosophy nurture roots Milan Kundera
240d87b Love is not a relationship, love is a state of being; it has nothing to do with anybody else. One is not "in love", one is love. And of course when one is love, one is in love - but that is an outcome, a by-product, that is not the source. The source is that one is love. life love philosophy wisdom inspirational Osho
2d0adba songs, to me, were more important than just light entertainment. They were my preceptor and guide into some altered consciousness of reality. Some different republic, some liberated republic... whatever the case, it wasn't that I was anti-popular culture or anything and I had no ambition to stir things up. I just thought of mainstream culture as lame as hell and a big trick. It was like the unbroken sea of frost that lay outside the window and you had to have awkward footgear to walk with. music philosophy superficiality pop-culture Bob Dylan
f2cf317 Socrates: Have you noticed on our journey how often the citizens of this new land remind each other it is a free country? Plato: I have, and think it odd they do this. Socrates: How so, Plato? Plato: It is like reminding a baker he is a baker, or a sculptor he is a sculptor. Socrates: You mean to say if someone is convinced of their trade, they have no need to be reminded. Plato: That is correct. Socrates: I agree. If these citizens were convinced of their freedom, they would not need reminders. words-of-wisdom philosophical freedom philosophy wisdom catholic-author citizens civil-liberty free-country gadfly philosophers plato socrates liberty christian freedom-of-thought thought-provoking E.A. Bucchianeri
f2d8c81 Digression is the soul of wit. Take the philosophic asides away from Dante, Milton or Hamlet's father's ghost and what stays is dry bones. reading writing philosophy digression wit Ray Bradbury
6b03c2c You know how the tightrope guy at the circus wants everyone to believe his act is an art, but deep down you can see that he's really just hoping he makes it all the way across? philosophy sister Jodi Picoult
ba595c3 She smiled. She knew she was dying. But it did not matter any longer. She had known something which no human words could ever tell and she knew it now. She had been awaiting it and she felt it, as if it had been, as if she had lived it. Life had been, if only because she had known it could be, and she felt it now as a hymn without sound, deep under the little whole that dripped red drops into the snow, deeper than that from which the red drops came. A moment or an eternity- did it matter? Life, undefeated, existed and could exist. She smiled, her last smile, to so much that had been possible. life philosophy inspirational individualism Ayn Rand
4674945 Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. humanism philosophy inspirational peace Bertrand Russell
c11776e For your past, for your flaws, and ultimately for your stress; I judge no one whom I've met along the way because in a sense we were all wounded in our own ways. motivational spiritual philosophy wisdom inspirational zen peace Forrest Curran
ef5820c No lake so still but it has its wave life philosophy inspirational Confucius
1b6170e L'homme est libre au moment qu'il veut l'etre. philosophy inspirational Voltaire
8a62b1d Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache. christianity god philosophy satan jesus-christ Fulton J. Sheen
cb6e6b7 A few years ago it dawned on me that everybody past a certain age ... pretty much constantly dreams of being able to escape from their lives. They don't want to be who they are any more. They want out. This list includes Thurston Howell the Third, Ann-Margret, the cat members of Rent, Vaclav Havel, space shuttle astronauts and Snuffleupagus. It's universal. humour life philosophy Douglas Coupland
f09239a It is hard to be angry when one has seen the sun rise,' she said. It seems to be true,' he admitted. 'I wonder why.' Because it makes one feel so small and insignificant. It has been rising forever and will rise forever no matter what we do or do not do. All our problems are as nothing to the sun. emotion life philosophy sun David Gemmell
7639cca Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. philosophy information news Ray Bradbury
