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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:09:50 GMT 10
Saturday’s Quotes:O, the times, O, the customs!
Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due
According to the law of nature it is only fair that no one should become richer through damages and injuries suffered by another
The welfare of the people is the ultimate law
Our character is not so much the product of race and heredity as of those circum- stances by which nature forms our habits, by which we are nurtured and live
The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil
We are not born for ourselves aloneMarcus Tullius CiceroRoman philosopher and statesman (Executed this day 43 BCE) One who sees the Supersoul accompanying the individual soul in all bodies and who understands that neither the soul nor the Supersoul is ever destroyed, actually sees
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:12:15 GMT 10
It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun
That which is not just, is not Law; and that which is not Law, ought not to be obeyed
I am persuaded to believe that God had left nations to the liberty of setting up such govern- ments as best pleased themselves, and that magistrates were set up for the good of nations, not nations for the honor and glory of magistrates. That the right and power of magistrates in every country was that which the laws of that country made it to be. That these laws are to be observed and the oaths taken by rulers to be kept. And that having the force of contracts between magistrates and people, they cannot be violated without danger of dissolving the whole fabric
We live in an age that makes truth pass for treason, and as I dare not say any- thing against it, so the ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it. This my trial and condemnation do sufficiently evidence
The Lord sanctify these my sufferings unto me, and though I fall as a sacrifice unto the — Idols, suffer not idolatry to be established in this land. Bless thy people and save them. Defend thy own cause and those that defend it. Stir up such as are faint. Direct those that are willing. Confirm those that waver. Give wisdom and integrity unto all. Order all things so as they may most redound unto thine own glory. Grant that I may die glorifying thee for all thy mercies and that (as the last) thou hast permitted me to be singled out as witness of thy truth, and even by the confession of my oppressors, for that Old Cause in which I was from my youth engaged and for which thou hast often and wonderfully declared thyself
I thought fit to leave this testimony to the world, that, as I had from my youth endeavored to uphold the Common rights of mankind, the lawes of this land, and the true Protestant relig- ion, against corrupt principles, arbitrary power and Popery, I doe now willingly lay down my life for the same; and having a sure witness within me, that God doth absolve me, and up- hold me, in the utmost extremityes, am very littell sollicitous, though man doth condemne me
If his Majesty is resolved to have my head, he may make a whistle of my arse if he pleasesAlgernon SydneyEnglish politician and political theorist (Executed this day 1683) This hand, the rule of tyrants to oppose seeks with the sword fair freedom's soft repose
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:13:24 GMT 10
Systematic philosophical and practical anti-intellectualism such as we are witnessing appears to be something truly novel in the history of human culture
A superstition which pretends to be scientific creates a much greater confusion of thought than one which contents itself with simple popular practices
These are strange times. Reason, which once combated faith and seemed to have conquered it, now has to look to faith to save it from dissolution
The repudiation of the primacy of understanding means the repudiation of the norms of judgment as well, and hence the abandonment of all ethical standards
History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us
History can predict nothing except that great changes in human relationships will never come about in the form in which they have been anticipated
History creates comprehensibility primarily by arranging facts meaningfully and only in a very limited sense by establishing strict causal connectionsJohan HuizingaDutch cultural historian (modern cultural history) (Born this day 1872) If we are to preserve culture we must continue to create it
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:14:11 GMT 10
That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great
Desire is creation, is the magical element in that process. If there were an instrument by which to measure desire, one could foretell achievement
Give the people a new word and they think they have a new fact
There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before
Sometimes a neighbor whom we have disliked a lifetime for his arrogance and conceit lets fall a single commonplace remark that shows us another side, another man, really; a man uncertain, and puzzled, and in the dark like ourselves
The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always
The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old to the youngWilla CatherAmerican author ( My Mortal Enemy) (Born this day 1873) The fact that I was a girl never damaged my ambitions to be a pope or an emperor
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:15:08 GMT 10
On a grassroots level we say that man can touch more than he can grasp
Contemporary thinkers would say that man is continuously transcending himself
Contemplation and wisdom are highest achievements and man is not totally at home with them
If we are suffering feelings of inferiority with reference to the tools of our philosophizing, perhaps it is because we have not underlined clearly enough that its ultimate concern is beyond the shape of this world, that its activity is contemplation and that its contribution is wisdom!
But a science is exact to the extent that its method measures up to and is adequate to its object
It is right that we be concerned with the scientific probity of metaphysics
The dynamic element in my philosophy, taken as a whole, can be seen as an obstinate and untiring battle against the spirit of abstractionHonoré-Gabriel MarcelFrench philosopher and playwright (Born this day 1889) The wise man knows how to run his life so that contemplation is possible
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:16:23 GMT 10
If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion
Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune
The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations
Jingoism, fear, racism, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you’re trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them
The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people
'Tough love' is just the right phrase: love for the rich and privileged, tough for everyone else
The Bible is one of the most genocidal books in historyNoam ChomskyUS linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist (founded transformational grammar) (Born this day 1928) States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:19:21 GMT 10
I am a greedy, selfish bastard. I want the fact that I existed to mean something
Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible, and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when we concern ourselves with other people
When you're going nowhere, anywhere's a better place to be
But you can travel on for ten thousand miles, and still stay where you are
Oh, if a man tried to take his time on earth and prove before he died what one man's life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world
I've got nothing against selling out, but just let me do it for some- thing that matters. Not so I can be Number One With a Bullet, as it were, but so I can leave this world feeling like I made a difference
When in doubt, do somethingHarry ChapinAmerican singer, songwriter and social activist (Born this day 1942) I feel that something's coming, and it's not just in the wind. It's more than just tomorrow, it's more than where we've been, it offers me a promise, it's telling me "Begin", I know we're needing something worth believing in [/i][/center]
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:20:05 GMT 10
Man is not an end but a beginning. We are at the beginning of the second week. We are children of the eighth day
Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests
For what human ill does not dawn seem to be an alleviation?
My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate
Those who are silent, self-effacing and attentive become the recipients of confidences
Ninety-nine per cent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion
Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every dayThornton Wilder, US playwright & novelist (Died this day 1975) Pride, avarice, and envy are in every home
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 7, 2013 6:20:58 GMT 10
Prose books are the show dogs I breed and sell to support my cat
In love as in sport, the amateur status must be strictly maintained
Kill if you must, but never hate: Man is but grass and hate is blight, The sun will scorch you soon or late, die wholesome then, since you must fight
Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer
To bring the dead to life is no great magic. Few are wholly dead: Blow on a dead man's embers and a live flame will start
The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good
Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of scienceRobert GravesEnglish writer and poet (The White Goddess) (Died this day 1985) Sir James Frazer was able to keep his beautiful rooms at Trinity College, Cambridge, until his death by carefully and methodically sailing all around his dangerous subject, as if charting the coastline of a forbidden island without actually committing himself to a declaration that it existed. What he was saying-not-saying was that Christian legend, dogma and ritual are the refinement of a great body of primitive and even barbarous beliefs, and that almost the only original element in Christianity is the personality of Jesus
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Post by Tamrin on Dec 8, 2013 6:45:27 GMT 10
Saturday’s Quotes:Force without wisdom falls of its own weight
It is your concern when your neighbour’s wall is on fire
He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!
To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom
I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter
Despise not sweet inviting love-making nor the merry dance
Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalledHorace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman writer (Born this day 65 BCE) The man who is tenacious of purpose in a rightful cause is not shaken from his firm resolve by the frenzy of his fellow citizens clamoring for what is wrong, or by the tyrant's threatening countenance
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