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Post by Tamrin on Feb 8, 2014 7:50:08 GMT 10
Play is the exultation of the possible
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware
A person cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human. To become human, is what this individual person, has been created for
The law is not thrust upon man; it rests deep within him, to waken when the call comes
I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human face looking at me
There are three principles in a man's being and life, the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean and I don't do what I say
The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable: through the embracing of one of its beingsMartin BuberGerman-Israeli philosopher and theologist ( Ich und Du) (Born this day 1878) Through the Thou a person becomes I
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 8, 2014 7:51:20 GMT 10
I was made at right angles to the world and I see it so. I can only see it so
If after I read a poem the world looks like that poem for 24 hours or so I'm sure it's a good one — and the same goes for paintings
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seemed filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster
Icebergs behoove the soul (both being self-made from elements least visible) to see themselves: fleshed, fair, erected, indivisible
All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper just running down the edges of different countries and continents, looking for something
But they made me realize more than I ever had the rarity of true originality, and also the sort of alienation it might involve
Think of the long trip home. Should we have stayed home and thought of here? Where should we be today?Elizabeth BishopAmerican Pulitzer Prize winning poet (Born this day 1911) All the untidy activity continues, awful but cheerful
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 8, 2014 7:55:30 GMT 10
More than a century has passed since science laid down sound propositions as to the origins of the universe, but how many have mastered them or possess the really scientific spirit of criticism? A few thousands at the outside, who are lost in the midst of hundreds of millions still steeped in prejudices and superstitions worthy of savages, who are consequently ever ready to serve as puppets for religious impostors
Each individual is a cosmos of organs, each organ is a cosmos of cells, each cell is a cosmos of infinitely small ones; and in this complex world, the well-being of the whole depends entirely on the sum of well-being enjoyed by each of the least microscopic part- icles of organized matter. A whole revolution is thus produced in the philosophy of life
The law is an adroit mixture of customs that are beneficial to society, and could be followed even if no law existed, and others that are of advantage to a ruling minority, but harmful to the masses of men, and can be enforced on them only by terror
Men of courage, not satisfied with words, but ever searching for the means to transform them into action, — men of integrity for whom the act is one with the idea, for whom prison, exile, and death are preferable to a life contrary to their principles, — intrepid souls who know that it is necessary to dare in order to succeed, — these are the lonely sen- tinels who enter the battle long before the masses are sufficiently roused to raise openly the banner of insurrection and to march, arms in hand, to the conquest of their rights
The means of production being the collective work of humanity, the product should be the collective property of the race. Individual appropriation is neither just nor service- able. All belongs to all. All things are for all men, since all men have need of them, since all men have worked in the measure of their strength to produce them, and since it is not possible to evaluate every one's part in the production of the world's wealth
All things are for all. Here is an immense stock of tools and implements; here are all those iron slaves which we call machines, which saw and plane, spin and weave for us, unmaking and remaking, working up raw matter to produce the marvels of our time. But nobody has the right to seize a single one of these machines and say, "This is mine; if you want to use it you must pay me a tax on each of your products," any more than the feudal lord of medieval times had the right to say to the peasant, "This hill, this meadow belong to me, and you must pay me a tax on every sheaf of corn you reap, on every rick you build"
All is for all! If the man and the woman bear their fair share of work, they have a right to their fair share of all that is produced by all, and that share is enough to secure them well-being. No more of such vague formulas as "The Right to work," or "To each the whole result of his labour." What we proclaim is The Right to Well-Being: Well-Being for All!
Prince Peter Kropotkin Russian geographer, zoologist and philosopher (Died this day 1921)
Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 8, 2014 7:56:52 GMT 10
Don't compromise yourself — you're all you have
If you're gonna be stupid you gotta be tough
I don't feel stupid, just inadequate. After three years of studying the law, I'm very much aware of how little I know
How could homosexuals possibly screw up the sanctity of marriage any worse than heterosexuals?