54c955c A great tree develops over time and can tell stories not only those of happiness, but also those that contain pain from what it has seen over the years, and as a result is the wise ancient tree that it is today. As the seasons change, the tree naturally goes through changes as well: where the leaves turn yellow and orange in the fall, falling by the Winter, returning in the Spring, and with full set of new leafs by the Summer. Love is no different in that there will be times when we are fully naked in the Winter, and left to wonder about Spring when it seemed so easy to love, yet the wise tree knows that no winter will last forever no matter how cold it may be. motivational spiritual philosophy wisdom inspirational zen peace Forrest Curran
c0796b6 By what men think, we create the world around us, daily new. faith philosophy Marion Zimmer Bradley
629fd7f Mankind flung its advance agents ever outward, ever outward. Eventually it flung them out into space, into the colorless, tasteless, weightless sea of outwardness without end. It flung them like stones. science philosophy Kurt Vonnegut
7e6164b As I naturally go through a full range of emotions in my life, I mustn't feel ashamed for feeling lost, for it is honest and human to feel such. motivational spiritual philosophy wisdom inspirational zen peace Forrest Curran
0791f78 We become so absorbed in our flaws and faults that we forget that it is better to be a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. To have flaws is beauty in itself, a fact so frightening that we hurry to hide them from sight and tarnish the whole in the process of comparing ourselves to others. motivational spiritual philosophy wisdom inspirational zen peace Forrest Curran
761725e Slowly we became silent, and silence itself if an enemy to friendship. silence friends friendship philosophy Norman Maclean
4d5ccc8 This is the secret of life: the self lives only by dying, finds its identity (and its happiness) only by self-forgetfulness, self-giving, self-sacrifice, and agape love. christianity spirituality god love philosophy secret-of-life self-giving jesus-shock catholicism Peter Kreeft
b125714 "Calvin:"It says here that 'religion is the opiate of the masses.'...what do you suppose that means?" Television: "...it means that Karl Marx hadn't seen anything yet" television philosophy karl-marx Bill Watterson
e721cde To live is not to breathe but to act. It is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, of all the parts of ourselves which give us the sentiment of our existence. The man who has lived the most is not he who has counted the most years but he who has most felt life. enlightenment philosophy rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau
4f526b0 Life... is a paradise to what we fear of death. shakespeare philosophy William Shakespeare
9fc3819 One day in my shoes and a day for me in your shoes, the beauty of travel lies in the ease and willingness to be more open. motivational spiritual philosophy wisdom inspirational zen peace Forrest Curran
cc9f7b6 Some we proudly display on our arms, while others we shyly conceal. Tattoo the moments of sorrow as well as the moments of splendor and beauty. Tattoo in an acknowledgment and tribute to home, and tattooing your beliefs that define who you are. Whether we intended to or not, every moment of our lives are tattooed to our heart. motivational spiritual philosophy wisdom inspirational zen peace Forrest Curran
1456e16 "It's a thought," I said with a grin. "That's exactly what it is, Dan - a thought - no more real than the shadow of a shadow. Consciousness is not In the body; the body is In Consciousness. And you Are that Consciousness - no the phantom mind that troubles you so. You are the body, but you are everything else, too. That is what your visions revealed to you. Only the mind resists change. When you relax mindless into the body, you are happy and content and free, sensing no separation. Immortality is Already yours, but not in the same way you imagined or hope for. You have been immortal since before you were born and will be long after the body dissolves. The body is in Consciousness; never born; never dies; only changes. The mind - your ego, personal beliefs, history, and identity - is all that ends at death. And who needs it?" Socrates leaned back into his chair. "I'm not sure all of that sank in." "Of course not." He laughed. "Words mean little unless you realize the truth of it yourself. And when you do, you'll be free at last." -- mind free philosophy consciousness Dan Millman
df3af0b Beyond the fiction of reality, there is the reality of the fiction. reality philosophy psychology Slavoj Žižek
59c4247 Everybody knows that Aristotelian two-value logic is fucked. philosophy logic Philip K. Dick
28e66c4 Later on in life, you expect a bit of rest, don't you? You think you deserve it. I did, anyway. But then you begin to understand that the reward of merit is not life's business. time history meaning life philosophy rest memory Julian Barnes
