|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 18, 2014 6:58:46 GMT 10
Of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong
Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence
The most thoroughly and relentlessly Damned, banned, excluded, condemned, for- bidden, ostracized, ignore, suppressed, repressed, robbed, brutalized and defamed of all Damned Things is the individual human being. The social engineers, statistician, psychologist, sociologists, market researchers, landlords, bureaucrats, captains of industry, bankers, governors, commissars, kings and presidents are perpetually forcing this Damned Thing into carefully prepared blueprints and perpetually irritated that the Damned Thing will not fit into the slot assigned it. The theologians call it a sinner and try to reform it. The governor calls it a criminal and tries to punish it. the psychologist calls it a neurotic and tries to cure it. Still, the Damned Thing will not fit into their slots
Every fact of science was once Damned. Every invention was considered impossible. Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy. Every artistic innovation was denounced as fraud and folly. The entire web of culture and "progress," everything on earth that is man-made and not given to us by nature, is the concrete manifestation of some man's refusal to bow to Authority. We would own no more, know no more, and be no more than the first apelike hominids if it were not for the rebellious, the recalcitrant, and the intransigent. As Oscar Wilde truly said, "Disobedience was man's Original Virtue"
People have murdered each other, in massive wars and guerilla actions, for many centuries, and still murder each other in the present, over Ideologies and Religions which, stated as propositions, appear neither true nor false to modern logicians — meaningless propositions that look meaningful to the linguistically naïve
Since theological propositions are scientifically meaningless, those of us of pragmatic disposition simply won't buy such dubious merchandise … Maybe — remotely — there might be something in such promotions, as there might be something in the talking dogs and the stocks in Arabian tapioca mines that W.C. Fields once sold in his comedies, but we suspect that we recognize a con game in operation. At least, we want to hear the dog talk or see the tapioca ore before we buy into such deals
The shock of discovering that most of the power in the world is held by ignorant and greedy people can really bum you out at first; but after you've lived with it a few decades, it becomes, like cancer and other plagues, just another problem that we will solve eventually if we keep working at itRobert Anton WilsonUS polymath, philosopher and author (Born this day 1932) The reason for optimism lies in the biological fact that it keeps you happy and busy, whereas pessimism just leads to lying around and bitching
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 18, 2014 7:00:31 GMT 10
Words are the most powerful drugs used by mankind
I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards
Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need, and ye can; But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill Man!
I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera — the Panther — and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and some- times frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself
Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves
The tumult and shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart. Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, an humble and a contrite heat. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forgetBro. Rudyard KiplingBritish author ( Kim, Jungle Books, The Man Who Would be King) (Died this day 1936) I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I know); Theirs names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 18, 2014 7:01:32 GMT 10
A familiar question for Australians is how much we are a product of our circumstances, and how much we are what we have made ourselves to be
It was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the trad- itional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us
We will not adopt the fantastic hypocrisy of modern conservatism which preaches the values of families and communities, while conducting a direct assault on them through reduced wages and conditions and job security
I try to use the Australian idiom to its maximum advantage
The Opposition crowd could not raffle a chook in a pub
He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up
I am not like the Leader of the Opposition. I did not slither out of the Cabinet room like a mangy maggotPaul Keating24th Prime Minister of Australia (Born this day 1944) If one takes pride in one's craft, you won't let a good thing die. Risking it through not pushing hard enough is not a humility
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 18, 2014 7:02:17 GMT 10
In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual liberty is permanent, unresolvable, and necessary
When you are unhappy, is there anything more maddening than to be told that you should be contented with your lot?
None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives
Life is easier than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable
In middle age we are apt to reach the horrifying conclusion that all sorrow, all pain, all passionate regret and loss and bitter disillusionment are self-made
Each and every one of us has one obligation, during the bewildered days of our pilgrimage here: the saving of his own soul, and secondarily and incidentally thereby affecting for good such other souls as come under our influence
Hate is all a lie, there is no truth in hateKathleen NorrisUS poet and essayist (Died this day 1966) In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 19, 2014 9:20:26 GMT 10
Sunday’s Quotes:To overcome evil with good is good, to resist evil by evil is evil
Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any right, nor any preference to claim over another
Do you know what is better than charity and fasting and prayer? It is keeping peace and good relations between people, as quarrels and bad feelings destroy mankind.