Prisons are hate factories, Pastor, and society wants more and more of them
In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth. Each of you is an original. Each of you has a distinctive voice. When you find it, your story will be told. You will be heard
I'm alone and outgunned, scared and inexperienced, but I'm rightJohn GrishamAmerican novelist ( The Pelican Brief) (Born this day 1955) Please give me fifty more years of work and fun, then an instant death when I'm sleeping
There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about
I think that it is a relatively good approximation to truth — which is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations — that mathematical ideas originate in empirics
The most vitally characteristic fact about mathematics is, in my opinion, its quite peculiar relationship to the natural sciences, or more generally, to any science which interprets experience on a higher than purely descriptive level
If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is
Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin
All stable processes we shall predict. All unstable processes we shall controlJohn von NeumannHungarian-born American pure and applied mathematician and polymath (Died this day 1957) “The only student of mine I was ever intimidated by. He was so quick. There was a seminar for advanced students in Zürich that I was teaching and von Neumann was in the class. I came to a certain theorem, and I said it is not proved and it may be difficult. Von Neumann didn't say anything but after five minutes he raised his hand. When I called on him he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. After that I was afraid of von Neumann” George Pólya
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 8, 2014 7:57:40 GMT 10
Philosophy! Empty thinking by ignorant conceited men who think they can digest without eating!
Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real
We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality
We shall be better prepared for the future if we see how terrible, how doomed the present is
Only lies and evil come from letting people off
Anything that consoles is fake
Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the godsDame Iris MurdochIrish philosopher and author (Died this day 1999) I think being a woman is like being Irish ... Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the time
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 9, 2014 6:53:37 GMT 10
Sunday’s Quotes:I am the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County at your service… Some folks are silly enough to have formed a plan to make a president of the U.S. out of this clerk and clod hopper
The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed
I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Gov- ernment are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer
There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power
The people are the best guardians of their own rights and it is the duty of their executive to abstain from interfering in or thwarting the sacred exercise of the lawmaking functions of their government
The chains of military despotism once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off
I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most freeWilliam Henry Harrison9th US President (Anti-Masonic Party nominee) (Born this day 1773) Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more(last words — died in office)
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 9, 2014 6:54:20 GMT 10
I may not understand, but I am willing to admire
Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible
Boys will be boys — And even that wouldn't matter if we could only prevent girls from being girls
Telling the truth to people who misunderstand you is generally promoting a falsehood, isn't it?
You oughtn't to yield to temptation. Well, somebody must, or the thing becomes absurd
‘Bourgeois', I observed, `is an epithet which the riff-raff apply to what is respectable, and the aristocracy to what is decent’
Good families are generally worse than any othersAnthony HopeEnglish novelist and playwright ( The Prisoner of Zenda) (Born this day 1863) His foe was folly and his weapon wit
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 9, 2014 6:55:20 GMT 10
For parlor use, the vague generality is a life saver
Early to bed and early to rise is a bad rule for anyone who wishes to become acquainted with our most prominent and influential people
In the city a funeral is just an interruption of traffic; in the country it is a form of popular entertainment
The time to enjoy a European trip is about three weeks after unpacking
To insure peace of mind ignore the rules and regulations
Anybody can win — unless there happens to be a second entry
Nothing is improbable until it moves into past tenseGeorge AdeAmerican writer, newspaper columnist, and playwright (Born this day 1866) A good folly is worth what you pay for it
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 9, 2014 6:56:38 GMT 10
All books are either dreams or swords, you can cut, or you can drug, with words
In science, read by preference the newest works. In literature, read the oldest. The classics are always modern
For books are more than books, they are the life the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men lived and worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives
Life is a stream on which we strew petal by petal the flower of our heart
A man must be sacrificed now and again to provide for the next generation of men
Take everything easy and quit dreaming and brooding and you will be well guarded from a thousand evils
Let us be of cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never comeAmy LowellAmerican Pulitzer Prize winning poet ( What's O'Clock) (Born this day 1874) Everything mortal has moments immortal
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Post by Tamrin on Feb 9, 2014 6:57:21 GMT 10
Realists do not fear the results of their study
There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it
Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad
It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man's life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half
The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month
One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man
The soul is healed by being with childrenFeodor M DostoevskyRussian novelist ( Crime & Punishment) (Died this day 1881) To love someone means to see him as God intended him
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