0de7575 "Rockabye Baby, in the treetop Dont you know a treetop is no safe place to rock? And who put you up there, and your cradle too? Baby, humour philosophy nursery-rhyme Shel Silverstein
8155511 We are a society of notoriously unhappy people: lonely, anxious, depressed, destructive, dependent -- people who are glad when we have killed the time we are trying so hard to save. philosophy economics-philosophy modern-society consumerism psychology Erich Fromm
de621bb "Yet even in the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brother's keepers," possessed of one of the oldest and possible one of the most futile and certainly one of the most haunting instincts. It will not let us go." relationships people family philosophy Norman Maclean
d838c1f "Do you understand what I'm saying?" shouted Moist. "You can't just go around killing people!" "Why Not? You Do." The golem lowered his arm. "What?" snapped Moist. "I do not! Who told you that?" "I Worked It Out. You Have Killed Two Point Three Three Eight People," said the golem calmly. "I have never laid a finger on anyone in my life, Mr Pump. I may be-- all the things you know I am, but I am not a killer! I have never so much as drawn a sword!" "No, You Have Not. But You Have Stolen, Embezzled, Defrauded And Swindled Without Discrimination, Mr Lipvig. You Have Ruined Businesses And Destroyed Jobs. When Banks Fail, It Is Seldom Bankers Who Starve. Your Actions Have Taken Money From Those Who Had Little Enough To Begin With. In A Myriad Small Ways You Have Hastened The Deaths Of Many. You Do Not Know Them. You Did Not See Them Bleed. But You Snatched Bread From Their Mouths And Tore Clothes From Their Backs. For Sport, Mr Lipvig. For Sport. For The Joy Of The Game." death life philosophy wisdom cruelty sport justice Terry Pratchett
eac2c9a And last are the few whose delight is in meditation and understanding; who yearn not for goods, nor for victory, but for knowledge; who leave both market and battlefield to lose themselves in the quiet clarity of secluded thought; whose will is a light rather than a fire, whose haven is not power but truth: these are the men of wisdom, who stand aside unused by the world. philosophy truth philosopher Will Durant
7974375 ql lnfsh nh l nj@ lh l bljnwn. ljnwn wHdh hw ldhy yts` llymn wlkfr, llmjd wlkhzy, llHb wlkhd`, llSdq wlkdhb, 'm l`ql fkyf ytHml hdhh lHy@ lGryb@? kyf yshym 'lq lnjwm whw mGrws Ht~ qm@ r'sh fy lwHl?! sanity life philosophy Naguib Mahfouz
c78be84 This isn't lust. Lust wants, does the obvious, and pads back into the forest. Love is greedier. Love wants round-the-clock care; protection; rings, vows, joint accounts; scented candles on birthdays; life insurance. Babies. Love's a dictator. philosophical love philosophy inspirational the-bone-clocks David Mitchell
44f2dd8 A Paradox, the doughnut hole. Empty space, once, but now they've learned to market even that. A minus quantity; nothing, rendered edible. I wondered if they might be used-metaphorically, of course-to demonstrate the existence of God. Does naming a sphere of nothingness transmute it into being? religion philosophy marketing Margaret Atwood
9c737cd As you were, I was. As I am, you will be. philosophy Hunter S. Thompson
845e941 It was the general opinion of ancient nations, that the divinity alone was adequate to the important office of giving laws to men... and modern nations, in the consecrations of kings, and in several superstitious chimeras of divine rights in princes and nobles, are nearly unanimous in preserving remnants of it... Is the jealousy of power, and the envy of superiority, so strong in all men, that no considerations of public or private utility are sufficient to engage their submission to rules for their own happiness? Or is the disposition to imposture so prevalent in men of experience, that their private views of ambition and avarice can be accomplished only by artifice? -- ... There is nothing in which mankind have been more unanimous; yet nothing can be inferred from it more than this, that the multitude have always been credulous, and the few artful. The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature: and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had any interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the inspiration of heaven, any more than those at work upon ships or houses, or labouring in merchandize or agriculture: it will for ever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses. As Copley painted