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1845d43 and the most intense desire gave force to her passionate words as the girl glanced despairingly about the dreary room like a caged creature on the point of breaking loose. Louisa May Alcott
0d0ac0f The existentialist, on the contrary, finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with Him all possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. There can no longer be any good a priori, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it. It is nowhere written that "the good" exists, that one must be honest or must not lie, since we are now upon the plane where there are only men. Dostoe.. god meaning Jean Paul Sartre
06767d1 But no: he was empty, he was confronted by a vast anger, a desperate anger, he saw it and could almost have touched it. But it was inert - if it were to live and find expression and suffer, he must lend it his own body. It was other people's anger. "Swine!" He clenched his fists, he strode along, but nothing came, the anger remained external to himself." emptiness philosophy Jean-Paul Sartre
256aecf Love or hatred calls for self-surrender. He cuts a fine figure, the warm-blooded, prosperous man, solidly entrenched in his well-being, who one fine day surrenders all to love--or to hatred; himself, his house, his land, his memories. love orestes surrender the-flies Jean-Paul Sartre
bdc79b6 For the artist, the color, the bouquet, the tinkling of the spoon on the saucer, are things in the highest degree. He stops at the quality of the sound or the form. He returns to it constantly and is enchanted with it. Jean-Paul Sartre
3239f57 Atheistic existentialism, of which I am a representative, declares with greater consistency that if God does not exist there is at least one being whose existence comes before its essence, a being which exists before it can be defined by any conception of it. That being is man.... atheist atheistic beliefs consistency definition essence existence existentialism humanism humans jean-paul-sartre man sartre views Jean-Paul Sartre
752d438 Good digestions, the gray monotony of provincial life, and the boredom--ah the soul-destroying boredom--of long days of mild content. mundane the-flies zeus Jean-Paul Sartre
afe33f7 My memories are like coins in the devil's purse: when you open it you find only dead leaves. Jean-Paul Sartre
8574689 You exaggerate everything. You continually force the truth because you're always looking for something. nausea truth Jean-Paul Sartre
27daeb9 There are illusions of popular history which a successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumphs; a good deed is its own reward; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness. Frank Herbert
15e5cb0 Privilege becomes arrogance. Arrogance promotes injustice. The seeds of ruin blossom. Frank Herbert
de1705c History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe. Education helps but it's never enough. You also must run. history Frank Herbert
1a11ffe I know the evil of my ancestors because I am those people. The balance is delicate in the extreme. I know that few of you who read my words have ever thought about your ancestors this way. It has not occurred to you that your ancestors were survivors and that the survival itself sometimes involved savage decisions, a kind of wanton brutality which civilized humankind works very hard to suppress. What price will you pay for that suppression?.. frank-herbert god-emperor-of-dune Frank Herbert
a97b6bb The thing the ecologically illiterate don't realise about an ecosystem is that it's a system. A system! A system maintains a certain fluid stability that can be destroyed by a misstep in just one niche. A system has order, flowing from point to point. If something dams that flow, order collapses. The untrained might miss that collapse until it was too late. That's why the highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences. dune ecology science wildlife Frank Herbert
ea53f8a No matter how much we ask after the truth, self-awareness is often unpleasant. We do not feel kindly toward the Truthsayer. identity self-awareness truth Frank Herbert
e95ced0 Small souls who seek power over others first destroy the faith those others might have in themselves. power self Frank Herbert
b79e641 My Uncle Malky always said the Lord Leto never responded to prayer. He said the Lord Leto looked on prayer as attempted coercion, a form of violence against the chosen god, telling the immortal what to do: Give me a miracle, God, or I won't believe in you! god prayer religion Frank Herbert
9d0b07d A voice hissed: "He sheds tears!" It was taken around the ring "Usal gives moisture to the dead!" He felt fingers touch his damp cheek, heard the awed whispers." Frank Herbert
583fd65 TO THE LADY JESSICA- May this place give you as much pleasure as it has given me. Please permit the room to convey a lesson we learned from the same teachers: the proximity of a desirable thing tempts one to overindulgence. On that path lies danger. My kindest wishes, MARGOT LADY FENRING Frank Herbert
6553a89 Clearly Mr. Drkh has had a long career of being the weirdest person in any given room, but he's about to go down in flames. Neal Stephenson
75ceb30 Jad said, "The leakage was forcing choices, the making of which in no way improved matters." Okay. So we were, in effect, locked in a room with a madman sorcerer. That clarified things a little." Neal Stephenson
