|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:34:24 GMT 10
Live simply that others may simply live
Cheerfulness prepares a glorious mind for all the noblest acts
Disorder in the society is the result of disorder in the family
If I had to advise parents, I should tell them to take great care about the people with whom their children associate ... Much harm may result from bad company, and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse than what is better
The accidents of life separate us from our dearest friends, but let us not despair. God is like a looking glass in which souls see each other. The more we are united to Him by love, the nearer we are to those who belong to Him
The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will
Eternity ... think of it when you are hard pushedElizabeth Ann SetonFirst native-born American saint (Died this day 1821) He is more within us than we are ourselves
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:35:04 GMT 10
Religion is to mysticism what popularization is to science
Homo sapiens, the only creature endowed with reason, is also the only creature to pin its existence on things unreasonable
There is nothing in philosophy which could not be said in everyday language
I cannot escape the objection that there is no state of mind, however simple, that does not change every moment
The only cure for vanity is laughter, and the only fault that is laughable is vanity
An absolute can only be given in an intuition, while all the rest has to do with analysis
Genius is that which forces the inertia of humanity to learnHenri BergsonFrench philosopher and Nobel laureate (Literature, 1927) (Died this day 1941) Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:41:59 GMT 10
A libertarian is just a Republican who takes drugs
Silly doctrinaire theories which regard the state as a parasitic excrescence on society cannot explain its centuries-long persistence, its ongoing encroachment upon what was previously market terrain, or its acceptance by the overwhelming majority of people including its demonstrable victims
You might object that what I’ve said may apply to the minarchist majority of libertarians, but not to the self-styled anarchists among them. Not so. To my mind a right-wing anarchist is just a minarchist who’d abolish the state to his own satisfaction by calling it something else. But this incestuous family squabble is no affair of mine
Both camps call for partial or complete privatization of state functions but neither questions the functions themselves. They don’t denounce what the state does, they just object to who’s doing it.This is why the people most victimized by the state display the least interest in liber- tarianism. Those on the receiving end of coercion don’t quibble over their coercers’ credentials. If you can’t pay or don’t want to, you don’t much care if your deprivation is called larceny or taxation or restitution or rent. If you like to control your own time, you distinguish employment from enslavement only in degree and duration
My target is what most libertarians have in common — with each other, and with their ostensible enemies. Libertarians serve the state all the better because they declaim against it. At bottom, they want what it wants. But you can’t want what the state wants without wanting the state, for what the state wants is the conditions in which it flourishes
Libertarians complain that the state is parasitic, an excrescence on society. They think it’s like a tumor you could cut out, leaving the patient just as he was, only healthier. They’ve been mystified by their own metaphors. Like the market, the state is an activity, not an entity. The only way to abolish the state is to change the way of life it forms a part of. That way of life, if you call that living, revolves around work and takes in bureaucracy, moralism, schooling, money, and more
Libertarians are conservatives because they avowedly want to maintain most of this mess and so unwittingly perpetuate the rest of the racket. But they’re bad conservatives because they’ve forgotten the reality of institutional and ideological interconnection which was the original insight of the historical conservatives. Entirely out of touch with the real currents of contemporary resistance, they denounce practical opposition to the system as “nihilism,” “Luddism,” and other big words they don’t understand. A glance at the world confirms that their utopian capitalism just can’t compete with the state. With enemies like libertarians, the state doesn’t need friendsBob BlackAmerican anarchist writer ( Anarchy after Leftism) (Born this day 1951) To demonize state authoritarianism while ignoring identical albeit contract-consecrated subservient arrangements in the large-scale corporations which control the world economy is fetishism at its worst
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:45:33 GMT 10
Integrity has no need of rules
An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself
To insure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough, a police force is needed as well
At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face
A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing
He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool
Men are convinced of your arguments, your sincerity, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your deathAlbert CamusFrench author ( The Outsider) (Died this day 1960) I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:48:06 GMT 10
Man plans. God laughs
It was more about understanding that you could give it your all, give yourself the best chances, but control is an illusion
Part of the human condition is that we all think that we are uniquely complex while every- one else is somewhat simpler to read. That is not true, of course. We all have our own dreams and hopes and wants and lust and heartaches. We all have our own brand of crazy
There's always a price you pay when you lie. Once you introduce a lie into a relationship, even for the best of intentions, it is always there. Whenever you’re with that person again, that lie is in the room too. It sits on your shoulder. Good lie or bad lie, it's in the room with you forever now. It's your constant companion