Chatham, West, Wolf, and Trumbull, Warren and Montgomery; as Dwight, Barlow, Trumbull, and Humphries composed their verse, and Belknap and Ramzay history; as Godfrey invented his quadrant, and Rittenhouse his planetarium; as Boylston practised inoculation, and electricity; as exposed the mistakes of Raynal, and those of , so unphilosophically borrowed from the Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains those despicable dreams of de Pauw -- neither the people, nor their conventions, committees, or sub-committees, considered legislation in any other light than ordinary arts and sciences, only as of more importance. Called without expectation, and compelled without previous inclination, though undoubtedly at the best period of time both for England and America, to erect suddenly new systems of laws for their future government, they adopted the method of a wise architect, in erecting a new palace for the residence of his sovereign. They determined to consult Vitruvius, Palladio, and all other writers of reputation in the art; to examine the most celebrated buildings, whether they remain entire or in ruins; compare these with the principles of writers; and enquire how far both the theories and models were founded in nature, or created by fancy: and, when this should be done, as far as their circumstances would allow, to adopt the advantages, and reject the inconveniences, of all. Unembarrassed by attachments to noble families, hereditary lines and successions, or any considerations of royal blood, even the pious mystery of holy oil had no more influence than that other of holy water: the people universally were too enlightened to be imposed on by artifice; and their leaders, or more properly followers, were men of too much honour to attempt it. Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favour of the rights of mankind. [ ] mankind influence discovery politics reason science happiness philosophy artifice constitution divine-right expectation holy-water jefferson paine secular secular-government thomas-jefferson thomas-paine laws invention rights government divinity superstition John Adams
f983c4c You live in a deranged age - more deranged than usual, because despite great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing. philosophy existentialism Walker Percy
975bebf Do you see the slightest evidence anywhere in the universe that creation came to an end with the birth of man? Do you see the slightest evidence anywhere out there that man was the climax toward which creation had been straining from the beginning? ...Very far from it. The universe went on as before, the planet went on as before. Man's appearance caused no more stir than the appearance of jellyfish. philosophy Daniel Quinn
5fbbffb Cannibals? Who is not a cannibal? I tell you it will be more tolerable for the Fejee that salted down a lean missionary in his cellar against a coming famine; it will be more tolerable for that provident Fejee, I say, in the day of judgement, than for thee, civilized and enlightened gourmand, who nailest geese to the ground and feastest on their bloated livers in thy pate de fois gras. philosophy historical Herman Melville
b119395 The square root of I is I. philosophy self Vladimir Nabokov
5622c81 Language disguises thought. philosophy semiotics logic Ludwig Wittgenstein
4ea0ddd fsh`r `ndh fj'@ brGb@ GmD@ l tqwm fy sm` mwsyq~ hy'l@, fy sm` Djyj mTlq wSkhb jmyl wfrH yktnf kl shy wyuGrq wykhnq kl shy, fykhtfy l~ l'bd l'lm wlGrwr wtfh@ lklmt. sex psychological political religion love philosophy جنس friedrich-nietzche milan-kundera neitzsche اجتماع كائن-لا-تحتمل-خفته ميلان-كونديرا نيتشه علم-نفس فلسفة فلسفة-حياة religion-and-philoshophy حب philosophy-of-life friedrich-nietzsche sociology novel psychology ميلان كونديرا
f20b855 You don't seem mad at all,' she said. But I am, although I'm undergoing a cure, because my problem is that I lack a particular chemical. However, while I hope that the chemical gets rid of my chronic depression, I want to continue being mad, living life the way I dream it, and not the way other people want it to be. Do you know what exists out there, beyond the walls of Villete? madness thoughts life philosophy expectations Paulo Coelho
681a5f9 To stay or to go, it amounted to the same thing. philosophy existentialism choices Albert Camus
4c77a47 You're captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live. ... You are captives--and you have made a captive of the world itself. That's what's at stake, isn't it?--your captivity and the captivity of the world. philosophy civilization exploitation Daniel Quinn