8518660 They say that in D.C., all the museums and the monuments have been concessioned out and turned into a tourist park that now generates about 10 percent of the Government's revenue. The Feds could run the concession themselves and probably keep more of the gross, but that's not the point. It's a philosophical thing. A back-to-basics thing. Government should govern. It's not in the entertainment industry, is it? Leave entertaining to Industry .. Neal Stephenson
15dc7e8 he was fascinated by the mid-western/middle American phenomenon of recombinant cuisine. Rice Krispie Treats being a prototypical example in that they were made by repurposing other foods (to wit, breakfast cereal and marshmallows). And of course, any recipe that called for a can of cream of mushroom soup fell into the same category. The unifying principle behind all recombinant cuisine seemed to be indifference, if not outright hostility,.. Neal Stephenson
75b367a Sorry," she said, "I got out as fast as I could, but I had to stay and socialize. Protocol, you know." "Explain protocol," Nell said. This was how she always talked to the Primer. "At the place we're going, you need to watch your manners. Don't say 'explain this' or 'explain that.'" "Would it impose on your time unduly to provide me with a concise explanation of the term protocol?" Nell said. Again Rita made that nervous laugh and looked at.. Neal Stephenson
20f1867 Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You're the second guy I've met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail. Raymond Chandler
ea248eb Wonderful what Hollywood will do to a nobody. It will make a radiant glamour queen out of a drab little wench who ought to be ironing a truck driver's shirts, a he-man hero with shining eyes and brilliant smile reeking of sexual charm out of some overgrown kid who was meant to go to work with a lunch-box. Out of a Texas car hop with the literacy of a character in a comic strip it will make an international courtesan, married six times to si.. Raymond Chandler
59ced71 It was a smooth silvery voice that matched her hair. It had a tiny tinkle in it, like bells in a doll's house. I thought that was silly as soon as I thought of it. humour metaphor simile Raymond Chandler
7f870e5 Being a copper I like to see the law win. I'd like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred guys that got knocked over on their first caper amd never had a break since. That's what I'd like. You and me both lived too long to think I'm likely to see it happen. Not in this town, not in any town half this size, in any part of this wide, gre.. corruption crime injustice justice money prison Raymond Chandler
7f3fa86 Tall, aren't you? I didn't mean to be. Raymond Chandler
a1d52ee She was thinking. i could see, even on that short acquaintance, that thinking was always going to be a bother for her. Raymond Chandler
b2d8d80 One of the surprising discoveries of modern psychology is how easy it is to be ignorant of your own ignorance. Daniel C. Dennett
76715ef because when it all comes down to it, there's no such thing as a two-hit wonder. So it's better just to have that one song that everyone knows, instead of diluting it with a follow-up that only half succeeds. I mean, who really cares what Soft Cell's next single was, as long as we have 'Tainted Love'?" I stop. You're still listening. "Wait," I say. "What was I talking about? How did we get to 'Tainted Love'?" "Let's see," you say, "I believ.. David Levithan
87024fd Just because someone sees the truth doesn't mean they will accept it or allow that truth to change them. Ted Dekker
9663903 Know that you are loved, my dear...Know that you can and will rise above all your fears. I now call you water walker. Water Walker? Yes, you walked through the waters of your fear, didn't you? Ted Dekker
a65f740 How can there be love without a true choice? Would you suggest that man be stripped of the capacity to love? Ted Dekker
7cf2999 There's something really the matter with most people who wear tattoos. There's at least some terrible story. I know from experience that there's always something terribly flawed about people who are tattooed, above some little something that Johnny had done in the Navy, even though that's a bad sign...It's terrible. Psychologically it's crazy. Most people who are tattooed, it's the sign of some feeling of inferiority, they're trying to esta.. tattooing tattoos Truman Capote
12da3d0 A changeableness, too, as if beneath my visible face there was another, having second thoughts. Jeffrey Eugenides
b2a2ece We lost them in the vastness of their dresses and found them again, squeezed the pulp of their bodies and inhaled the perfume of their exertion. A few of us grew brave enough to insert our legs between theirs and to press our agony against them. Jeffrey Eugenides
fc90550 She was a large, disordered woman, like a child's drawing that didn't stay within the lines. Jeffrey Eugenides
2265ef3 It was morning by the clock but deepest nighttime in his body. Jeffrey Eugenides
7e99ce5 Normality wasn't normal. It couldn't be. If normality were normal, everybody could leave it alone. They could sit back and let normality manifest itself. Jeffrey Eugenides
8c08a62 Perhaps a sense of possessing needs to come to come before a sense of genuine sharing. sharing Stephen R. Covey
7796873 They [Nazi captors]had more liberty, more options to choose from in their environment; but he [Viktor Frankl] had more freedom, more internal power to exercise his options. p69 philosophy wisdom Stephen R. Covey
f175b00 Never struggle with anyone or anything. When you're pushed, pull; when you're pulled, push. Dan Millman