Do not consider any act of kindness insignificant, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face
One hour's meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer
Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first
Much silence and a good disposition, there are no two things better than theseMohammed, Islamic prophet (Born this day 570) The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 19, 2014 9:21:23 GMT 10
Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things
To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things
Those who see worldly live as an obstacle to Dharma see no Dharma in everyday actions; they have not discovered that there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma
When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves
Do not arouse disdainful mind when you prepare a broth of wild grasses; do not arouse joyful mind when you prepare a fine cream soup
A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it
Do not think you will necessarily be aware of your own enlightenmentDôgen ZenjiJapanese Zen Buddhist teacher and founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan (Born this day 1200) If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 19, 2014 9:22:01 GMT 10
A little disdain is not amiss; a little scorn is alluring
He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views
Grief walks upon the heels of pleasure; married in haste, we repent at leisure
Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak
I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull
Come, come, leave business to idlers, and wisdom to fools: they have need of 'em: wit be my faculty, and pleasure my occupation, and let father Time shake his glass
I know that's a secret, for it's whispered everywhereWilliam CongreveEnglish playwright and poet (Died this day 1729) Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 19, 2014 9:22:36 GMT 10
The dead govern the living
Ideas govern the world, or throw it into chaos
To understand a science it is necessary to know its history
Every science consists in the coordination of facts; if the different observations were entirely isolated, there would be no science
Indeed, every true science has for its object the determination of certain phenomena by means of others, in accordance with the relations which exist between them
Men are not allowed to think freely about chemistry and biology: why should they be allowed to think freely about political philosophy?
Each branch of our knowledge passes successively through three different theoretical conditions: the Theological, or fictitious; the Metaphysical, or abstract; and the Scientific, or positiveAuguste ComteFrench philosopher of science (Positivism) and “father of Sociology” (Born this day 1798) Know yourself to improve yourself
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 19, 2014 9:27:05 GMT 10
Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character
You must be frank with the world; frankness is the child of honesty and courage
Slavery as an institution, is a moral and political evil in any Country
I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union
A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others
It is well that war is so terrible — lest we should grow too fond of it
Never do anything wrong to make a friend or keep oneRobert E LeeAmerican Civil War army officer (Confederate General-in-Chief) (Born this day 1807) I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it(similarly his fellow Confederate officer, "Stonewall" Jackson (born 21/01/1824) wrote: "I like liquor — its taste and its effects — and that is just the reason why I never drink it")
|
|
|
Post by Tamrin on Jan 19, 2014 9:30:22 GMT 10
The science of mine and thine — the science of justice — is the science of all human rights; of all a man’s rights of person and property; of all his rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
These conditions are simply these: viz., first, that each man shall do, towards every other, all that justice requires him to do; as, for example, that he shall pay his debts, that he shall return borrowed or stolen property to its owner, and that he shall make reparation for any injury he may have done to the person or property of another
If there be such a principle as justice, or natural law, it is the principle, or law, that tells us what rights were given to every human being at his birth; what rights are, therefore, inherent in him as a human being, necessarily remain with him during life; and, however capable of being trampled upon, are incapable of being blotted out, extinguished, annihilated, or separated or eliminated from his nature as a human being, or deprived of their inherent authority or obligation
Man, no doubt, owes many other moral duties to his fellow men; such as to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, protect the defenceless, assist the weak, and enlighten the ignorant. But these are simply moral duties, of which each man must be his own judge, in each particular case, as to whether, and how, and how far, he can, or will, perform them. But of his legal duty — that is, of his duty to live honestly towards his fellow men — his fellow men not only may judge, but, for their own protection, must judge. And, if need be, they may rightfully compel him to perform it. They may do this, acting singly, or in concert. They may do it on the instant, as the necessity arises, or deliberately and systematically, if they prefer to do so, and the exigency will admit of it
Martyrdom is evidence only of a man's honesty — it is no evidence that he is not mistaken. Men have suffered martyrdom for all sorts of opinions in politics and in religion; yet they could not therefore have all been in the right; although they could give no stronger evidence that they believed themselves in the right
If men were but to read the New Testament with the same tone and emphasis, with which they do other books, and were to keep out of mind the idea of its being sacred, they would be disgusted with the credulity, and the want of intellect, reason and judgment, that is apparent in it
If the works of Jesus were so much more wonderful than man could perform as to deserve to be called miracles, was it not nonsense to caution his disciples so strongly against being deluded by the works of others?Lysander SpoonerAmerican anarchist, political philosopher, abolitionist, labor activist & legal theorist (Born this day 1808) Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it
|
|