f128f0e The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself; and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But what an awful fate this means for mankind as a whole! We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of the butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey. philosophy philosophy-of-life Arthur Schopenhauer
0bb92fb The moon is the reflection of your heart and moonlight is the twinkle of your love. education happiness heart hope intelligence life love moon philosophy truth twinkle wisdom inspirational reflection knowledge moonlight Debasish Mridha
86dd2b7 Things happen or they don't happen, that's all. Nothing is accomplished by sweat and struggle. Nearly everything which we call life is just insomnia, an agony because we've lost the habit of falling asleep. We don't know how to let go. We're like a Jack-in-the-box perched on top of a spring and the more we struggle the harder it is to get back in the box. life philosophy Henry Miller
cdd802c I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me. depression life philosophy dickens sydney-carton charles-dickens self-loathing alone self-worth depressed lonely sad Charles Dickens
81f7654 We are born into this world unarmed - our mind is our only weapon. philosophy Ayn Rand
9e406b4 Ideas that require people to reorganize their picture of the world provoke hostility. science life philosophy paradigm-shift thomas-kuhn chaos-theory paradigm mathematics physics James Gleick
3dd60ec A picture held us captive. And we could not get outside it, for it lay in our language and language seemed to repeat it to us inexorably. philosophy picture solipsism language Ludwig Wittgenstein
c6867e6 We are living in the era of premeditation and the perfect crime. Our criminals are no longer helpless children who could plead love as their excuse. On the contrary, they are adults and the have the perfect alibi: philosophy, which can be used for any purpose - even for transforming murderers into judges. philosophy nihilism Albert Camus
aafc1d9 I used to think I knew what was right and what was wrong, and who the good guys are, and who the bad guys are. Then the world got very gray, and I didn't know anything for a long time philosophy wisdom life-experience Laurell K. Hamilton
87f0941 Perhaps what I am about to say will appear strange to you gentlemen, socialists, progressives, humanitarians as you are, but I never worry about my neighbor, I never try to protect society which does not protect me -- indeed, I might add, which generally takes no heed of me except to do me harm -- and, since I hold them low in my esteem and remain neutral towards them, I believe that society and my neighbor are in my debt. philosophy selfishness Alexandre Dumas
ef12465 Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man's values, it has to be earned. His own happiness is man's only moral purpose, but only his own virtue can achieve it...Life is the reward of virtue- and happiness is the goal and the reward of life. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy- a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your won destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but using your mind's fullest power. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seek nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing bu rational actions. The symbol of all relationships among such men, the moral symbol of respect for human beings, is the trade...A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved. philosophical philosophy objectivism Ayn Rand
788bee0 Where we choose to be, where we choose to be--we have the power to determine that in our lives. We cannot reel time backward or forward, but we can take ourselves to the place that defines our being. independence philosophy Sena Jeter Naslund
178c3f1 Me, I've seen 45 years, and I've only figured out one thing. That's this: if a person would just make the effort, there's something to be learned from everything. From even the most ordinary, commonplace things, there's always something you can learn. I read somewhere that they said there's even different philosophies in razors. Fact is, if it weren't for that, nobody'd survive. life philosophy Murakami Haruki
71adba7 We can't avoid reasoning; we can only avoid doing it well. reason philosophy logic Peter Kreeft
c311ff2 History. Language. Passion. Custom. All these things determine what men say, think, and do. These are the hidden puppet-strings from which all men hang. philosophy R. Scott Bakker