Trust is like that. You can break it for a good reason. But it still remains broken
You don't worry about happiness and fulfilment when you're starving
Amazing what we can self-rationalize when we really want somethingHarlan CobenAmerican mystery author (Myron Bolitar series) (Born this day 1962) The ugliest truth, in the end, was still better than the prettiest of lies
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:49:43 GMT 10
Knowledge is invariably a matter of degree: you cannot put your finger upon even the simplest datum and say this we know
Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself
A toothache, or a violent passion, is not necessarily diminished by our knowledge of its causes, its character, its importance or insignificance
All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the public character; or at worst, catchwords
Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them
It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves
We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religionT.S. EliotAmerican-born English poet ( The Waste Land) (Died this day 1965) You are the music while the music lasts
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 4, 2014 7:57:07 GMT 10
Life is not so bad if you have plenty of luck, a good physique, and not too much imagination
Horror is always aware of its cause; terror never is. That is precisely what makes terror terrifying
What irritates me is the bland way people go around saying, 'Oh, our attitude has changed. We don't dislike these people anymore.' But by the strangest coin- cidence, they haven't taken away the injustice; the laws are still on the books
The Nazis hated culture itself, because it is essentially international and therefore subversive of nationalism. What they called Nazi culture was a local, perverted, nationalistic cult, by which a few major artists and many minor ones were honored for their Germanness, not their talent
I often feel that worse than the most fiendish Nazis were those Germans who went along with the persecution of the Jews not because they really disliked them but because it was the thing
One should never write down or up to people, but out of yourself
I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinkingChristopher IsherwoodBritish writer ( Lions & Shadows) (Died this day 1986) I doubt if one ever accepts a belief until one urgently needs it
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:46:12 GMT 10
Sunday’s Quotes:1 of 2:A science only advances with certainty, when the plan of inquiry and the object of our researches have been clearly defined; otherwise a small number of truths are loosely laid hold of, without their connection being perceived, and numerous errors, without being enabled to detect their fallacy
The manner in which things exist and take place, constitutes what is called the nature of things; and a careful observation of the nature of things is the sole foundation of all truth
With respect to the present time, there are few persons who unite the qualific- ations of good observers with a situation favourable for accurate observation
Nothing can be more idle than the opposition of theory to practice!
When a tree, a natural product, is felled, is society put into possession of no greater produce than that of the mere labour of the woodman?
With no fixed opinions in relation to the causes of public prosperity, the nation, like a ship without chart or compass, was driven about by the caprice of the winds and the folly of the pilot, alike ignorant of the place of her departure or destination
Political economy has only become a science since it has been confined to the results of inductive investigationJean Baptiste SayFrench economist and businessman (Born this day 1769) Alas, how many have been persecuted for the wrong of having been right?
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:47:26 GMT 10
2 0f 2:I have made no distinction between the circulation of goods and of money, because there really is none
Whence it is evident that the remedy must be adapted to the particular cause of the mischief; consequently, the cause must be ascertained, before the remedy is devised
Regulation is useful and proper, when aimed at the prevention of fraud or contriv- ance, manifestly injurious to other kinds of production, or to the public safety, and not at prescribing the nature of the products and the methods of fabrication
Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system, particularly in its application to the wants and errors of mankind
Freedoms and apprenticeships are likewise expedients of police, not of that whole- some branch of police, whose object is the maintenance of the public and private security, and which is neither costly nor vexatious; but of that sort of police which bad governments employ to preserve or extend their personal authority at any expense
Though accumulated at their expense, the people rarely, if ever profit by it: yet in point of fact, all value, and consequently, all wealth, originates with the people
The wealthy are generally impressed with an idea, that they shall never stand in need of public charitable relief; but a little less confidence would become them betterJean Baptiste Say(Born this day 1769) Say’s law: La loi des debouches = "Production generates its own demand”
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 5, 2014 7:48:38 GMT 10
You have come to earth to entertain and to be entertained
Be as simple as you can be; you will be astonished to see how uncomplicated and happy your life can become
There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you
Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing
You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy you may learn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk in water and live in fire; But control of the mind is better and more difficult
If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty
Forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wiseParamahansa YoganandaIndian guru (Kriya Yoga) (Born this day 1893) Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time
|
|