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Post by Tamrin on Dec 16, 2013 7:56:31 GMT 10
I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering
The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion
I would defend the liberty of consenting adult creationists to practice whatever intellectual perversions they like in the privacy of their own homes; but it is also necessary to protect the young and innocent
I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about
Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: 1 — It's completely impossible. 2 — It's possible, but it's not worth doing. 3 — I said it was a good idea all along
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magicArthur C. ClarkEnglish science fiction author ( The Sentinel) (Born this day 1917) I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 16, 2013 7:57:22 GMT 10
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away
It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane
The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words
Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups ... So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing
Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease but an error of judgment
The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give
This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistancePhilip K DickAmerican science fiction author (Born this day 1928) If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 16, 2013 8:00:39 GMT 10
1 of 3:People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise
I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the world
If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?
He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it.
You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer. It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to pre- serve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank, and independent
The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind. Failure makes people bitter and cruel
It was not till quite late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say: "I don't know"W. Somerset MaughamEnglish playwright, novelist and short story writer (Died this day 1965) You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 16, 2013 8:03:12 GMT 10
2 of 3:There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are
Now it is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it
Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind
Only a mediocre person is always at his best
Now the world in general doesn't know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger
An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones
Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophyW. Somerset Maugham(Died this day 1965) What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 16, 2013 8:06:08 GMT 10
3 of 3:Tradition is a guide and not a jailer
The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties
I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation
Impropriety is the soul of wit
You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance
Tolerance is another word for indifference
The essence of the beautiful is unity in varietyW. Somerset Maugham(Died this day 1965) Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 17, 2013 6:59:19 GMT 10
Tuesday’s Quotes:We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust
From the moment you entered this world of existence, A ladder was put in front of you so you could escape
Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it
I died a mineral, and became a plant. I died a plant and rose an animal. I died an animal and I was man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
The time for staying at home is over, It is time to enter the garden. The dawn of happiness has risen, the moment of union and vision is now
Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to find escape from the flame of separatenessRumi (Jalâl ad-Dîn Muhammad Balkhî)Persian mystic and Sufi poet (Died this day 1273) There is no 'other world.' I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 17, 2013 7:00:12 GMT 10
This is alchemy, and this is the office of Vulcan; he is the apothecary and chemist of the medicine
Medicine is not only a science; it is also an art. It does not consist of compounding pills and plasters; it deals with the very processes of life, which must be understood before they may be guided
Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy
Once a disease has entered the body, all parts which are healthy must fight it: not one alone, but all. Because a disease might mean their common death. Nature knows this; and Nature attacks the disease with whatever help she can muster
Dreams are not without meaning wherever they may come from — from fantasy, from the elements, or from other inspiration
From time immemorial artistic insights have been revealed to artists in their sleep and in dreams, so that at all times they ardently desired them
However, anyone to whom this happens should not leave his room upon awakening, should speak to no-one, but remain alone and sober until everything comes back to him, and he recalls the dreamParacelsusSwiss physician and alchemist (Liber paramixum) (Born this day 1493) We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 17, 2013 7:00:41 GMT 10
Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken
Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy
Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend
Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life
Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold
This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble
What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one BeethovenBro. Ludwig van BeethovenGerman composer ( Ode to Joy) (Baptised this day 1770) Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 17, 2013 7:01:39 GMT 10
I consider it fortunate I was left much to myself as a child, and put upon no particular plan of study ... What I am I made myself
Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose that our views of science are ultimate; that there are no mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete, and that there are no new worlds to conquer
Every discovery opens a new field for investigation of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It has justly been said, that the greater the circle of light, the greater the boundary of darkness by which it is surrounded
Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort
To me there never has been a higher source of earthly honour or distinction than that connected with advances in science. I have not possessed enough of the eagle in my character to make a direct flight to the loftiest altitudes in the social world; and I certainly never endeavored to reach those heights by using the creeping powers of the reptile, who, in ascending, generally chooses the dirtiest path, because it is the easiest
Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking
I thank God that I was not made a dexterous manipulator, for the most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by my failuresSir Humphry Davy, PRSCornish chemist (Davy Lamp) (Born this day 1778) By science calmed, over the peaceful soul, Bright with eternal Wisdom's lucid ray, Peace, meek of eye, extends her soft control, And drives the puny Passions far away
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 17, 2013 7:02:41 GMT 10
Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive
A college education shows a man how little other people know
The happiness of every country depends upon the character of its people, rather than the form of its government
Whenever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience
When a man is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry
Failures to heroic minds are the stepping stones to success
Hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friendThomas Chandler HaliburtonCanadian novelist ( Sam Slick, the Clockmaker) ( The Masonic Stone of Port Royal 1606) (Born this day 1796) A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy, the smile that accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first born babe, and assures it of a mother's love
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