37c3489 A poet or philosopher should have no fault to find with his age if it only permits him to do his work undisturbed in his own corner; nor with his fate if the corner granted him allows of his following his vocation without having to think about other people. poets funny philosophy schopenhauer misanthropy Arthur Schopenhauer
a9d0176 Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who's bound to have some characteristic of quality. work philosophy quality Robert M. Pirsig
71047e5 Were we incapable of empathy - of putting ourselves in the position of others and seeing that their suffering is like our own - then ethical reasoning would lead nowhere. If emotion without reason is blind, then reason without emotion is impotent. suffering reason philosophy Peter Singer
bbdc040 There is not much to be got anywhere in the world. It is filled with misery and pain; if a man escapes these, boredeom lies in wait for him at every corner. Nay more; it is evil which generally has the upper hand, and folly that makes the most noise. Fate is cruel and mankind pitiable. philosophy schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer
9647834 lmwsyq~ blnsb@ lfrnz hy lfn l'kthr qrban mn ljml ldywnysy ldhy yqdWs lnshw@. ymkn lrwy@ 'w llwH@ 'n tdwWkhn wlkn bS`wb@. 'm m` lsmfwny@ lts`@ lbythwvn, 'w m` lswnt@ lmw'lf@ mn alty bynw walt lnqr lbrtwk, 'w m` 'Gny@ llbytlz, fn lnshw@ t`tryn. mn jh@ 'khr~ fn frnz l yfrWq byn lmwsyq~ l`Zym@ wlmwsyq~ lkhfyf@. fhdh ltfryq ybdw lh khbythan wblyan, fhw yHb mwsyq~ lrwk wmwzr `l~ Hd sw. lmwsyq~ blnsb@ lh mHrWr@: dh tHrrh mn lwHd@ wln`zl wmn Gbr lmktbt. wtftH fy dkhl jsdh 'bwban ltkhrj lnfs wttakh~ m` lakhryn. km 'nh yHb lrqS l~ jnb dhlk wysh`r bl's~ l'n sbyn l tshrkh hdh lwl`. sex psychological political religion love philosophy جنس friedrich-nietzche milan-kundera neitzsche اجتماع كائن-لا-تحتمل-خفته ميلان-كونديرا نيتشه علم-نفس فلسفة فلسفة-حياة religion-and-philoshophy حب philosophy-of-life friedrich-nietzsche sociology novel psychology ميلان كونديرا
650f331 I believe that the imagination is the passport we create to take us into the real world. I believe the imagination is another phrase for what is most uniquely us. imagination philosophy inspirational John Guare
589e879 Philosophers can debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of life. love philosophy meaning-of-life Max Lucado
4229800 lwqt lnsny l ysyr fy shkl dy'ry bl ytqdm fy khT mstqym. mn hn, l ymkn llnsn 'n ykwn s`ydan l'n ls`d@ rGb@ fy ltkrr. sex psychological political religion love philosophy جنس friedrich-nietzche milan-kundera neitzsche اجتماع كائن-لا-تحتمل-خفته ميلان-كونديرا نيتشه علم-نفس فلسفة فلسفة-حياة religion-and-philoshophy حب philosophy-of-life friedrich-nietzsche sociology novel psychology ميلان كونديرا
2894f82 "The unknown," said Faxe's soft voice in the forest, "the unforetold, the unproven, that is what life is based on. Ignorance is the ground of thought. Unproof is the ground of action. If it were proven that there is no God there would be no religion. No Handdara, no Yomesh, no hearthgods, nothing. But also if it were proven that there is a God, there would be no religion. ... Tell me, Genry, what is known? What is sure, unpredictable, inevitable -- the one certain thing you know concerning your future, and mine?" That we shall die." Yes, There's really only one question that can be answered, Genry, and we already know the answer. ... The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next." religion philosophy Ursula K. Le Guin
f8a971d "The Copenhagen Interpretation is sometimes called "model agnosticism" and holds that any grid we use to organize our experience of the world is a model of the world and should not be confused with the world itself. , the semanticist, tried to popularize this outside physics with the slogan, "The map is not the territory." , a talented exegete of Oriental philosophy, restated it more vividly as "The menu is not the meal." science philosophy knowledge Robert Anton Wilson
4a76255 All religions are based on obsolete terminology. religion philosophy philosophy-of-religion translation theology Vladimir Nabokov
6fc0df9 Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy. war philosophy empiricism epistemology military-philosophy Sun Tzu
e019d62 Before you hate something you should try to understand it. understanding philosophy Martha Grimes
