Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort.
What was Aristotle’s life?’ Well, the answer lay in a single sentence: ‘He was born, he thought, he died.’ And all the rest is pure anecdote.
Human nature is good, just as water seeks low ground. There is no man who is not good, just as there is no water that does not flow downward.
In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The default condition of human societies is tyranny.
The dictionary also invites a playful reading. It challenges anyone to sit down with it in an idle moment. There are worse ways to kill time.
We strain to hear. But instead of hearing an answer we catch sight of God himself scraped and torn. Through our tears we see the tears of God
Every moral act of love, of mercy, and of sacrifice brings to pass the end of the world where hatred, cruelty, and selfishness reign supreme.
Mathematicians boast of their exacting achievements, but in reality they are absorbed in mental acrobatics and contribute nothing to society.
In the spiritual life, as in all organic processes, everyone has their optimum and it is just as harmful to go beyond it as not to attain it.
Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom
Wealth is a weak anchor, and glory cannot support a man; this is the law of God, that virtue only is firm, and cannot be shaken by a tempest.
This insistence on "having his say upon the universe" is the profoundest motive of William James thinking as well as of his filial gratitude.
The mind effortlessly and automatically takes in new ideas, which remain in limbo until verified or rejected by conscious, rational analysis.
The aristocratic mind ... is anti-analytical. It is concerned more with the status of being than with the demonstrable relationship of parts.
Through the evolutionary process, those who are able to engage in social cooperation of various sorts do better in survival and reproduction.
Affect not to despise beauty: no one is freed from its dominion; But regard it not a pearl of price--it is fleeting as the bow in the clouds.
If, as many people believe, there is a God, and that God made us in his own image, then of course we are distinct from nature, just as He is.
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
Lightning will wreck its displeasures not only upon pillars, trees, and sheep, but upon altars and temples, and let the sacrilegious go free.
To see a man as beautiful – means to make him really beautiful. There is no cunning, no deceit; this happens every time, everyone knows that.
The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry.
I think that the task of philosophy is not to provide answers, but to show how the way we perceive a problem can be itself part of a problem.
My big fear is that if I act the way I am, people will notice that there is nothing to see. So I have to be active all the time, covering up.
Man must rise above the Earth - to the top of the atmosphere and beyond - for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.
Our purpose in founding the city was not to make any one class in it surpassingly happy, but to make the city as a whole as happyas possible.
Before the birth of Love, many fearful things took place through the empire of necessity; but when this god was born, all things rose to men.
I stick my finger into existence.. it smells of nothing. Where am I? Who am I? What is this thing called the world? What does this word mean?
Faith is a marvel, and yet no human being is excluded from it; for that in which all human life is united is passion, and faith is a passion.
Right now you are a prisoner of each application you use. You have only the options that were given you by the developer of that application.
A lot of people pass through the thinking I'm a guru and take enough trips to understand that no, I was just a witness. I was just a witness.
It's as though a certain level of intoxication with the mushroom is the precondition for being able to communicate, but is not itself enough.
Rightly viewed no meanest object is insignificant; all objects are as windows through which the philosophic eye looks into infinitude itself.
Felicity is a continual progress of the desire from one object to another, the attaining of the former being still but the way to the latter.
For all laws are general judgements, or sentences of the legislator; as also every particular judgement is a law to him whose case is judged.
Are you still thinking, looking, living, as from an imaginary phenomenal centre? As long as you do that you can never recognise your freedom.
Providence certainly does not favor just certain individuals, but the deep wisdom of its counsel, instruction and ennoblement extends to all.
Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.
There is an organic affinity between joyousness and tenderness, and their companionship in the saintly life need in no way occasion surprise.
There is danger for the eye in seeing too clearly, danger for the ear in hearing too sharply and danger to the heart from caring too greatly.
And how do I know that the hate of death is not like a man who has lost his home when young and does not know where his home is to return to?
If the mind is illumined, there is clear blue sky in a dark room. If the thoughts are muddled, there are malevolent ghosts in broad daylight.
It doesn't have to be the Grand Canyon, it could be a city street, it could be the face of another human being - Everything is full of wonder.
Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life.
The witness of the three states of consciousness [waking, dream and deep sleep] and of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss is the Self
A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with Reality, and lives in a world of illusion.
They are enlightened who join in this play knowing it as play, for people suffer only because they take as serious what the gods made for fun.
The trouble with many religions, accused of wishful thinking, is that they are not wishful enough. They show a deplorable lack of imagination.
Enlightenment remains unrealized so long as it is considered as a specific state to be attained, and for which there are standards of success.
Hospitals should be arranged in such a way as to make being sick an interesting experience. One learns a great deal sometimes from being sick.
To recognize that some of the things our culture believes are not true imposes on us the duty of finding out which are true and which are not.