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Philosophy Quotes
"Just as we might take Darwin as an example of the normal extraverted thinking type, the normal introverted thinking type could be represented by Kant. The one speaks with facts, the other relies on the subjective factor. Darwin ranges over the wide field of objective reality, Kant restricts himself to a critique of knowledge."
57
"Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening."
57
"It is an hypothesis that the sun will rise tomorrow: and this means that we do not know whether it will rise."
57
"The general or prevailing opinion in any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied."
57
"Man is made to adore and to obey: but if you will not command him, if you give him nothing to worship, he will fashion his own divinities, and find a chieftain in his own passions."
57
"I loathe it when they [English teachers] are bullied by no-nothing parents or cowardly school boards."
57
"Man alone measures time.Man alone chimes the hour.And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures.A fear of time running out."
57
"Foolishness sleeps soundly, while knowledge turns with each thinking hour, longing for the dawn of answers."
57
"The cause of all trouble, the root of all sorrow, the dread of every man lies in this one small word-sin. It has crippled the nature of man . . .It has caused man to be caught in the devil's trap."
57
"Falling into ruin was a bit like falling in love: Both descents stripped you bare and left you as you were at your core. And both endings are equally painful."
56
"The fewer our wants the nearer we resemble the gods."
56
"Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death."
56
"Being on the fringes of the world is not the best place for someone who intends to re-create it: here again, to go beyond the given, one must be deeply rooted in it. Personal accomplishments are almost impossible in human categories collectively kept in an inferior situation."
56
"Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations."
56
"The present is a transitory existence which is made in order to be abolished: it retrieves itself only by transcending itself toward the permanence of future being; it is only as an instrument, as a means, it is only by it's efficacy with regard to the coming of the future that the present is validly realized: reduced to itself it is nothing , one may dispose of it as he pleases."
56
"What is freedom as a human experience? Is the desire for freedom something inherent in human nature? Is it an identical experience regardless of what kind of culture a person lives in, or is it something different according to the degree of individualism reached in a particular society? Is freedom only the absence of external pressure or is it also the presence of something-and if so, of what? What are the social and economic factors in society that make for the striving for freedom? Can freedom become a burden, too heavy for man to bear, something he tries to escape from? Why then is it that freedom is for many a cherished goal and for others a threat?"
56
"If Jesus had not risen from the dead, no right-minded person would have glorified anything so hideous and repulsive as a cross stained with the blood of Jesus . . .An unopened grave would never have opened heaven."
56
"There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create."
56
"Pride consists not in wanting to be rich, but in wanting to be richer than your neighbor. It is not in wanting to be noticed but in wanting to be the most noticed. It is not in wanting to have things but in wanting more things than others."
56
"Philosophy is not a theory but an activity."
55
"The opposite of love is indifference, and the opposite of happiness is boredom."
55
"Death wasn't part of God's original plan for humanity, and the Bible calls death an enemy - the last enemy to be destroyed."
55
"The arrogance that says analysing the relationship between reasons and causes is more important than writing a philosophy of shyness or sadness or friendship drives me nuts. I can't accept that."
55
"The one law that does not change is that everything changes and the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the pleasures I would have tomorrow and those pleasures would be all the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring."
55
"Ask not that events should happen as you will but let your will be that events should happen as they do and you shall have peace."
55
"The only un-distractable, un-destructable, "thing", yet also the foundation of all pure creation, is "nothing."
55
"How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning?"
55
"In taking revenge a man is but equal to his enemy but in passing it over he is his superior."
55
"Max, you're acting like a child, the Voice said. You're above rebelling against your fate just to rebel. You've got a date with destiny. Don't be late."I brushed some hair out of my eyes. Is that a movie quote? Or is it an actual date? I don't remember destiny asking me. I never even gave destiny my phone number."
55
"Men are not influenced by things but by their thoughts about things."
55
"I have patience in all things " as far as the antechamber."
55
"It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man."
55
"It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think yours is the only path."
55
"I consist of body and soul - in the worlds of a child. And why shouldn't we speak like children? But the enlightened, the knowledgealbe would say: I am body through and through, nothing more; and the soul is just a word for something on the body."
55
"Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time."
55
"Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance."
55
"The only way in which the world can be grasped ultimately lies, not in thought, but in the act, in the experience of oneness."
55
"Exercise and proper eating habits are very important, since the Bible says that the body is God's holy temple, but I don't think that superbodies equate with committed Christian discipleship. Some of the greatest saints I've known have been those with physical infirmities."
55
"You can have religion but not know Christ. It's having Christ that counts."
55
"Your state of consciousness defines your state of mind and your state of happiness."
55
"And what do I think about? What thoughts do I have! - What thoughts! a whole host, multitude, and world of thoughts, I keep devising new ones and reworking old ones, some of the old ones are concluded and are only thought of as conclusions, whole worlds of new ones come crashing into my fingers, and it never ends."
55
"How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?"
55
"Ira furor brevis est: animum rege: qui nisi paret imperat. (Anger is a brief madness: govern your mind [temper], for unless it obeys it commands.)"
54
"Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors."
54
"A number is still very accurate, but its role is changed.In the changed role this number enriches the silence."
54
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