ea4a6e7 ymkn khtSr m's@ Hy@ <> lthql. nqwl mthlan n Hmlan qd sqT fwq 'ktfn. fnHml hdh lHml. ntHmlh 'w l ntHmlh wntSr` m`h, wfy lnhy@ m 'n nkhsr wm 'n nrbH. wlkn m ldhy Hdth m` sbyn blDbT? l shy. ftrqt `n rjl l'nh knt rGb@ fy lftrq `nh. hl lHqh b`d dhlk? hl Hwl lntqm? l. fm'sth lyst m's@ lthql nm m's@ lkhf@ wlHml ldhy sqT fwqh lm ykn Hmlan bl kn khf@ lky'n lty l tuTq. sex psychological political religion love philosophy جنس friedrich-nietzche milan-kundera neitzsche اجتماع كائن-لا-تحتمل-خفته ميلان-كونديرا نيتشه علم-نفس فلسفة فلسفة-حياة religion-and-philoshophy حب philosophy-of-life friedrich-nietzsche sociology novel psychology ميلان كونديرا
8f104a5 LORD ILLINGWORTH: The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life. MRS ALLONBY: And the body is born young and grows old. That is life's tragedy. philosophy Oscar Wilde
88364db [A]ny species that exempts itself from the rules of competition ends up destroying the community in order to support its own expansion. philosophy exploitation Daniel Quinn
e20dfe6 Do you know what I think about crying? I think some people have to learn to do it. But once you learn, once you know how to really cry, there's nothing quite like it. I feel sorry for those who don't know the trick. It's like whistling or singing. writing philosophy inspirational Anne Rice
101da58 knt tsh`r brGb@ jmH@ l'n tqwl lh km tqwl 'tfh lns: <>. wlknh l tstTy` wl t`rf 'n ttlfZ bmthl hdhh lklmt. sex psychological political religion love philosophy جنس friedrich-nietzche milan-kundera neitzsche اجتماع كائن-لا-تحتمل-خفته ميلان-كونديرا نيتشه علم-نفس فلسفة فلسفة-حياة religion-and-philoshophy حب philosophy-of-life friedrich-nietzsche sociology novel psychology ميلان كونديرا
36654c3 To sum it all up, the [Ayn] Rand belief system looks like this: 1. Facts are facts: things can be absolutely right or absolutely wrong, as determined by reason. 2. According to my reasoning, I am absolutely right. 3. Charity is immoral. 4. Pay for your own fucking schools. philosophy objectivism cynicism Matt Taibbi
dccf2ea "Isn't wine prohibited here?" the boy asked. "It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil," said the alchemist. "It's what comes out of their mouths that is." -- religion philosophy Paulo Coelho
3813924 We don't get to choose if we get hurt in this world, old man, but we do have a say in who hurts us. I know I like my choices. I hope she likes hers. I do, Augustus. I do. hope love philosophy heartbreaking the-fault-in-our-stars sad John Green
b13b73b The zipper displaces the button and a man lacks just that much time to think while dressing at dawn, a philosophical hour, and thus a melancholy hour. progress philosophical philosophy dressing innovation melancholy thinking thought introspection Ray Bradbury
85cdff7 "Apocalypse is a frame of mind." [Nicodemus] said then. "A belief. A surrender to inevitability. It is a despair for the future. It is the death of hope." philosophy Jim Butcher
c0f223a The illness of a doctor is always worse than the illnesses of his patients.The patients only feel, but the doctor, as well as feeling, has a pretty good idea of the destructive effect of the disease on his constitution.This is a case in which knowledge brings death nearer. philosophy Maxim Gorky
9e8869d If you were offered the chance to live your own life again, would you seize the opportunity? The only real philosophical answer is automatically self-contradictory: 'Only if I did not know that I was doing so.' To go through the entire experience once more would be banal and Sisyphean--even if it did build muscle--whereas to wish to be young again and to have the benefit of one's learned and acquired existence is not at all to wish for a repeat performance, or a Groundhog Day. And the mind ought to, but cannot, set some limits to wish-thinking. All right, same but with more money, an even sturdier penis, slightly different parents, a briefer latency period... the thing is absurd. I seriously would like to know what it was to be a woman, but like blind Tiresias would also want the option of re-metamorphosing if I wished. How terrible it is that we have so many more desires than opportunities. money opportunity youth women life philosophy conundrums groundhog-day self-contradiction tiresias wishful-thinking parents desire old-age Christopher Hitchens
3674b05 Love gives you eyes. christianity spirituality love philosophy inspirational jesus-shock theology eyes Peter Kreeft
13a0f64 I had a microscopic eye for the blemish, for the grain of ugliness which to me constituted the sole beauty of the object. philosophy Henry Miller
d701800 You may tend to get cancer from the thing that makes you want to smoke so much, not from the smoking itself. philosophy health smoking William Saroyan
3c25eda I, while the gods laugh, the world's vortex am; Maelstrom of passions in that hidden sea Whose waves of all-time lap the coasts of me; And in small compass the dark waters cram. - passion philosophy sea Mervyn Peake
a03aa36 If you alone found out what the lie was, then you're probably right--it would make no great difference. But if you ALL found out what the lie was, it might conceivably make a very great difference indeed. philosophy Daniel Quinn
7108f11 Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other.We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that musty old cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post office, and at the sociable, and at the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. solitude philosophy walden social thoreau introversion introvert Henry David Thoreau
f890133 The power of death signifies that this real world can only have a neutral image of life, that life's intimacy does not reveal it's dazzling consumption until the moment it gives out. philosophy Georges Bataille
e4ed368 There is no man, and no place, without war. The only thing we can do is choose a side, and fight. That is the only choice we get - who we fight for, who we fight against. That is life. philosophy Gregory David Roberts
a9793fc "Between the desire And the spasm, Between the potency And the existence, Between the essence And the descent, Falls the Shadow. This is the way the world ends. from "The Hollow Man" poetry life philosophy despair T.S. Eliot
49c536d The most total opposite of pleasure is not pain but boredom, for we are willing to risk pain to make a boring life interesting. christianity spirituality philosophy jesus-shock catholicism theology pleasure Peter Kreeft
fa5a01f ..the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man. mankind philosophy truth Yann Martel
a28591f The only moral it is possible to draw from this story is that one should never throw the Q letter into a privet bush, but unfortunately there are times when it is unavoidable. humor philosophy hitchihikers Douglas Adams
020ea2c Losing a belief in free will has not made me fatalistic--in fact, it has increased my feelings of freedom. My hopes, fears, and neuroses seem less personal and indelible. There is no telling how much I might change in the future. Just as one wouldn't draw a lasting conclusion about oneself on the basis of a brief experience of indigestion, one needn't do so on the basis of how one has thought or behaved for vast stretches of time in the past. A creative change of inputs to the system--learning new skills, forming new relationships, adopting new habits of attention--may radically transform one's life. free-will inspiration philosophy determinism self-improvement Sam Harris
d598643 You know, they've got these chocolate assortments, and you like some but you don't like others? And you eat all the ones you like, and the only ones left are the ones you don't like as much? I always think about that when something painful comes up. Now I just have to polish these off, and everything'll be OK. Life is a box of chocolates. I suppose you could call it a philosophy. life philosophy truth chocolate Haruki Murakami
76ea107 "In one way, I suppose, I have been "in denial" for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light. But for precisely that reason, I can't see myself smiting my brow with shock or hear myself whining about how it's all so unfair: I have been taunting the Reaper into taking a free scythe in my direction and have now succumbed to something so predictable and banal that it bores even me." philosophy Christopher Hitchens
42e37cf He walked on in silence, the solitary sound of his footsteps echoing in his head, as in a deserted street, at dawn. His solitude was so complete, beneath a lovely sky as mellow and serene as a good conscience, amid that busy throng, that he was amazed at his own existence; he must be somebody else's nightmare, and whoever it was would certainly awaken soon. solitude philosophy Jean-Paul Sartre
a8f685d In marriage you are not sacrificing yourself to the other person. You are sacrificing yourself to the relationship. spirituality philosophy mythology Joseph Campbell
13d33cb "You know, bicycling isn't just a matter of balance," I said. "it's a matter of faith. You can keep upright only by moving forward. You have to have your eyes on the goal, not the ground. I'm going to call that the Bicyclist's Philosophy of Life." -- philosophy cycling Susan Vreeland
8352514 Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. religion science philosophy Neil deGrasse Tyson
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